


Little Pilot Academia

by VathySkotadi



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/F, Lots of blushing, Racing, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, long as fuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2019-08-23 16:24:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 130
Words: 654,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16622342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VathySkotadi/pseuds/VathySkotadi
Summary: When Akko sees her first broom race in person as a child, she is awed by one of Earth’s designated pilots for the Inter-Planetary Race, the Witch Chariot, and her broom-racer, the Shiny Rod. In that moment, she decides to become a Witch, like her idol. Akko's plans for this - through attending Luna Nova’s piloting education program - may get thrown off course entirely, however, when Amanda's attempt to gain a position in the next IPR drags Akko into the Planetary Alliance’s base on Earth.Thrown head-first into the biggest sports event in the explored universe, along with the rediscovered Shiny Rod as "best ship to ever exist," she'll have to face the other designated pilots of ten different sentient races alongside the rest of Earth's team: Amanda, Diana, and Hannah.Guided the coach Ursula, will Akko be able to win on planets so unlike Earth - ones that glow by night? Seem to be made of metal? That lack gravity? Will she be able to make friends with Diana? Will Hannah and Amanda ever stop fighting? With all the unprecedented happenings, will Akko be able to uncover the truth behind the mysteries surrounding this year's Inter-Planetary Race?There's only one way to find out!





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I usually drop the entire thing in one go, but I have the feeling this is going to be a long one. Instead, I'll drop it in batches. Dunno how often or how much I'll post, but it'll probably be after some kind of plot-relevant point has been reached or something. Please, leave comments with feedback, since I'll actually be able to use it for the work in question this time. Seriously, leave comments, even if they're negative. I won't get defensive ~~I promise~~ ~~probably~~ maybe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I won't make summaries or titles for this fic.

The little brunette girl was sitting in the middle of the stands, surrounded by all kinds of people – even if most of them weren’t human. The cheering or booing was almost deafening, and the smell of weird and exotic foods overpowered her nostrils. She excitedly looked up at the massive screen floating in the air – well, that was not an accurate description, since this planet lacked such a thing. The little girl didn’t know what it was this planet had in its stead.

She couldn’t see it thanks to the taller beings next to her, but she knew that if she could look around she’d see a collection of giant sand-castles that she didn’t understand how were kept standing, lit by strange glowing stones. Maybe one day she’d get the chance to dig through one of their walls and see what happened. The sky was completely black, the atmosphere of the planet, apparently, had a weird way of reflecting light that didn’t allow the stars to shine during the night.

The screen showed a series of hovering vehicles, each one more interesting than the last, traversing a barren wasteland at high speeds, only their own lights to guide them, with a commentator – barely audible to the girl – shouting with energy and narrating the events onscreen. The current vehicles included a strange water-like long teardrop with what looked like a giant jellyfish inside, a cloud of a smoke-like substance in the shape of a triangle, a slim and completely black fuselage with a couple of sharp-looking wings coming out of the back at an angle, giving the whole thing an arrow-like look and a rocket apparently made of stone with a metallic ring surrounding it, completely disconnected from the main body. None of them had obvious methods of movement, they had no engines.

The pilot the little girl, Akko, was cheering for wasn’t onscreen.

She had trouble remaining still, so she stood on her seat to see the giant screen a little better. Since the race was close to finishing the focus would be only on the first places. She started to grow more anxious with each passing second. The pilots were all tightly fighting for first place. When one managed to get slightly ahead, the barrage of attacks from the other three vehicles kept them from getting away.

Akko perceived something from the corner of her eye. She turned her head a bit to her left – a light had appeared on the horizon, but she could barely see it. She tugged on her father’s clothes next to her. He smiled at her and put her in his shoulders.

The girl tried not to move too much, but she couldn’t help almost throwing her father off balance when she noticed the four lights in the horizon getting closer – they were definitely the racers! They closed in at high speeds. This planet was slightly bigger than earth, so the horizon was slightly further away. Even then, in less than a minute, the four vehicles had closed one third of the distance to the finish line, which was just slightly to the right of Akko, glowing red and with the highest concentration of spectators per square meter in the universe right now, even if one had in mind the completely empty space that was the track itself.

As the girl’s anxiety was reaching critical levels and she started to think she didn’t want to keep looking, something else appeared in the horizon. A fifth light. A big smile appeared on her face as she realized who it was. She strained to hear what the commentator was saying, and she could just make out the words.

 _[And there she is! The dark horse of the competition, Chariot and her broom: the Shiny Rod! Will she be able to catch up in time?!]_ The commentator sounded as excited as Akko felt as she saw the beautiful white ship approach at an incredible speed. It was a long and slim ‘Broom-Racer’ – that was the name human ships received – which ended in a point. While it didn’t have wings, it was slightly flattened, which somehow allowed it to fly straight. Seven green spheres, the broom’s weapons, were spaced around the fuselage, covering most angles. Besides the pilot, there would be another member onboard, handling the defense and attack of the ship, though no one knew who the gunner of the Shiny Rod was. The most impressive part, however, was the back: The Magic-Engine of the broom, a golden lambda-looking piece connected to the cockpit which was emitting a powerful pale-green light that danced like fire. The Shiny Rod moved fast, faster than any of the other vehicles, even if Akko didn’t fully understand why.

The other racers had already made half their way to the finish line, but Chariot was fast as lightning. When the other pilots entered the final stretch at three-fourths of the way, marked by the start of the sand-castle city, the Shiny Rod caught up to them. All the firepower now focused on the human ship, but the seven spheres on the fuselage all started to glow at the same time and a strange pale-green force-field appeared to protect it.

Akko felt her grin widening and she started squirming – accidentally hitting her father’s head in the process – with excitement. Her heart started pounding on her chest and she held her breath, trying to blink as little as possible. The five racers moved through the city’s streets so fast that the spectators had to be careful not to fall over from the wind created – wind of something that wasn’t air.

The attacks kept focusing on the Shiny Rod – zaps of electricity from the jellyfish-like creature, bombs of smoke from the cloud, energy beams from the arrow-like ship and strange floating stone spheres that kept banging the shield with energy from the stone ship.

Akko knew the Shiny Rod couldn’t keep up for much longer, they were already at four-fifths of the way to the finish line, but the human ship couldn’t attack while defending and it was going to be impossible to get past the four pilots in front of it.

Unless…

The brunette girl jumped in her father’s shoulders as she saw lines appear on the Shiny Rod. Pale green lines connecting all seven spheres. _[Oooh here it is, ladies and gentlebeings!]_ The commentator exclaimed. Akko looked at the screen to get a better view of what was happening. Then, in a heartbeat, the ship’s front separated, apparently cutting it in half, making a way for the cockpit. _[The madwoman is about to do it again!]_ The firepower got even heavier from all four other contestants, but it was too late. Right as the Rod’s force-field gave up, the cockpit shot out of the main ship so fast that it broke the speed of sound – sound somehow carried through the not-air. _[The Shiny Arc!]_ The commentator cried the name, obviously partial to the human Witch – the name female human pilots received.

Akko shouted in encouragement, her eyes following the cockpit as it flew through the four ships that didn’t have time to react.

It crossed the finish line, passing so fast that Akko saw nothing but a blur of white that crashed to the ground, skidding for a long time before coming to a rest. The crowd had gone silent, they didn’t even pay attention as the other four racers crossed the line. They all looked at the cockpit of the Shiny Rod half buried in the ground, not moving…

Until the emergency exit at the back opened and a pilot in a white, tight anti-g attire came out of it, her red short hair visible through the helmet that allowed her to breath.

The crowd went wild and Akko with them. She almost fell off the shoulders of her father while he tried to keep up with his excited child. She had never celebrated so loudly. That night her vocal chords got absolutely destroyed, but she didn’t mind. It had been the most exciting moment of her life.

A team of strange of sand-like aliens – originating from the planet they were currently in – who were more like sand-blobs than anything else, quickly approached Chariot and handed her a microphone.

“Never forget,” she started with her catchphrase as she always did. “A believing heart is your magic.”

The cheering continued, but Akko paused, staring in awe at the screen where Chariot’s face was barely visible. That was the moment when she made up her mind.

She was going to become a Witch.


	2. Chapter 2

The classroom was quiet. Morning light slipped through the big tall windows on the side of the room, even if the sun didn’t directly hit on this side of the building.

“This campus is located on top of one of the ley-lines, initially discovered by Alfred Watkins in the second half of the twenty-first century.” The old, gray-haired teacher spoke in a hoarse voice, her lines indistinguishable from the ones in the books the students were using, despite the fact that she didn’t have hers opened. “Ley-lines act as underground pipelines for Magic Energy, which is then extracted by facilities like our own New Moon Tower. The Magic is then stored in the Sorcerer’s Stone Containment Unit, which can in turn re-fuel our Broom Eng-” the teacher was cut off by a weird sound. A snore, to be precise. She narrowed her eyes, looking for the source, even though she already knew which of the anti-g-uniform wearing students was the culprit. With a flick of her wand – a high-tech stick-like remote used to control little magic-fueled devices – she guided her _spell_ to the brunette girl in the middle row of white, pristine seats. “Can be used to fuel our engines and technology.”  

“Akko,” the girl next to the brunette whispered in a futile attempt to wake her friend up. She had orange hair and wore big, round glasses.

The _spell_ , a simple sphere, stopped and hovered above the sleeping brunette’s, who had managed to remain sitting, somehow. Then, a little hook fell from the bottom of it, hooked onto the girl’s hair and pushed her down. She face-planted into the desk and grunted in pain.

“‘Abusing Magic Energy will lead to humanity being destroyed by Magic’, can anyone tell me who said that?” The teacher glared at the now awake girl for a few seconds. In the right row of seats, near the back, a single student raised her hand. Her platinum-blonde and tea-green wavy hair stuck out among all the other students as a presentation card. “Cavendish?”

The blonde girl stood with a serious expression, completely ignoring what had just happened. “T.S. Daniels,” she said in a relatively monotonous voice. “Piloting Eudaemonics,” she finished by citing the source.

“Good,” the teacher said, and the blonde girl sat back down. “It order to properly pilot, you first need to understand its history. Understood, Miss Kagari?” She focused her old eyes on the girl, who hadn’t moved at all.

“Ugh…” Akko said, finally looking up. “Yes ma’am…”

 

Akko walked to her next class through the white, hospital-like hallways with her nose still hurting slightly from the hit earlier.

 

The auburn-haired teacher pointed at the screen-blackboard behind her. A complicated equation was showing there, way too complicated for Akko to solve. She started to drift off when she suddenly noticed her sight getting strangely blurry. She blinked a few times before realizing the blur wasn’t her fault, as Sucy had touched her with her wand.

She frowned and looked to her right, where a purple-haired girl sat. “Sucy, what are you doing?” Akko asked trying to make the blurriness go away by rubbing her eyes.

“Just testing,” Sucy said with a smirk. “How’s your eyesight?”

“Barely functional,” Akko grunted, trying to think what kind of _potion_ Sucy had used on her. “Could you turn me back?”

“Good, good…” Sucy nodded to herself. “Don’t worry, it’ll dissipate in an hour or so. Here’s some glasses,” she didn’t even turn to look at Akko as she handed her a couple of simple square glasses.

“I don’t expect you to be able to, but is there anyone who can solve this?” the teacher said. Finnelan, she was called. She had a harsh face and moved with efficiency, quickly examining everyone in the room.

Two girls raised their hands, to the surprise of probably everyone. One of them was Diana Cavendish. The other one, however, was the redhead troublemaker sitting in the front row – not by choice, but because all teachers had forced her to stay there and stay out of trouble. Akko put the glasses on reluctantly and looked, curious.

“Miss O’Neill?” Finnelan said, her voice slightly tainted with curiosity.

“Well, I don’t know about all the equations and stuff, but I’m fairly certain that the ship would leave the atmosphere in ten seconds, right?” Amanda said nonchalantly. Akko believed she was going to be wrong, however, Finnelan slowly nodded.

“That is… Correct. But if you can’t do the calculations it’s useless!” She finished pointing with energy at the screen, Akko instantly losing interest again. The teacher then called Diana to the front, who made all the calculations in just five minutes and came to the same result.

 

Akko rubbed her eyes. She still felt like everything was blurry even if the effect wasn’t on. Damn Sucy and her _potions_ obsession. Still, it was now lunch, so it’s not like she needed to read anything. The cafeteria, a big dome of pure glass with white marble floors, where all kinds of students and pilots mingled – Luna Nova wasn’t just a pilots academy, it had also a pro racing-team – was amazing. She looked at the pro-team’s table.

About half of that team was made up of Akko’s teachers. She had been excited to meet them, but when they turned out to be boring old ladies, well…

“I don’t get how anyone can get through those boring classes,” she said. She wasn’t really talking to her teammates, but they still looked at her with inquiry. “Isn’t flying supposed to be about daring competitions and believing in yourself? This isn’t anything like I imagined, I can’t believe Chariot learned to fly here,” she finished by putting some food into her mouth.

Behind her, a student stopped. Her tight and purple anti-g suit, the Academy’s uniform, highlighted her curves and well proportioned body, the monotony of the color only broken by the light-blue markings around the golden zipper in the front. “You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who respects Chariot’s piloting skills,” a calm and collected voice came from the student. Akko – still chewing – turned to see the blonde girl that had passed to the front earlier that day. “Particularly at this academy, Akko,” she finished as her two teammates arrived, staying a few paces behind her as usual.

“Oh, hey Diana,” Akko said without enthusiasm, sighing. She wasn’t fond of the stuck-up perfect girl. “What do you mean?”

“You won’t find any decent pilot who knows their trade that holds Chariot’s flying in high regard,” Diana said, drawing some looks of curiosity from the tables around them. “It would be best for you to remember that.”

Akko frowned. Both of her teammates leaned back a little, aware of how insulting Chariot tended to affect Akko’s feelings. “That’s not true! Chariot’s races were always broadcasted to everywhere in the world and everyone watched them!” She wasn’t lying, statistics had been shown, near sixty percent of the global population watched Chariot’s races. And Akko was sure that forty percent was made up of old farts who didn’t like new things and kids who didn’t understand Chariot’s awesomeness. Maybe politicians too, those didn’t like anything, ever.

“While I admit Chariot had a short but vivid period of popularity, her gaudy and reckless flying style left no lasting impression on society,” Diana raised slightly her face, making it seem like she was _really_ looking down on Akko. “It’s been almost ten years since she dropped from the Inter-Planetary race, when she was just one race away from victory too. No one cared enough to look at what happened to her,” She turned her face away, one of her hands moving in a dismissive gesture. Her tone bothered Akko, a lot, so she stood and stared Diana in the eyes.

“Chariot gave me a dream!” She exclaimed. The conversations around them quieted a little. Hands stopped moving as other people sitting in the small square tables of the cafeteria directed their views towards Akko and Diana. “I’m going to become the best Witch in the whole world and make people’s hearts race when they see me flying!” Determination appeared to emanate from every pore in her skin. Diana raised an eyebrow, finding the outburst curious.

“The best Witch, huh?” Her tone changed a little, implying something that Akko didn’t understand. “We’ll see about that,” she turned away, followed by her to teammates, who were giving Akko funny looks. Mocking looks.

Reluctantly, Akko sat back down. Her teammates considered best no to speak to her right now – and, given the mood Akko found herself in, she didn’t notice the lack of chatter between them.

Without giving up on the angry expression, Akko went back to eating.

 

After lunch that same day, Akko found out they were going to be simulating how to fly.

“Flight simulator?” Akko whispered to Lotte. “I didn’t know we were going to get to this so soon!”

Lotte smiled in a mixture of pity and resignation. She avoided mentioning to Akko that two of the classes they’d had during the two weeks they’d been at school had been all about how to handle the simulator. “Well, it’s good to get students used to the standard controls of a broom,” she explained. “Though most of us have already been to a couple of those during our lives. Some even have real flying experience,” she looked towards Diana, making Akko instantly get a lot more serious. Diana was being called a prodigy and the Witch of the century, but she was only sixteen, so Akko had always assumed it was only because of her theoretical knowledge and some simulations.

The simulator room was big, but simple. The door stood behind the group of students, all of whom could stand around comfortably within its simple, empty white walls. Given the fact that this room was in the middle of the building, it had no windows, getting its air through a ventilation system. In front of the students, in the wall opposite to the door, a series of different machines covered the entire thing with blinking lights and cables. And, in the center of the wall stood a mock cockpit, smaller than real ones but bigger than Akko had expected, being taller than her and about two bodies in length.

“But, wait, I thought you were here to be a _Spirit_ researcher,” Akko looked at Lotte. _Spirits,_ that’s what advanced A.I. was called.

“It can simulate a lot of scenarios, Akko,” Sucy butted into the conversation. “We call it Flight Simulator for simplicity’s sake,” her explanation only answered half of Akko’s questions, but she had already heard some giggles around her and instinctively knew they were directed at her, so she just frowned and decided not to show more of her ignorance. She’d learn how it went as she watched.

After a few minutes of waiting, the quiet chatter of the students had grown into full fledged conversations that were hushed when Miss Nelson, one of the best Witches in the academy, stepped out of the mock cockpit wearing her anti-g suit paired with a really old aviator’s hat and pair of goggles.

“Listen up!” she said, and suddenly everyone stood a little straighter. The teacher had a military hint in her voice, which made students pay more attention to her. “This will be your first time using the school’s simulator and I bet it’s going to be a little more complex than what most of you are used to! The point of the lesson is for you to get used to more complex controls or systems! Don’t get nervous, it’s not a real broom, and don’t get cocky either,” she said that last part looking at Amanda, the tall redhead. She wasn’t really the tallest around, but she seemed to tower over others with her self-confidence. Akko tried not to feel too self-conscious about the different in physiques, comparing her simple body to Amanda’s slim and curvy one. And even then she still didn’t compare to Diana, but Akko would never admit that out loud.

“We’re going in alphabetical order, got it? Now…” The teacher called for the first student – Apparently, they were going by first-name. Akko gulped, that meant she was going to be between the first ones to test it. The student called stepped forward and entered the mock cockpit through the backdoor, which was usually the emergency exit, the normal one being the very windshield of the cockpit being able to open.

The ceiling suddenly opened a slit, from where a screen came down, floating. It looked like a normal piece of glass, except for the four metallic tips – which would hold the light-projection means of it. The screen lit up, showing a girl inside the cockpit, which looked bigger on the inside than it really was. The back was mostly empty, but one of the walls could be opened up to let down a bed. This kind of broom was not a racer type, to Akko’s disappointment. In the front stood the piloting controls, with the standard two-joystick configuration and a bunch of buttons, small levers and switches that Akko had no idea what were for.

The girl didn’t go to the seat, instead opening one of the lockers in the side opposite to the bed and taking out a small toolbox. She was a mechanic, apparently.

Akko’s mind started to drift away as the simulation started, apparently testing the student on her ability to fix something under pressure. Akko didn’t understand any of the words being said by Miss Nelson as she explained what she needed to do at any point in time, so she tried focusing on how she was going to fly.

She had a basic understanding on how the controls worked, gained through videogames. She hoped those special controllers she had bought proved to be useful, because if not then she was going to complain to the companies that had made them in a very angry e-mail.

The girl didn’t appear to be doing very good. She didn’t speak while working, but her hands moved around a lot without doing much and she constantly dropped her tools when any kind of loud noise sounded. After a while, the simulation finished, and when she stepped out of the cockpit she looked defeated.

Akko started to wonder what the exercise for Witches would be.

The next student was a _spirit_ researcher, like Lotte. Her test consisted on trying to calm down a failed A.I. that had gone mad without shutting it down. Akko wondered how one would go about that, if the spirit was already mad, then talking to it wouldn’t really help, would it? She was wrong, apparently, because after a few minutes the girl inside the cockpit came out with a satisfied smile crossing her face.

Akko perked up at the announcement of the next in line, looking away from where she was trying to keep Sucy from using another one of her _potions_ – small capsules of Magic Energy, focused on producing effects on the world around them – on her.

Amanda stepped forward, ignoring the warning look Miss Nelson was giving her and slipped into the cockpit with an ease the other girls hadn’t had. Through the screen Akko saw how Amanda didn’t hesitate to sit down and take the controls. The piloting chair was a low one, in which feet were given plenty space to move. The feet were used for the regulation of speeds and breaks – though, there wasn’t really a ‘break’ on a broom: Only reversible engines that allowed you to slow down. Basically, a reverse gear. This was because many brooms were used for space travel, where having air-breaks – like the earlier models of brooms had – wasn’t really useful.

In front of Amanda, the screen that had so far remained black turned on, simulating the view of a long, vast plain with nothing in sight but tall green grass and spotless blue skies. The simulation started and Amanda instantly pressed a couple buttons and switches and took off, not bothering to wait for the teacher’s signal. “O’Neill, what do you think you’re doing? You don’t even know where you have to go!” As Miss Nelson tried to quickly explain the goal of the simulation, Amanda completely ignored her guidelines and did a barrel roll.

“This thing is too heavy!” She cried as the ship barely managed to stay on the air. Then, it started to gain speed, but after a few seconds Amanda snorted. “And what am I flying on? A turtle?!”

“This is a simple practice, O’Neill!” The teacher explained with exasperation. “Broom-Racing practice doesn’t start until your special course in second year!”

“What?!” The redhead turned to look at where the camera was placed, flying in the simulation without even looking at it. “But I don’t want to do this boring stuff!”

“Then don’t,” Miss Nelson said it with a serious tone, far more serious than the one she’d been using this far, and grabbed her wand, which, like everyone, she kept hooked in a special place in the uniforms made just for that purpose at the hip. She flicked it, and the simulation instantly stopped. “And, you’re banned from _any kind_ of flying until _I_ say so!”

“Well, whatever,” Amanda stood and burst out of the cockpit with a ‘whatever’ face, matching her words. “Not that I’d want to fly this boring thing anyways.”

Nelson just shook her head, looking at her list again. Another girl went in, this time it was a gunman. The entire interior of the cockpit changed, the panels of control flipping and the joysticks diving into the ground and turning into… another pair of joysticks, though these ones looked more rigid and thick.

The test this time consisted on the ship moving around and the girl having to shoot at the targets, nothing fancy. Akko watched with some semblance of curiosity, since up to this day she still considered the gunman of the Shiny Rod the best one in the whole world. But, well, there was no way to compare, since the Shiny Rod had had one of the most unique fighting systems in history. No other broom could compare to it and the creative ways it had found to use Magic Energy.

Mostly because it had been lost along with Chariot, and no one had gotten the chance to study it.

Akko had been so lost in thought that, when her name was called, she had to be pushed forward by Lotte before she reacted.

She heard some snickering and snapped her head backwards, seeing the girls at the source. They weren’t trying to be subtle. Hannah and Barbara, Diana’s teammates. As usual, they stood just a few paces around their tall, perfect-looking leader. So perfect that it pissed Akko off. She stuck her tongue out at them and then turned again, walking determinedly towards the cockpit. She reached forth, grabbing the opening mechanism – a circle in the middle with a handle, when the handle was pulled or pushed the door would release the pressure that kept it closed and allowed it to open – and pulling.  She entered the space, which now looked smaller than it had onscreen, and walked a few steps forward, sitting down on the seat. This was her first time actually sitting in one of these, even if it was a fake. Her determination from before started to falter as the sight of all the buttons in front of her overwhelmed her. She stretched her feet, the pedals finding their way towards them and positioning themselves in a comfortable position for Akko.

“Miss Kagari, I get it this is your first time doing something like this?” Miss Nelson asked. Akko felt a rush of relief from the voice, at least she wouldn’t have to figure stuff out on her own.

“Yes,” Akko said, and she heard some more snickering through the communicator.

“Well then, be careful, but remember what you were taught in class and everything should be fine,” the teacher said, and Akko pressed her lips. She hadn’t really been paying attention to most classes. “You only have to from point A to point B, as shown in the radar.”

Akko desperately looked around for the radar before realizing she probably needed to wait until the screen showed her something to see it, since that’s where normal radars would be – hopefully. In front of her appeared, then, the same grass field Amanda had used, and she felt her heart drop when she didn’t see the radar anywhere on the screen.

She started cautiously looking at the buttons again. A green one to her left, slightly larger than others, had a circle and a cross on it. It could be the aim of a sniper, or...

After pressing it, a pale-green holographic radar appeared in front of Akko, high enough that she didn’t need to look down but low enough that it wasn’t in the way. Akko assumed she was the small yellow arrow, and that she needed to get to the red point at the edge of the circle. “Ok, miss Kagari, you may start.”

Akko’s first instinct was to reach for a pedal with her feet. There were four of them: The one in the far left was the _instant reverse_ pedal, the middle left was _gear down,_ the middle right was _gear up –_ more commonly called accelerator - and the far right was the _magic burst._ Well, that last one probably wasn’t called magic burst, but that’s how Akko had grown up calling it that. There was a button on the joysticks themselves to turn off the engines entirely, but in space that wouldn’t do much to stop a ship from moving. So, Akko pressed the _gear up_ and the ship started moving, the mock cockpit somehow simulating the movement and giving it a realistic feeling.

“Kagari, what are you doing?!” Miss Nelson instantly yelled. “You didn’t start hovering, you didn’t retract your wheels, you didn’t check to see if all systems were running!”

The brunette, upon hearing this, panicked. She looked around the countless buttons and switches and levers for any semblance of knowledge as to what any of them did. After a few seconds she found the drawing of a wheel next to a switch to her right, pressing it. The wheels retracted, and the ship started to grind against the little segment of concrete that was meant for take-off, the cockpit vibrating and emulating it in such a realistic way that for a second Akko worried about breaking the broom. Akko heard some gasps and snickering from the communicator as Miss Nelson yelled at her for retracting the wheels before she started to hover. The grass upfront was starting to get really close, and panicking, Akko pressed the first switch that she considered might be for hovering, since it had the little drawing of a couple of lines that, in her mind, could be a reference to that.

Instead, the heat turned on. Snickering turned to full blown laughter as Akko started to press every button, switch and pull on any lever that might be related to the task at hand. She hit the line of grass, continuing to move across the field without seeing where she was going.

After turning on the radio, flushing the non-existent toilet of the cockpit, making her seat start to vibrate and turning on the air-conditioner, she finally found the green button to her left that activated the hovering. In her defense, the drawing, a simple square with two wavy lines below it, had looked like a dog in her first sweeping views of the controls.

Not that it mattered now. The simulated broom finally started to hover, and now Akko could simply push on the joysticks and...

As soon as she did, the nose of her broom crashed into the ground, making Akko stumble forward and fall off her seat, and the entire thing stopped in its tracks.

“What!” Akko cried. “Inverted movement?!”

“It’s the standard movement, Miss Kagari,” the teacher said in a low, resigned voice, and the screen in front of Akko turned off. “Get out of the cockpit.”

Akko sat there in the floor for a few seconds, trying not to punch the screen in frustration. Whenever she’d play a videogame she’d turn off the inverted movement. She hadn’t known that was the _standard_ one! She stood and exited the mock cockpit, trying not to look too embarrassed, and probably failing. Still, she looked angrily at all those who were staring at her with smirks or chuckling.

“Miss Kagari,” Miss Nelson said.

“Yeah?”

“You too are banned from _any_ kind of flying until I say so. Is that clear?”

“…yeah” Akko said in a weak voice, not able to meet her teacher’s eyes.

“I believe you understand why,” Miss Nelson’s voice was softer this time. Akko still didn’t meet her eyes, but she nodded. “Ok, next one is…!” she called the next student, but Akko was no longer paying attention.

“It’s fine, Akko,” Lotte tried to encourage her as she went back to their group. It didn’t really help, at all. “Everyone has a rough start,” she softly patted Akko’s arm in a comforting way, which Akko appreciated.

“Though I bet not everyone buries their broom in the ground as soon as they get it in the air,” Sucy poked fun, earning her a glare and open mouth as she was beginning to complain. However, she got interrupted by someone else.

“I mean, you got my heart racing with your flying,” Hannah’s voice said from behind her. “I was laughing so hard…”

“That has to be the worst first try I’ve seen in my entire life!” Barbara also appeared, and both girls started an overdone synchronized laughter.

Akko’s face grew red with both anger and shame. “Well I’ll…”

A sudden alarm noise distracted her, and she looked up at the screen, where the next girl in line was desperately trying to fix something under the control panels. Akko cringed, who would be able to concentrate under that kind of noise? Not that she was able to do so in normal circumstances anyways.

She had gotten so distracted that she didn’t notice when the two bullies walked away, bored now that Akko wasn’t paying attention to them anymore.

“Don’t let them get to you, Akko,” Amanda appeared out of nowhere. “You don’t need that stupid simulator anyways,” they weren’t friends per-se, but they had found some camaraderie on them both being labeled as troublemakers the first week at school. Behind the redhead, her two teammates appeared. The tiny Constanze and the chubby Jasminka stared at her with indifferent expressions. Constanze had a wand on her hand – though, strangely, her wand appeared to be a little thicker than normal ones. Jasminka, on the other hand, was eating some snacks.

Akko nodded, but was now paying closer attention to the other’s troubles.

The next familiar face came in the form of Barbara, who was a system engineer. Akko cocked her head, how many specializations were there in this school? She hadn’t really checked, she knew the first year was for basic understanding and that from the second year onwards everyone would get to their specialization of choice. For one simulator to be able to generate so many different scenarios… It was baffling.

Barbara didn’t appear to be affected at all by the pressure. She connected a little keyboard to one of the ports in the controls and started to work without rush. She finished her task in a couple minutes and stood out of the Cockpit with a satisfied smile that made Akko move her jaw in annoyance, particularly when the black-haired girl shot a look at her and winked.

After that, Constanze breezed past her own test, though Miss Nelson said that she shouldn’t take advantage of the simplicity of the simulation to add things to the design. And after another couple of students, all voices started to quiet down.

“Diana Cavendish,” the teacher called. Diana, with her beautiful wavy hair, drew the attention of everyone, Akko included. There was elegance in her stride and confidence in her eyes as she opened the mock cockpit and settled into the seat.

The entire class appeared to be focusing only on her, and Akko’s curiosity kept growing. What could Diana do that was so amazing? Why would everyone just stare at her, creating this weird atmosphere?

When the simulation started, Diana carefully pressed a couple of buttons and switches before she started hovering and retracted the wheels. Unlike Amanda’s swift but overly excited movements, she did them all with a sense of… Composure that Akko envied.

Then, Diana started to move backwards and to the left. On the side of the screen the goal was shown, and where other students had started moving forward and steering, Diana just took advantage of the mobility of the broom and hovered straight in the direction of the red point. However, after just a few seconds, she moved her feet quickly and moved her hands, and the ship turned about a hundred and fifty degrees and then started moving forward, not ever losing the previous trajectory.

It wasn’t flashy or awe-inspiring, but Akko understood that what Diana had done wasn’t normal. It was a simple task to perform: Go from point A to point B. Yet Diana had still managed to show the absolute difference in ability between herself and the others.

“She’s not called the best witch to ever set foot on Luna Nova for nothing,” Hannah said from somewhere, and even if she wasn’t speaking to Akko, it still felt like a personal attack.

Akko was between jealousy and bafflement when Diana finally came out, and Akko realized her mouth was slightly opened in surprise, closing it instantly. Miss Nelson then moved on to the next student.

Or, she tried to, because before she could even call the name, the screen showing the inside of the cockpit changed. It turned blue. For a second Akko feared it had suffered a BSOD. It hadn’t, for after a few seconds of waiting, Headmistress Holbrooke appeared, wearing her older-than-the-sun piloting attire – a thick anti-g suit that didn’t fit her all that well anymore – and a really old witch hat. Witch hat as in fairy-tale witch hat, not the standard helmet that was nowadays called that.

Her normally happy and easy-going face was now serious and intense.

“It’s here!” Someone exclaimed, and Akko cocked her head. What was here? She looked around, and saw excitement in the eyes of everyone, including Amanda, weirdly enough. The only girl in the room who didn’t appear fazed was Diana, who looked with her usual demeanor at the Headmistress. Or, maybe, that’s what she wanted everyone to think. Akko noticed the slightest of smiles on her face.

So this was something serious, then?

Holbrooke spoke and suddenly it all made sense. “The next Inter-Planetary Race has been officially announced. All students, teachers and school staff are to be congregated in the auditorium as soon as possible,” she said in a really serious voice.

Akko, now understanding what the apparent excitement was about, smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect all chapters to be as long as this one. They won't. I kept this as a single chapter because it's more of an introduction than anything else.


	3. Chapter 3

The Inter-Planetary Race, easily the most important sports event since earth established contact with aliens. No one knew exactly how it started, but Akko’s knowledge of the event was something like this: A human wizard and a couple of pilots from other races started discussing which planet had the best pilots. It wasn’t long before they had organized their own little race, which was won by a Shapeshifter – aliens whose smoke-like physiology allowed them, back in the day, to have superior means of flying to the other races.

This little event turned into a not so little one when the next one occurred, and after a few decades, the whole ordeal had grown to the Planetary Alliance’s biggest event. So important that it happened once a decade.

The best pilots of the universe – or at least the explored universe – would come together to prove which race had the superior speed, strength… and other things Akko had forgotten about.

Chariot had been the first human to almost win – she had appeared out of nowhere in earth’s qualifiers, and by the fifth race – out of ten - of the main event she was already first on the competition. Akko had gone to see her seventh race live, right before chariot disappeared on the ninth one.

A new Inter-Planetary Race was a motive for excitement and celebration, particularly in a school like Luna Nova Academy, and that was obvious by the energetic chatter of everyone – hundreds – in the auditorium, an enormous, also completely white room, except for the metallic stage at the end of the room with a dais in it. Tall but thin windows lined the walls, almost mimicking pillars.

Chatter that slowly went down as Headmistress Holbrooke stepped into the dais.

“Yes, yes,” her kind tone had come back to her voice, but her face was still worried. “It is a great day indeed, the Inter-Planetary Race is a big event and we all love it,” Akko felt like there was something strange with her voice. “However, we have an announcement to make.”

There was already silence in the room, but the way Holbrooke had said that made all possible noise stop. Suddenly, the entire room started to feel eerie. Why the seriousness? Why the worry?

Why was a screen raising behind her?

“I’m sure we all know what the rules of the race can be,” she started, as the screen showed a simple graphic of the different stages of the competition, from qualifiers to finals. Normally, each planet would hold their own tournament to determine who was worthy of being the representative before the actual Inter-Planetary Race started, and then the big race cycled through five different sets of rules every time. Akko only knew one of the five sets of rules, since all she cared about was Chariot. “So I’ll skip the explanation. However, this time earth is doing things a little… Differently,” she offered that last word with a hint of anger.

The screen changed as she flicked her wand – Magic had a weird way of reacting to movement, so controlling a wand was pretty hard and something Akko found troublesome – to show a simple… List of students? Everyone had a zero at their sides, too.

“This is the ranking of every pilot – student or not,” she paused for a second, taking an angry breath. “And it will only be up for a week. The IPR this time and for some reason is happening just ten days from now, instead of the usual month, so there’s no time to prepare an actual tournament… Or that’s what they say anyways,” she added in a mumble. “Still, you heard correctly: Students are also allowed to participate this time,” she looked over the ranks of teenagers standing in front of her and Akko thought she saw pity in her eyes. “Though you shouldn’t be _too_ hopeful, please remember that you’re just children and that pros are participating in the rankings too.”

The eerie silence in the auditorium had transformed into potential cries of excitement, and Akko herself felt the excitement this produced. Nobody questioned the strange decision, nobody _wanted_ to question it. A chance to participate in the Inter-Planetary Race while only being students? What an amazing opportunity!

“The two best Witches or Wizards of the ranking will also be earth’s pilots, and they will in turn have the right to select their substitutes, gunman and substitute gunman. Now, I know we’re all… Excited,” Holbrooke sure didn’t sound like it. “But keep calm. If you want to take the test, the inscriptions are open in reception. Students will have to ask their parents and Miss Nelson for approval, too.” She stepped out of the dais. “This is it for now, have a good day and return to your classes.”

As soon as she disappeared, the building excitement exploded, and a hundred energetic conversations started at once.

 

“No, and no,” Miss Nelson looked at Amanda and Akko, who had said nothing, with a very severe expression. They were now in the school’s entrance, a square room with rows of pillars that led to the main hallway or the outside. The line of students and staff members grew bigger by the second, and as far as Akko could it went outside and probably turned a few corners of the school too. Akko didn’t want to look outside and be too discouraged by the waiting time. Having to stand with nothing to see but trees would be hellish. She was almost relieved with Miss Nelson’s quick answer.

“What? Why not? I’m the best pilot at this academy!” Amanda instantly complained.

“Then you should’ve proved it in the simulation room. And I don’t know why you’re even here, Miss Kagari, you can’t even get a broom on the air, did you seriously expect me to allow you to participate in this?”

Akko frowned. Miss Nelson was right, of course. That didn’t make it hurt any less. “Well, maybe there’s a broom without inverted controls…” Akko said, but the teacher simply shook her head and turned to the line of students behind them.

“Just go, girls, I have _a lot_ of work this week.”

Amanda made as if to spit, but then she just grunted and walked away. Akko cocked her head, surprised at Amanda’s tame reaction. She would probably had insisted a little more on normal circumstances, but the shame of her earlier catastrophic failure still haunted her.

Akko followed Amanda through the rows of students out into the main hallway, with its white walls and the red carpet, but found her going in the opposite direction of the classroom they were supposed to be in now – they had gotten permission to leave to try to participate in the IPR. Curiosity overwriting her sense of responsibility – as always – instead of going back to class she went after the redhead.

After the first corner, Akko was surprised to see the redhead going out through one of the windows. Everyone in the room was so busy with the race ordeal that no one noticed. Making a split-second decision, Akko followed, jumping through the window too and falling face-first into some bushes.

When she looked up, Amanda was looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey,” she said.

“Shut it,” Amanda grabbed her arm and picked her up. “If you gonna follow me then don’t make much noise.”

Akko nodded and started to follow Amanda through the school grounds. From the outside, Luna Nova academy was a simple-looking, even if gigantic, white building with an almost hospital-like look. In the past it had been a beautiful and old building, but in the advent of the new century it had been completely rebuilt to adapt to a modern standard and, more importantly, to allow for the best Magic equipment to be used.

Akko and Amanda quickly circled the school, and Akko realized where they were going. “Why are we going to New Moon Tower?”

The tall and cylindrical building was really, really high. So high that Akko was certain vertigo would kick in, even if she didn’t normally suffer it. That was the facility that allowed magic to be extracted from the earth.

“You’ll see.”

They continued forward, since apparently not a single soul was out in the school grounds at this hour. Akko looked to her right, where the school’s own practice racetrack stood tall. She hadn’t had the chance to look inside it, but she hoped she’d one day get to practice on it.

And when they reached the tower – surrounded by a fence that they easily jumped over – Amanda took out her wand. A _spell_ appeared from her pocket and moved towards the metallic door, attacking a little camera above it with pale green magic energy. “Come on, that’ll give us a minute to get in,” Amanda whispered and moved. Akko followed, feeling her heart start to race with thrill.

The door had an electronic password lock, but Amanda pressed the combination of numbers without even hesitating and strode in, Akko behind her.

“Isn’t that security a little too… weak?” Akko asked surprised. This was an important Magic Energy-extraction facility after all.

“That’s just for the entrance. The important places have heavier security, but I don’t care about those. Come on, follow me,” as the door behind them closed, she shook her wand and it lit up like a flashlight, showing that the inside of the tower had a central, massive pillar that Akko suspected was also the pipe extracting the Magic from the ground in a pale green light. The rest of the base level floor was apparently empty. A set of stairs and elevators led up, but both of those had electronic locks too, and these ones required some kind of key-card to open them. For a second Akko thought that Amanda was going to pull one out, but instead she just took a normal key from her pocket and kept moving.

They rounded the pillar, and on the other side, they found a set of stairs going down. Akko gulped, it was really dark down there. She took out her own wand and shook it. Miraculously, it lit like Amanda’s had, and she sighed. Last time she’d tried to pull that off one of her _spells_ had broken a window. The stairs had a simple fence and chain to lock them. Amanda used the key on the padlock and opened the door, looking back at Akko and putting a finger o her lips, signaling the brunette to be quiet.

The trip downstairs was a dark one. Their wand-flashlights did little to ease Akko’s anxiety as they walked into the underground. Where were they going? Magic Energy was extracted several hundred feet underneath the earth, so it’s not like they could walk all the way down to a Ley-line. Could they? Akko didn’t want to think about it.

Despite her musings, the trip downstairs ended up being not that long. When they reached the bottom, Akko was surprised to see an enormous door waiting for them. It had to be at least ten meters high and wide. It was metallic, and big metallic draw-bars were used to close it.

“What is this?” Akko asked in wonder. The metallic door was completely plain and empty of any inscriptions, and as she looked around she found that it was the only thing in the narrow corridor.

“You’ll see,” Amanda said with a smile. She approached the giant metallic door and started to fidget with something. Only then Akko noticed that in the left corner there was a normal, human sized door with another padlock. This one, however, Amanda was picking with a lock pick. After a few moments of clicking sounds and grunts of frustration, the lock gave up and the door opened with a soft creak.

Amanda entered. Akko hesitated for a moment before following.

And she was absolutely amazed by what she saw.

“A broom graveyard…” She trailed off as she started to walk. What she had said was instantly apparent: The impossibly enormous chamber opened up before her, both up and down, and all kinds of hulls, fuselages and broom pieces were lying around in heaps, without a single window or light in sight. Bulky and slim, big and small, rusted and new-looking, all of them amazing and interesting in their own rights. Akko was standing on a platform that was, apparently, also an elevator to carry those brooms up or down, and she started to suspect that the central pillar of the tower might have not been what she imagined. To her right there was a metal staircase leading down to the ground level, which was about ten meters down too. The entire thing must have been twenty-five meters tall, and Akko couldn’t even see the opposite or side walls from her position.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Amanda said before starting to go downstairs. Akko eagerly followed, excited to see what she could find. Beyond the initial silence, Akko noticed a low rumble echoing through the chamber, only broken by their metallic steps. Each step made her worry that if someone was down there they’d hear them.

“Why is this here? Luna Nova isn’t a broom manufacturer, is it?” Akko asked, still pointing her wand at the heaps of brooms in disbelief.

“I’ve no idea,” Amanda shrugged. “Maybe they get paid for this or something? Does it matter?”

“Well, I guess not really,” Akko agreed. There could be a million reasons for this graveyard to be here, who cared.

They reached the floor, and Akko relaxed a little, since their walking wasn’t so noisy anymore. The heaps didn’t appear to have an order of some kind. Akko tried to find something like that, but where one pile appeared to be mostly of old brooms and another of mostly new brooms, there would be also one mixing both with no pattern. Some heaps were tall and wide, and Akko would’ve feel compelled to climb them if not for the strange reverence she felt towards the old brooms. There were also Wands scattered through the floor, older and newer, and Akko suspected they used to be the brooms’ keys. Other heaps were short, with barely two or three brooms and some pieces. As she walked next to one, she picked up an old couple of joysticks from the pile and examined it. Unlike the ones in the simulator, these ones had buttons on the sides. It was definitely from a broom-Racer, though Akko couldn’t tell which one at all.

Amanda had gone a different way, but Akko could see her light through the abandoned brooms and other garbage. Despite her earlier apprehension, her excitement was greater, leading her to explore without much worries.

Sometimes she tripped with junk in the floor, the noises of metal against metal echoing through the graveyard. A lot of things caught her hyperactive eye, like a really, really old one-joystick controller paired with buttons or one specific broom that she recognized as one she had a toy of. Her family hadn’t really been able to afford a broom, so they still used normal hover-mobiles.

Amanda sometimes made noise too. She seemed to be climbing a lot of these heaps, but Akko worried she was going to cut herself with some rusty metal or something. She would, under no circumstances, try to…

What was that? She had casually pointed her wand upwards, towards the top of a particularly tall heap. At least fifteen meters tall, reaching further up, even, than the elevator. There, in the middle of the slope upwards, stood something strange. A white stick, a little larger than a normal wand. She let her light drop while thinking. Even from the distance, something was familiar about it.

It was glowing with a pale green light, and Akko finally recognized it. Her eyes widened with awe and shock, mixed with some excitement. She looked around, but Amanda was pretty far away. She cringed at the thought of calling for her and making a ruckus, so instead she just looked up and rolled up her sleeves. Grabbing her wand with teeth instead of hands, she gulped and started to slowly climb the heap.

She stepped on the rusty pieces of brooms or the brooms themselves as she went up. Wings, engines, doors and glass were her steps in the climb, climb that she had decided to do without looking down. Whenever she felt a sharp edge near, she moved very carefully. Luckily, everything seemed to be pretty well settled, besides some smaller pieces, and the climb was mostly uneventful. In a few minutes she had reached the strange wand – which was about ten meters up, in line with the platform at the entrance – and taken it into her hands.

It was about fifty percent longer than a normal wand, and a little thicker too. The most interesting thing about it, however, was the golden handle and the seven small beads of glass that surrounded it, which were giving the thing its glow.

It had to be what she believed it to be. There wasn’t any other like this in the whole universe, as far as she knew.

The key-wand of the Shiny Rod.

She contained her excitement, quickly climbing down the heap of brooms – or, as quickly as she could – and, as soon as she touched the ground, calling for Amanda.

“Amanda! Come here, look at this!” She didn’t care about the noise anymore. A minute later, Amanda appeared from between two smaller piles behind Akko. Akko squinted her eyes as the redhead pointed at them with the light, and when they were close to each other, Akko raised the wand.

“What?” Amanda looked at it with confusion.

“Don’t you recognize it?”

“Sorry, no,” she said with a shrug.

Akko frowned. “It’s the key-wand to the Shiny Rod!”

Amanda instantly snorted, not even bothering to consider it. “Don’t be silly, the Shiny Rod and Chariot disappeared a decade ago. Why would that key wand be here?” She examined the wand again. “And more importantly, how come it’s in such a perfect state?”

Considering this, Akko came to no conclusions. “Well, I dunno, but…” Then, an idea came to mind. “Wait, didn’t the Shiny Rod come upon calling? Alcor was a Familiar, right?” _Familiars_ were kind of like _spirits,_ but unlike normal A.I. they were fine-tuned to their users and had very specific commands and functions only their owners knew about.

“I think so…” Amanda’s eyes widened. “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?”

“Depends, what do you think I’m thinking?” Akko said as a smirk slowly crept through her face.

Then, with the knowledge coming from watching hundreds, maybe thousands of hours’ worth of Chariot videos, she flicked the wand in the exact way she knew to be the calling command.

And both girls heard a rumble in the distance.


	4. Chapter 4

Diana sat in her room, preparing. The room, one of the high-class ones, was spacious. As the rest of the school, it had white walls and floor. However, the low ceiling made it a little more cozy than most other places, and the colorful furniture they had brought to it – red covers for the beds, dark wooden furniture, blue curtains and green plants – made it a little less boring.

As usual, her two teammates sat in their beds. Diana had made a separation with a bookshelf for herself, since she enjoyed the little semblance of privacy it could provide.

It had been a long day. When the announcement of the IPR was made, and the change of rules, she instantly knew this was her chance. She wouldn’t get another one for ten years. If she wanted to pursue her dream, she had to do it _now._ This knowledge had her on edge, even if no one noticed. Time seemed to move through tar, a single minute extending to infinity as she waited for her turn to rank. She didn’t need to be the First Category pilot, she could settle with a pro at First and taking the Second Category place.

But, could she really hope to participate? She was just a teenager. How would she fare against someone with more skill and experience? A part of her mind told her that it was a futile effort; that she should just focus on bettering herself for now and aiming to participate on the next decade.

She didn’t listen to that part. The sooner she could pull this off, the better. In normal circumstances she would probably wonder why the change in rules and times, but as things stood she preferred not to question it. For now.

“You ready, Diana?” Hannah’s head poked from the other side of the bookshelf. Diana was indeed ready, so she nodded.

Diana circled the shelves shoving any doubts aside. Her teammates, Hannah wearing her special gunman uniform and Barbara wearing more simple clothing, waited for her. Diana wore her uniform, carried a helmet under one hand and had made herself a ponytail.

“Let us go, girls,” Diana said in her always neutral voice.

They stepped into the corridor of their wing of rooms, and slowly made their way down to the first floor. Diana tried not to focus too much on the task she was about to perform. Only a week to do the rankings meant that everyone who applied only got one chance to prove themselves, and Diana had come on top of the raffle for trying. While others might’ve considered this a good thing, Diana understood that it wasn’t. It took away any chances she’d have of practicing. While that probably was a part of the experiment – after all, the IPR required great improvisation skills – it didn’t help Diana relax, knowing she was going unprepared beyond basic knowledge of how races usually functioned.

“Are you ok, Diana?” Hannah asked. Diana looked at her auburn-haired friend and nodded absently. She hadn’t realized it, but she was looking down while walking, something unusual for her.

“It’s going to be fine, you’re the best broom pilot in the last century, you’ll blow everyone away I bet!” Barbara encouraged.

“Yes, you’re right,” Diana put on a façade of confidence. Her teammates looked up to her, despite her inner struggle. She didn’t want to disappoint them, or anyone. She made sure to keep her inscription a secret from most people, in case she didn’t do good for whatever reason.

As she walked towards the pro’s simulation room, crossing in the white hallways classmates and other students, she was trying to keep the helmet and strange hairstyle as hidden as she could. If someone saw her like this they’d realize what she was doing.

When she finally reached the place, a big room on the western side of the Luna Nova building, she knocked on the door. The woman who opened the door was one Diana didn’t recognize. She had long, blue hair and a couple of red eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. She wore the tight, standard anti-g suit that was mandatory for school staff and students, but it was of a darker shade than most. She greeted Diana with a kind expression.

“Ah, Miss Cavendish, I believe,” she said in a soft voice. “Come, please.”

Diana nodded in a polite salute and walked into the room followed by her teammates, where three broom-Racer simulators stood. Smaller than the one they’d used the previous day, these three only the pilot seat and the controls along with a separate space for the gunman. This time there was no screen showing the insides of the mock cockpits as the ones inside them right now would most likely be other competitors. The results of the rankings wouldn’t be posted until the next day, probably to encourage pilots who didn’t want to bother to try to participate and best the leaderboard.

A memory of Akko’s failure made Diana relax a little. Both because she knew she wouldn’t fail as hard as that, at least, but also because it had reminded her of _her_ first time on a broom. She had done almost the same mistakes as Akko; biggest difference being that she wasn’t on a simulator.

Of course, she _had_ been only ten years old back then.

“Who are you?” Hannah asked, looking at the woman, who turned and looked at them with some surprise.

“Oh, right, sorry. I’m Ursula Callistis, pleasure to meet you,” she offered a hand to Hannah.

Hannah took it. “Hannah England, Diana’s gunman,” she said. Ursula nodded, the warm smile on her face not fading.

“And you must be Barbara Parker, is that right?” The woman said looking at Barbara.

“Yes,” Barbara shook her hand too.

Then, Ursula turned to Diana. “And, well, you need no presentations, isn’t that right?” She offered her hand to the younger girl. Diana took it, noticing that her hands were strong. “Are you nervous?”

Diana’s first reaction was to scoff. She regretted it instantly, but she was so used to showing confidence that when someone questioned it she couldn’t help it. “Why would I?” she said, shaking her head. “I either make it or I wasn’t good enough, there’s no other way to see it.”

Ursula looked at her with doubt. “I… see,” she hesitated, but didn’t get the chance to say more thanks to one of the cockpits opening. Miss Finnelan came out, confidence showing in her face, followed by a younger member of the pro-team who wasn’t part of the teaching body. She instantly noticed Diana and her companions and moved towards them.

“Ah, I see you’ve met our new recruit, Ursula,” she said as she approached. “Are you ready, Miss Cavendish?”

“Of course, Miss Finnelan,” Diana nodded respectfully to her teacher. Finnelan nodded in approval and pointed to the cockpit.

“Go. Good luck,” she patted Diana’s shoulder and then walked off. Diana wondered if that had been an honest encouragement or just a polite one. She figured it didn’t really matter.

“Well, Diana, let’s go get them,” Hannah gave her a few pats on the back.

Barbara joined with some rubbings on the arm. “I’ll go back now. See you when you’re done,” she said before turning to go.

Diana looked at Ursula, who nodded slightly, and took a deep breath.

 

“Wow,” Amanda said, looking at the Shiny Rod hovering in front of them with a low rumble. The long, slim broom was instantly recognizable with its pristine white and incomparable shape. The seven magic orbs and the unique engine were all glowing with faint, pale green light. “What the hell is this thing doing here?”

“Who cares?” Akko jumped on top of it, stumbling for a second before finding her footing. It was about three meters wide and seven meters long. The cockpit must have been a meter and a half and two and a half meters. Akko knew that from below she would have been able to see a door leading to the gunman’s place in the ship.

“Akko, what the hell are you…” Amanda trailed off as she saw Akko reach the windshield of the cockpit and wave her wand. It opened, and she jumped inside the broom without hesitating. “Wait, you don’t know how to pilot! Let me do this!” she quickly climbed the ship and followed Akko.

The cockpit was… Unusual. It lacked controls, buttons or switches. Inside there was nothing but a throne-like chair and a couple of glowing orbs. When Akko sat down – completely ignoring Amanda’s request – she rested her arms on the armrest and her hands fell naturally on top of the orbs right as the redhead dropped inside the cockpit behind her. It was rather cramped with the two of them there. The windshield closed, leaving them trapped. Akko didn’t mind, she was entranced with the broom.

There was a moment of silence in which Akko didn’t know what to do. What were the orbs for? Chariot had never let anyone explore the inside of her cockpit. They had to be the controls, but…

Two light-beams suddenly shot from the orbs and met in front of Akko. In quick motions they started to draw something in the air, a 3D model of something that looked like a bird. A crow, to be precise. When the drawing was finished, the light-beams disappeared, but the crow stayed there. It had the four-pointed star that was Chariot’s symbol on its chest. Akko looked back at Amanda, who shrugged, obviously as confused as she was.

“Uhm,” Akko raised a finger, debating if she should touch the bird or not. “Hello?”

**Hello. Welcome,** the bird suddenly said. Both girls jumped back in shock.

“A spirit?” Amanda asked, leaning over Akko’s shoulder.

“No,” Akko realized. “It must be Alcor. Are you Alcor?”

**Yes,** Alcor answered with a monotone voice.

“Well, hello, Alcor. I’m not Chariot, you realize that?” Akko quickly got past her initial surprise and now the excitement had come back.

“Akko what are you doing?” Amanda whispered on her ear. “It might shut down if it…”

**Not Chariot confirmed. Hello, Not Chariot. What should I do?**

Akko cocked her head, dumbfounded. Amanda chuckled. “Ehm… How do I control this thing?” Akko asked. Alcor stood mid-air without moving for a few seconds, and Akko started to believe it had maybe frozen or something. Right as she was wondering if she could restart an entire ship like a computer, the crow extended its wings. From between Akko’s legs, a panel slid and a controller approached her. A video-game controller. Well, not one from any console she recognized, but similar enough. It had a very similar setup, with two joysticks, two sets of four buttons, four triggers, a comfortable grip…

“Hey, wait a second,” Akko frowned. “If this is how the Shiny Rod is controlled why the hell did I buy that fancy simulator controller for my games?” She complained. Amanda was now almost climbing on Akko’s back to see better what was going on.

“Is this thing controlled with a video-game controller? I don’t buy it,” she said, skepticism on her voice.

Akko tested a few buttons, but they didn’t do anything. She moved the joysticks and pressed the triggers, but again, nothing. Was this some kind of prank?

“Alcor, can you show me the controls of this thing?” She asked. Alcor took a few seconds to do it, but his bird shape disappeared and was substituted by a screen. The screen showed the explanation for what every button did. So she first needed to press the ‘start’ button, huh.

“Hey Alcor,” Amanda suddenly said. “Doesn’t this thing have normal controls?”

The screen in front of Akko changed. It showed a standard broom control system. Amanda hummed, nodding. Then she touched the screen. Akko believed her hand was just going to phase through it, since it appeared to be a simple hologram. However, a slight beep sounded and suddenly Akko’s controller got yanked out of her hands and into the floor again. After a few seconds another controller rose from the ground, this one being a standard, coupled with pedals and everything.

“Wait, there’s a shitton of things missing,” Amanda said. “Hell, there’s only movement controls here, how could anyone fly this thing?”

**The Shiny Rod handles most things automatically. All you have to do is rest your hands on the Control Spheres and think about what you need** _,_ Alcor said. Apparently he couldn’t tell that Amanda and Akko weren’t the same person. Well, it _was_ an older Familiar after all.

“Automatically, huh?” Amanda had a disbelieving undertone to her. “Isn’t that a little convenient?”

They waited a few seconds, but Alcor didn’t answer. Amanda sighed. Akko didn’t mind and started to grin.

She pressed the start button, and then put her foot into the accelerator. The broom started moving. A seatbelt automatically crossed over Akko. Amanda stumbled to the floor, surprised by the sudden movement. The screen in front of Akko slid to the side to avoid getting in the way.

“Akko, what are you doin-Ah!” She cried as Akko tried to rise into the air, but instead dived into the ground, grinding the Rod’s nose in the ground. Akko grunted in frustration, but then an idea came to mind.

“Alcor, can you turn off the inverted controls?”

This time, the response was faster. **Inverted Controls deactivated.**

_Now that’s more like it,_ Akko thought with a smile. She tilted the joysticks and the broom moved mostly as she wanted.

Except that it was a little too loose for her tastes. She heard a heap of brooms crumble to the ground as she hit it on accident, and then another one. She tried to aim herself at the ceiling, but it was a little faster than expected and the broom jumped. broom-Racers weren’t meant to fly – They just hovered, Akko believed the limit of altitude was about five meters. ‘Jumping’ is what they called to suddenly point upwards and get over the limit. While doing that, you lost the ability to control the broom-Racer for a short time.

Akko crashed into a heap that miraculously didn’t come down on them.

“Ok, get out of the controls, I’m taking us out of here,” Amanda gained her footing again and tried to shove Akko off the pilot seat. Akko stubbornly refused to move.

“ _I_ found the Shiny Rod and _I’m_ going to pilot it, got it?” She turned and stuck out her tongue. “Ehm, Alcor, do you… Know how to get out of here?”

Right when she thought there wasn’t going to be an answer, the screen changed again, showing a tridimensional map of the surrounding area. _Cool,_ Akko thought. In the map there were two dots, a yellow one that was clearly the broom and a red one that the brunette assumed was the exit. It was at the other side of the enormous graveyard, but Akko took it as a chance to practice with the Shiny Rod.

“Akko, you’re going to get us both killed,” Amanda sounded worried, but Akko didn’t bother to even look at her.

She pressed the reverse pedal and prepared to go.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

“Are you familiar with the ‘Shooting Star’, Miss Cavendish?” Ursula’s voice came through the communicator as Diana settled into the pilot’s seat. Unlike the normal simulator, this one was narrow, the seat she was using made for safety more than comfort. The joysticks – a long time ago, they were called ‘yokes’ like the controls of old planes, but with time the newer generations had just started calling them joysticks – had some extra buttons, useful for quick movements out in the field. There were a lot less buttons, switches and levers than in the previous simulator, mostly because a broom-Racer didn’t have as many functions as a cargo broom.

“Of course, Miss Callistis,” Diana said. She heard a strangled noise from the communicator, but didn’t pay it much mind. “It’s one of the more – if not the most – advanced broom-Racers in development. Supposedly, it should hit the markets in about two years,” Diana was up to date with most things going on in the broom-Racing world. The Shooting Star had been an amazing, next generation design presented two years before. Supposedly it would be the fastest but also more controllable, not to mention the absurdly low Magic consumption and top-notch attack equipment. Many believed it would be impossible to make.

“Ah, good. Also, you can just call me Ursula.” The woman said, a hint of awkwardness on her voice.

“Why did you ask, Miss Ursula?” Diana didn’t mind calling people as they asked, normally.

“That’s the broom you’re going to be piloting during this simulation,” Ursula explained. Diana paused for a few seconds. So the broom already existed? How had she not heard of that? Or maybe it was just one of the prototypes.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Hannah commented from her seat at the gunman’s position.

Or perhaps… “Ah, so it’s a marketing campaign, is it not?” Diana asked to the communicator. “The broom has been done for a while, but they managed to get a deal with the Earth Representatives Committee about using it in the next Inter-Planetary Race. If we managed to win with it…” It made sense, and Diana wasn’t particularly annoyed; the Shooting Star _was_ the best broom out there, technically speaking, so a chance to use it was welcomed, no matter why.

“Yes, that’s right, you catch up with things pretty quickly, don’t you?” Ursula sounded impressed. “In any case, you’ll have three test runs. You should consider the first two as your chance to practice with a broom you’re not familiar with, with the third one being the actual test. In the end, the best out of the three scores will be the one that appears on the rankings.”

“And… How is the score decided? I find it interesting that it doesn’t only depend on time,” Diana asked. She believed this was going to be a race against the clock, but there were a number of reasons why that could not be the case. She would’ve tried to guess if she hadn’t just asked.

“That’s a secret, sadly. Just remember, IPR races aren’t just about speed,” the screen of the simulator turned on, and Diana instantly recognized the landscape. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof. She was hovering deep in a chasm. So deep, indeed, that if one looked up the surface wouldn’t be visible. However, she knew it was a chasm for how straight the walls were and for the vertical lines running through them. The most impressive feature, however, was the glowing moss on the chasm walls, with their faint purple glow. They were in Vorago – basically chasm in Latin, the human way of calling the planet – the planet of the Armor race. It was a planet with constant meteorite showers on the surface, where the locals had evolved to live in the chasms that were all around the planet. Surprisingly enough it was a planet with breathable air, though slightly toxic in the long run.

Diana didn’t hesitate to start thinking. Vorago was a hard planet to race in. Chasms could be like a labyrinth. Dead ends, paths that would deviate too far and make you lose time, the impossibility of going over walls… What could be tested here? Improvisation, sure. Sense of direction, maybe? Though a little useless, given the fact that radars were a thing. Ability to fly in narrow spaces, making sure your pilot doesn’t suffer from claustrophobia.

With a button, Diana turned on the radar. The finish line was a red dot on the top. brooms didn’t have enough mapping capabilities to generate a layout of the surrounding area, so she only had a direction to go on. On the radar, however, appeared another nine dots. An emulation of the Inter-Planetary Race, where all ten classified planets participated at the same time. The Planetary Alliance had twenty-six sentient races in it, all of them with a high enough level of technology to be able to participate. The four races that hadn’t missed a single IPR so far were the Humans, Shapeshifters, Daemons and Medusas. They were also, usually, the ones to rank on the top spots of any race.

Humans hadn’t won a single IPR so far, however. The closest they’d gotten to winning had been with Shiny Chariot as their First Category pilot ten years back, but she’d disappeared without a trace before the race was over. The most common winners were the Shapeshifters, while Humans averaged at third place most of the time.

She pressed a button, and saw a superficial blueprint of the Shooting Star. It was a thin, long broom with the wings in the nose and back, from where the engines came off. The attack weapons were below the ship. She couldn’t tell the color on the blueprint shining with the pale green light, but she could see from the screen that it had been painted red.

“Get ready,” Ursula said, breaking Diana’s train of thought. She looked to her sides, and the other racer’s simulations had appeared. Every race usually appeared with a new ship to each race, better than the last, but this simulation used the last known ones.

In front of her, three appeared. The countdown.

Two. She prepared her foot to accelerate.

One. A deep breath.

A gunshot sounded, and she accelerated, instantly feeling the speed on her body, the sound of the engines outside echoing through the chasms. The purple glow became purple streams of light as she moved, and the world suddenly looked a lot more psychedelic. “Hannah, keep them off us,” she had started in first place for the race, and while a lot of people might have thought it was an advantage, Diana considered it a handicap. It didn’t allow her to see the other ships and, more importantly, she was using a broom unknown to her, so she had to adapt first. However, if she was in first place she was not about to let it go. Hannah made a noise of agreement and the magic guns started firing with loud, sharp and acute noises. “And try to see where the Armor will go, they know these chasms better than us.”

She gave a few test nudges to the sides, trying not to think about the weapon sounds from behind, tilting the broom slightly without steering. She was already feeling the unusual speed of the broom, but surprisingly enough it had a perfectly good control. Up ahead appeared the first division as the chasm opened into two separate ones. “Right!” Hannah exclaimed suddenly.

Diana made a snap decision and went left, right on time too because from where the broom had been just a second before appeared a giant stone ball, the Armor’s weapon. No one knew exactly how it worked, the Armor could just control those giant demolition-sized balls as if with remote controls.

The current chasm had a curve, so Diana was trying to keep down the anxiety of not seeing ahead. At these speeds, a crash would kill her. Yet, given the fact that the Armor had followed her it probably was the right path. The sensors of the ship suddenly sounded and she barrel-rolled to the side right as a missile flew by. “Hannah!” Diana called, those were the types of things she should’ve been able to deal with.

“Sorry, one slipped by!” Hannah cried. So there were a lot more. Weird, that meant one of the participants was probably Appali – A race very similar to humans, but way more war-friendly and lacking the discovery of Magic Energy – but those hadn’t been in an IPR in at least three decades. Their ships hadn’t grown at a good enough rate and they had been left behind. Diana didn’t have time to turn around and check, but she suspected the simulation was probably cheating and giving them extra speed on their old racer, which was a metallic disk with a domed windshield in the middle. It was said that their ships were the inspiration for UFOs on earth.

That didn’t matter. Hannah, as a gunman, had the job of keeping most projectiles away, along with their owners. She would be looking behind themselves and shooting at anything that got close. It could be a very stressful position to be in, too, seeing all those attacks coming and being responsible for them.

The chasm suddenly curved to the other side. Diana was fast enough to react, but ahead there was also another split. Three different paths, this time. One of them, however, lacked the common glowing moss of most chasms. The purple moss was a great way of seeing the chasm walls; to make sure to avoid them. But, if she were the one preparing the race…

Hannah yelled an insult as something shook the Shooting Star. They’d been hit, so Diana instantly pressed the analysis button. As she waited for the status report, she decided to go through the dark chasm at the left and steered. The Shooting Star really had perfect maneuverability, it had moved exactly as she wanted it too. The status report appeared, they’d been hit in one of the rear wings, but it wasn’t affecting them greatly.

You could attack other competitors in the Inter-Planetary Race, you just couldn’t try to actively kill them. Aiming for cockpits or engines was considered rule violation, though that was a big gray area where there wasn’t exactly a consensus about it. In the eleven IPRs that had occurred so far, seven pilots had died and twenty had been severely damaged, usually along with their gunmen.

The Shooting Star had its own lights, which shined brightly ahead. They weren’t as effective as the glowing moss to see the path, but when Hannah called out to Diana, she dropped a few meters and a giant stone ball passed above them, Diana knew they were on the right path. According to the radar they had already raced one third of the way to the finish. This was a shorter race, and Diana wondered if maybe the three tests would happen in different types of races. It made sense. She moved the Shooting Star up again as the stone ball came back, like a boomerang, aiming to hit them from the front. Right before it passed below them, however, it slowed down. Diana knew what it was going to do, so she pressed the instant reverse pedal and aimed the nose of the Shooting Star at the ground. With the momentum carried they still moved forward, but the ship was lifted a little more and the angle stopped the stone ball - which had started to move upwards – from hitting the broom-Racer. Right at that moment, the chasm started to have glowing moss at the sides again and Diana saw that it was a straight path for quite the distance. She had lost a lot of speed with the little stunt, and she needed to regain it. “Hold on Hannah!” she cried.

Diana pressed the _nitro_ pedal, and suddenly she was thankful for the anti-g uniform. She wasn’t exactly sure how the simulators managed to emulate the g-force of a ship, but she was planning to study more about them later.

The path, which had been at least half a kilometer long, started to shorten at an alarming rate. Diana quickly pressed the gear down pedal a few times, but the speed had been gained. She dared look back – the cockpit of the Shooting Star was above the ship and it allowed the Witch or Wizard onboard to look back, should they need it – and saw that they had left behind the Armor ship, which was a rocket-like looking ship made out of rock with a giant metallic ring around it, and about as long as the Shooting Star itself.

Ahead, the chasm separated again. Two paths. This time there was no obvious clue, and the Armor were too far away to be able to use them as a guide. Given the direction she was going in, and the direction of the finish line, it was clear that the correct path would be to go right. However, that might have been exactly what they wanted pilots to think.

And that was why Diana went down the right path. She hoped no more forks appeared. The new chasm was full of bends and turns, some shaper than others. Hannah was no longer shooting her gun, but she was obviously still on the alert.

The finish line was getting closer. Already two thirds of the way and they had, apparently, kept first place thorough the whole thing. It was a little suspicious, but Diana didn’t question it, she couldn’t afford to doubt herself now.

After two other turns, another fork appeared. Another two paths. This time she didn’t even have time to check the radar, she just went left. It had just felt like the right path.

And it was. It was a straight line, and in the end, maybe a kilometer away, she could see the finish line, glowing red and imposing in the ground.

She checked her fuel reserves. Hannah cried something about someone catching up to them with their own methods of buffed speed.

Without hesitating further, Diana pressed the _nitro_ again, but this time she didn’t let go. The finish line approached at a dizzying speed, and the pressure of the Gs threatened to make her fall unconscious, but she held onto the joysticks, determined.

And in a heartbeat, she had crossed the finish line and the simulator had stopped, releasing the Gs and leaving Diana disoriented for a few seconds. Hannah grunted from behind Diana.

“Do you want to step out of the simulators for a moment, girls?” Ursula asked. Diana stood, finding it kind of hard to walk, but she managed to exit the cockpit along with Hannah. Ursula was looking at them, impressed.

“It’s way too fast,” was the first thing Diana said. “That’s why I didn’t have trouble winning. It completely blew away the competition,” she had reached the conclusion during the final use of speed. “Are you sure the simulator is being accurate with the speeds? I can’t believe it would outperform everyone else so easily.”

“And the guns were too powerful. Since when can our blasts deflect Daemon lasers?” Hannah asked.

Ursula approached the two girls. “I was rather impressed too, but yes, the data is accurate, we had a lot of…” Diana stopped listening, still a little dazed by the amazing burst of speed. With something like that, how could Earth lose this race? And she was just an amateur, what would a pro be able to do with such a beast of a broom?

“Harder,” Diana interrupted Ursula mid-explanation. “Can’t you make the race harder?”

“Harder?” Ursula cocked her head, looking at Diana with some amusement. “You… Want to make it more difficult for yourself? You do realize that won’t guarantee you’ll get any kind of extra points, right? You might even lose some,” despite what she was saying, Diana could see a spark of interest in her eyes.

“What is the point of practicing against the ghosts of the past? Isn’t it arrogant to believe our rivals haven’t advanced as much as we have?” Diana’s voice was serious. She wasn’t sure why she was insisting: Ursula was right, there was no guarantee of extra points. She could have been killing her only chance by doing this.

And yet, the thought of how easy that last win had been bothered her. The IPR wouldn’t be that easy. If this really was the method for finding the new earth pilots then the human race wouldn’t stand a chance.

Unless there was something else to it.

The other two cockpits opened at almost the same time, letting out a pair of pilots from the pro team who simply nodded at them and walked off.

“You’re a very interesting individual, Diana,” Ursula said with a smile. “Maybe you’ll…”

Suddenly, blinding light flashed in the room with the pale green characteristic of Magic Energy, and the sound of metal against metal and crashing made Diana cringe.

When she opened her eyes again, she had to take a few moments to process what she was seeing.

A broom had materialized, somehow, in the middle of the room. A long, white broom with a golden engine and seven big glass spheres that glowed with Magic was distinguishable through the smoke and dust that had burst out from the crash.

The cockpit opened and a brunette girl stumbled out of it looking dazed, almost falling to the ground face-first, followed by a redhead in a similar state.


	6. Chapter 6

A few minutes earlier, Akko was in front of a wall, heaps of brooms behind her. The Shiny Rod hovered above the ground and both girls looked around in the darkness. “According to Alcor the exit should be around here,” Akko commented.

Amanda hummed. “You sure it’s not broken? It has more than ten years, right? Who knows how much time it went on without any kind of maintenance.”

Akko didn’t bother answering. Alcor obviously functioned perfectly, so the only logical answer was that the exit was hidden. “Alcor, can you tell us where the exit is?” Akko asked. The red dot on the tridimensional map started to blink. Yeah, she suspected it wouldn’t be effective.

She started to go to the side, along the wall – she was trying very hard to keep a low speed, but broom-Racers weren’t meant for slow hovering. There had to be something here. Some way to get all of this junk inside and some way of getting it back out.

“I dunno,” Akko sighed in defeat after a few minutes. “Doesn’t look like there’s an exit…”

“Toldya, thing’s broken or something,” Amanda poked the map but this time her hand did pass through like if it was a normal hologram. This confused Akko even further, even if it wasn’t related to the problem at hand.

“If only Chariot was here to explain us how this works…” Akko said wistfully.

Then, the tridimensional map changed. Akko cocked her head, it was rearranging itself to form… Words? The green light was moving around, disappearing and then, indeed, forming words in a perfectly readable Comic Sans.

“Why is it comic sans? Is this a joke?” Amanda noticed. Akko wasn’t paying attention to her, however. She was reading the unfamiliar words.

“Noctu Orfei Aude Freator” Akko read, confused. “What the hell does that- WOAH!” She cried as suddenly the Shiny Rod lurched to the side and started moving itself. It pointed at the wall and started glowing.

“Akko,” Amanda said from the floor again. “What did you do?”

“I dunno, I just read those words and-” she was cut off by the sudden burst of movement. Directly aimed at the wall.

“Well, it was great living,” Amanda said with dark humor. Akko was yelling.

And suddenly, there was a flash, loud sounds, a lot of trembling and the ship stopped, kicking the air out of Akko and somehow not making Amanda hit her head against anything. There were a few seconds of confusion before Akko decided she’d better get off the broom to try to determine the damage that had been done to it.

“Open,” she said in a shaky voice, and the windshield opened. She climbed out of the Shiny Rod and stumbled, barely managing not to face-dive into the ground.

She managed to set foot on a solid surface and she finally started to look around to see what had happened. What were all these bits of metal on the floor? And all this light? And the dust and smoke, none of this seemed like they were still in the graveyard…

“The Shiny Rod?” An unknown suddenly said. “How… What is it doing here?” It asked, very surprised. Akko panicked: They’d been discovered! She looked around frantically for a place to hide in, but there were no heaps of brooms around. Where were they?

Then, from the cloud of dust and smoke, a woman appeared. Blue haired, glasses, wearing an anti-g suit, she was looking at Akko – Amanda had dropped on the other side of the broom – with intensity. Then, another figure appeared, and Akko instantly recognized this one. That wavy hair, that figure, that poise when walking…

“Akko?” Diana asked. “How in goodness’ sake did you… What is going on?”

“Great,” a third voice said. Hannah. “You two weren’t allowed to participate so you decide to destroy the simulators and stop everyone else from doing so?”

Amanda appeared from the other side of the broom, looking at Hannah with a cold stare. “What do you mean? Where are we?”

Akko saw as the three met eyes. Then, the woman explained where they were. “What!” Akko exclaimed. “There’s no way! We were just in the graveyard… We teleported?” She could barely wrap her mind around the idea.

“Teleportation? Don’t be silly,” Hannah instantly said. “Teleportation is nothing but theoretical. Please tell us what really happened,” she sounded angry.

“Well, Hannah is right,” Diana didn’t sound angry or anything, but there was a menacing undertone to her. “What you just told us is impossible.”

Akko looked around. Then, annoyed, she frowned. “Oh, then tell me, genius: How come there are no broken walls?” She pointed at everywhere, showing that the four walls of the room were in perfect condition. “Guess we just _phased_ through them, or is that just theoretical too?” Sarcasm flooded out of her mouth as she said this.

Diana seemed taken aback for a moment, which granted Akko a great sense of accomplishment. It didn’t last long, however, when she noticed the older woman approaching her.

“You’re… Atsuko Kagari, right?” She said with a doubtful voice. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Akko stared the woman in the eyes. They were red, like hers, but kind and soft. She found herself strangely trusting them.

As quick as she could, she explained what had happened – not without stopping to praise Chariot a few times – with as much detail as possible. Then, she took out the Key-Wand for the Shiny Rod and showed it.

The woman extended her hand, as if to grab it, but Akko instantly stepped back and put it on her back, protective. She narrowed her yes. “I found it, I keep it,” she said simply.

“Uhm, Miss Kagari…” The woman said. “That’s not how…”

“Akko, this is Ursula Callistis,” Diana took a step forward, looking at Akko with harsh eyes. “She’s a new member of the school staff. You should do as she tells you or…”

“Nope!” Akko took another step back. “This thing was basically in the trash. Nobody wanted it, right? Well _I_ do want it! So it’s mine!” She should’ve known this was going to happen. No one thought of Chariot in ten years, but as soon as she found the Shiny Rod suddenly she couldn’t keep it. Hypocrites.

Everyone gave deadpan looks at Akko, including Amanda. “Akko, that’s still school property,” Diana simply explained.

Akko pouted. Then, still with narrowed eyes, she started to give the wand to Ursula.

And, as soon as Ursula touched it, a loud alarm sounded. It came from the Shiny Rod, and it was very obnoxious. The Shiny Rod instantly closed the windshield and, without even moving, it disappeared. Ursula stood, dumbfounded. Akko saw her flick the wand in the calling command – she would have been more surprised, but Chariot was world famous after all – but nothing happened.

“Well, that’s… Weird,” Ursula did it again, with no results. “Ehm, Akko, is what Diana called you?” she saved the wand back in her pocket. “Are you participating in the IPR?”

Hannah snorted. “Akko? Racing? Please, she can’t even get a broom to leave the ground!” She laughed.

“That’s because that stupid simulator had inverted controls!” Akko cried. “I managed to fly the Shiny Rod just fine!”

“Except for a bunch of crashes and bumps,” Amanda commented, earning herself a glare from the brunette.

“What I’m trying to figure out is, why did you make the Shiny Rod appear here?” Diana asked, looking at the destroyed remains of three simulators. Akko cringed when she noticed what they were. Those were expensive. Really expensive. But, it hadn’t really been her fault that they got destroyed, was it?

“I didn’t make it do anything. I just asked for a way out and… Well, I don’t think Alcor understood what I was saying.”

Diana’s blue eyes focused on Akko. With each second, the stared girl grew more and more uncomfortable, until Diana finally looked away with a pensive expression. What was her deal?

“I think,” Ursula said. “That we should go get Miss Finnelan.”

All the present girls looked at each other and, reluctantly, Akko agreed. Hopefully she wouldn’t end up with a life-long debt to the school.

 

Diana dropped on her bed, tired. The talk with Miss Finnelan, and later Holbrooke, had been rather tiresome. She didn’t need to be there, since it had been Akko’s problem, but…

The Shiny Rod? How? Why? Akko really was a troublesome individual. How in hell had she managed to find a lost broom from ten years ago? And under Luna Nova grounds, even. How had no one managed to find it? What was it doing there? So many questions, not a single answer.

Well, she’d have plenty of time to look for answers. Her one chance had been completely blown away. While other participants were going to continue tests on other facilities at school, Diana had rejected to get another try. It felt like destiny, somehow. She would get a score based on her first test, and that was that. The crashing Shiny Rod had been like a sign.

A sign of Diana’s hypocrisy.

She tried not to think about it as she rolled in bed, too tired to even undress. What she had said to Ursula, that had been hubris. She was an arrogant fool, thinking she was above just taking the tests like everyone else had. On the other hand, that discussion had saved her life, probably. Akko hadn’t been worried about almost killing seven people. After all, no one had actually gotten hurt, right? She had also refused to call the Shiny Rod again. She was really an annoying person.

Diana envied her ability to be so careless, though.

“Ehm, Diana, you sure you’re ok?” Barbara appeared from behind the bookshelf. “Hannah just explained to me what happened, you could still…”

“I wasn’t really planning on participating on this IPR anyways,” Diana sat straight and looked Barbara in the eyes. “I’ll just go with my original plan and take part in the next one. I probably wouldn’t have made it anyways, against pros and the like.”

Barbara pressed her lips, but didn’t say more. Instead, she nodded weakly. “Well, if you feel like talking, just remember we’re here,” she said. Diana felt a little stab of guilt for not telling her how she was really feeling, but this was for the best. She took a deep breath. Nobody expected her to be able to participate in the race this time, so nobody would be surprised or disappointed by her not being able to take part in it.

Then why was it that she felt that crushing feeling on her chest? She’d known she wouldn’t make it. She… Shouldn’t have been thinking about that. Instead, she rose. There was still dinner to go to, and she wanted to take a shower.

 

Akko sat in her room, angry. She didn’t have a right to be, they had accepted the event as an accident and hadn’t given her the debt of a lifetime, but she was still banned from stepping out of the school building for the next month. Not to mention, she wouldn’t be allowed to fly in any way, whether simulated or not, until she agreed to call the Shiny Rod again. The Key-Wand rested on her desk, and she was tempted to use it, but she didn’t want to. The only reason everyone else wanted the Shiny Rod was to study it and take it apart. But Akko would use it for an actual good reason: Finding Chariot. It was _her_ broom. Alcor had believed her to be Chariot at first. All she had to do was call it when no one was looking and search for clues.

“You know, it’s just a ship. I doubt it’ll help you find anyone,” Sucy commented from her bed.

“Don’t be mean about it, Sucy,” Lotte said. “But… I think she’s right, Akko. It’s been ten years, and I don’t think a ship would be able to tell where a person is…”

Akko just grunted. They didn’t understand, not like she did. No one understood. But that was fine by her: She’d find Chariot, she’d meet her idol and… Well, something. She’d think about it when the time came.

“I’m just saying, she should just call the thing and let our teachers explore it. It was a rather impressive and technologically advanced broom, it could help a lot to…”

“See!” Akko jumped “That’s the problem! Everyone just thinks of it as a broom, but it’s not! It’s _Chariot’s_ broom! It’s the _Shiny Rod!_ ” She grabbed her head. “Why is it that hard to understand for you people? Chariot was the most amazing pilot ever, aren’t you even a little curious?”

“No,” Sucy shrugged.

“Akko, Chariot was good, I’ll agree, but… Well, a lot of people think her way of winning was cheating. Things like the Shiny Arc, those aren’t well seen nowadays.” Lotte tried to explain, kindly, for like the hundredth time.

“Yeah, now they say that, because no one else can pull it off! They’re just jealous!” Akko exclaimed. It was true: No one had been able to replicate things like the Shiny Arc in the past ten years. The Shiny Rod was unique, and people were just bitter that they couldn’t best a pilot from ten years ago, so they said her methods weren’t good or whatever. When talking about that everyone always casually ignored that Chariot had been the closest to first place any human had been. But Akko wouldn’t forget, ever. Chariot had been the most amazing pilot ever, and she’d be like her, one day.

“Whatever you say, it’s impossible to talk with you about Chariot,” Sucy rolled her eyes and looked the other way. Akko mockingly imitated her in a low voice. Lotte was looking at her two teammates with some worry, but decided that it was better that the conversation had finished.

Akko sighed. Yes, no one understood her, and no one would. She’d do this on her own.


	7. Chapter 7

When the rankings appeared, everyone was surprised.

Diana particularly, since she was first.

The results had been shown during noon. It was Thursday, when the announcement of the IPR had happened on Tuesday. The test period would last until Monday, and then the selected pilots would leave for whatever planet happened to be first in the rotation this time on Wednesday. The official race would start next Sunday.

The cafeteria, full to the brim with the chatter of conversations, suddenly quieted. Diana, sitting with her two teammates, could feel all the stares on her. Amazement, awe, jealousy, skepticism, wonder, surprise.

“Diana…” Hannah spoke as if dazed, slowly nudging Diana’s arm.

“I know,” Diana simply replied, not daring look the screen again. Yet, she had to. She had a hundred points, and she surpassed the second place by twenty-seven points. Despite what she had said, she didn’t understand. What was going on?

“You think it may be a mistake?” Barbara asked in the low. Diana didn’t answer, but she did think it was probably that. There was no way she was actually first place. True, she hadn’t done badly in her first race, but she hadn’t done it perfectly. And then Akko had come to crush her dreams.

Or so she thought.

The second in the rankings was also a pro, a worldwide known Wizard that was currently accepted as one of the best pilots on earth. Diana had, apparently, bested him, and by a mile. The difference between second and third was only of five points.

Yeah, right. Something was off. Diana didn’t buy for a second what had happened. Had they given her extra points for some reason? Because her test got interrupted or something? She found herself growing angry and frustrated, not happy. She didn’t feel like she deserved it.

She finished eating and ignoring the eyes of everyone on her, she decided to go talk with someone about this.

 

Ursula sat in front of her PC – A small cube connected to a holographic screen that she controlled with her wand – thinking about what had happened the day prior. First, Diana Cavendish had proven to be the perfect candidate to participate in the race. However, then Atsuko Kagari had showed up with the Shiny Rod. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Most people, they didn’t understand magic. They only understood it as a source of energy, but it was so much more. Ursula had seen in Diana the potential to understand. She had experienced what a ship taking advantage of magic had been able to do and hadn’t really believed it. And then there was Atsuko. That girl had her sights set on finding Chariot and be like her. Nothing else, apparently. However, that was, too, something Ursula was looking for in pilots. Not the looking for Chariot thing, but the simple-minded stubborn determination of pursuing a single goal with your heart.

She was surprised to find out the second girl had been banned from participating in the race. Apparently, she couldn’t even pilot the most common of brooms. Most failed to understand that the Shiny Rod was not a common broom. They thought it was no more than a broom with some tricks up its sleeve, but if they could experience it, it would be a revolution in the understanding of Magic Energy.

That was why Ursula was kind of relieved that such a simple minded person had found it. Should she have decided that Diana was worth it, she wasn’t certain the girl wouldn’t just try to pick the Shiny Rod apart herself.

And, speak of the devil, Ursula heard a knock on the door of the classroom she was currently using, with Diana standing at the doorway.

“Oh, Diana,” Ursula wasn’t sure exactly when she had started calling Diana by her first name. It had sort of just happened. “Did you want something?”

The blonde girl stepped forward, bearing the same careful neutral expression she always wore, but not a natural one. It was a carefully crafted neutral expression that Ursula recognized better than she wanted to admit. She didn’t tell this to Diana, if only because she also understood how fragile those masks could be.

“I want to retire from the race,” Diana stated. Ursula smiled kindly: She had kind of expected this.

“Why is that?” She asked with a curious voice.

There was a spark on the teenager that she also recognized. Pride, mostly. Maybe some stubbornness too. “I don’t know how the points were assigned, but I fully believe I didn’t show the best of my capacity and I cannot condone such a perfect score to be given to me when that’s the case.”

Ursula nodded, understanding. She suspected the girl would say something like that once the results were made public. That’s why she had prepared a counter argument. “But, if you don’t know how the scoring system works, you can’t really know if I scored you based on your performance,” she explained.

“But I know I didn’t perform my best, therefore…”

“Sometimes,” Ursula interrupted. “It’s not just about if you did your best or not. I can assure you, Diana, the score given to you has a perfectly good reason that I can’t disclose.”

Diana’s neutral expression broke for a second as she pursed her lips. She quickly turned it back and shook her head. “I don’t agree with this, Miss Ursula,” Diana looked at her with determined eyes.

“If you want to drop out, I won’t stop you,” Ursula said. “But please, don’t think you should drop because you’re not good enough.”

Diana paused. Chariot could see the doubt in the girl. This was not a chance anyone would just pass, even if they were doubtful about their worth.

“I’ll… Think about it.”

Ursula simply nodded in response, watching as the girl turned to go. She was certain, now, that the score given to her had been perfect. When Diana left, she started to look at her PC again, going over the data about other pilots. Now if only there was someone who was worthy of being the second category pilot…

 

When Amanda had looked at the leaderboard a day and a half ago, she had felt a calm, cool anger. _Of course_ Diana Cavendish was in first place. Amanda could feel chest burning with justice. She was ten times better at piloting than Diana, but no one ever acknowledged it because she wasn’t perfect like the blonde or her teammates.

Well, she was already working on fixing that. She smiled to herself as she walked silently through the dark hallways of Luna Nova’s third floor. After a quick search on the internet, she had found very interesting data. She planned to use it, but there was only one person in the entire school who could have what she wanted. The school, this late at night, was mostly empty.

‘Mostly’ being the key word. As she suspected, there were guards. Given the importance of what they were guarding, Amanda thought there were fewer than she had expected. She was moving counterclockwise through the fourth floor, like the guards, always staying behind a corner and being hidden. She needed to find enough time to open the door to the headmistress’ office, but it wouldn’t be fast.

After three full laps around the floor, she started to grow tired and she had already gotten enough info, so she took a small ball she had brought with her and threw it downstairs with strength, breaking a window. She then darted forward, right as a guard appeared and pointed his flashlight to the broken window.

Amanda didn’t lose time. That guard wouldn’t take long to check things out, and the next in the cycle would arrive even sooner. The door to the headmistress’ office was in the middle of the northern hallway, a big metallic door against the white wall. She quickly put on the rubber glove she carried, then sprinkled some makeup dust on the green-glowing lock and blew the leftovers and pressed her finger on it. Such a simple trick, so easy to learn, but so many people didn’t think it’d work.

Well, it normally didn’t work, unless there was a single fingerprint on the scanner with no overlaps. That was why Amanda had wiped it before the last time Headmistress Holbrooke had gone in, leaving a single, perfectly usable print.

The door opened – automatic, like most doors nowadays – and she slipped in, allowing it to close again.

And she stood in the dark office. She could barely see, so she crawled through the floor until she bumped against what she supposed was the desk. Feeling around its carvings and trying not to topple anything, she reached the drawers on the other side. She started feeling them and, in the rightmost corner, she found the only locked one. That was it. She couldn’t straight up open it, but picklocking was one of her many talents.

After a minute, she found what she was looking for: The headmistress’ extra keycard. She quickly put it in her pocket and went to the door again. She couldn’t see or listen outside, so opening it would be rather dangerous. Luckily, she had a friend to help.

The loud noise of another window breaking came even through the metal door, and then another one, and another one. Amanda cringed, Constanze was going a little overboard, but she supposed it was better to be sure. After a few seconds she opened the door, relieved at finding no guards in the hallway outside.

Without even waiting a second, she darted from there and ran downstairs skipping from one to three steps at a time, not breaking anything thanks to her athletic abilities.

_Perfect,_ she thought with a smirk as she finally found a place to relax and catch her breath. _Now I should get the only girl who can help me with the next step._

Akko woke up on Saturday morning with reluctance. Sucy and Lotte had gone to do stuff earlier, as far as she knew, but she wasn’t allowed to leave school grounds.

She just wanted to lie in bed all day. The results of the rankings had surprised her, but not too much. After all, Diana getting a perfect score was no news to anyone. Seemed like she didn’t even have to try to be perfect, unlike most normal people. This wasn’t as annoying to Akko, however, as the fact that the girl was apparently thinking of dropping out of the race. She couldn’t get behind that mindset: A chance of a lifetime thrown away because she didn’t feel up to the task? Crazy, that’s what that was.

Well, staying in bed wouldn’t really solve anything, and she was hungry. She got up and dressed, yawning before going to the bathroom to wash her face. After going through her morning routine she finally went down to the cafeteria, where breakfast time was almost over.

She sat on a table, alone, while eating. She didn’t really know what she was going to do today. She couldn’t go outside the school, she couldn’t hang out with her teammates, and she sure as hell wouldn’t study. Diana caught her eye, sitting with her two tails, looking as perfect as ever. She was tempted to ask her if she really wanted to drop out of the race, but why bother? Diana would probably ignore her and then Hannah and Barbara would mock her. Diana wasn’t one to mock others, or at least not directly, but Akko sometimes suspected that she just conformed with seeing her teammates do it.

So, once she finished her food, she exited the cafeteria and went outside. Technically, she was banned from leaving the _building_ itself, but she doubted anyone seriously expected her not to set a single foot outside even once. She still kept close to the walls, though, not daring going too far.

At one point, bored out of her mind, she decided to sit. She took out the key-wand for the Shiny Rod. It was also a normal wand, she had checked that. She could use it to manipulate her spells, but she still was reticent to use it, lest she call the Shiny Rod on accident somewhere. Now she looked at it, thinking how cool it would be to be able to participate in the tests and earn the right to participate in the IPR. She would take Diana’s spot in a heartbeat, she knew that if she were able to race with the Shiny Rod she’d win without breaking a sweat.

She sighed loudly. Daydreaming wouldn’t get her anywhere. Maybe she should start studying a little…

“Pst.”

Akko jumped, startled by the sudden noise. There were students walking around the school grounds, but none of them appeared to be the source of it.

“Pst,” it came again. This time Akko was able to tell from where, and she peeked over the bushes she had nearby. Amanda was there.

“Why are you hiding?” Akko asked, cocking her head. Amanda looked up with her emerald green eyes and then her eyes started darting around. She grabbed Akko by the arm and pulled her down next to her.

“Akko I need a lift,” Amanda whispered. “Don’t ask questions, it’s better if you don’t know.”

“A lift?” Akko’s frown deepened. “You don’t mean…”

“Yes, I’m talking about the Shiny Rod. Come on, do me this favor, I’m begging you,” Amanda clasped her hands together, as in prayer.

“What? No way! If anyone finds out…” Akko did _not_ want to be expelled.

“It doesn’t have to be now, we can do it this night. Come on!” Amanda seemed desperate. Akko was going to refuse, but…

“I’ll do it if you tell me where we’re going and what we’re doing,” Akko said.

Amanda hesitated for a moment, but gave in to Akko’s request somewhat reluctantly. “Fine. I’m going to the Planetary embassy.”

“Why?” Akko asked with confusion.

“To become Earth’s pilot,” Amanda answered with a smirk.


	8. Chapter 8

When the Shiny Rod appeared at its destination, Amanda stood quiet for a few moments.

No one had seen them, apparently. Teleportation seemed to be a very handy thing. Would it be legal to use it during a race? Akko doubted it, she had never seen Chariot using it. Still, she now looked around the room they had appeared in. It was a massive room, easily the size of an auditorium. In the faint pale-green glow of the Shiny Rod, Akko barely made out what looked like a big screen at one end of it, accompanied by some machines.

“You teleported us to the _Pilot’s Sanctuary?”_ Amanda asked after noticing where they were with panic in her voice.

“Isn’t here where you wanted to go?” Akko asked, confused by the attitude.

Amanda looked at her before closing her eyes and shaking her head. “You could’ve…” She paused. “Whatever, this makes things easier,” she concluded, resigned, before opening the windshield and jumping out of the broom.

Akko followed. The Pilot’s Sanctuary, the room only used once each ten years, where earth’s pilots were chosen and inscribed for the Inter-Planetary Race. It was a sacred room for many, including Akko. Amanda had convinced Akko to bring her here, but now Akko was reluctant to leave the broom. Was she worthy of setting foot in here?

The redhead obviously didn’t have the same holdups. She moved her wand – already in flashlight mode – and pointed at the screen in the end of the room. The Shiny Rod was now hovering over the rows of seats set for the ceremony that was to take place in just a couple days.  

Seeing Amanda walk off gave Akko enough determination to step out of the Shiny Rod and walk, carefully, through the room. So far, twenty-two of the greatest pilots earth had seen had been chosen in this very room, along with their twenty-two gunmen. There had been a couple times where substitutes had to come in, but luckily they never had to be there for more than a couple races. Substitute pilots were, usually, the coaches. Pilots who were great at the technical part but maybe not so much at the practice, yet still good enough to not drag the team through the mud.

Before reaching the stage, Amanda stopped for a second. There appeared to be a small device in front of it, something that Akko couldn’t quite make out. The redhead passed a card through it, and then moved on.

Akko pointed her wand at the great screen while walking between the rows of cushioned seats. Below the screen stood four pedestals – not fully aligned quite yet, from where the four chosen humans would be presented to the world at large.

Amanda was now climbing one of those pedestals – the middle right one – with a crazy look on her face. Akko fastened her pace and, without thinking it too much, she climbed the rightmost one. Amanda was now standing on the First Category Pilot’s pedestal, while Akko was in the First Category Gunman’s one.

Amanda looked in front of her. Both pedestals had a small stands on top of them, holding small square plates that Akko didn’t recognize. What were those things? Looking at Amanda, the girl seemed reticent. She was looking at the square with doubt and almost reverence. Akko waited to see what she did. Amanda left her hand over it for a few seconds, but hesitated and took it away, grunting in frustration. ‘come on, just do it’ she whispered, getting her hand close to it again. She kept doing this for the better part of a minute before Akko lost her patience.

“What is this thing?” She asked, placing her hand on the thing to get a feel of it.

Suddenly, it started glowing with magic. She panicked, trying to get her hand away, but it was stuck there.

“Akko, no!” Amanda looked at her with eyes that said, loud and clear, ‘I fucked up’. “Aw hell, let’s just get this over with!” she yelled and pressed her own hand on the square, the effect repeating.

Akko felt her heart rate spiking as the glowing intensified. Her fingertips felt funny and… “Ouch!” She suddenly felt a sting on all of her hand and the glowing stopped. A few seconds later, Amanda’s light did the same and they were back to normal.

And an alarm sounded.

“Akko, time to run!” Amanda said, jumping from the pedestal and sprinting towards the Shiny Rod. Akko reacted a second later and ran with her.

“What the hell just happened?” Akko asked, looking around with worry while moving. She didn’t like this.

“Well, you just…” Amanda paused. Before reaching the Shiny Rod, the door of the Pilot’s Sanctuary opened. The broom was in the middle of whoever was entering and them, but Akko panicked.

“Take this!” Akko cried, throwing the Rod’s key-wand to Amanda, who grabbed it in surprise. The Shiny Rod’s alarm went off and, just like before, it disappeared. Amanda looked back in panic as a force of ten men entered the room carrying weapons. In a second, all of them were pointing at the two teenagers, small red dots appearing on their chests. Instinctively, both raised their hands.

Amanda laughed nervously. Akko was focused on not peeing herself.

What had just happened?

 

“So, let me get this straight,” Miss Finnelan, still on her pajamas, was pinching the bridge of her nose. They were sitting on the headmistress’ office. Holbrooke sat, tired, behind her dark desk. Bookshelves lined the walls around them, the whiteness from everywhere else in the school half broken by the blue painted ceiling and the green carpet. “You sneaked into the embassy to _steal_ the position of earth’s First Category Pilot?”

Amanda shrugged. The last couple of hours had been a ride for Akko. From being carried all the way back to Luna Nova to having to answer an interrogation where none of the questions made god damn sense, everything was kind of fuzzy.

“Fine, don’t answer, that’s the obvious one. What I actually wish to know is why did you choose _Atsuko Kagari_ to be the pilot,” she opened her eyes, looking at Amanda with a harshness that Akko had rarely seen in anyone. That question had gotten her attention, and apparently Amanda’s too, since her eyes were widening with confusion.

“Wait, what? No, I made _myself_ the pilot,” she explained, and Akko nodded. She had been in the pilot’s position.

“Miss O’Neill, the stage was only being set up. The things weren’t in order,” she explained with annoyance. Amanda’s eyes widened even further, and Akko could almost hear the ‘oh no’ inside of her head.

Probably because she also heard it inside her own.

“Wait, you don’t mean,” Akko frowned.

“Congratulations, Miss Kagari,” Finnelan said coldly. “You’re now earth’s First Category Pilot,” there was venom on her voice. She turned to look at Amanda. “And you? You’re a First Category _Gunner,_ miss O’Neill.”

Amanda, who was up until now sitting rather straight, slumped in the chair, jaw dropping with the sudden realization. Akko was similarly shocked, but something else hit her too. _I stole Diana’s spot_ , she thought. “Well, just, like, reset the thing,” Akko said. For some reason, the idea of taking the spot like that was highly annoying. She’d best Diana properly some day, this way was not what she wanted.

However, the look she got from Finnelan made her soul drop to her feet. “We _can’t,”_ she said with bitterness. “That biometric security system was crafted with just _one_ pilot in mind, Miss Kagari. The Planetary Committee didn’t expect anyone to be able to get past security… Or, well, to even attempt stealing the spot. What’s more, your data was instantly sent to the higher ups, and we can’t make changes in the pilots without a week of notice. Week that, you can probably guess, we _don’t have,”_ she marked those last words with anger. “You girls should be glad that there isn’t a law against this, mostly because no one imagined it could happen. If it were me, you’d get thrown into a reformatory or even jail.”

Akko gulped. She’d… Messed up, hadn’t she. “It was Amanda’s idea…” she tried, but Finnelan gave her a harsh look and she shut up.

“ _You_ used the Shiny Rod to get in there, didn’t you? I knew I shouldn’t have given you that wand back,” she didn’t sound just angry, she sounded even hateful.

“I’m… Well…” Akko was out of excuses.

“We should just drop out of the race entirely. I’ll ask the Committee if…”

“No,” Holbrooke spoke for the first time since entering the room. Finnelan looked at her with surprise. “You know we can’t do that, Miss Finnelan. We can’t drop out of the race for any reason,” she sounded tired. Disappointed. And, maybe more than anything, angry. Though, curiously enough, Akko didn’t feel that anger directed at her. Something else seemed to be bothering the Headmistress.

“Maybe we can say she got sick, get a replacement,” Finnelan suggested. Akko thought that could be it, if a pilot got sick they could get a sub, after all. Holbrooke, however, just raised an eyebrow, not even answering. “No, a replacement can only race for three races, any more and we’re disqualified.”

Akko looked at Amanda again, trying to see if she had any ideas. However, she was just in the same position as before, looking dazed and out of herself. Akko would’ve tried to help her out, but she was in trouble too.

No one spoke for a few minutes. Finnelan was red with anger, Holbrooke kept her tired eyes closed, and the teenage girls didn’t really know what to say. Akko was about to ask why they couldn’t just drop out of the race when someone knocked on the door.

Holbrooke opened her eyes and gestured with her wand. The door opened, and Ursula stepped inside the office, looking worn out and panting. She eyed Akko and Amanda and, for the first time since the incident happened, Akko didn’t feel any kind of reproach.

“I just got the report,” she said out of breath. “Is it…?”

“Yes, it’s true. Meet your First Category team, coach Ursula,” Finnelan said pointing at the two teenagers. Akko expected to see disappointment, anger, or some kind of negative emotion in the woman. Instead, Ursula looked at them with interest. Akko met her eyes, feeling strangely relieved.

“Wait, coach?” Amanda perked up. “Why is she the coach? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in a race,” she frowned. Surprisingly enough, instead of answering, Finnelan looked at Holbrooke expectant. Apparently, she didn’t understand either. Holbrooke, however, sighed.

“It’s not important, miss O’Neill,” she sat up a little straighter and took a deep breath. “Well, I guess there’s no need to continue with this useless discussion. Ursula, if you may, please accompany these girls to their rooms.”

Finnelan raised her eyebrows with wide eyes. “Wait, Headmistress, you don’t mean…”

“Miss Finnelan, there’s nothing we can do now. These girls caused a lot of trouble and now they’ll have to take responsibility,” she stared them both in the eyes, alternating. “I think they’ll regret their decisions soon enough,” she didn’t say it with malice or humor. It sounded more like… Pity.

Akko looked at Amanda, and they met eyes. They both felt like those words had been ominous. What had she meant by that?

“Before you go, however,” Holbrooke said to Ursula. “I want to know, how are the rankings?”

“No one besides Miss Cavendish has broken the ninety points yet,” Ursula explained. Holbrooke nodded slowly.

“Then I say we call it off. The best pilots on earth have already participated. With the adventures of Miss Kagari and Miss O’Neill this night, we only have one pilot left. Don’t you think we should get this over with?”

Ursula nodded, and Akko found that she was smiling. Finnelan had just turned to look out the window. The coach turned to look at them – Akko particularly – and pointed at the door. “Well, girls, let us go. We have a lot to do tomorrow,” she sounded… Excited?

Amanda stood and walked out. She had gotten over her daze, now looking just angry.

Akko lingered in place for a moment, but in the end went out too.

Apparently, she was now earth’s First Category Witch.

 

“What an idiot!” Hannah was walking in circles around the couch. They had received the news first thing in the morning. “Both of them! Idiots, absolute…”

“Hannah,” Diana said, coldly. The auburn-haired girl ignored her.

“How could they? How can someone be so… Idiotic?”

“Hannah.”

“I knew they were probably jealous, after all, they weren’t even able to take part in the classifications, but…”

“Hannah…”

“…to do this? To just straight up steal the spot? And why can’t they just be thrown away? Just reset the system, explain the mistake, it can’t be _that_ hard, I mean…”

“HANNAH!” Diana snapped, and Hannah paused. Barbara was looking at her with an awkward expression. “What’s done is done, complaining won’t get us anywhere. I would appreciate it if you allowed me to think quietly.”

“Aren’t you angry?” Barbara asked, confused.

“Of course I’m angry,” Diana explained. “But complaining and getting worked up over it won’t make the anger go away. I…” She sighed. “I just want to think.” She was sitting on the couch, but she stood and went around the bookshelf to sit on her desk.

She closed her eyes.

Her world had been shaken to its core in the last couple of days. Her score, thinking to drop out of the race, deciding that she wasn’t going to, growing ever so slightly excited about being earth’s pilot, and then getting her wings burnt from getting too close to the sun. The second she’d believed maybe things were going to go her way for once, someone had appeared and destroyed those dreams. Again.

She should’ve seen something like this coming. Being earth’s First Category pilot with just sixteen years? What was she thinking?

And yet, Akko had done it. Through potentially illegal means, but she had done it nonetheless. Hannah was still complaining about that to Barbara, though in a lower voice.

Diana started to play with a pen, rolling it between her fingers, feeling its tip, while thinking. She did a lot of that and, in the end, it didn’t really solve her problems. It helped, sure, but most of the time she found solutions to these kinds of things by chance, not by overthinking.

Still, she couldn’t stop herself. She felt the frustration, disappointment, anger and relief stirring her chest like a tornado, fighting each other for control.

Diana took a deep breath and quelled them all.

All that was left to do was accept what had happened. She was to be earth’s Second Category pilot. She’d do the best she could to help with the race. There was nothing more to it.

 

Amanda stared at Ursula as she guided the small group of students through the white hallways of Luna Nova. She still couldn’t get over what had happened, and she doubted she’d ever get over it. Such a big overlook, such bad luck. She would’ve been fine if she had accidentally taken Second Category pilot or something, but no, she had taken a god damn _gunman._ Or, well gunwoman, but the official term had kind of always been just gunman and no one had been bothered to try and change it, so everyone said gunman and was done with it.

The red, blue and green teams all walked together. Amanda, Akko and Diana for obvious reasons, and the other ones Amanda didn’t really know. Ursula had said that they had things to do today, but she had only called to them after noon and was now walking rather slowly.

Eventually, just as Amanda was about to ask where the hell were they going, they reached one of the school’s ‘towers’ – not really towers, but forbidden rooms on the top floor – and entered it. Amanda had already sneaked into one of these rooms before, but as far as she knew, they were only medium-sized rooms used for storage.

What she knew was apparently wrong, for right after entering – requiring, apparently, a keycard, something that wasn’t the case back when Amanda had sneaked in – she saw a broom. For a second, she was astonished. It wasn’t just _a_ broom, it was _the_ broom. The Shooting Star. Her jaw dropped and she stepped forward, not withholding her urge to touch it.

However, she phased through it and tripped over her own feet, not falling to the ground by pure luck.

“This,” Ursula completely ignored her actions. “Is a holographic replica of the ships you’re going to be piloting during the race,” she explained. Amanda’s eye twitched at this. She was _not_ going to be piloting it!

“Uhm…” Akko spoke up. Amanda tried to give her a death stare, knowing what she was going to say, but she realized her body was probably now hidden within the hologram. “I’m going to be piloting the Shiny Rod, though.”

Everyone – including her teammates – looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“Akko, we know you like Chariot,” Lotte said, gently touching her arm. “But do you not recognize what this is?”

Akko shook her head. Amanda burst out of the hologram and pointed at it. “This is the _Shooting Star_ , Akko! This is the most technologically advanced broom in the world!” she pointed at it again, more exaggeratedly this time. “I don’t care how much you like Chariot, you can’t…”

“Can it teleport?” Akko asked, frowning and sounding strangely serious.

Amanda frowned back, confused. “Well, no…”

“Can it shoot out the cockpit?”

“Why would it…”

“Can it create shields out of pure magic?” Akko crossed her arms, her serious and somewhat angry expression slowly shifting to a self-confident one.

Amanda paused. She had forgotten about the shields. “Ehm, no…”

“Can it turn off the inverted controls?”

When Amanda didn’t answer – she didn’t really have an argument anymore, Akko snorted and looked back at the teacher. The other girls in the room were left slightly confused by the exchange. Ursula was slightly uncomfortable as Akko stared at her intently. “Uhm,” the woman said. “Sorry, it was my bad. You will be piloting the Shiny Rod,” upon saying this, Akko nodded and relaxed visibly. “But, well, there are no digital records of the Shiny Rod’s structure, so… Just let me explain what this is for.” She turned around and flicked her wand. Then, the Shooting Star broke. Or, more like, undid itself. A lot of different pieces.

“You see,” Ursula continued. “I firmly believe that any pilot should know the layout of their ship. Even if you’re not a mechanic, being able to recognize what’s wrong in your ship and maybe even fix it can prove helpful,” she moved the wand around, making the hologram shift perspectives or even moving particular pieces. “We barely have a week to do this, but I will run you all through a basic course on how ships work, and particularly the Shooting Star,” she explained.

“Uhm, why are _we_ here, then?” Sucy asked, raising an eyebrow. “We’re not going to take part in the race…”

“You _are,_ actually,” Ursula smiled at them. “We’re not about to break the teams the school has been building just for the race.”

Lotte and Sucy didn’t know how to answer. However, what surprised Amanda was Barbara’s face of pure relief and Hannah’s complete nonchalance. Something didn’t really seem right with those reactions, but she couldn’t exactly place _why_ they felt so wrong.

However, she still turned, not really excited about the prospect of learning how to fix a ship. All she wanted to do was fly them.

 _I’m not even going to ride the Shooting Star_ , she thought with bitterness. She was stuck as the Shiny Rod’s gunman and stupid technology impeded her from fixing her mistake. She had done everything right: She had researched what the inscription security was going to be this year; she had stolen Holbrooke’s keycard to allow her inscription – Holbrooke, as the Headmistress of one of the most prestigious pilot academies in the world, was a part of the Planetary Committee, given the importance races had on the cultural exchanges of the twenty-six planets of the Planetary Alliance – and she had even gotten Akko to carry her through most of the security.

Her fuckup had been right at the end, and she was still livid about it. On the inside, at least.

Ursula was now explaining something about the inside of the broom. She was only slightly interested, so she heard while wishing the ground swallowed her to put her out of her misery. She knew she would _never_ forget this mistake. She’d regret it for the rest of her life. That perspective was almost enough to drive her crazy in the spot. She was only sixteen years and she had already committed a mistake so monumental that she wished to die.

The silver lining, however, was that she _was_ going to the IPR. And that meant that she still had a chance to pilot. Incapacitating Akko for a couple races was attractive, but she was not that desperate. Yet.

She still had some dark thoughts, though.

“This is a Magic capacitor,” Ursula explained while pointing at a piece from the back of the ship. Amanda tried to pay some attention to distract herself. “It gives an extra… Kick, let’s say, of magic to the system when starting. If it breaks, your broom’s systems might not start and you’ll be flying blind. It’s not impossible, but…” Amanda stopped listening completely.

Minutes passed. Her mind was blank. She could no longer think straight, not with the deep desire of going back in time that she felt right now. She wanted to punch Akko, even if it wasn’t her fault. She wanted to punch Diana, because it had been her perfect score what had pushed her to do such a stupid thing. She wanted to punch everyone, just because she was angry.

But in the end, it had been _her_ mistake. So Amanda only saw one possible path: Accept it and learn how to aim properly, because if she was going to participate in the race in any way, she was going to do her best to help earth win.


	9. Chapter 9

Akko stood, nervous, in the dressing room. She was next to Amanda. Both girls were checking their outfits, which were their new uniforms. No longer the Luna Nova uniforms, no. They now wore _Earth’s_ uniform. They changed it every decade. The first one had been blue and green, for obvious reasons, but no one had liked the design. Over the years it had seen better and worse iterations, but Akko thought this one wasn’t on the ‘worse’ side of things.

The outfit in question was a normal anti-g suit: Thin, tight and it highlighted the curves of anyone who wore it. Once you got past the initial embarrassment of wearing one, it was quite comfortable. Then, most of the uniform was black. Akko didn’t like that. The previous uniform had been completely white, and she hoped that would be the case for her too. Her hopes seemed misplaced, sadly. However, in the inner side of her legs, the sides of her body and the undersides of her arms, it was a strange marine-green. It wasn’t bad, but then again, Akko was _not_ a fan of it. Not that pilots were forced to wear them if they didn’t want to: one was allowed to fly however the hell they wanted, even if that meant they were being stupid. But Akko didn’t want to _not_ wear it, if that made any sense.

“Damn, this is awful,” Amanda said. “I think I’ll stick to the Luna Nova uniform for the races,” she was checking herself out in the mirror with a disgusted expression. The suit fitted her so much better than Akko though, why was she complaining? Akko was about to voice her question when someone knocked on the door. The dressing room was barely enough for Akko and Amanda to change comfortably. It had a couple mirrors and a closet, along with a small makeup station that neither of them used.

“Come in,” Akko said. Both of them were already dressed so there wasn’t much else to do. Ursula opened the door and looked at them with a kind smile.

“Are you ready, girls?”

“No,” Amanda said. “Everyone there knows we cheated. I’d be surprised if they don’t bathe us in rotten tomatoes,” she cringed while thinking about it. Akko considered it and thought it could be fun. Like a water balloon party in summer.

“Don’t worry, the rankings showed Akko with a high score near the end, most people won’t realize what happened,” Ursula reassured. Amanda sighed, but said nothing more. Akko wasn’t sure she liked what they had done to hide her mistake, it’d be obvious that Akko was worse than Diana the second they started racing. “Come on, it’s time.”

Akko followed slowly through the wooden corridors. The embassy was a building that had been constructed with the intention of looking old. Though the structure was modern, everything had a layer of wood outside. The lights were even slightly orange, as those from the past. Akko felt strangely nostalgic in there, even if she had never lived in a building like this.

Doors lined the hallways, most of them being probably offices. After a while walking, Ursula stopped in front of another door. Akko cocked her head, confused, until after just one knocking two girls came out, wearing uniforms similar to Akko’s but with the colors opposed. Diana and…

“Hannah?” Amanda was the first to react. “What are you doing here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Hannah raised an eyebrow, seemingly offended.

“This is a ceremony for pilots and gunmen, isn’t it?” Amanda sounded shocked, though Akko was just as surprised as she was.

“I’m Diana’s gunman, you idiot,” she scoffed. The redhead raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to say something, but Hannah continued. “Don’t bother commenting, I don’t care about what you think,” she said and turned to Ursula.

Amanda snorted. “Well, whatever,” she said with faked nonchalance. Akko noticed that Hannah was using slight makeup, but Diana wasn’t. Not that she needed any, being as pretty as she was.

Akko felt strangely uncomfortable while realizing what she had just thought.

Trying to ignore it, she walked next to the others until they reached a massive double door. And, upon opening it, they entered the Pilot’s Sanctuary.

Unlike the day where they had sneaked in, it was lit with those old-feeling orange lights. The floor and the cushioned seats were all a deep maroon, and the walls, stage and ceiling were all painted a very dark blue, the walls lined with photos of previous earth pilots and gunmen. It kind of looked like a theater with different seats. Seats that were all occupied. Members of the embassy, important pilots of the world, even aliens: Representatives of the Planetary Alliance. Not every single race was here, but Akko recognized the Armor with its huge, armadillo-like body made apparently of rock, or the Shapeshifter with its indefinite form, like a cloud of black smoke constantly shifting but somehow maintaining a bipedal appearance. A giant Medusa occupied a place near the front, though it looked to be in a kind of tank with not-exactly-water inside it. Two persons from Appal, too. Very similar to humans, but with taller builds and sharper features, almost like an exaggeration of what a human could be, particularly in their hair colors. One of them had bright yellow hair, while the other seemed to have it black. However, if you looked closely you’d see that it was actually a really dark purple.

All of these people were here to look at the four teenagers who were considered the best earth had to offer.

Their looks showed that they didn’t believe it.

Akko tried to avoid meeting anyone’s eyes, not sure of being able to keep a straight face if she did.

Amanda walked with a determined, don’t-get-in-my-way step, while Diana and Hannah walked with casualty, as if this were everyday occurrence to them. On their way to the stage, someone touched Akko’s forearm and she almost cried in surprise, only to see that her friends from Luna Nova were sitting there, a few rows before the front. Lotte was giving her an encouraging smile, while Sucy and the others seemed rather indifferent to the whole situation. Akko even noticed that Lotte was trying to hide something from view and instantly recognized one of those books she liked so much.

She didn’t have time to stop and chat, though.

When they reached the stage and climbed on the pedestals – in the positions they were meant to be, the giant screen behind them suddenly turned on and showed photos of them. Neutral, front-facing photos. Then Ursula stepped onto the stage before them between Akko and Diana and started to present the students. She wasn’t very thorough with any of them – Akko suspected that Diana had done a lot more than Ursula presented. The problem was that Akko hadn’t really accomplished anything.

As the presentation went on, Akko found it harder and harder not to look at the audience. At first she tried focusing on her friends, none of them besides Lotte really paying attention. Slowly, her eyes started to check out the spectators. Akko recognized with shock the Second Category pilots from the previous race, a Wizard and Gunmen who everyone had assumed were going to be the First Category ones until Chariot showed up. After that, they had given up racing and no one really knew what to make of them. They were looking at Akko and Diana with the same kind of harsh looks Akko expected to find everywhere.

Her expectations were met. The more people she looked at, the more nervous she grew. Harsh eyes was a simple way to say it, some were even full of hate. She gulped, feeling like she was going to puke.

But then, it hit her like a brick. This had been exactly the same position Chariot had been in. Well, kinda, she had earned her place, but she had been met with the same kind of harshness. At the start, media called her a cheater and some other stuff, because she hadn’t allowed her Broom to be studied, even if there was no proof of her ever cheating.

Akko found comfort in this, starting to feel more confident. Maybe she hadn’t earned her place, but she had the Shiny Rod, she would be able to do something that earned the same kind of fanatism her idol had had.

Then, four aliens stood. The Armor, taller than the average human by three or four heads, seen from the front, wasn’t so much an armadillo anymore. He still had the strange shell, but underneath it were three pairs of legs that walked very close to one another along with four arms, all of which appeared to be made of rock. The Shapeshifter left a trail of smoke when walking, but that smoke eventually came back to his main body. He had probably chosen a humanoid form for the ceremony, but if Akko remembered correctly, their natural state was a simple formless cloud. She didn’t understand how a being that was apparently made of smoke was able to grab things but that was another matter. A Cyborg, a half-biomechatronic half-organic creature, bipedal but with four sets of arms – two of them fully metallic, stood taller than even the Armor, barely being able to move through the seats without kicking others. Apparently, their race had once been like humans, but had grown so dependent on technology that their newborns usually lacked a couple limbs. And last, the Octopus. It… Wasn’t really an octopus, since it only had four tentacles, but other than that it was very similar. In its mouth and around its neck it had some kind of water-scarf that allowed him to breathe and its movements were rather funny to look at.

All of them were carrying small medals. Two gold, two silver. Akko’s felt some real excitement for the first time in a while. Those were _the_ pilot medals. She was going to receive one with just sixteen years! But she didn’t earn it, so it felt cheap, but it was so hard not to be excited!

The Shapeshifter was the one to approach Akko. It had no face, its head completely empty and constantly shifting but somehow maintaining form. Akko instinctively sniffed a little when it got close, but there was no smell coming from him. She wondered what would happen if she stuck her head inside it and took a deep breath. She didn’t do it, afraid of being poisoned by the strange smoke. It reached up with its unreal-looking arms and the medal – Akko noticed that it was inside the smoke, half-phasing through the body – and put it around Akko’s neck. It brushed Akko’s shoulder on the way down; making her realize that there must have been some sort of physicality to it, since she had felt a soft touch.

When it stepped away – its feet lacking any kind of noise – Akko felt as if something had changed, allowing herself to smile a little. Yeah, she wasn’t here because she had earned it. But if she worked hard she was sure she would make for a worthy Witch with the title of earth’s First Category pilot!

She looked at the others. Amanda had received hers from the Cyborg who, even if Amanda was tall, standing on the pedestal and on the stage, still looked down on her when putting the medal her. She was still looking him straight in the eyes. To the other side, Diana was receiving hers from the Armor and Hannah from the Octopus. Both of them had calm expressions and nodded slightly when receiving the medels.

The four aliens went back to their seats and an old man stood, one Akko recognized instantly. The leader of the IPR Committee. Paul Hanbridge, with grey hair and green eyes. He wore a pair of glasses and wore what was probably his finest black suit.

He stepped onto the stage, taking the microphone from Ursula, and looked at the four teenagers.

“You are Earth’s representatives from this point on and until the race finishes. Show the best humanity has to offer, both in terms of attitude and ability. Godspeed, pilots.”

His short speech ended quickly. All speeches were short when it came to the Inter-Planetary Race. People wanted a race, not a speech. The whole ceremony was, actually, little more than a simple formality. And it had already ended. Everyone in the room started to get out, save for the other Luna Nova students, helping Akko relax. No more eyes focused on her, no more harshness. Now, only the overlapping excitement and guilt remained.

Ursula turned to look at them as they climbed down from the pedestals, smiling. She was looking particularly at Akko, even if the girl didn’t notice, interest shining in her eyes. “Well, we’re all set. Call your families, prepare your luggage. We leave at first hour in Wednesday,” with the wave of a hand, she prompted the girls to go towards the exit too. Akko looked again at the others. Amanda and Hannah looked the same as before, but Diana was, strangely enough, looking down, apparently lost in thought.

Akko considered asking if something was wrong, but why would she? Even if she did, she wasn’t friends with Diana so she doubted she’d get an answer. Plus, she thought she had an idea of what was going through the girl’s mind. Akko didn’t want to admit it, but she was probably hated. There was no way Diana would actually drop out of the race, she was probably just nervous, but then Akko had gone and stolen the First Category from her. It was probably best if she kept her distance.

“I must say,” Diana suddenly say. “I did not expect such a small audience.”

Akko cocked her head. Small? There had to be like two hundred people in there!

Ursula, however, nodded. “As you may remember, procedures were sped up this time. What would have normally taken a full month was narrowed down to just ten days, basically a third of the time. A lot of people weren’t invited because there wasn’t time to prepare it all,” she explained right as they exited the sanctuary and got back to the wooden corridors.

“I see,” she simply said. Akko noticed some hesitance. She wondered if maybe there had been an ulterior motive to her question, but she didn’t dwell on it. She had her own things to deal with, and right now, what she wanted was to just be rid of all the thoughts that haunted her. She checked out the medal she had received. It had a simple depiction of earth in relief.

She allowed herself to smile, if only a little.

 

That whole ceremony had been a farce.

Diana understood this. Lack of time to prepare? What an idiotic excuse that was. No, they had wanted as little people to watch it as possible, to not be asked questions. Hell, the press wasn’t even there! There was just a single camera streaming the event and Diana suspected it hadn’t even been a world-wide thing. Akko’s and Amanda’s blunder had basically ruined the whole thing, leaving only the locals to attend the event. Normally there were about a thousand people in these ceremonies. Diana noticed how the seats had more space between them, the suspiciously big margin left at the sides and back of the room, the unusually wide center corridor. It was impossible to hide that four fifths of the normal guests weren’t there.

And Diana was happy about that. She had been at the verge of collapse thorough the whole thing, wanting to explain all the reasons why what they were doing was wrong. But somehow, the smaller audience, the quick ceremony, everything had helped her get through it. She looked at her silver medal, with its relief of the earth. She felt conflicted about it. Did she really deserve it? She still didn’t know how the punctuation system had worked. Maybe she did, maybe she even deserved the golden one.

Still, after much thinking, she had logically concluded that this was for the better. If she didn’t deserve it, then at least the bulk of the attention would be drawn to Akko, who was surely even less deserving of hers. On the other hand, if she did deserve it, or if she deserved the better one, she’d prove it in the only way she could: Racing. Piloting. Beating everyone else, no matter who they were.

She glanced at Akko, who was looking at her own medal with a smile, something she hadn’t done in a few days. She had a good heart, but that was it. She lacked discipline, ability and practice. Earth was not going to win this Inter-Planetary Race, but maybe, if Diana did her best, they at least wouldn’t come out in last place.

Just maybe.

 

 

 

Hannah went up the boarding dock of the _Dragon_ – a massive broom with the size of a damn stadium, painted in blue and green. It looked like a fusion between a submarine and a plane, but giant. It was the only ship on earth, magic-fueled or not, capable of world-hopping, a term used to describe the travel between planets. The door was surprisingly small, but they were using a special entrance. Behind her, she could see the enormous docks in the middle of the ocean – the broom was so massive that it needed to land on water. There was no natural land anywhere in sight, and the structure they were in, full of people, was a giant floating platform where boats constantly came and went. The people here came from all different kinds of cultures, but they all had the same aristocratic air to them. They were, after all, wealthy enough to pay for the travel. Food stands of all kinds popped here and there, normally near the multiple entrances to the massive broom, and most of them were pretty successful in their sales.

Hannah scrunched her nose at the sight. So messy. She had expected something more organized, not a sea of colors and people coming and going with no clear objectives in mind. The amount of noise was almost deafening, footsteps that never stopped, shouts that were directed at no one in particular, crying babies and more. The smell of all those food stands gave Hannah nausea, who would eat in those things? Besides everyone else, of course. Hannah, Barbara and Diana stood at the top of the boarding dock, looking at the crowds for signs of their companions, who had gone to get something to eat. Hannah was tempted to just go inside the _Dragon_ but Ursula had said that she wanted them to stick together until the ship departed.

“I’m kind of hungry,” Barbara said, looking at the crowd.

“I’m sure there’ll be food inside,” Hannah said, completely missing the point of what Barbara had said. The black-haired girl sighed and nodded.

Soon enough, the group of six appeared from the crowd, all carrying something to eat. Jasminka was carrying all kinds of different foods, and apparently tasted them all at once.

“You sure you don’t want something?” Akko asked with her mouth half full, offering the blue team trio some of what she was carrying. Hannah couldn’t recognize it beyond knowing it was fried. She winced at the idea of having to eat it and shook her head energetically.

Barbara seemed to want to try it, but she held herself back. Diana completely ignored the offer, instead turning and entering the broom without delay. Hannah and Barbara followed.

The inside of the _Dragon_ wasn’t spacious. The metallic corridors were narrow, probably no more than two meters high and one meter wide. They were perfectly rectangular, with white lights illuminating the way. Doors to different compartments lined the walls and the steps of the nine girls walking through the maze of corridors resounded. Everyone was wearing casual clothing today: They had two days of travel ahead of them, so Ursula had suggested they wore comfortable clothes. Hannah was wearing a one-piece completely white summer dress, while most of the others wore simple t-shirts and jeans. Akko and Amanda wore shorts, while Sucy wore a cloak for some reason.

After five minutes going around following Diana, Akko asked her friends if they were lost. Hannah turned back to answer and, in that precise moment, Diana stopped, which lead to Hannah bumping into her.

“Here we are,” Diana said. There they were indeed: The corridor they were in was a short one, and it only had doors on one side of it. Three doors, to be precise, one for each team. At the end of the corridor there was a set of stairs that Hannah hoped would lead to the upper levels of the ship where there were things to actually do. She had checked the pamphlet: There was a pool somewhere, and she wanted to try it out.

“Then, which room is which?” Akko asked.

“Our luggage should be inside,” Diana explained. “Check where is yours and we’ll know.”

Everyone started to check out the rooms. The red team was on the left room, the blue team on the center and the green team on the right. The three rooms were exactly the same, with four beds that retreated into the walls, small two-shelves closets with a single drawer, the smallest bathroom in the universe and a single screen hanged in the opposite wall to the door, probably to watch movies and such. Not very comfortable, but it was just a two-days trip.

The red team’s room had an extra luggage that no one recognized, thought it wasn’t hard to come to the conclusion that it was probably Ursula’s. The teacher would now be working on making sure everything was ready for departure, probably down in the hangar of the _Dragon_ where smaller brooms would be stored. Hannah remembered the desire she had felt of punching Akko in the face when it had taken up to twenty-five minutes to convince her that the Shiny Rod wouldn’t be able to just teleport to another planet and get her to call for it so that it could be stored. The earth team was now carrying three brooms on the ship: Two Shooting Stars and the Shiny Rod. The three had been hidden and described as Shooting Stars, because Akko absolutely refused to let others look at it. She was afraid of someone wanting to steal it.

Hannah had wanted to punch her, but in the end Akko had accepted their arguments.

After settling into their rooms, Barbara and Diana decided that they would wait there until Ursula came back. Hannah had no patience for that, so she made sure to remember the number and of the room – 809 – and stepped outside.

She was greeted with Amanda’s grumpy face in the corridor outside, looking with hesitance at the stairs. Her shirt was white and it had a dancing leprechaun drinking beer in it. Rather ugly, in Hannah’s opinion.  

“Going up?” Amanda asked, not sounding particularly excited about the prospect of going in the same direction as Hannah.

“Yes,” Hannah said coldly. Amanda rolled her eyes and instantly took off. Hannah hesitated for a second before deciding that she was not going to get hampered in her mission to go search the pool because of her. She started going upstairs – It was a long way up but she didn’t know where the elevator was – at a relatively normal pace.

When she reached the first deck, the massive area near the front of the _Dragon_ that was already full of people – though, not in such mess as in the docks – she almost ran into Amanda, who appeared to be awed at the size of the place. It looked like a mall. The floor was lined with wood and the ceiling was at least five meters tall. To her left, the line of picture windows at the front of the ship gave an amazing view of the ocean and to her left a metal wall cut off the view, leading to more rooms. The edges of the space were lined with small shops, which would probably see a lot of business in the coming weeks - while the pilots would find stay on whatever planet they were going to, most of these people would remain inside the _Dragon_ during those periods. Most didn’t dare go into crazy alien planets without a good reason and even less dared sleep in them. In the middle of it all there was a giant stage where Hannah knew there’d be some amazing shows, but none during this first short trip. Most of the better stuff would come during the longer world-hopping periods, which could last up to a week in some cases.

The pool wasn’t here, but Hannah was not going to climb a single step more.

“Are you going to move or what?” Hannah asked in annoyance. Amanda snapped out of her surprise and looked at her.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said with annoyance. Hannah started walking around the shops, which were already open. Clothes, gifts and even fast-food chains were there. Not used to these kinds of experiences, Hannah did find herself in a thrill while exploring. It was exciting. From time to time she stopped before display windows in shops, thinking about buying some clothes. There’d be a few parties thorough the IPR, some inside the _Dragon_ and some in the different planets they were going to. They had been asked not to bring too much luggage, but no one had said anything about buying stuff.

One of the times she stopped, Amanda bumped into her. She apologized without much energy.

“Why are you following me?” Hannah asked giving the tall girl a flat stare.

Amanda shrugged, meeting her eyes with the same kind of expression. “I dunno, not that I was planning on doing it or anything,” she said and turned away. “I’ll go the other way if it bothers you so much.”

“That’d be lovely, thanks,” Hannah said with feigned sweetness. Amanda let out a ‘bah’ before starting to walk in the opposite direction.

Hannah frowned. She didn’t know what to make of Amanda. Unlike Akko, she didn’t usually react in any meaningful way to her taunts, so it was boring to tease her. Despite how she acted, when Hannah thought about troublemakers at school, Akko wasn’t the first one to pop into mind: Amanda was. She caused trouble on purpose, almost as if wanting to get expelled, coming up with crazier and crazier ways of causing trouble. During her first week she had hidden all the teacher’s wands in a single night and then, next week, she did it again. The thing was, that time the wands had been in a safe with a twelve-digit numeric password. Then she had given up on the prank, because doing the same thing over and over would grow boring.

Well, she wasn’t Hannah’s problem.

At some point, when walking around the deck, Hannah found herself growing really hungry. She had money, but she considered it would be best to at least wait for her friends. Particularly Barbara, since she had said she was hungry too. On the other hand, it could be hours until Ursula came back.

While debating herself, she saw something that caught her eye. It was a small silvery necklace with an emerald pendant. It was really, really pretty. But also expensive; too expensive for a sixteen year old, no matter how much money her family had. Still, she stared at it for a while longer, thinking of what kinds of dresses would go well with it.

When she was done fantasizing, she started walking again. Maybe she should just eat, be done with it. There were a couple of good looking restaurants here that would probably be interesting. She suspected that the really good ones, however, would be on the higher decks, where a good portion of the passengers wouldn’t be able to access. Pilots could enter all five decks, but common people went by tiers. This was the lowest, Bronze Deck. It went Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Magic. All tiers were absurdly expensive, but the higher ones could go up to half a million per head or more. Hannah hadn’t searched, she was kind of afraid of what the prices could be.

After about fifteen minutes, she managed to get to the other side of the deck. There had been a ton of cute dresses and other garments she had stared at, but she was starting to grow bored. The other people on the deck were entering and exiting shops constantly, or just walking around, and the place was starting to grow hot. Apparently the ventilation hadn’t been turned on quite yet. Hannah decided that it was probably time to go back.

She spared a thought for Amanda, wondering where the troublemaker would be. She didn’t see her near, so in the end, she shrugged. She would find her way to the rooms eventually. Now, where was that elevator…?

 

“Akko,” Lotte said, the hint of annoyance in her voice. “Could you please not leave your things on the floor?”

“Sorry, I’m just…” Akko was going through her luggage in a panic. She couldn’t have forgotten it, could she? There was no way, there was no… Ah, there it was! “Oh thanks lord, I thought I didn’t have it,” she kissed her small Chariot card. During the three months of the IPR ten years ago, Chariot had grown to a marketing monster in just a few weeks. What Akko had right now was one of her many Chariot cards. Her favorite: The one where Chariot stood atop a half-buried cockpit in the dirt, wearing her white anti-g suit and a helmet that allowed her to breathe. It was the moment she had lived herself during her youth and it had been stuck in her head ever since. The card didn’t help get rid of it, of course.

“Of all the things you could’ve brought you decide to take a card,” Sucy rolled her eyes. “You didn’t bring the entire collection did you?”

“No, just this one,” Akko explained. “It’s from the race I saw in person, the one that convinced me to be a Witch,” she said with nostalgia. Sucy smiled as she always did before throwin a snarky comment, but right at that moment Ursula entered the small room and looked at Akko from behind her glasses.

“Akko, I need you and Diana to come with me,” she said.

Akko tucked the card back into the luggage and stood. Then she paused, feeling the daggers in her back, and turned to look at Lotte with an apologetic smile. “I’ll clean it when I get back, I promise,” she said before practically running out of the room.

In the corridor outside, Diana waited already. She wore a light blue t-shirt with dark jeans and sneakers. Akko never imagined she would wear such simple clothing, but then again, the idea was to be comfortable. Ursula guided the way through some corridors and they reached a series of elevators. While waiting for one to come Akko had the urge to talk about something, but she didn’t know what she could talk about. She barely knew Ursula or Diana, even if she did want to get to know them better. Though Diana probably didn’t feel the same way.

The elevator finally arrived. Curiously enough, Hannah came out of it. “Oh, hey,” she said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I’m… going to the rooms, see you,” she hurried away. When had she gone out?

Ignoring this – Ursula seemed slightly uncomfortable with what happened, but she moved on – they got into the elevator. Ursula pressed a button and they started moving down.

The awkward silence became even more awkward as they went down. No one else came into it, so Akko just started tapping her foot.

When they reached the floor they were going to, the elevator door opened to a hangar. All kinds of ships – brooms or not – were being carried around by members of the _Dragon’s_ crew. Ursula didn’t stop to look at these, moving left and straight into the deeper parts of the tall hangar where the bigger ships stood. There, amidst the sea of unfamiliarity, stood the three brooms Akko had come to know. Two Shooting Stars, one red, one blue, and the Shiny Rod, still hidden under a giant cover.

They approached them, and Akko noticed the magic bindings around them. And in front of those bindings, dark panels that Akko recognized.

“Girls, you’re already familiar with these. They’re biometric security systems, so that only you may access these ships,” Chariot pointed to them. “Please set your hands on the panels,”

Akko nodded and went straight for the Shiny Rod’s panel. Diana went for the red Shooting Star one. Akko winced when the biometric scan ended and stung her, but other than that, it was as easy as stealing the First Category pilot spot had been.

Diana didn’t even flinch at the pain she must have felt, and she moved onto the next Shooting Star.

“Wait here for a while, we’re going to need to get your signatures. Where’s the guy…?” She trailed off as she walked away, leaving Akko and Diana lone in front of the brooms. Akko absently got closer to Diana, wanting to say something. Maybe an apology, or something encouraging? They had barely spoken to each other, but Akko still felt like she should at least try to be nice.

“So… Pretty nice weather, huh?” She said, instantly face-palming in her mind.

“I agree, even if we can’t really see it from here,” Diana said calmly. Akko was instantly reminded of why she hadn’t tried to talk with Diana before: The girl had this… Egotistic undertone to her, like if she was always in control. Akko had made a comment about the weather and Diana had still managed to instantly make Akko feel stupid.

“Uhm… This ship’s pretty awesome, right?” Akko continued her attempts anyways.

Diana took a deep breath. “I’m not in the mood for small talk, if you don’t mind,” she said, not looking at her.

Akko frowned. “Then you _are_ angry with me,” she said in reaction to the cold answer.

“It might be surprising, but I’m actually not. I just don’t feel like entertaining you.”

“Ok, you don’t have to tell me, I know it anyways,” Akko hmpf-ed. Why would she hide it, anyways? It wasn’t like if she usually pretended that they were friends or anything.

Diana sighed loudly. “Do you think this is a game, Akko?”

Akko turned, surprised at the change of tone. The blonde girl now sounded very tired and annoyed, she was looking at Akko with an uncharacteristic lack of patience. “We’re Earth’s representatives on the most important inter-planetary event of the decade,” she started. Akko hadn’t really thought much about it, but… “I do _not_ have the time to spare being angry at you, because every second I would spend like such is a second I can’t spend mentally preparing for the rough path ahead,” she pointed at the brooms behind her. “You fail to understand it, but the potential to win is here. These Shooting Stars, they could change _everything._ You can’t even begin to fathom just how superior they are to all previously known brooms on Earth. And somehow, you have something that is apparently _better_ than they are,” she now pointed at the Shiny Rod. She didn’t sound angry, not really, but it was hard not to realize she wasn’t calm either. Akko thought she’d rather Diana sounded angry than… Whatever this was. “Do you not understand? This could have been the time Earth actually won an Inter-Planetary Race. I don’t have time to be angry at you, Akko, because I want to do my best at trying to win the races ahead of us, and emotions such as those would be nothing but an impediment. I feel like we could’ve won, but then…”

She wavered and took another deep breath, then exhaled. She instantly put on her neutral expression again. “No, never mind. Look, there’s Ursula,” her voice had gone back to normal.

Not that she needed to say it. Akko understood. But then Akko and Amanda had butted in and ruined everything. For the first time since they had committed the act, Akko was hit with the full weight of what she had done. She had managed to ignore it by thinking that she would be like Chariot, that the Shiny Rod would be her triumph card.

But, could she really do it?

Even after signing, going back to her room, tidying up her mess and waiting for the _Dragon_ to take off, she didn’t come to an answer. This time, no rationalization came to help her. Maybe it was because of the guilt, or because she had never imagined Diana would speak to her like that, but her previous bargaining mechanisms were no longer enough.

So it was that, as the _Dragon_ started to move, Akko didn’t feel like going to explore the ship.

Instead, she fell asleep. Maybe she’d have an answer when waking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of the first batch. Hope you're liking it so far.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the second batch of chapters. I don't really have much else to say. I just write at a steady pace and when I felt it was a good time to post I did. Don't forget to leave a comment with your opinions, whether they are positive or negative. I can take all criticism and try to improve moving forward.

Diana felt bad for what she had said. She hadn’t meant to snap like that, but she had let her guard down around Akko for some reason. All the thoughts she hadn’t told to even her friends, she had spurted them out to Akko when she wasn’t even really the guilty party.

Still, she hadn’t said anything untrue, so she didn’t really feel the need to apologize.

They had left earth about three hours ago, so she was now walking through the third deck – also called the Gold Deck – looking for a place to eat along with Hannah and Barbara. They had taken some time to do so because Diana wasn’t feeling particularly good. Akko had apparently gone to sleep and Diana was sure it was her fault, but the main reason was that she wanted to be sure to not snap like that again at anyone anytime soon. She’d needed time to collect her thoughts. Hannah and Barbara had been really nice to wait for her.

Hannah had wanted to go to the upper levels, but Diana had already once been to the Dragon and she already had a place she wanted to visit. The Gold Deck was, in truth, the biggest of all the decks. As high as all the other metal decks, it occupied three-fourths of the length of the ship. It was basically a small shopping district. Diana wasn’t sure if a ship needed so many shops, but she wouldn’t complain. She walked through the wooden, relatively narrow streets along with the traffic. One half of the Gold Deck was occupied by what passengers called the ‘Shopping Town’, while the other half was a big, artificial park with some other things in it. The park was not in Diana’s mind at the moment.

After walking past countless colorful shops, they reached the ‘main street’ of the deck, where all the big, important shops and chains were.

Including Diana’s favorite restaurant in the galaxy.

It was a small establishment, with a door that wasn’t particularly striking or flamboyant made of white wood in a wall painted brown. Above the door, a small sign with the name of the place hung tilted. It hadn’t been like that last time Diana came, but it’d probably get fixed at some point during this trip. The language on it wasn’t readable, not to humans. Diana had tried to learn it, but it had been useless. However, she knew what it meant: Goodwill, so that’s what she called it.

Hannah and Barbara exchanged strange looks. They probably thought Diana was wrong, but she wasn’t.

She stepped forward and pushed the door open. A long corridor lit with white-fire torches was before them. The torches gave, unlike what you’d expect, a spectral light-blue light to the place.

“Wow,” Barbara said. “Aren’t those…?”

“Light Flames,” Hannah finished. “But aren’t those only found in Darkworld?”

‘Darkworld’ was the home planet of the Shapeshifters. Despite the ominous name, the only reason to be called that was the fact that it lacked natural light. It had a moon that was just big enough and had just the right orbit so that the planet was always hidden from the white star of its solar system. Yet somehow it didn’t freeze. Turned out, the planet had a strange energy at its core, not unlike magic, that humans had named ‘Light Flame’. Research hadn’t been done on it yet, mostly because Darkworld was the furthest planet of the alliance from Earth. It would take three months to get there, even on world-hoppers like the Dragon. And the planet wasn’t habitable to humans anyways.

“It’s a source of energy,” Diana said. “As long as there’s a way to store it, it can find its way anywhere.”

She walked through the corridor, her friends following closely and staring in awe at the strange lights. Diana knew that touching one wouldn’t be particularly hot. It would actually feel more like static energy, something she had loved when she was a kid. She was tempted to do it just to see her teammates’ reactions, but she held herself back. She was not a child anymore.

“They’re so pretty…” Hannah said, but she trailed off as they reached the restaurant room.

It was small, barely bigger than Diana’s room at Luna Nova. A skylight stood in the ceiling above the middle of the room, but it had been obscured with some dark material. Little light came through the open glass, as it was only there to allow ventilation into the place. Most of the lighting came, again, from Light Flame torches around the room. There weren’t many tables, and the bar stood lonely at the end. It had tons of bottles on it, but none of them had a human language written into their labels. The walls were paneled with dark wood and the floor was a neat white that perfectly reflected the Light Flames’ light.

Diana went for one of the bigger tables in the middle of the room, which was a circle just big enough for three people to sit in comfortably.

“I didn’t know you liked places like… Well, this one,” Barbara said, still looking around in awe. In the spectral blue light, the pale skin of the humans seemed to glow.

“It’s amazing,” Hannah commented. For some reason, she was checking under the table, which had no tablecloth. Other than them, there was no one else in the Goodwill, which Diana found smile-worthy. She was afraid the place would’ve grown more famous with the years, or maybe closed down because of the lack of clientele. But there she was, with her two best friends, in a place that had stayed the same for ten whole years. For a second, she allowed herself to travel back in time.

That second was literal, for a step sounded next to the table, drawing her attention. Hannah and Barbara had uncomfortable expressions to them, but when Diana turned she knew what she would find.

A Shapeshifter. The smoke that made up its body was, in this case, a little lighter than what most humans would be accustomed to, more of a dark grey than a pure black.

“Hello, welcome to the –“ Despite speaking perfect English, when pronouncing the name of the bar, all that Diana heard was a series of whispers and sounds not only barely audible but completely impossible to understand. The Shapeshifter way of speaking was one of allowing the air passing through your body to create the precise sounds you needed to convey your message. Diana had tried to emulate it with whistling, but it was impossible to do it. However, with the strange way Shapeshifter bodies worked, they could transform themselves to speak any language in the planetary alliance. They had been the key to constructing the universal translators they’d be getting once arriving at their destination. “Here’s the menu in Human,” most aliens called the English language ‘human’, such as most humans called the most prominent alien idioms by their race name. “Do you have any drinks in mind yet?” It had a deep and masculine voice.

“Not quite, we will ask for everything once we decide,” Diana took the menu and nodded respectfully.

The waiter nodded. Like all Shapeshifters, he lacked a face, and when he turned to go… Well, he didn’t really turn, he just started backwards and his body changed to make it look like he was doing it forward.

“What’s a restaurant run by a Shapeshifter doing here?” Hannah asked curious.

“I lack that information,” Diana said while starting to read the menu. It had mostly human foods, but it also had a few alien ones. Sadly, not many alien foods were edible, due to the big differences in physiologies between races. Shapeshifters, for example, ate carbon dioxide straight out of the air. After deciding what she was going to get – she already knew, in truth, but she wanted to make sure it was still there – she handed the menu to Hannah.

“Granite and clay? Isn’t this Armor food?” Hannah said while scrunching her nose. “I don’t think an Armor could even fit in here,” she pointed at the narrow corridor that was the entrance.

“I believe I made a similar comment the first time I ate here,” Diana said, recalling her past. “There is also Cyborg food, if you’re up for asking how an alien race would fit in.”

Barbara was staring at her with a weird expression. Diana raised an eyebrow in inquiry, but was met with only a smile and a nod. Apparently, her teammate was just amused at Diana’s attitude. It was unusual for the blonde to look so comfortable.

“Raw meat, this is Appali for sure,” Hannah commented.

“Hannah, how about you look at human food and decide, please? I’m dying here,” Barbara complained. Hannah grunted but nodded, then handed the menu to Barbara. “Ah, look, there’s pineapple pizza here.”

Hannah’s head snapped towards her friend. Pineapple pizza was a touchy subject when Hannah was close. Saying that she hated it would be an understatement: The girl loathed the thing. Diana had never tried it, so she had no preferences over it.

“I’m not saying I’ll ask for it, just thought it was curious. Ok, I’ve picked. What are we going to drink?” Barbara looked at the bar behind Diana.

“Allow me to order something I think you’ll like,” Diana said with a smile. Her teammates nodded without thinking much, they trusted her.

About two minutes later, in which the girls chatted about the nice atmosphere of the Goodwill, the waiter came back. This time he had three arms – one sticking out of his back – as he carried a pencil, a notepad and a tray with breadsticks in it. With it came a sauce that Diana recognized with subtle excitement.

“Have the ladies decided on a meal?” the waiter said. He had a perfectly neutral accent.

“Yes, we have,” Diana said and made the order.

 

Amanda found herself walking through the hangar in the lower levels of the ship. Out the small circular windows she could already see the stars and blackness of space. She would probably have been more amazed by her first time in space if she wasn’t so tired.

It didn’t take long for her to find the two Shooting Stars and the Shiny Rod hidden below the cover. There wasn’t anyone else in the hangar except for the guard at the elevator door, but he was far away now. Amanda was drawn to the broom-racers, feeling strangely numb while doing so. Was it because she was tired? Or was it the acceptance she was feeling? Maybe it wasn’t even acceptance, maybe it was just depression.

Then again she was just really tired. Her walk through the deck earlier had gone on for a lot longer than she wanted, since she had explored every nook and cranny of the place. She still had to do some exploring of the rest of the ship – she liked to know exactly where she was at all times – but that’d have to wait until she had more time. She’d do it during one of the longer world-hoppings in the future.

She approached the electric blue Shooting Star, placing a hand on its nose, quickly going over every fantasy she’d had of flying it. But this was not the one she’d be riding during the races. Instead, she moved to the left, standing in front of the Shiny Rod.

Such a legendary broom. In only ten years it had become the main mystery of the racing world. Forget the Sixty-impossible-spins of the fourth IPR, or the buckle-turn from the world championship finals of the ’63. Nowadays, the arguing wasn’t about if the feats were possible or had just been luck. It was about discovering how had Chariot tricked the entire Planetary Alliance, about the strange use of magic, about government secrecy.

Amanda had never given much thought to the subject, but after just a couple of short trips inside the broom she could tell there was something special about it. She was tempted to look under the cover and get in it, see if it would start. She took out her wand, she had a spell Constanze had modified for her that could easily break the broom’s bindings… But she was afraid of activating the alarm, and who knew what would happen if the Shiny Rod disappeared here in the middle of space.

Instead, she sat atop it, and the broom rocked back and forth slightly. Curiously enough, it was floating. It didn’t appear to have wheels, or to touch the ground, ever. Amanda didn’t exactly understand how that could be, hovering expended magic and no one was re-fueling the brooms in the hangar. Next, she lay on her back. She wasn’t centered, since the center wasn’t smooth. It peaked slightly and it would’ve been painful to try and lay there.

She was resting on the Shiny Rod. What a surreal experience. She never imagined she’d be doing this. How many people in the world had actually done something like this? Probably none. Well, maybe Chariot herself had, but Amanda doubted it. Being the gunman of this ship, it probably wouldn’t be so bad. How did the arms work on this thing, anyways? It shot magic straight out of the spheres, but they all pointed in different directions. Amanda considered going to get Akko and try it out, but she was too tired to do that right now.

Too tired…

 

Ursula sat in her – and the red team’s – room, slight awkwardness to her posture as she tried to find a comfortable position.

All the teenage girls had gone out to explore the ship, but Ursula was a little too nervous to do that. She didn’t worry too much about the girls going out on their own; the Dragon’s security was one of the best in the galaxy. So good, in fact, that Ursula feared being recognized, despite the changes in her appearance.

But she couldn’t really stay in her room two entire days. What an ordeal.

As she thought about this, she heard a grunt from the bed in front of her. Akko turned, crimson eyes half open, and looked at Ursula. The woman smiled as she always did. It had been about four hours since Akko had gone to sleep. A good nap, too good probably. Ursula had forgotten to warn that it was easy to mess up one’s circadian rhythm if one wasn’t careful. It was hard to tell the passage of days in space and alien planets.

“Oh, hey coach,” Akko said with a sleepy voice.

“Hello, Akko.”

Silence reigned for a few long and awkward seconds. “So,” Akko broke it. “Are you a pilot, coach?” Ursula didn’t exactly like being called coach, but it was better than being called by her last name like Diana had done.

“Y-yes,” Ursula was taken a little off guard by the sudden question. “I’ve been for about twelve years, now,” she explained. It was at this moment that she realized the enormous mistake she had made in giving a timeframe, and her fear was met with Akko’s eyes lighting up.

“Wait… That’s the same amount of time Chariot would have being a pilot!” Akko almost jumped from bed. Ursula felt her blood pressure going down. Of all the people on the universe, she had to slip in front of who was probably her biggest fan. “You must have graduated the same year as her! You went to Luna Nova too, right? Did you know her?” Her eyes were a single lumen away from starting to shine like lanterns.

Ursula cocked her head, dumbfounded. She tried not to be too relieved by the Japanese girl’s thought process. Of course she wouldn’t think… Yeah, that was silly. “Y-yeah, I guess,” Ursula wasn’t lying, but it felt like it. “Though it’s not like we were friends or anything,” she laughed nervously.

 “How was she like?” Akko leaned forth in bed, so much so that Ursula feared she’d fall to the ground. She was grinning, her white teeth almost blinding the coach.

Ursula paused. How was she? “She was… Optimistic, full of energy,” she described. “An idealist,” too much of one, in fact. “She acted like nothing could stand in the way of her dreams, and she had a way of dragging others along with her that was annoying to most.” Akko’s smile was growing broader. “She was… Young.” And annoying, and an idiot. “Not much else to say, I guess.” Now, that was a lie. But Akko probably didn’t want to hear about the other things she had to say.

The brunette seemed satisfied. She probably didn’t get many chances to speak to people about her idol. Ursula was tempted to tell her more things, things only she knew. But that would give her away. Instead, she was satisfied with seeing how Akko’s eyes moved around while she thought. “Is it true that her scores in the simulations were world-record breaking but the school never let it out to keep it a secret?” She asked with an intense stare.

“I-I couldn’t tell you,” it was a lie, who the hell had come up with such a stupid thing? “I don’t remember much from those days…” She pushed down the growl that was coming to her. It pissed her off when people made up stuff about her past, but she didn’t’ want to say more than necessary to Akko.

However, Akko wasn’t going to give up so easily. Despite the fact that she had just awoken, she was already full of energy. Energy she used to ask questions that Ursula did her best to dodge.

This would be a very long trip.

 

When the food arrived, Hannah was amazed. Not only by the amazing smell but by the presentation as well. She had asked for spaghetti – it was a fact of life that, if a restaurant couldn’t serve good spaghetti, then it wasn’t a good restaurant – but she hadn’t expected it to appear so… Amazing. Just the right amount of spaghetti, just the right amount of sauce, different spices thrown on top to make it all come together. Barbara’s juicy steak wasn’t looking any worse, along with its colorful salad. And Diana-

“What is that?” Hannah exclaimed, almost jumping from her seat.

“My meal, why do you ask?” Diana said. Was that… mockery, in her voice? Hannah was almost more surprised by that than by the meal.

But the meal itself was… A stew. A stew of what looked like worms, just a little thicker and white. The broth was a deep green and it still bubbled, slowly, like if it was tar.

Diana didn’t hesitate to take her spoon and put it in her mouth. She chewed for a few seconds before swallowing, her expression unchanged thorough the whole experience. Hannah slowly started to eat her own meal, which was great, unable to make a comment. It was hard to enjoy eating while looking at Diana’s food, though. Barbara wasn’t touching hers, her face pale.

After a while, Hannah couldn’t take it anymore.

“Ok, that’s it. Why the hell are you eating that?” she asked, not bothering to hide the disgust in her voice.

Diana, to her surprise, had the hint of a smirk on her face, a glimmer of amusement on her eyes. “Because it’s delicious, of course,” she said, taking another bite… sip…? Eating again. Despite the aspect of the meal she really did seem to enjoy it.

“I think I need something to drink,” Barbara said, taking the bottle from that the waiter had brought and pouring its contents on her glass.

It was red, which got tainted into a dark purple in the blue light. It started moving within the glass.

“Ah!” She barely managed to put the bottle down, looking scared at the thing she had just poured. “Wha-wha-what is that…” Her already pale face paled further, her skin becoming one with the lighting, making her seem like a corpse. She stumbled, as if she was going to faint, but Hannah caught her.

Diana chuckled. Both girls froze.

Hannah considered the possibility of hallucinations. That was more likely than Diana chuckling. Or than Diana pulling a prank on them. She pinched her cheek. No, no dreaming. Then, Diana chuckled again.

“Come on, sit down again,” she pointed towards their seats. With some doubt, they sat again. “Sorry, it was not within my intentions to scare you,” she nodded slightly. “I just imagined it could be amusing to see how you reacted to these foods.”

Hannah cocked her head. “Amusing? You’re eating worms!” She exclaimed, pointing at Diana’s bowl. The blonde girl shook her head.

“This is a fine stew of Meatflower, straight from Appal, cooked in milk of…” She hesitated for a second. “I believe they’re called Razorspines,” Hannah had heard of the creatures. Big feline-like creatures with sharp spines on their backs. It was only a defense mechanism, however. They were supposed to be herbivorous. Weird planet, Appal. And the Appali with it. “My mother got me to taste it one of the times we came here. It’s been one of my favorite foods since then…” She sounded melancholic. It was weird, seeing Diana open up about anything. Hannah didn’t want to interrupt, feeling like if she did, it would all fall apart.

“Can I… Taste it?” Barbara asked. Hannah gaped for a moment, surprise showing in her face. Diana perked up, nodding slightly. Without hesitating – or rather, not giving herself time to hesitate – Barbara leaned over the table and shoved a spoonful of the stew into her mouth with closed eyes.

She opened them again, swallowed, and ate again.

“This is amazing!” Barbara said. “Diana, you should’ve told us to ask for this!”

Hannah, curious now too, took the spoon from her friend and ate some too. It was sweet, but kind of spicy, with a warmth that spread all over her body despite the fact that it was cold. The meatflower had a soft, squishy texture, not unlike a marshmallow, but with a neutral flavor that depended on the broth to work.

“It is amazing!” Hannah exclaimed. “My god, you say Appali eat this?”

“I believe it is a common food over there, not unlike how a normal stew would be for us,” Diana explained, her neutral expression transformed by a slight curvature in the lips. “Why don’t you try the drink?” She looked at the glass. Barbara nodded, taking a sip. He face lit up, and Hannah instantly followed. It was kind of fruity. Delicious, even if Hannah couldn’t place what fruit it was. “Ultramar, the fruit of Appal’s oceans,” Diana served a glass for herself. “It’s said to have ended the Century War, though I haven’t studied much of the Appali’s history,” she took a sip. She wasn’t the most expressive person, but Hannah could tell she really liked it. She looked around with a satisfied face. “The Goodwill is one of the few places a human can go to short of Appal itself to get food like this.”

Hannah and Barbara, back on their seats, looked at their own foods and started eating. The spaghetti really was great, too. “What I don’t get,” Hannah said between mouthfuls. “Is why this place isn’t bursting with clientele.”

Diana shrugged, though Hannah felt there was something she was hiding. Still, the place was amazing. She was already looking forward to coming here next time during one of the longer trips.

With this excitement, she kept eating. So good, damn it. This place was definitely a good restauraurant.


	11. Chapter 11

During the second day of travel, Akko walked through the first deck along with Sucy and Lotte. It felt like they hadn’t been hanging out much lately, but Akko was determined to fix that. She dragged her teammates around the deck with excitement, seeing the colorful people from all corners of the world mingle around her. Lotte seemed to be enjoying herself too, but Sucy appeared to only be interested in trying to pinch someone with her wand and inject a potion onto them. Why did she have a wand like that, anyways? Akko was sure her own wand couldn’t get Potion Capsules into them.

Akko had actually forgotten her Spells and wand. The only one she had was the Shiny Rod’s key-wand and she didn’t dare move it to much. On the other hand, Lotte had a small photo-spirit following her. The little floating cube with a lens took photos based on what the redhead had explained to it. Akko wondered if she wasn’t afraid of someone passing by and hitting it or by a thief trying to take it, but apparently the A.I. was far more advanced than Akko could’ve assumed, given Lotte’s reaction.

Sucy grunted when she failed to inject a fat person walking near them.

“Isn’t trying to poison people illegal?” Akko asked, looking at Sucy’s wand. “Where the hell did you get the magic to waste on that, anyways?”

“I haven’t done anything yet,” Sucy said with a shrug. “And it’s not a waste if it works.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works…” Lotte said, looking around with some nervousness, as if expecting to see a police officer around.

“What are you even trying to do?” Akko asked.

Sucy smiled creepily. “You’ll see soon enough,” she said with a chuckle. Akko made sure to keep her at arm’s length, she didn’t want to get blue skin or something like that. Again.

Walking through the middle of the crowd was complicated at best, but what Akko was searching for was near the stage at the center of the deck, so she didn’t have any choices. This deck was always going to be the more crowded one, but the other decks didn’t have… Ah, there it was!

The small fair in the middle of the deck. It had only been set up today, and it surrounded the right half of the stage. Small stands with colorful clothes over them formed a relatively long corridor with all kinds of activities to enjoy. It kind of reminded Akko of new year festivals back in Japan or to an amusement park. She grabbed her friends by the arms and pulled them behind her.

“Akko, calm down,” Lotte tried to calm her to no avail. “You’re going to make someone fall,” the girl threw apologetic looks at everyone Akko bumped. Akko didn’t mind, with a crowd like this it was futile to try and not touch anyone.

They entered the fair. Two lines of stands, a corridor, and a lot of fun to be had. Some of those were food related, but Akko instantly went for the classic. “Come on,” she kept dragging her friends until they stood in front of a red stand with a lot of bottles and rings on an old looking counter. Not many people seemed to be lining up for this, and in truth, there were more interesting and modern ways of doing these kinds of stands, but Akko liked this anyways.

“Akko, these things are always rigged,” Sucy said, looking unenthusiastically at the stand. An old man appeared from the back with a kind smile and mischief in his eyes.

“Ah, young ladies, are you up for the challenge?” He said pointing at the lined bottles. “Two dollars, ten rings, a world of possible prizes,” he showed them the shelves where a bunch of different plushies sat. Akko instantly set her sights on a Chariot one, smiling. The man then sat near the counter.

“I know it’s rigged,” she said looking at her purple haired friend to her left. “The fun in this is to beat them despite that,” she took out two dollars from her pocket and put them on the counter. The old man smiled and handed her the rings, challenge in his eyes.

“Ok, I get four, and you two get three,” Akko said handling her teammates the respective rings. “Let’s do this!”

Akko was the first one to try. She took a deep breath and aimed. The bottles were close enough that just throwing the ring horizontally would probably end in it not fitting into any of them, and a lot of those bottles would probably have ways of making the ring bounce even if it fell perfectly on them. The trick was to be very careful and…

Her ring hit the side of a bottle and fell to the ground. She laughed nervously. “It’s… been a while since I’ve last done this,” she avoided looking at her friends, blushing slightly.

“Hmm…” Sucy stepped forward next, looking completely bored. She then looked at the old man. “Which of these are safe to throw at?” She asked.

The old man looked at her, bemused, and smiled with incredulity. “Now, now, miss, you can’t go asking those things. Those four are,” he pointed at four of the bottles. One of them in the border, two near the center, one in the far corner.

“Thanks,” Sucy said with a smirk. She then carefully threw her three rings at once at the closest bottle and all three of them fell graceful on the bottle’s neck. The old man’s jaw dropped, and he looked back and forth between Sucy and her rings.

“uhm, if you’ll excuse me…” Lotte stepped forward too. She was more patient, throwing the rings individually. Two of them managed to fall into one of the center bottles, while one was badly thrown and bounced away. The man’s eye twitched. Lotte gave him an apologetic smile and took a step back.

Akko, still kind of baffled by what had happened, threw hers. Despite her words, se only managed to get one of the rings to fall in a bottle. It hadn’t been the one she’d aimed at and not even one of the safe ones.

“Six points…” The old man said reluctantly. “You can get any prize you want up to the third shelf,” he said grumpily.

Akko smiled, the Chariot one was in the first shelf. However, right as she was about to ask for it, she looked at her friends. “Do you want anything?”

“No,” Sucy said without even looking at the plushies. Lotte shrugged, smiling at her.

Smiling, Akko pointed at the one she wanted. “That one, please,” she said with victory in her voice. The old man appeared surprised, and raised to take it. Then, he handed it to Akko. The plushy was one of chariot in her striking white uniform, no helmet. It was a caricaturized version of the idol, with a big head and eyes. Akko was sure she had something like this at home, but it was still a good one. It looked kind of old, some places were fraying.

Still with a smile across her face, Akko turned to go, but the man cleared his throat. “You still have five points to waste, kid. Take another one,” he appeared surprised to even say that.

Akko’s smile was wiped from existence, substituted by a frown. “Wait, five? You tell me this Chariot was worth only one?”

The man shrugged. “It’s been on my shelves for about nine years now. By the time I got it out, no one wanted anything to do with The Deserter anymore,” he shrugged. Akko’s frown deepened. The Deserter was a term she hadn’t heard in years. It had been often used for Chariot back in the day, when everyone was still mad at her for leaving.

Akko considered punching the old dude in the face.

“Lotte, ask for something before this fangirl destroys this man’s way of living,” Sucy said to Lotte. The redhead nodded, stepping up. “Ehm… Could I get that one, then?” she pointed. The man rose and took a plushy of what looked like a werewolf. Lotte received it with quiet excitement. Akko cocked her head, it wasn’t particularly cute. Well, everyone had their tastes.

Still angry, she allowed herself to follow her friends as they walked away from the stand and back into the fair.

 

Amanda, Constanze and Jasminka were lost. Not the scary kind of lost, the interesting kind of lost. They were somewhere in the upper levels of the _Dragon,_ exploring the cold, narrow, metallic hallways, looking for something interesting. There wasn’t much to see, but the kind of people here were definitely wealthy. These rooms had to be at least thrice as big as the ones they’d gotten. Amanda didn’t mind, since she wasn’t going to use her room for much besides sleeping, but she wondered if they had given them shit rooms just because they were teenagers.

Constanze was following with a tablet on her hands. She was looking for something, though Amanda ignored what it was. She was really focused on whatever was on the tablet, to the point where she had already bumped into three different passengers, all of which had patted her head and spoken to her like if she was a child with a toy. Constanze had been so focused that she hadn’t even gotten mad.

Jasminka, as always, ate. Amanda knew she had some kind of condition and she needed to eat all she could, but she hadn’t ever bothered to ask what it was. The girl seemed happy with it anyways.

They walked into a corridor slightly wider than normal. What level were they in, again? She hadn’t seen stairs going up in a while, maybe they were in the top already.

“Hey Cons, you got a map there, right? Where are we?” Amanda looked at her short teammate. After a few seconds, she reacted and pressed some buttons, then showed her the screen. At the top level they were, indeed. And they were also in the bow of the _Dragon,_ exactly in the center too. And this corridor, if everything was correct, would lead into…

A smirk crept into her face.

There was a single door at the end of the corridor, which was about five meters long. Looking around to confirm no one was around, she walked forward. She had no need to do this, she hadn’t planned for it and why would she even want to get in there? The answer was instantaneous in her mind. _For the sake of it._

“Jasna,” Amanda turned to her in a whisper. “Stay here, if someone comes tell me.”

The pink haired girl nodded and gave her sloppy military salute before turning and checking the crossroads. The door wasn’t big. It could only be opened with a keycard and a retina check. Amanda narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips into a thin line, this was going to be a challenge.

Or maybe not.

“Cons, can you do something to open this?” She pointed at the lock. Constanze looked up and without much fanfare took out her wand. A small, completely black _spell_ in the shape of an octahedron moved fort. One of its tips opened slightly, and a small magic cable connected to the lock.

It was a slow process, what Constanze was doing. Amanda would probably had had more fun if she decided to go away now and come back later, investigate who the captain of the _Dragon_ was and then come up with a plan to slip inside the cabin alone. But she was bored out of her mind and she wanted to do this now.

Jasminka didn’t give any warnings. What time was it, anyways? Probably night time, or the equivalent of it in space. Not that it would be noticeable in the decks, since people from all corners of the world now lived in the _Dragon_ , there would always be someone up and enjoying the ship.

A beep sounded and the automatic door slid open. Amanda didn’t hesitate to step into the room, waving for Constanze to follow. Jasminka would warn them if anyone came.

The Captain’s Cabin. Different from the main bridge, this place was where the guy in charge – gal, maybe – would keep the more important stuff. And Constanze had broken into it in, what, five minutes? A tiny genius, that’s what she was.

The cabin was pretty simple. While spacious, it only had a bed at the right, a desk in the middle and a closet occupying the entire left wall. Between the desk and closet there was a door that likely led to a bathroom. The only relatively lush thing here was the red, circular carpet that was in the middle of the room. No furniture was over it. It was probably just decoration, to break the monotony of grey that the metal offered. Even the bed covers were only white.

Amanda started by checking the drawer in the desk. There was just a diary. A paper one, weirdly enough. Who used pen and papers nowadays? It was written in Japanese, too, so Amanda couldn’t even tell what the hell it said. Still, it probably wasn’t too important.

She then checked the closet. She was met with clothes, most of them blue uniforms, a few suits, and three anti-g suits. The drawers here had underwear and nothing else.

“Well this is a disappointment,” Amanda said, resting her hands in the hips. Truth be told, she didn’t even know what to expect, but she had certainly expected something… more. Just in case, she checked the bathroom. Besides being jealous of the fact that it had an actual bathtub, there was nothing worth noting.

Constanze was using her device around. She seemed to find something, but then she shook her head. Whatever she’d found was not what she was looking for. Jasminka coughed loudly from the corridor. In an instant, Constanze and Amanda exited the room and nonchalantly walked over to where Jasminka was. In the path leading right, a passenger was entering his room. Nothing to worry about.

In any case, this had been a total waste. Why the tight security, though? Maybe the captain just really enjoyed his privacy or something like that.

With the disappointment, Amanda and company went back to wandering around the _Dragon._ Maybe there would be something more interesting somewhere else.

 

“What did you do, anyways?” Akko asked Sucy after they walked away from another stand. This one had been about shooting a small magic gun at targets – the gun had the barrel slightly tampered with and the shoots often went just off-aim enough to be a serious bother. The owner of the stand had told Sucy when she asked.

“Truth serum,” Sucy said. “I injected them when they weren’t looking,” she had a satisfied smile on her face. “Pretty simple stuff. I’ve tried it on you and Lotte before, but you’re too stupid and Lotte is too pure. This was a good chance to test it.”

“Wait, then what use would have been injecting random passengers?” Akko cocked her head, remembering the way she had been a while back.

“I was planning on asking them for their credit card information,” Sucy explained. Akko gaped, but Sucy instantly chuckled. “I’m joking. I was just going to ask a few simple but uncomfortable questions like ‘Have you ever cheated on your wife’ or ‘do you have any illegitimate children’ or…”

“Sucy!” Lotte shoved her slightly. “That’s illegal!”

“It’s not illegal if no one notices it,” she said with a creepy smile. Akko was starting to regret bringing her out of their room. Still, it had been a fun day. She now walked around with her Chariot plushy, a really old Shiny Rod shirt – way too big for her, but she would probably use it to sleep – and a helmet that wasn’t exactly like Chariot’s but it was white so it was good enough.

They were reaching the end of the relatively small fair. Akko looked back, checking to see if she had missed anything important. Instead, she noticed some movement in the stage. A few people in uniforms were setting up some speakers towards the picture windows. Akko tugged on Lotte’s clothes and pointed. “I thought there weren’t going to be any shows in this trip.”

“I think the Captain will say some words, nothing fancy,” Lotte explained. “It’s a _Dragon_ tradition, for what I’ve heard.”

Akko nodded absently. Without thinking much, she turned and started to walk towards the area that would get a better view of the act. Lotte and Sucy followed her with some confusion, but they were already used to Akko’s shenanigans.

Not many stopped in front of the stage, so Akko could stand pretty much in first line. The setup was quick, just some speakers and a microphone. Five minutes later, an old man – he must have been edging his seventies – appeared and stood in front of the microphone. He didn’t have a single strand of hair, or if he had, it was hidden under his hat. He wore the blue uniform of the ship, and he obviously had Asiatic ascendance in him. Japanese, if Akko wasn’t too wrong.

“Hello, everyone,” he said in a cordial yet strong voice. “I hope you’re having a good trip,” he looked at the people watching him. Along with Akko there must have been around fifty people, at best. “I’m Kannazuki, but you can call me Captain. This is my third time leading the _Dragon_ into an Inter-Planetary Race. Pretty awesome, don’t you think? When I was little I wanted to be a pilot, like my father,” Akko started to think coming to hear an old man rambling wasn’t such a good idea. “Instead, here I am, captain of a space cruiser and the biggest ship on Earth. Crazy, how life turns in itself in ways we can’t foresee,” he nodded, as if remembering stuff. He didn’t share it with the audience, luckily. “Don’t tell my superiors I said this was a cruiser though, they hate that,” he chuckled. “Wait, is that you, Jerry?” He looked at a member of the audience. Some noise came from that direction. “Ah, good to see you’re still alive and kicking, old friend. Anyways, as I was saying, this is the third time I’ve done this, and let me tell you, it doesn’t get easier. Not one bit. All the preparations are such a pain in the ass, I’m getting too old for this,” he sighed. “Well, I probably got too old for this twenty years ago, huh?” He laughed softly, some members of the audience did too. “And what an ordeal was the last one. Everyone had gone crazy over that pilot… What was her name? Carriage?” Akko almost jumped into the stage to slap the old man with her plushy. “Anyways, that girl really had an audience cheering for her. This trip was slightly easier to prepare, if only because we didn’t have people beating each other up to get passages,” Akko had heard of that event. The Chariot Passenger Riots, they had called it. Luckily, Akko and her family had only gone to one of the races, so they hadn’t suffered so much from that. “Well, I think that’s probably enough rambling. Now I’m going to move on to the boring stuff, like explaining the schedule for when we arrive in about six hours…” He started to go over the protocol to get off the spaceship and a bunch of other boring stuff. Akko listened for the impressive amount of ten seconds before turning to her friends and gesturing for them to go.

“I thought you were going to kill him when he said Carriage,” Sucy commented. Akko glared at her.

“He’s an old man, what can you expect? He probably doesn’t even keep up with the racing world anyways,” Akko said with a hmpf, trying not to sound too annoyed.

“Akko, don’t you know who… No, of course you don’t,” Lotte said. Akko raised an eyebrow. “He’s the son of Julius Burton, the First Category pilot of the fifth IPR,” she explained. Akko cocked her head.

“Oh. Then he’s just an idiot,” she concluded. Sucy rolled her eyes, Akko had the feeling she had missed something. Lotte hesitated, as if going to say more, but she didn’t do it. Instead, she just met eyes with Sucy, who shrugged.

“Well, now what?” Sucy asked. Akko thought for a few seconds.

“Well, I _am_ starving,” she said. “Let’s go find something to eat.”

And with those words, they started to search for a place to fill their stomachs.

 

Diana tried to sleep. She was unsuccessful. Despite her knowledge of the dangers to one’s inner clock while being in space and on a ship with constant even lighting, she had gotten little careless. Back home, according to her clock, it would be midnight. She was normally asleep by eleven, unless she was planning to pull an all-nighter to study. Yet, with the nervousness of the travel and the emotions of the previous day, she had messed up her routine and now she wasn’t tired at all. She had been awake for only ten hours, which explained it, but she didn’t want to ruin her sense of time.

She kept her eyes closed, and she tried hard not to think about anything, but it was futile. Her efforts were met with nothing but constant thinking. What she found her mind going back to more often than not was the race ahead and Akko. They would have only two days to practice on the new planet, but Akko would have two days to practice on a new planet while being an absolute novice. At least the Shiny Rod appeared to be a broom with a simpler control scheme than normal brooms. That would help Akko, certainly, but Diana doubted it’d be enough. Flying was a lot more about experience than about being able to lift your broom from the ground and being able to steer it, and that was before having in mind the fact that the IPR was one of the most dangerous races to participate in.

Surprisingly, Diana wasn’t worried about herself. Maybe it was the simulation she had been in, but she felt like she still hadn’t tapped into the full potential of the Shooting Star. Sure, the Shiny Rod was probably the better broom, if the rumors were true, but in the hands of Akko, with Amanda at the gunman position… Well, it wouldn’t shine as it should.

Just a day to practice. Diana didn’t expect them to win, but maybe they would be able to get somewhere. Sure, the race was full of professionals that had years to train and practice, mentally preparing for the race of their lives, but they couldn’t be _that…_ No, no. They were the best pilots of the explored universe, hoping Akko would match up to even the worse of them was nothing more than a silly fantasy.

Though, Diana had the feeling she was projecting. Akko wasn’t the only one lacking experience, or the only one with a new broom. Diana was better off, sure, but could she compare to those who had prepared for this far longer than herself?

Maybe it wasn’t the lack of tiredness what was impeding her sleep. Still, she needed to. They’d soon arrive at their destination and she needed to be in full energy by then, so she took a deep breath and tried to sleep again.

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

Akko was restless as she waited in front of the special door.

“Jumping won’t make it open sooner,” Sucy said from behind. Akko ignored her, trying to keep herself from just punching the door until it opened. They had already landed, the door had to open any second now. She couldn’t contain her excitement, to the point where she stained the front of her helmet with her own breath. The planet they were on – whatever it was – didn’t have breathable air, sadly.

“Come oooon!” Akko complained. “I wanna see it already!”

“Could you please keep calm, Akko? Remember what we were told. We’re Earth’s representatives,” Diana said, voice even.

 Akko didn’t pay the warning any heed, instead keeping her sights on the door. And then, it opened.

She almost ran outside, bursting with anticipation, and the world she was greeted with was… Amazing.

They had landed on water – water-ed, maybe? –, but  there was land up ahead, far closer than it had been on Earth. The sky was of a deep, plain and saturated blue, so much so that Akko considered the possibility of it just being her eyes getting adjusted to the light of the small white sun. The ocean, however, was violet. How’d that work, Akko had no idea. Wasn’t the ocean blue because it reflected the sky or whatever?

Did it even matter?

She exited the ship. The first thing she noticed once she got out of the gravitational field of the _Dragon’s_ magic was that she felt surprisingly large. The second was that she was slightly cold, but not enough to be a bother.

The rest of the passengers wouldn’t be allowed out yet, to give time for the team to prepare without dangers. Akko ran down towards the docks – not without some stumbling as she tried to adapt to the new gravity - which connected to the land a couple hundred meters away. She touched the water – not with bare hands, but her special suit wasn’t that different from her anti-g suits – and found it surprisingly warm. Was it because of the _Dragon_? She then looked at the land, considering running towards it. The shore was in front of a hill, so she couldn’t make out much, but from here she could already tell the grass – assuming that was grass – was different from Earth’s too, its color being marine green.

They were in Sídhe, the world of the Faerie race. A planet brimming with magic, so much so that there were people on Earth arguing that the world should be invaded to take its resources – completely ignoring the fact that if one did that, the other twenty five races of the Planetary Alliance would probably destroy humanity. So this is where the first race would happen, huh?

Someone touched Akko’s shoulder, and she turned expecting to see one of her teammates. Instead, she found a black wall. A black furry wall.

When she looked up, the wall turned out to be a fairy. It kind of looked like a minotaur, with a bipedal strong body, very broad shoulders and a bull-like face and horns. He was wearing nothing but a loincloth. He snorted in Akko’s face, her visor getting small bits of something on them. “H-hello,” Akko said. The creature mooed and pointed to her group with a serious expression.

Not sure that she wanted to get on the minotaur’s bad side, she followed his instructions.

“Akko, this is not our planet,” Lotte said softly when she approached. “It could be dangerous.” Sound seemed to carry pretty similarly to Earth, though Akko did feel a little deafened for no reason.

The group, all in their spacesuits, was looking around curiously. Akko wished she could take off her helmet and smell the place, but that would probably be a bad idea. There were no more faeries around, which Akko found regrettable. She wished she could see the small flying ones. They looked to cute on TV.

To their right, from the side of the ship, their Brooms started to come out. The two Shooting Stars, followed by the Shiny Rod, were being handled by the _Dragon’s_ crew. Akko had been very specific in telling them to not touch the Rod under _any_ circumstances whatsoever. They had obliged, if reluctantly.

“Ok, girls, here’s what we’re going to do,” Ursula said, her voice slightly muffled by the helmet. “Reaching our quarters will take about an hour. From there on, the four girls participating in the races will start practice right away. We only have about forty eight hours until the race starts and you need to grow used to flying and moving in Sídhe,” she was looking at something written on a notebook. “The others will be allowed to wander around the city along with the guide. You’ll probably be among other races there too, so be careful. Then we’ll stay here for two days before coming back to the _Dragon_ and moving onto the next planet. Is that clear?” As she talked, three other brooms had been taken out of the ship. Three broom-busses. One of them was already full of people, the second one was half full, and the third one was empty.

Everyone nodded, and Ursula took a deep breath. She waved for them to follow.

The walk towards land was a long one, but Akko enjoyed it. The sound of the waves, the feeling of the breeze, the relaxing color of the ocean. She had always wanted to come to the land of fairies, but this hadn’t even been a planet on rotation for the last IPR. It wasn’t usual for planets to appear two times in a row for the event, since twenty-one of the planets were viable for racing and there were usually eleven races – not counting the qualifiers of each specific planet. Earth had been missing from last time, so it was almost certainly going to be part of this one. Akko hoped it wouldn’t be during the middle of the race. Going back home and then to space again would be a pain in the ass.

“The gravity in this planet is about thirty percent less than on earth,” Ursula said as they walked. “Be careful when jumping, you’ll probably go higher than you expect, and please be careful when dealing with the faeries, their bodies are usually less dense than ours, you could hurt them pretty easily.”

Akko couldn’t help but think of the minotaur following from behind. That dude did _not_ look any less dense than they were. Not that Akko was eager to test it.

They finally crested the hill on shore, and the sight left everyone breathless.

The geography in front of Akko was surreal. They weren’t on a hill, they were on a mountain! Looking down the mountainside gave Akko some vertigo. It wasn’t particularly steep, but there were no trees or anything like it on this particular slope. It wasn’t unique, either, as Akko could already tell they were in a mountain region. They seemed to be in the highest one around, but mountains surrounded them in every direction. Different kind of trees dotted the landscape – Akko could barely tell the difference between a pine and a normal tree – with yellow and red leaves and white bark. Was it already fall here? But that was not the most impressive feat. Each mountain – except the one holding, apparently, the ocean – had protrusions coming off them. Big, like giant fingers coming out of the earth itself. Sometimes they even connected mountainsides to each other, creating natural bridges that Akko just _knew_ she had to traverse at least once before getting off this planet.

Curiously enough, even the downside of those protrusions had grass and trees growing on them, like bizarre upside down forests.

In the valleys between the mountains, some rivers of also violet water ran. No, scratch that. In _every_ valley a river ran. No exception. They all met in a bigger one slightly to the right of where the humans were positioned, this one going unnaturally straight into the horizon. In this direction, too, Akko noticed a lot more of those natural bridges coming out of the mountains. Something was off about the horizon, however. As if it was a little too close.

“That way is the faeries’ biggest city,” Ursula said next to Akko, probably noticing how she was staring. “We don’t really have a translation for its name, so we call it the Seelie Court. I think you’ll like it,” she looked at Akko with some fondness.

“This place is crazy,” Amanda said. “Look at that animal,” Akko turned to see where she was pointing. There, just a few paces away from them, stood a small dog-like creature. However, it had hooves and a long, fox-like tail. It barked something, looking angry.

“That is not an animal, Amanda,” Diana said. She nodded apologetically to the weird dog. “There are no ‘animals’ in Sídhe. Every creature that you see is sentient. That is the nature of the Faerie race. And don’t forget, they can understand us, even if we don’t understand them. Don’t say anything that you don’t need to,” her voice was that she used for classes, and Akko almost rolled her eyes on instinct. Did she really need to lecture everyone whenever she had the opportunity?

The empty broom-bus from before stopped next to the group and the driver looked at them with some impatience.

“Get in, girls. Let’s go.”

 

Amanda tried not to let it show, but she was awed beyond herself.

Forget the race of magical people, all as if taken straight out of fairytale books. Forget the weird color scheme of the world, world she had gotten to appreciate a los as their bus hovered down the big river, passing through small forests, under those finger-like protrusions, seeing all kinds of fairies living in the tall grass and leafy trees.

The Seelie Court: That was truly something.

The structure, from afar, hadn’t even existed. The raw magic in the air of the planet – which was also the reason why humans couldn’t breathe it – had reflected light in a strange way and hidden it away. However, when it appeared, Amanda had almost thought they were in the middle ages. A stone wall surrounding the structure, battlements on the top of the four towers at the corners and the big one sticking out of the middle of the castle, and the castle itself. Amanda hadn’t understood, at first, just how _massive_ it was. The central tower was taller than the tallest skyscraper back on earth. The Structure was so wide, the entire front wall didn’t fit within Amanda’s field of vision, the towers so big that they were probably four times the entire width of Luna Nova, New Moon tower included. And that was not to mention the gorgeous, sparkling purple tiles topping every part of the castle that didn’t have battlements. The walls had stone walkways everywhere, and even from down here, Amanda could already see the thousands upon thousands of faeries walking through them.

She smiled while looking at the central tower. She was going to climb that, even at the cost of her life. She was going to climb it, look between those crenels and see the world from the top.

For the first time, Amanda truly understood why Sídhe was called the World of Fantasy.

As they passed under the massive archway – at least seventy meters high and fifty meters wide – of the wall, they could finally see the castle in its whole splendor. Except, it wasn’t actually a castle. What had looked like a castle from the outside was actually a city, a city built upon itself over and over again. What had at first appeared as a single, massive roof turned out to be a collection of smaller roofs on top of the towering buildings with near impossible architecture, a lot of them thin and leaning on each other, bridges built between them near the upper levels. Wait, were those bridges or just wooden beams put there to stop the buildings from falling?

All windows had only shutters, no glass or crystal in sight. Entrances were always arches, not a single one of them having actual doors. The cobblestone streets, besides the main one they were traversing right now, looked more than alleyways than actual streets, and given the connections every building had, Amanda suspected that most faeries would use those to move around the city. She certainly would. Why touch the ground if you could avoid it?

As they moved through the city, little details started to pop out. Not a single wall was painted, but there were a lot of banners and flags hanging from walls or in ropes between buildings. Some of them had writing or coats of arms, but most of them were simple, plain colors hung with no discernable pattern. Fearies moved around, bustle and noise around them as their bus marched towards the central tower. Small fairy-like flying creatures, quadrupeds of all kind, big and mean looking things like ogres or cyclops, all of them called fairies. She wondered if they had other ways of referring to themselves given their differences or of that would be racist, somehow.

Constanze, sitting next to her, was looking out the window with interest too. She would probably be thinking how she could make use of this place to test some of her inventions. The constant ‘oh’s’ from Akko were annoying, but with Ursula explaining things next to her, there was not much anyone could do to stop her.

Before they could get close to the central tower – which was still far away – they suddenly turned left, through one of the narrow – if ever so slightly wider than the others – streets.  

The change was instantaneous, the world suddenly growing darker. The sun didn’t shine its light upon this place, and it showed on the humid walls around them, full of moss and looking more brittle than their main-street counterparts.

About two streets inside these alleys, the bus stopped. There was nothing but a single archway in the whole segment of wall, and the only thing distinguishing it from the others was the fact that it had a door. A simple, wooden door.

They got off the bus. The air here was warmer than back in the ocean or whatever that was. Amanda looked up to the sky, which was nothing but a slit up above. She wanted to take the damn helmet off, but breathing or touching the sheer amount of magic in Sídhe’s air could have lasting effects on humans. Magic handling, like medicine, was already a pretty messy subject that was only taught on facilities like Luna Nova. Potion making was one of its many branches, for example, and the Magic used for those was always minimal and heavily filtered. Like any medicine, if used in excess it could lead to horrible, lasting effects. What Sucy’s little capsules usually contained was already enough to affect the human body, any more than that…

Not that Amanda knew what exactly would happen, she had slept through those classes and she didn’t care.

The door was opened from the inside, and a six-armed clay-man stepped out of the building. His features were harsh, and he moved rather stiffly. However, he wore a kind of earpiece that Amanda recognized, and he was carrying more in his many hands. He stepped forward and handed them, one for each girl. It connected automatically to the helmets they were wearing.

Then, the clay-man grunted. The grunt was automatically translated. “Welcome, Humans,” he said. He didn’t sound angry or anything, but his voice was harsh and intimidating. He stepped aside and pointed inside the building.

Everyone stepped in, some of the _Dragon’s_ crewmembers carrying their luggage for them. The ceiling was tall, at least double of Amanda’s height, the walls were still made of plain stone blocks and the entrance was a long corridor that led to another exit on the other side of the building. There were many archways leading to rooms, and in the middle of the corridor there was a stairwell going up.

Amanda hoped they would get a room high up into the city, but the clay man pointed at five rooms right in this floor. All of them were marked with little flags that had badly drawn Earths on them. Amanda sighed as the crewmembers started to leave the luggage on place.

“The bathroom is that,” the clay-man pointed at a door that wasn’t any of the rooms. “Use it for washing,” the translation wasn’t precisely eloquent, but as long as it was understandable, Amanda didn’t really mind. She did notice something weird, though.

“Hey,” she spoke to the crewmembers. “You’re putting those bags in the wrong roo-” she had noticed her luggage being put in a room different from Constanze’s.

“No,” Ursula put a hand on her shoulder. “You and your teammates will have wildly different schedules while we’re here, so your room setups will be a little different. The four of you participating in the race will sleep together, and we’ll see how the rest goes,” she sounded slightly uncomfortable while saying that.

The reaction from three of the girls was immediate. “What?!” Amanda, Akko and Hannah cried at the same time.

“No, no, no,” Hannah said instantly. “You can’t really expect me to sleep with those two!” She extended her hand towards Akko and Amanda, who had the same kind of dumbfounded expressions she had.

“I agree!” Amanda said. “Why do I have to sleep with this prissy thing?” She complained.

“I wanna sleep with my friends!” Akko joined in the complaints.

“Hey, who are you calling prissy?” Hannah turned to Amanda.

“Oh come on, don’t even try to deny it,” The redhead gave her a flat stare. She was, always acting like if she was nobility and making Amanda want to barf.

“See what I mean? You can’t let me sleep with this punk!” Hannah turned to Ursula again. The coach was looking at the three girls with a nervous smile, as if not knowing how to handle the three angry teenagers. Amanda couldn’t blame her, not really.

“Hey, who are you calling a punk?” Amanda was _not_ a punk just because she was a little rebellious!

“Who’s trying to deny the obvious now?” Hannah glared at her.

“I can’t sleep with Diana,” Akko was speaking mostly on her own. “She goes to sleep early and wouldn’t allow me to have fun!”

Amanda ignored her. “I just pointed the facts, you’re insulting me, mind you,” Amanda said. She and Hannah were now face to face. Despite being the taller of the two, she felt looked down on.

“Oh, yeah, because ‘prissy’ isn’t an insult, right?”

“It’s still not as bad as ‘punk’.”

“Allow me to disag-”

“If you all don’t shut up I’m going to put you to sleep with a potion,” Sucy said. Somehow, her voice broke through the discussion and Amanda felt a shiver running down her spine. This was Sucy, she _would_ do it. Amanda and Hannah shut their mouths tightly, crossing her arms and looking away from each other.

“Plus, I like talking with Lotte and Sucy before going to sleep. I don’t know what to talk about with Diana or Hannah,” Akko continued in her own world, looking down. Sucy sighed and hit her in the back of the head, making her snap back into reality.

“Girls, please,” Ursula took the chance to speak. “You’ll go back to your normal sleeping arrangements after the race is over, I promise, but for the next couple days bear with it, ok?”

The three girls grunted in agreement. Diana had been the only one to not make a fuss about anything, which annoyed Amanda. Was she really ok with sleeping like this? She was probably just trying to look like the mature one by not speaking up. Classic Diana.

“Ok, now what?” Amanda asked.

“Now it’s time for practice,” Ursula said. That was enough for Amanda to stop being annoyed.

 

Amanda crawled under the Shiny Rod, feeling slightly stupid, and waited a few seconds. Then, a small panel lowered below the Shiny Rod, allowing her to climb onto it. “If we crash how the hell am I going to get out of here?” Amanda asked as Akko climbed on top of the broom. To their right, the Shooting Star was casually starting up.

“I dunno,” Akko said. “But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine!”

Amanda sighed. Yeah, she wasn’t convinced, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. She got into the small cabin that didn’t have anything but a small vent.

And when she said nothing, she meant nothing. As the panel closed, she was left completely in the dark. Confused, she wondered if there was something she had to activate. Maybe the Shiny Rod was ignoring her because she wasn’t Akko. “Uhm, Alcor, are you there?” She asked. The dumb Familiar didn’t appear. “Akko, ask your dumb bird if I’m doing this right,” she said with annoyance through the communicator included in the helmets.

Akko didn’t answer for a few seconds. “It says the gunman’s already recognized and that nothing’s wrong. Why?”

“Well, I don’t know how I’m supposed to shoot anything when I can’t see anything, or don’t have any kind of controls,” Amanda explained, trying not to run out of patience.

“Maybe it’ll change if I start the broom, gimmie a sec…”

The engine turned on.

The world changed.

Amanda was not Amanda anymore. Suddenly, she felt ascended. She understood everything, she could see anything, her mind was no longer in one fixed place but everywhere.

And then she came back into herself, but not fully. Still dazed by the strange experience, she opened her eyes. But she no longer had eyes. She could see a landscape that should’ve confused her, because of the multiple different and opposite angles. She was looking at the sky and the ground and the left and the right, all at once. What should’ve overwhelmed her, however, felt natural.

Amanda understood now that her mind had been expanded. Or, maybe, connected to another one. A better one. She understood now that the Shiny Rod was no mere broom. She could feel its inner workings. However, there was a kind of wall, impeding her from taking control. She only had access to the seven glass balls around the ship’s bodywork. She tried to push, try to take full control of the broom-racer, but it was futile.

“Amanda?” The word didn’t enter through her ears, but through every inch of her consciousness. Akko wasn’t Akko anymore. She was _the pilot._ And Amanda’s mission was to protect her.

“I’m here,” Amanda said. “Its fine, I’m ready.”

Akko didn’t answer, but Amanda could see her nodding. Or, more like _feel_ her nodding. It was a very surreal experience.

“Girls, the exercise is simple,” Ursula started explaining. “You have to grow used to piloting and shooting. You’ll go back to the _Dragon_ and come back. With the broom-racers it shouldn’t take more than half an hour. I suggest you to keep as far up on the mountainsides as you can. Racing in Sídhe will require you to learn to control the near vertical landscape and to use the _sìth,”_ that was the name the finger-like protrusions received. “And, this’ll be a race. Feel free to attack each other as much as needed. We’re simulating a real race after all, and these will be the only IPR races that are one on one,” she paused for a second. “Are you… Ok, Amanda?” She asked. Amanda wasn’t surprised she had asked, though she wasn’t sure why.

“I am fine,” she said. Ursula nodded.

“At the count of ten you go. Get ready.”

Amanda didn’t need to get ready. She had been born ready. She wasn’t nervous, or excited. She was just focused.

The countdown ended, and the Shiny Rod began to move.

 

Hannah was sitting inside the turret – which, in truth, was just another cockpit, just smaller, in the middle of the ship. She had connected the visor of her helmet to the Shooting Star’s sensors, allowing her to see in a variety of different ways her environments. Right now she used it on the standard mode, watching as Diana took the Shooting Star up a mountain with care. The gravity on this planet was weaker, so she was probably just getting used to the feel of the broom

Meanwhile, she kept her sights on the Shiny Rod. The two guns of the Shooting Star – below the ship, one in each side – aimed at the white broom as it crossed the marine-green fields and disappeared into and then reappeared from small forests of white, yellow and red. She wasn’t planning on actually firing. The other broom’s movement was erratic at best. Akko was having trouble keeping it going in a straight line, and she wasn’t even trying to climb the mountains, she was just going next to the straight river and miraculously avoiding to crash with every tree that came her way.

“Aren’t you going to shoot?” Diana asked through the communicator, making Hannah jump in surprise and hit her head. Luckily the helmet was there.

“You want me to?” She asked with some surprise. Diana wasn’t normally aggressive, and it wasn’t usual that she actively asked her to attack.

“Akko needs to grow used to the pressure and Amanda needs to learn to defend,” Diana said in an even voice. “Just, don’t do it too seriously. We only have one Shiny Rod after all.”

“Got it,” Hannah said with a smile.

Well, she hadn’t been planning on shooting them, but if it was just to give them a scare, then it probably wasn’t too bad. Plus, Amanda had insulted her earlier, this would be a fun revenge. She took a deep breath, relaxed her shoulders and aimed just ahead of the Shiny Rod. It was about two hundred meters away, and it was moving at around… what? A hundred meters per second?

With these things in mind, she pressed the button and started shooting in single-shot mode, each press being a projectile. She was aiming for just slightly ahead of the rod, to give Akko a scare.

However, the weapons of the Shiny Rod, those weird glass balls, started to glow. Each shot Hannah fired was met with one from the other broom, nullifying every projectile mid-air. Unlike what most people assumed, when magic crashed with more magic, it didn’t explode, or burst. It wasn’t flashy at all. Instead, both projectiles just bounced off each other and fell in different angles every time.

 _Beginner’s luck_ , Hannah thought, unable to accept that she had just been perfectly countered. She shot again, but again, each and every single one of her shots was met with another one. Frowning, she decided to get a little more serious, putting her weapons in rapid-fire mode. This time the projectiles were smaller and came in faster succession. Not exactly like a machine gun, but close enough. There was no way anyone would be able to counter this.

While the Shiny Rod kept moving straighter with each passing second, its weapons still glowing, a small force-field appeared in the side of the ship, stopping the barrage of magic coming from the Shooting Star. Hannah hadn’t even noticed that she was now aiming correctly at the ship. When she realized this, she stopped firing.

At that moment, the attack from the Shiny Rod began with a barrage of shots not unlike what Hannah had just done. “Careful, Diana!” Hannah said. She put her guns in laser mode – the one used for protection more than attacking, since it was a big waste of magic – and in a swift movement she managed to get most of the projectiles and throw them off the sky. Her own magic laser dissipated in a strange way, as if it was a water-gun. The few projectiles that remained in the air, however, Diana managed to avoid. Brooms weren’t really meant for fighting other brooms. On earth, most races didn’t allow weapons. The only exceptions were the IPR and some shadier cups.

Still, Amanda had aimed perfectly. Hannah began to believe that she had lied about not having any experience as a gunman. Nobody could be that good from the start.

“Did you see that?” Hannah asked.

“That was a surprisingly accurate attack,” Diana said. Of course she had noticed. “I think we’ve let them have enough practice. If you don’t mind, I’m going to accelerate.”

Hannah didn’t answer, keeping her eyes on the white broom as the Shooting Star began to go faster. It was fully capable of breaking the speed of sound, but to be able to pilot at such speeds was the real puzzle, particularly in difficult terrains such as this one.

However, with the faster speed of their broom, Akko started to go faster too. _She’s going to crash. She’s not used to these speeds,_ Hannah thought. Maybe it would be for the best if she did, they’d get disqualified for a pilot unable to fly and there would be no shame beyond one of their pilots having been on an unfortunate accident.

Kind of a grim thought, but it was hard not to have them when you saw a novice going at breakneck speeds.

Then, Akko had a horrible idea. To avoid crashing with anything, probably, she started hovering above the river of violet water.

Most brooms weren’t made for water. They could still keep in the air, of course, but they would soon start moving sluggishly. Hannah sighed at the action. Right at that moment, the Shooting Star started coming down again, aiming for a valley. It was a really strange angle right now. Hannah had seen a couple of the races through Sídhe, they usually required the pilots to know how to strike a balance between moving through the mountainsides, the sìth and the valleys. In the back of her mind, Hannah noticed how curious it was that every millimeter of dirt was somehow covered by the marine-green grass of this world, no matter the amount of light.

The Shiny Rod kept going in a straight line.

“I see,” Diana suddenly said.

“What is it?” Hannah asked, confused.

“The Shiny Rod can move even over water. That’s truly amazing,” Diana explained. “Akko probably doesn’t even realize how unique that is.”

Hannah looked at the Shiny Rod again. As Diana had said, it was still going… No, even more. It was gaining speed.

Hannah aimed her guns. Going in such a straight line made it an easy target. She changed to rapid-fire again and prepared to fire.

“Hold on, Hannah. I think this might not only be practice, but a test too,” Diana said. “She told us to get used to the mountains, so why did she give us a straight line to race?”

Hannah considered this for a second.

“So… The choice is to either win the race or get some actual practice?” She asked, unsure.

“I believe so, yes.”

“Then… What are we going to do?”

Diana answered by aiming the shooting star at the river and accelerating further. The sudden burst of speed threw some g’s on Hannah as they shortened the distance between the two brooms in a heartbeat.

They started racing next to the Shiny Rod, though they had to do it above the riverbank. The speed at which they were going right now was already vertiginous, but if Diana dared do it, then they would probably…

The Shiny Rod accelerated, moved to the side and put itself in front of the Shooting Star. “What!” Hannah exclaimed. “Is she crazy? She barely knows how to handle that thing! She’s going to get us all killed!”

Through the communicator, Hannah heard Diana’s breathing getting a little heavier. That meant she was actually kind of excited. Or maybe scared. Hannah was scared, she didn’t trust Akko not to hit reverse and just kill them all in a ball of fire and magic. She was so afraid, in fact, that she considered trying to shoot at the Shiny Rod and get it to move out of the way. But if she did that, she might’ve hit the wide golden engines and their constant stream of magic fire. The Shiny Rod was actually pretty well protected from behind. Directly hitting an engine was considered as an instant disqualifier, whether you were aiming at it or not, because it was considered an attempt on the pilot’s life, so it was hard to hit the white broom from behind. Hitting wings or hulls, on the other hand was perfectly ok. The reason why more brooms didn’t do it was because of the difficulty of balancing the ship with such a wide engine.

“Hang on, Hannah, we’re almost to the ocean. I will best them on the way back,” Diana said through the communicator. Hannah could hear the determination.

A minute later, the Shooting Star started to slow down. They hadn’t really reached the ocean, just the base of the mountain or whatever it was that held it, but Hannah suspected Diana had slowed down to avoid a crash with Akko.

They reached the top and, as soon as they touched the edge of the water, they turned back. The Shiny Rod had actually gone some distance into the water, probably due to Akko being unable to handle it correctly.

Soon, they were the ones ahead. They kept accelerating, now at a more steady pace, while looking back. The Shiny Rod followed, again, above the water. Hannah found it hard to believe that a broom from ten years ago would be able to keep up with the Shooting Star, but when people spoke about the amazing capabilities of the Shiny Rod they weren’t joking, as it was now approaching even though they were probably nearing the speed of sound already.

Hannah aimed at the nose of the other ship and shot. She expected another shield to rise up, allowing Diana to get ahead. This didn’t happen. Instead, the glass spheres glowed and with lasers similar to the ones Hannah herself had used, the entire round of attacks was completely eradicated. Hannah frowned and shot again.

Or not.

She pressed the button, but nothing happened. “Ehm, Diana,” Hannah said while pressing a button in the middle of her control panel. “I think we’re out of guns.”

“What do you mean?” Diana asked. Hannah waited a few moments to answer. When the status report came in, she caught her breath.

“We’re out of guns. I don’t know how but I think Amanda managed to blow them away,” had it been during the laser-show earlier? The movements had been pretty wild, but to be able to aim at the guns and only the guns, leaving the rest of the broom unharmed… What was Amanda playing at? Now Hannah knew for certain, the redhead _was_ experienced in shooting. The Shiny Rod should’ve attacked at that moment, Hannah believed. Shoot both wings, take it out. Maybe Amanda was holding back because this wasn’t a real race, but Hannah felt strangely offended by the thought.

The Shiny Rod was now biting their tail. “I’m going to go faster. You ready, Hannah?” Diana asked.

“You can handle it?” Hannah asked as an answer.

There was no reply. It had been a rhetoric question.

The Shooting Star accelerated again, and soon, they surpassed the speed of sound. It didn’t feel any different. The sonic boom would’ve been left behind, and it’s not like there was an actual physical barrier to break. Hannah always expected some kind of sensation. Maybe a sudden burst or a shake or anything, but there was nothing. They just kept flying in a straight line and leaving the Shiny Rod behind.

And behind it was left. Maybe Akko had been shocked by the sonic boom, or maybe the shiny rod wasn’t able to break the speed of sound on normal circumstances – Hannah remembered the stupid special move the broom had. What was it called, again? – meaning that the Shooting Star was, indeed, the superior…

 _Wait,_ Hannah thought. _Where is it?_

The Shiny Rod was… gone. Or was it? They wouldn’t.

She turned the turrets around – if only to see, because she was now nothing but dead weight in the broom – and, as she had suspected, the Shiny Rod had appeared quite a distance in front of them.

“Those… Cheaters!” Hannah said. “Come on Diana, faster!”

“I’ll lose control if I go faster now, Hannah,” Diana said. They were still going faster than the other broom, but they would have to slow down if Akko tried the same stupid strategy as before. Didn’t she realize that would be useless in an actual race? Shooting engines was prohibited, bumping them not so much. Hannah considered suggesting Diana the possibility.

“But we need to do something!” Hannah said. “I can’t believe them!”

“Well, I believe there is still one thing left for me to try,” Diana said. “However, it could be dangerous and I won’t do it if you don’t…”

“Just do it!” Hannah cried, growing angry. The Seelie Court was already in sight, they would reach it in under a minute.

Hannah instantly understood, for the broom rocked forth. She had felt it once before, too. In the simulation.

The _nitro._

At the same time, Diana barrel-rolled to the side, and Hannah saw the Shiny Rod pass by their side as they closed the rest of the distance to the Seelie Court’s outer wall in ten seconds.

When the Shooting Star stopped, it moved out of the way as the Shiny Rod passed through and barely managed to stop before hitting the relatively busy streets of the city. A few seconds later it approached on reverse and stopped next to the other broom.

Everyone got out of their brooms. Akko and Amanda looked a little out of sorts, looking at the broom with a strange reverence.

Hannah instantly walked up to Amanda and touched her shoulder. Amanda didn’t even turn back. Hannah insisted, but either something was wrong or she was being ignored. “Hey, dumbass, you awake?” She tried to get her attention. It worked, making the redhead perk up and turn around with narrowed eyes.

“What?” She asked in a rough tone.

“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” Hannah asked, looking straight into the beautiful green eyes of Amanda. She already knew they were green, but even through the glass of the helmet, from up close they looked like a couple of gemstones.

“Learn to do what?” Amanda cocked her head.

“You know, all of what you did back there,” Hannah used her thumb to point at the river, which flowed into the Seelie Court a little to the left of the main archway and then was lost underground.

Amanda frowned, pressing her lips in thought. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she concluded.

Hannah started, not sure if what she had heard was right. “Oh, so you’re telling me that was no big deal to you?”

“No, I mean I don’t really remember what happened. What did I do?”

Hannah nodded slowly. “No, no, I get it,” she said, keeping her voice from rising. “If that’s how you wanna play, then let’s do it that way,” she turned and walked off in the direction of the teacher walking towards them.

So Amanda wanted to, for some reason, keep pretending that she didn’t know how to shoot. Well, that was fine with Hannah. It’s not like she needed Amanda to tell her – in hindsight, she shouldn’t have expected an answer in the first place – and knowing or not wouldn’t make a difference in the actual races.

She heard Amanda mutter something from behind to Akko. Diana fell next to Hannah, walking besides her. She didn’t say anything. Diana, more often than not, managed to transmit her cool-headedness through just being there. This helped Hannah think. She felt her anger slowly go away. Yeah, Amanda hadn’t answered her, and Hannah’s pride was a little hurt, but why should it be? If Amanda really was a good gunman then that only meant more chances for Earth to win.

Plus, she’d eventually get it out of her. Hannah was an expert of getting others to tell their secrets. Amanda would be no exception.


	13. Chapter 13

Racing was sooo cool!

Akko now sat alone in her room, which was a simple stone chamber with four mattresses on the ground. The faeries lived simple lives. In the center of the room, however, stood a metallic rod glowing with pale green light. A magic field had been put up surrounding the human rooms. Or, to be more precise, an anti-magic field. With the magic gone from the air, they could breath it. It was a little thinner than Earth’s – maybe akin to being high on a mountain – but it was still breathable.

She couldn’t help but smile at what had happened. True, the speed had been hard to handle at first, but once she got the hang of it everything clicked in place and suddenly it was like one of her videogames! Well, kinda. Later she had almost crashed into a thousand trees, but a start was a start.

And the move Diana had pulled off right at the last second! She had been so impressed by that she had almost forgotten to slow down the Shiny Rod! Ursula had also praised both girls on learning to put the nature of the race over the training – it had been a simple test of mindset – and then they had trained for real. That training hadn’t gone so well for Akko, but she was slowly getting the hang of it. They had been training for three hours at the least before Ursula said they should take a break and maybe get some sleep.

During training, too, Ursula had kept both pairs separated. Akko wasn’t sure why, but she suspected it was to avoid rivalries. The coach was probably right, Akko would’ve most certainly turned any exercise into another race if she was given the chance. But it had also been a disappointment. She had kind of wanted to see Diana fly in a more complex environment.

Though, everyone had lectured her on not to use teleportation during races. If that was captured on camera it could very easily get Earth disqualified. Akko knew that, she just wanted to get ahead of the others. As long as she didn’t just teleport to the finish line it was ok, right? Apparently not.

Then, the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees. Diana entered with her cold, expressionless face. Today she seemed to be using a particularly deadpan expression. She had been since the end of the training. Akko looked at the blonde, uncomfortable, sensing the weird atmosphere between the two. It was hard to pin down exactly what was wrong. Was it the fact that Amanda didn’t remember anything from being on the turret of the Shiny Rod? Was it her cheating? The race? Something she had done during training? Akko had wanted to congratulate Diana on winning, but then she had gone on to scold her and annoyance overshadowed everything else. Now she wasn’t annoyed anymore, but it was kind of late to congratulate the blond girl for winning.

Diana sat carefully on her mattress. Akko had thought she’d be annoyed at having to sleep almost on the ground, but she had taken it in stride and hadn’t even questioned it. Now Hannah, she had gone upstairs to go look for that clay-man and try to get him to give her a proper bed.

Amanda, on the other hand, had disappeared, saying that she’d rather explore the city – against Ursula’s orders, of course – than sleep. And the rest of them were off on a tour that, if Akko thought carefully about it, was probably being given by the same clay-man Hannah had gone searching for.

During her thoughts, Akko hadn’t noticed Diana staring at her. When she met the light blue eyes, Akko froze, sensing the power of knowledge and aristocracy emanating from her.

“You adapted rather quickly to flying,” Diana said when Akko finally met her eyes. “And Amanda seems quite the natural gunman,” there was something else implied in the phrase. Akko couldn’t figure out what it was, but it was there.

“Uhm, yeah,” Akko said not sure of what else to say. “Surprised me too,” she smiled. Diana kept the same face. “You’re a good pilot yourself.”

Diana didn’t answer. She closed her eyes, as if thinking. Akko watched her. Sometimes, she wondered if Diana was an adult. She was supposed to be sixteen, like Akko was, but even if annoyingly, she so often acted like an adult rather than a teenager. Boring, always studying or working, ordering people around… Though this last one usually came with teacher’s authority. What could lead her to act like that? Did she get a kick out of considering everyone else a mere child? Akko didn’t throw away the idea, but she also thought that was probably too mean even for her. Instead, there was probably something to be gained from acting like that. Everyone seemed to love her, after all.

“Thank you,” Diana finally said. She had taken a full minute to answer. She opened her eyes again and then stood. She took her bag “I’m going to change and sleep,” she said before leaving the room. “I believe you should do the same.”

She exited, leaving Akko all alone again.

Well that had been a strange conversation. In all honesty, Akko hadn’t really spoken to Diana after the… exchange, to put it lightly, they’d had at the _Dragon’s_ hangar. Akko tried not to think much about it, but whenever she did, she remembered that Diana was most certainly angry with her. Akko would probably never forgive herself, should the roles be reversed, so she was kind of surprised Diana didn’t act angry around her all the time. Part of being an adult too, probably.

When Diana came back, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants, she nodded to Akko before lying down on her mattress and going to sleep.

Not five minutes passed before the awkwardness made Akko put on her helmet and walk out of the room. She wasn’t tired anyways, not after everything that happened. She carefully peeked inside Ursula’s room, which was just two doors down the corridor, and there she was, sleeping. Meaning it was probably safe to go, even if they’d later receive a scolding for going away.

Now, there were two ways to go. She could exit and walk through the streets of the Seelie Court, or she could walk through the many bridges connecting the upper world of it.

Well, climbing stairs didn’t seem particularly appealing at the time, and Akko was sure she’d seen some kind of elevators around the city, so she walked out the door.

 

Akko held herself back from running to the small fairy. And to the dog that had the beak of a duck. And to the cat with ears of a rabbit. Or away from the creature that looked more like a puddle of mud had woken up and suddenly started walking than an actual living being.

The Seelie Court was amazing. More amazing than Akko could’ve imagined. All sorts of magical creatures bustled around, some of them paying attention to Akko, but most of them ignoring her. She had seen a few human-looking faeries around, though most of them had something that distinguished them, like unnatural green hair, or a creepy translucent appearance. Akko was now walking down the main street of the city, also the widest and by a large margin. Where humans would have probably set up stores, restaurants and all sorts of distractions in a street such as this, the only difference it appeared to make for the inhabitants of this world was the amount of space they had to walk. Or fly. Or crawl. Or… slide?

The variety of faeries was such that she wondered if it was even possible they were even the same race. Magic sure did weird things to a species.

When looking up, the sky was almost impossible to see clearly. Hundreds of bridges, wooden beams or flags hung between buildings, connecting them. Flying faeries flew among them, from bird-looking ones to blobs that looked like clouds. Akko barely avoided stepping on a goblin as she walked. She was scared by a siren – the real kind of siren, half crow, not half fish – and amazed by a three meters high moving tree.

She sometimes peeked inside buildings, but the ground level floors never seemed to be occupied. Most of them were either completely empty or with faeries who were just using the stairs inside. Why did they do that? What was up with their obsession with living high up? Many of them didn’t look fit for that kind of thing. The tree from before, for example, or that one chest with hundreds of tiny legs. Akko would understand if they could all fly or something, but it sure didn’t look like it. Even now, she noticed that most of the faeries walking around the street were doing one of two things: walking to or back from the massive central tower or just changing buildings. No one stayed much time in the streets below. It was clear, when looking at the hanging bridges, that the traffic of the city occurred up there.

Well, whatever the reason, Akko also noticed something curious: The faeries separated themselves by type. Not two different faeries ever used the same door. Two big trolls? Sure. A basilisk and a small gryphon that had been definitely hanging out together? They accessed two completely different buildings. And the trend repeated: Faeries walking together, whether they were chatting like friends or even holding hands or more, if they were different, they all used different doors. Sometimes they went as far as to walk for a good while along the thoroughfare before they entered a building.

And, finally, Akko found an elevator. It was a wooden one, and it didn’t appear to be very advanced technologically. When Akko stepped in, she noticed a bunch of small levers at her side, all with writings she didn’t understand below them. Without doubting she pulled on the rightmost one, since the leftmost one was the one pulled at the moment she assumed that meant she had just pulled on the top-floor lever. It took about a minute, in which she almost stepped out thinking the elevator was broken, but it started moving eventually. It was a slow elevator.

While going up, Akko often found herself peeking through windows. At about ten meters in the air, she started to see the differences. Faeries actually lived in the rooms she saw. Some had furniture of some kind, though Akko was sometimes baffled by it. The really tiny beds hanging from the ceiling she could guess what were for, but what about that giant bowl? Or the room that was full of nothing but scratching posts. Sometimes, if the rooms were actually occupied, she earned a few stranged looks from faeries. Despite the fact that they all had probably entered through different doors, they shared buildings. Maybe those buildings that were next to each other actually connected? That might explain the obsession they had with connecting everything with bridges, too.

The fact that no one seemed surprised by her appearance spoke miles about the world. Akko wondered if all races would receive the same treatment. Probably not the Cyborgs, or the Shapeshifters. The Plants would maybe fit in, Akko had seen a few faeries looking like plants… Or, wait, maybe those _had_ been Plants. No, no way. This was a race between humans and faeries to see who was qualified to take part on the IPR, there shouldn’t have been any more alien races around. Plus, Plants didn’t have world-hopping technology.

After reaching about the halfway point to the top, bridges started becoming more common. While there might have been one or two each couple of stories before, now each floor had at least one, and more commonly two or even three. Some went in a straight line, some extended to two or even three buildings down the street. Some went up, some went down, and _all_ of them were being used.

Akko had thought the street below was a little more empty than it should, given the size and importance it appeared to have, but every inch of every bridge up here was being used. Faeries walked around with energy, going on about their lives in a casual manner. Akko wondered what they did, how and where they worked. What did they even eat? They fed on magic, that much she knew, but did they eat other stuff? Given that all animals were sentient in this planet, probably not meat. There was also sentient plant life, though. Maybe they didn’t eat after all. Yet, if they didn’t need to work for food, what were they working for in the first place?

Akko felt her head hurt as she tried to think. She was not an expert on societies, but she knew that humanity only worked as it did for that strive to survive. If faeries managed to exist only on the magic on the air, and there weren’t any predators in this world, what kept them going?

Well, she probably wasn’t smart enough to figure it out anyways. Instead, she tried to think about other things. How would racing through the city be like? The previous races ran in this planet all had the final stretch of it be inside the city and towards the central tower. Most brooms and ships didn’t fit in the narrow alleyways – so narrow, in fact, that Akko often noticed faeries just jumping from building to building, not bothering to walk the bridges – so it wasn’t a viable route, plus it would cause too much of a ruckus.

She finally reached the top floor. Just above her, the purple roofs of the buildings stuck out. They were kind of sparkly. What were they made of?

Next to her there was a bridge. It was less crowded than the ones nearer the middle, but it was still kind of intimidating to try and walk on it. They were solid, and all faeries with feet on them used them, no matter size. Akko wondered if maybe she was gone for too long – she must have been out for an hour now – but it was too late to turn back. She wanted to see how these faeries worked.

So, she stepped onto the bridge and walked among them. In front of her there was a humanoid looking being with chicken legs and feathered body.

They entered a building, of course. As everywhere else, doors were nonexistent. The long stone corridor inside the building was basically indistinguishable from the one back at their sleeping quarters. The stream of faeries – this one moving towards the tower, while other bridges lead away from it, like if they were actual streets – walked calmly, some talking with each other. The ones behind Akko, for example, didn’t shut up.

“Council not allow it,” one of them, a pig walking on two legs, said. As before, the translation was rough, but understandable. “Too much risk. Race not important,” Akko would have been surprised that they were just casually talking about the race just when she was there, but it _was_ the most important event of the decade.

“Race will forward. Situation different. Stakes high,” the other, another goblin, answered. Akko cocked her head. She kind of remembered hearing something like that. Where?

“Late then. Days from now, more safe.”

“Tell you, not happen. Race important, race everything.”

Then, they branched off to another bridge. Akko was tempted to follow them, but she hesitated for a second too long and the tide of faeries pushed her to continue moving. What had that been about?

Well, it probably didn’t matter.

 

Akko was lost.

She should’ve seen this coming. The city was big, and every street, bridge and stair looked basically the same. Flags hanged around too randomly to be used as reference points and half the time she couldn’t even see the central tower of the main street.

It had been an hour since she had first walked through the lower parts of the Seelie Court, and she had slowly made her way down. She was now nearer the middle levels, and she was tired for real. Everything was constant movement. She had actually seen a few workplaces for faeries – carpentries, forges, sculptors, painters – and she finally understood what was driving this race: Art. It probably hadn’t always been like this, but once she noticed, she didn’t stop seeing it.

Now, whenever she looked inside a room, she looked where she hadn’t looked before. Walls with paintings – though, they were always small -, the furniture, as lacking in quantity as it was, had always amazing carvings and details. The stone walls often bore some kind of chiseling – only on the inside of rooms, nothing outside the buildings – and all kinds of things like those.

This would’ve interested her a lot more, however, if she wasn’t slowly but steadily getting more worried over the fact that she had no idea where she was. She tried to follow, more or less, the direction her instincts told her to go to when going down. This damn city had no way of orienting oneself. She thought she might have been able to do it better by keeping herself up, but the problem was that every building was nearly the same size, so there was no way of getting a general picture of the area.

Going down seemed like the only choice, but the problem with this was that, well, she was still so damn high up. Walking down might have taken an hour, or even more! Faeries probably didn’t ever need to go all the way down, given how their city worked, with houses and shops being up here. She was starting to lose hope. She’d die here, this was it. Going to explore had been the worst decision of her life, her hyperactivity finally ruined everything and-

Wait a second, was that Lotte?

That was definitely Lotte!

She was looking down from the bridge she was currently in. Two stories down, crossing a bridge and accompanied by the four girls not directly involved in racing, the orange hair of her teammate had looked like a beacon of light in the middle of a stormy night. In front of the group the clay-man faerie from before walked, and he was obviously talking.

Everyone looked tired and bored. Well, Lotte was apparently chatting with Barbara. Weird, that.

_Ok, I need to get there, now_ , Akko thought. But, how? By the time she managed to get down they’d be gone!

Or… All stories in these buildings seemed to be of about 5 meters. If she had in mind the lower gravity… She had absolutely no idea of how to do these calculations. Screw that, she’d learned how to fall from trees when she was little, she could do this!

“Out of the way, people!” She cried to the bridges below. The lines of walking faeries stopped – now it was rather less crowded than before. When the faeries saw what she was about to do, they scrambled to move, even if they didn’t understand her.

Below, the girls stopped and looked up. “Akko?!” Lotte exclaimed, when looking up.

She pushed herself over the bridge railings. When she hit the first bridge – slightly to the right of the one she was in before – she rolled forward, getting most of the strain out of her legs and through her body. Falls like these, when one was Akko, were a thing to get used to.

“Akko, are you nuts?” Barbara said from below, obviously angry. Akko looked down, judging the trajectory. Again, faeries and humans alike moved out of her way.

She jumped, repeating the process.

When she stood again, she looked at her friends. “I’m saved!” She said, running to hug Lotte and Sucy. “I thought I would die here!” She squeezed them tightly. “What are you even doing?”

“We were going home. Kinda,” Sucy said with venom on her voice, looking at the clay-man. “We’ve been telling this dude to take us back but he just keeps taking us around and explaining faerie history to us. It’s been like this for hours,” she explained. “My truth serum doesn’t work on him, by the way.”

Akko looked at the clay-man, who’s stiff expression didn’t really show much emotion. She looked up. The faeries hadn’t paid much mind to what she had done. In fact, the ones in the same bridge as Akko gave her annoyed looks, as if they just wanted the group to move on.

“Akko you could’ve seriously hurt yourself!” Lotte pushed her back, checking her.

“Or us,” Barbara deadpanned her.

Akko smiled awkwardly. She might had gone a little overboard, but she had been just so relieved to see them!

“Sorry, sorry. Let’s just move,” she gave apologetic looks to the faeries behind, and they started moving. “I was lost, I thought I’d never get to see you again and, well…”

“Akko,” Sucy interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“Your helmet has a communicator. You could’ve just called for us.”

Oh. “Oh.”

“Indeed,” Sucy said rolling her eyes. “Now, try not to jump off a building while we try to get the six armed man to take us back.”

Akko nodded. Wait, Sucy had just said that Akko shouldn’t jump off buildings! That meant she actually cared! Akko had always known that in her heart Sucy was just a big softie. Maybe being lost had been worth it.


	14. Chapter 14

When Diana woke up, she found Hannah and Akko sleeping. It was still daytime – the day/night cycle of Sídhe lasted a hundred and forty-four hours, meaning seventy-two hours of day and seventy-two of night, on average.

She looked around, feeling the sluggishness of those who have overslept. She stood, looking at her teammate and her companion-rival pilot. It was hard to believe that the normally hyperactive girl would sleep so peacefully. She maneuvered around the room. She was not the kind of person to go back to sleep if she woke up, mostly because she normally did sleep the right amount of hours. Today had been just particularly taxing, it seemed. Or, well, maybe it was yesterday already. Did it matter, really? Her sense of time was bound to be completely destroyed by the time the IPR ended.

Well, assuming they made it to the main race, anyways. They had to beat the Faerie pilots for that, and Diana had been studying about them. She had saved a lot of study material on her wand before leaving Earth, mostly because there wouldn’t be internet outside the _Dragon._

She had gathered all possible knowledge about faerie racers and piloting. That, of course, mixed with some books on the workings of Sídhe. As she walked to the bathroom, she peeked inside what was Ursula’s room. While Barbara slept there, the teacher-coach wasn’t in bed. Diana suspected where she would be. Mostly because she knew where _she_ would be if one of her students was missing.

After finishing with her morning routine, Diana went back to her room. She didn’t have much to do, so she took her wand and started researching.

The faeries had a strange style of piloting. Their ships, up until now, had been made of mostly wood, fueled completely by magic in a way that humans didn’t understand. That meant that they couldn’t really take hits from the others, as their ships were too weak. This lead to small ships, a focus on dodging and, more importantly, a _lot_ of tricks. The Faerie race had only participated in four of the eleven Inter-Planetary Races. In the four occasions – the last one being the one two decades ago – they hadn’t managed to go beyond sixth place.

They were, in most cases, considered low-tier rivals. Diana didn’t underestimate them for a second.

The reason they were often thought of as weak was their lack of motivation. The faerie had gone through a number of wars in the past and, in result, their current society was peaceful to a fault. They hated conflict and didn’t really enjoy competition. They only participated – kind of – in IPRs to participate more publically on the Planetary Alliance.

Maybe this year they wouldn’t be serious, but counting on that was weak minded and something she would _not_ do. She connected the wand to her helmet and put it on, making it play a video. The video in question had been of the last race the faeries had run. The finals of the tenth IPR. The Second Category finals, actually. They had no opportunity of winning, but many said it was the best they had ever performed.

Ten racers, ten pilots and about seven gunmen – not all races carried gunmen with them – all of them waited at the starting line of a place that looked like Earth, but was actually Appal. The Appali hadn’t been a part of that iteration of the race, but planets weren’t decided on which races qualified. The place selected for the race was the one Appali always selected: The infinite plains, a straight line of plains that ran around the entire planet, interrupted only by the occasional small forest and some rivers. Appal’s surface, unlike Earth’s, was sixty percent land and forty percent water.

Besides the Faerie racer, one of the races without a gunman, the ones worth noting were, as always, Humans, Shapeshifters, Daemons and Medusas. The human broom was a long and slender design with wings only on the back and a fin. It had been designed with more speed than mobility in mind – which had backfired spectacularly.

The race started, and instantly the five expected races overwhelmed the other five. Daemons, with their boomerang-like black ship moved to take first place, followed by a particularly small Medusa inside a sphere of water. The humans were defending from a barrage of attacks from the Shapeshifters. Second Category races were usually a little more aggressive than First Category. Psychologists often theorized this was because of the feeling of inferiority the Second Category pilots often felt, but those were musings for another day.

And, in fifth place, the small wooden racer glowing with pale green light. The ship kind of looked like an acorn without its cupule. In size, it couldn’t be longer than Diana.

The race, of course, wouldn’t go around the entirety of the planet. Appal was twice as big as earth; going around it, even in ships that could reach the speed of sound or more, would take too long. The race would only go for a random number of kilometers, selected by some random appal in a lottery. This race, Diana seemed to remember, was about five hundred kilometers long. It had taken about forty minutes to finish. Appali liked races of endurance. Racing for such a long time on a high pressure environment… Diana didn’t want to think much about it.

The small faerie pilot maneuvered his ship in a perfect manner. It was in the middle of the day, but its movements as it managed to get past the Humans and Shapeshifters while they interchanged blows left trails of light behind its back. The mutual attacks stopped once both pilots noticed who had gotten ahead of them, but it was a little late. The faerie accelerated in a burst of speed, passing below and leaving the two surprised pilots behind.

Diana watched with interest as the little guy moved closer to the two leads. It was hard to shoot at faeries. They often made their entire ship the cockpit, which made them basically untouchable. All the racers were going at near supersonic speeds, but not quite so fast. Human brooms couldn’t maintain such speeds for a long time back then, so they had to use it sporadically.

The Human and Shapeshifter had stopped fighting, now focused on getting ahead of the faerie. However, he didn’t let them, increasing his speed until he was tailing the Daemon, now fighting for the first place with the Medusa. The two tips of the boomerang suddenly disappeared, substituted by a couple of metallic rods. A bolt of red energy suddenly started bouncing back and forth between the two rods. The faerie fell back, and in that moment, the bolt of energy – a spear of red lightning striking on the Medusa’s water ship. The water ship popped like a bubble, whatever energy was keeping it together broken by the electricity. The medusa fell to the ground. Diana had heard about the incident. The Daemons had almost been disqualified, but the medusa had died from the fall, not the electricity, and the lightning had hit on the outer area of the ship, making it technically outside the cockpit. The racers kept going, not bothering to look down at the beautiful jellyfish-like creature as it crashed into the ground and rolled for a few seconds before stopping, completely still. Diana felt a stab of empathy. It was hard to watch.

The energy kept going back and forth between the two rods of the Daemon’s racer, now so fast that it only appeared to be single laser-beam. The Daemon had their own kind of energy, like Magic was for humans or Light Flames for the Shapeshifters. Many called it Black Magic, because the functioning of the energy was similar enough to Magic to make the comparison an understandable one. The official name humans had given it, however, was Inferno Energy. While in the past it had been considered evil, mostly by religious people, in the end it was nothing but another energy source. Inferno wasn’t more evil than Magic was.

The faerie’s little acorn moved to the side, but the boomerang got in the way. It was a simple strategy, the faerie couldn’t bump into the daemons without also touching the Inferno. From behind, the humans and the shapeshifters approached, and if they managed to bump into the faerie, it would be over for him. Well, maybe not if it got bumped by the smoke-like ship of the shapeshifters. They never actually hurt others by directly bumping.

He was surrounded. Diana started to understand something about how the race was working: They couldn’t allow a faerie to get ahead of them. Humans, Daemons and Shapeshifters had one thing in common: Pride. They were more often than not among the top places of every race. This was a final. Allowing a faerie to shine like this, even if it was a Second Category race, was unacceptable.

The pilot had to be aware of this, but it didn’t move from position. As the humans and shapeshifters closed in, it stayed right behind the daemons. 

And then dropped.

Most ships had a limit as to how low they could fly. Human brooms, for example, often hovered between three and five meters from ground level, and their limit was at two in the still, stable hovering. The Shiny Rod managed to float just a meter from ground, but as soon as it started it went up to two and a half. There wasn’t a ship, as far as Diana knew, that could go below the meter in hovering.

Except this one.

The acorn-like ship flew at almost ground level, so close that Diana believed it would, without a doubt, crash into some unevenness. But it didn’t. It’s speed went up, and Diana could almost feel the desperation of the other three racers in the scene as they saw the little ship get past them, unable to do anything. Could faeries always do that? Why didn’t they? What had changed for this race?

It didn’t take long for the Acorn to get ahead of the others. The daemon’s boomerang wasn’t the fastest of ships, but as always, their weapons were feared by all. Humans hadn’t quite managed to make weapons of Magic as effective as Daemons had managed to do with Inferno. Daemons had had a full extra century to do so, though.

These weapons kept the humans and shapeshifters at bay – it was often hard to get past daemons in races – but it also allowed the faerie to get ahead. It was fast, faster than it should’ve. It had broken past the speed of sound a few seconds ago, but magic alone shouldn’t have been able to do _that._

However, the race was decided. No one could shoot at it, and it had maneuvered past everyone. The only way to stop it would’ve been to get past it, but the daemon ship wouldn’t do or allow others to do it.

Diana fast-forwarded, and as she had expected, the daemons did a marvelous job of making sure they came out on second place.

Then, she started to see how that strategy could be useful. Of course, it had depended completely on whether or not the daemons managed to keep the other two pilots away, but it had been a good gamble, in Diana’s mind. Go for all, hope that your enemy despises more your other enemies than he does you. Losing to a faerie would be humiliating for most, but in the strange sense of competitiveness the daemons had, losing to those they considered worthy rivals was even worse than losing against no-names.

She stopped the recording. She wasn’t interested in things past the race itself. Taking off her helmet, she stood again. She was famished. The last time she had eaten before going to sleep, but maybe all the adrenaline from being on a new planet had taken its toll on her. She walked over to the room the _Dragon’s_ crew had taken, and in one corner were the supply boxes. They had been meticulously labeled as breakfast, lunch and dinner. She took one of the breakfast ones – a plastic tray with tree compartments – and a bottle of water, then walked back to her room, sitting on the edge of her mattress and opening the tray. In one of the compartments were a plastic fork and spoon, on the middle one, oatmeal, and in the last one dehydrated fruit. She waved her wand, calling for a _spell_. The little device came out of her luggage and drew near. It wasn’t bigger than a golf ball.

Diana handed it her water. The device shot some magic at it, and in a few seconds it was hot. She poured it on the oatmeal and mixed that with the fruit, getting a good paste. She slowly ate while thinking about the coming race. She didn’t like to worry so much about things, but it was inevitable that she would. Second Category or not, losing wasn’t in her plans. The qualifiers always worked the same, in this regard. This was the only instance where the First and Second categories were worth the same. Win the two, you were in. Win one, lose one, a third race would be held to break the tie between the two winner pilots. Then, the IPR would be more obvious with the differences. One of the sets of rules, for example, was a judge-based one. Winning gave you points, but other things did too, like good aim or sportsmanship, and in second category everything was worth a lot less points. Then there was the one from the IPR she had just watched, where the winner got a point and the rest didn’t. First Category got two points, Second got just one. And then there was the hoop-races, where the more hoops you crossed the more points you got when reaching the finish line. It was one of the more complicated rule-sets, that one. First Category multiplied the points depending on their position on the race, while second category just straight up added the amount of points they gained plus a bonus for position, meaning that pilots were out for blood during those ones. The two times those rules had been used the average of injuries had increased significantly.

Diana suspected this time that last one should be the one in place. She didn’t like it, but that was the nature of cyclical rules. And forget herself, would Akko and Amanda be ok? Everyone in the Planetary Alliance knew how dangerous the Shiny Rod could be. Dangerous didn’t begin to describe it. Her eyes naturally fell on the sleeping brunette as she thought about these things. The closer the race was, the more certain Diana was that it might be better if they just didn’t manage to go past qualifiers.

No, thoughts like that were something she should never allow herself to have. It might affect her flying. Never.

She finished her breakfast and drank down the remaining water, still warm. She would’ve loved to have some tea, but the _Dragon’s_ crew hadn’t brought any. She stood and walked to where the box they’d been using as trash waited in the corner of the room.

And, as she did so, someone walked into the room. Amanda took off her helmet, the hint of bags forming under her eyes. She didn’t even take off her suit as she dropped on the bed next to Akko.

“Had a fun adventure?” Diana asked, unable to keep the disapproval out of her voice.

“No. The upper world is a labyrinth, if Ursula hadn’t come for me I would’ve died,” Amanda said without even bothering to look up. “I almost fell asleep on some random faerie’s empty room. So many of them have weird beds, thought you probably haven’t bothered to check. Now, please, I want to sleep.”

“And what are we going to do about training? Your circadian rhythm is going to…”

“Saywhat?” Amanda said, her words slurring together as she started to fall asleep. Diana rolled her eyes, of course Amanda wouldn’t know what she was talking about.

“I mean your inner clock, Amanda. You’re going to end up with a schedule opposite to ours,” Diana tried to explain.

“Whocares, tired,” the redhead’s voice weakened further.

“But Akko will need to practice with you there, she needs to get used to having you.”

Amanda shrugged. “I can’t even remember how I did whatever I did,” this time she sounded a little more lucid. “Just have Akko practice in learning how to fly like a normal human being,” and with that, she had said everything, for before Diana could think of an answer, she was asleep.

She took a deep breath. What had she expected? This was Amanda, of course she wasn’t taking things seriously. Diana held back her annoyance as she finished what she had originally planned to do and excited the room, hiding her annoyance.

She peeked inside Ursula’s room and she found her sitting in bed with a tired expression. There wasn’t a door to knock, so she cleared her throat. The teacher instantly looked up. “Did you want something?” She asked. She sounded as tired as she looked.

Diana wanted to ask if she was feeling well, but something stopped her. That was probably none of her business. “How are we going to practice today?”

“I think I’d rather explain it to you when we get there,” Ursula said. Her kind voice kept Diana from pressuring further, but she lingered in the door. There was something else she wanted to say, but she didn’t know if she should say it, lest she look weak. “You’re worried about something?” She asked, reading her. Not many people managed to do that.

“Kind of. I’m not certain we will be able to perform well enough during the race. Particularly Akko and her… particular circumstances,” Diana confessed. “I… don’t know if we should move forward with the race.”

Ursula nodded slowly, seeming to understand her struggle. She smiled again. “I have the feeling Akko might surprise you, down the line,” she said. “But I’ll let her know you’re worried. Or you could do it yourself, that might get her to push herself harder.”

Diana paled. “I’d rather you don’t do that,” the last thing she wanted was having Akko thinking she underestimated her. Diana had come to understand the brunette enough to understand that was probably what would happen, and the last thing she wanted was having some kind of fight with her before the race.

“Well, if that’s what you want. But I think you might be underestimating Akko,” Ursula said. Wait, had she read her thoughts? Of course not, that was silly. Had she just been able to read her well? Or was she referring to some other thing? “Give me a few minutes,” Ursula said. “And I’ll get everything ready so that you can get some basic flight practice done. Assuming you don’t want to do something else. Real practice will begin in three hours.”

Diana was about to say she had nothing else to do and that she would very much appreciate the chance to get more practice in, but Ursula looked just so tired… “Don’t bother, I beg you. I still have some research I’d like to get done, so I’ll wait.”

Ursula seemed very thankful for this as she nodded. The conversation ended and Diana went back to her room. Putting the helmet on again, she decided to do as she had said, and went back to studying.


	15. Chapter 15

Akko watched in amazement as Diana did an amazingly quick U-turn and the Shooting Star stopped. They had been training for three hours now – Akko was, maybe, getting the hang on quick movements, as long as there weren’t that many trees in the way – and it was time for a break. Diana had been gone a few minutes longer than Akko, though.

Diana stepped out of the Shooting Star, and Hannah used the emergency exit to get out of it. The guns had been fixed, though the mechanics had been rather annoyed that they would start to waste resources just for practice.

Akko didn’t fail to notice that Diana was sweating slightly, the light of the white sun making her face sparkle even through the helmet’s visor. Maybe it was because she was still tired, but she found the sight to be picture worthy. _Of course Diana would look perfect even when tired and sweating,_ Akko thought. Couldn’t the blonde girl do something wrong for once?

Diana looked at her as she was sitting on the ground. Surprisingly enough, she sat in front of Akko. “I caught snippets of you flying. I believe you’re doing better today.”

Akko smiled. Getting praise from Diana felt strangely good. “Thanks. You’re as amazing as always, too,” Akko said. Before the u-turn, Akko had seen her cross a small forest without touching a single tree. The way she maneuvered the ship was other-worldly. In the rhetoric way of speaking, of course, since they _were_ in another world.

“Where is Ursula?” Hannah asked, sitting next to Diana.

“She went to get Amanda,” Akko explained. The simple mention of the name made Hannah frown. She really seemed to have been offended by the fact that Amanda didn’t remember how she handled the Shiny Rod’s weapons.

They stayed in silence for a while. Akko was growing hungry, but eating in the middle of the field was impossible. Even if you managed to somehow get food into your suit without dying of Magic exposure, the food would have been exposed to the same Magic, and eating it would’ve had the same effect.

“How is it?” Diana suddenly asked. She wore her normal expression, but when meeting her eyes, Akko sensed something else. Some extra feeling. “Flying the Shiny Rod. It must be quite the experience,” she was looking with a strange intensity.

“I don’t really have anything to compare it with. It’s harder than it was in my videogames, if that helps,” it probably didn’t, but Diana’s expression didn’t change.

“Interesting,” Diana said, though it appeared she was speaking more to herself than to Akko. “Tell me, how do you feel about the incoming race?”

Akko paused. She had actually kind of completely forgotten about that. “I… don’t know?” she shrugged. “It’s so abstract, I still don’t really believe I’m here,” she looked up. “But I’m going to win. Somehow, I promise.”

Akko didn’t feel that confident, but she found it comforting to say it out loud. Maybe, by making the promise to others, she’d win to fulfill it. Diana nodded slowly. Akko was starting to be slightly uncomfortable. Something about Diana felt a little different. Maybe she was trying to get something out of Akko. That look was still in her eyes.

“You should try going slower in narrow spaces. It will help you maneuver. Not everything in a race is about raw speed,” Diana said. Akko opened her mouth, but she had nothing to say to that. Going slower on narrow spaces? Of course she did that!

But, well, did she? She was often so focused on trying not to crash that she lost notion of everything else.

At that moment, a small two-person broom – looking similar to a motorcycle – arrived with Ursula and Amanda. Amanda looked horrible.

“So, now we can practice for real,” Akko stood. Ursula, however, shook her head.

“Actually, it’s time for us to go meet the rulers of the Faerie race. Get on your brooms and head to the central tower,” she looked at it. Akko looked at Diana, who didn’t seem particularly surprised by the turn of events. Amanda sighed. Ursula had probably already explained to her what was going to happen. “Today, you will meet the Aos Sí.”

 

Amanda wasn’t tired. She was _exhausted._

Her misadventures the previous day had _not_ been what she expected. The upper world of the Seelie Court was a labyrinth of bridges and corridors where everything looked the same. By the time she had gotten bored of it, however, she was lost. Ursula had found her through the communicator, thing she hadn’t thought to use.

This led her to her eyelids collapsing as she climbed onto the Shiny Rod’s turret. She had slept for like six hours, and now she had to go meet the kings of this people or whatever? She was _not_ up for it.

She was so not up for it, in fact, that she was sleeping. Yet, her mind was still awake. She could feel her body asleep, but the mind was connected to the Shiny Rod. She wondered if she was going to forget this too, once she got out. She seemed completely unable of recall anything happening inside the rod until she got back in. This time, the connection was different. She was on standby, not allowed to do anything, including firing the guns. Maybe that was because of the sleeping.

They moved slowly through the city. Faeries turned they heads, some of them even followed. The tower was far, really far. Maybe it was because of its monstrous proportions but it had looked a lot closer when they had first seen it. They had been going at a steady pace for nearly an hour, and while it was close, they hadn’t reached it yet.

This part of the city was slightly different than the rest, too. Here, pieces of art hung around everywhere. The outsides of buildings wore paintings, big and small. There were statues of stone, wood and metal in every corner, and musicians played with energy in enough places that no ears were ever free of their music.

Sleeping or not, Amanda was amazed by some of these pieces. The music was upbeat and fun, some of the statues were amazing and most paintings were beautiful. Amanda wasn’t much of an artist, but even she could admit many of these pieces were breathtaking, and all of them lay on the street. Weren’t they afraid of thieves? Well, that was a stupid question. Of course not, that much was obvious.

The small following they had gathered stood behind as they entered the wide street around the central tower. The tower was constructed with the same stone as the rest of buildings, but the blocks were much bigger and wider. The entrance, another archway, was about twenty meters high, allowing Amanda, through the strange vision that being connected to the Shiny Rod gave her, to see that there was no floors on the tower.

And, as they entered, she confirmed it was, indeed, empty. Nothing but a staircase that ringed the wall in spirals. There were no faeries inside the tower. Amanda thought she recalled something like this being mentioned. The Faerie rulers didn’t allow their subjects to see them all at once, for some reason. That probably meant that in occasions such as these they weren’t allowed in the tower. Yet, outside and across the street, Amanda could see some faeries covertly trying to peek inside. Not that it mattered; there was no one inside the tower.

The broom-racers and the smaller broom Ursula was riding stopped in the center of the tower. Then, the massive archway closed. Or, more like, disappeared, substituted by stone, all the sounds from outside vanishing and leaving in its stead an eerie silence. The tower had windows, but they were super high – probably to stop faeries on the top floors of the city from watching. How did they deal with the flying ones, though? – so they barely got any light.

Everyone got out of their brooms, and as they did, Amanda woke up.

Wait, where were they?

“Where are we? Why’s it so dark in here?” She asked. Her voice had echo, and the only thing she had to see by were the Shooting Star’s and Shiny Rod’s lights. Since they weren’t in night mode, the lights were a dim pale green, making everyone look like ghosts.

“How long are you going to keep the act?” Hannah said with annoyance, giving Amanda a not very friendly stare.

“Why the hell would I be lying?” Amanda barked back almost instinctively. Why did Hannah find it so hard to believe what happened to her? Maybe Amanda should just have her ride the Shiny Rod in the turret and experience whatever happened in there by herself. Stupid broom, why did it steal away her memories? It didn’t do that to Akko! And it hadn’t done that when Amanda rode in the cockpit! She looked angrily at the Rod, feeling betrayed. She’d been riding one of the most amazing brooms in human history and she wasn’t even allowed to remember it. And, apparently, she was an incredibly good gunman too! It was almost enough to make her go and kick the damn thing.

“Well, you tell me. Who has ever heard of a broom that wipes memories?” Hannah said with sass embed into her voice.

“Oh, I don’t know, who the hell has heard of a broom capable of TELEPORTING and PERPETUAL HOVERING? Huh? If you gonna call something bullshit, Hannah, I suggest you start by the obvious ones. Amanda said. She was one word away from just slapping Hannah.

“Girls, relax. We’re about to meet the rulers of this planet,” Diana intervened. Hannah had been about to reply, but Diana’s intervention stopped her. Amanda didn’t even bother thinking twice about the warning from the ever-perfect miss goody-two-shoes.

“Oh no. You know, Hannah, you could just test it out yourself. Get into the Shiny Rod’s turret and tell me if you remember anything afterwards. Come on, go in,” Amanda gestured towards the broom, which as always floated about one meter above the ground.

“Maybe I’ll do it,” Hannah hesitated, surprised by the suggestion. Amanda smirked, once the girl tested it out herself, Amanda would have Hannah apologizing with a freaking written letter, she would.

“Akko, would you mind activating the Shiny Rod again?” Amanda asked with fake amiability. Akko seemed uncomfortable with the idea, but she ended up shrugging and climbing onto the broom.

Hannah looked back and forth between Amanda, Diana and the Shiny Rod. She seemed to be asking for Diana’s help with her eyes. “If it would help settle this matter, I believe you should do it.”

This made Hannah grimace, filling Amanda with satisfaction. Reluctantly, the auburn-haired girl walked to the Shiny Rod.

But, before she could reach it, something inside the tower changed. Maybe it was the air, or the pressure. Maybe the humidity, or maybe the lighting. No one knew what it was, but they all felt it. _Something_ had definitely changed. Amanda lost her smirk. It was as if they had suddenly stepped on a boat, with the floor seeming to rock. Everything fell still. Unnaturally still. It was then that Amanda noticed, she wasn’t breathing. Her heart wasn’t beating. Time appeared to be frozen.

And behind them, they appeared.

Seven figures. At least fifteen meters high, each one of them glowing with the light of magic.

Time resumed. Amanda turned, and saw the figures looking down on them. Thrones had appeared on the room along with their owners. All of them looked humanoid, but that was about it. With varying proportions, Amanda realized they weren’t just glowing with that light, they appeared to be made of it.

Ursula stepped towards them and in front of the four teenagers – Akko still being on the Shiny Rod – and made a reverent bow. “I greet you, Aos Sí.”

Amanda instantly knew that she didn’t like them. An adolescence of rebellion and troublemaking had developed a sixth sense for authorities. There were good – or, rather, acceptable – authorities and there were bad – meaning, the most common – authorities. She didn’t even need to hear them talk to know they’d do it in a self-righteous and condescending way.

Akko scrambled to get out of the Shiny Rod, but she didn’t seem to do it out of fear but excitement. Diana also walked forward, bowing. Hannah and Amanda remained still in place.

One of them spoke. “Humans,” the middle one said. “I greet you.” His voice, deep and masculine, sounded strange to Amanda. That was until she realized, she wasn’t hearing it through the automatic translation device. This… _being,_ it spoke directly in English.

“Hi,” Akko said. Everyone eyed her, including the Aos Sí. Her causal greeting kind of ruined the mood.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Diana added after a few seconds. Amanda rolled her eyes. They didn’t know yet if it was a pleasure to meet them or not.

“I see you’ve brought quite the artifact to our tower,” another one of the giants said. Amanda instantly knew what they were referring to. Everyone else probably did too. “I never thought it’d be quite so impressive,” the rather androgynous voice said. Before anyone could answer, however, the Aos Sí began to talk between themselves in some other language. Whichever it was, the translation device wasn’t able to translate it. The discussion was a calm one, but Amanda picked on some tension between the seven rulers. 

“We believe,” the middle one said, again, “that we should not… How do you humans say it? Beat around the bush? Let us get straight to the point,” he stepped and walked forward. Amanda cursed on reflex, as that step was definitely going to squash her. The squashing didn’t happen, luckily, as the Aos Sí changed size, coming down to being barely taller than Ursula. He started to pace around the group. “Tell me, humans, are you aware of the importance of this race?”

Diana was the first one to answer, because apparently she had the need to cater to figures of authority, no matter their race or planet. “Of course. The Inter-Planetary Race is not only the biggest event of the Planetary Alliance. It depends on which angle you aim it from, that being the cultural, economical or even psychological, but every society we know of has-”

“No,” he cut Diana off, leaving her slightly taken aback. Amanda took satisfaction in that. “While you are right, young human, I wasn’t speaking about the Inter-Planetary Race as a whole,” his tone got somber. “I’m speaking about _this_ one.”

“Yes, we know it,” Ursula answered instantly. _Suspicious,_ Amanda thought. Too fast. She was hiding something.

“We don’t,” Amanda said. Ursula turned her head towards her, the hint of panic in her eyes. The Aos Sí, however, kept walking around, not saying anything for what felt like an eternity before coming to a rest and looking the teacher in the eyes.

“I understand. Your name is Ursula, is it not?” He asked, ignoring what Amanda had said. Ursula nodded. “Allow me to make you a proposal, should you accept it, you and all the humans in this room could get riches beyond whatever your minds have ever imagined.”

Red flag. Amanda knew how to identify a scam and that phrase was how anyone would start one. Ursula took a step back, obviously recognizing it too. The Aos Sí, however, didn’t seem to notice the change in mood. Amanda looked around and thoughtful expressions on Diana and Hannah. Akko was just confused.

“Oh my, that sounds important,” Ursula picked a crystal ball the size of her palm from one of her pockets. A Magic-fueled communicator. “Wouldn’t you rather discuss it with my superio-”

“You,” the Aos Sí didn’t even bother finishing listening, “are going to lose this race,” he looked at Akko and Diana. “Do so, and you’ll be able to live as kings back on your planet.”

“Why do people like you always think that they can bribe their way into anything?” Amanda was the first to say something. The king of faeries looked at her with the kind of look she always got. _Faeries ain’t that different from humans,_ she thought with satisfaction.

“Silence,” he said. He didn’t sound angry, but there was an underlying tone to him, a silent warning. “Humans, you don’t really get it. Are you aware of the change in the head of the race committee?” He asked to Ursula. She cocked her head.

“I don’t think so,” despite her neutral voice, Amanda could tell she wasn’t at ease with the situation at hand. “But I don’t see why that would…”

“I see,” he cut her off. “Then let me make my proposal again,” with a glare, he stopped Amanda from speaking. She felt an incredible pressure on her chest, as if her body didn’t want her to speak. Maybe taking the prize wouldn’t be so bad, after all. “You’re not worthy of winning the grand prize,” he said. “Lose and live in wealth for the rest of your lives. It’s something I’m sure you’ll…

“No.”

The answer, calm and collected, had come from an unexpected source: Akko.

And she was angry.

 

Diana heard the proposal and, for a second, she hesitated. Taking it could fix all her problems, including her fears respecting the race. Wealth beyond imagination? Maybe she could…

“No,” a voice answered before she could even finish considering this. Akko, despite her calm voice, had fire in her eyes. She walked forward, each of her steps sounding like thunderclaps in the resonance of the chamber – something that made Diana realize the Aos Sí didn’t have weight to his own walking –, walking towards the glowing figure. Diana felt like she should intervene. The rulers of the faeries were beings of pure magic. They were older than humanity and more powerful than Akko understood. Diana suspected they had done something to Amanda, who looked angrily at the one standing in front of their teacher but had gone conspicuously silent after her initial outburst.

“Silence,” the Aos Sí leader looked at Akko, and she hesitated in place. He looked back at the teacher, as if to keep speaking, but Akko shook her head and strode forward, obviously surprising the being of magic as she stepped between him and Ursula. Determination obvious in her face, anger showing in her clenched fists, she spoke.

“We’re not taking that offer. You say we aren’t worthy? Then prove it,” Her voice was brimming with conviction as she pointed to where the archway had been. “Win the race.”

 _So simple,_ Diana thought. Akko hadn’t even considered the offer. She stood there, planting face to something that Diana was certain could kill her with barely a touch, without hesitating, looking it in the eyes. Akko might be a bad student, but for the first time since knowing her, Diana felt… respect, towards her. It was strange, that a situation where the brunette was doing something so potentially dangerous  was the one changing Diana’s perception of the girl.

The Aos Sí – all of them – scoffed. “Are you suggesting we can’t win? We’ve seen your training, you’re not up to-”

 _“Prove it,”_ Akko repeated. Diana felt the hint of a smile appear on her face. The way she had said it made the leader of the faeries take a step back, surprised. It hadn’t been menacing, it had been pure, unaltered confidence. Akko had promised before that she was going to win, but Diana had believed it to be just a front. Now she found herself believing in her. No, not only believing. She was infected with the confidence. All considerations of taking the bribe was vanished from her mind. “If that prize is so important, then your dirty money isn’t really better than it anyways.”

“You insolent child,” one of the sitting Aos Sí, to their left, said. She sounded livid. “You dare mock us?”

“I believe,” Ursula said, “that she’s just using logic.” She paused a second. Akko, using logic. Something didn’t sound right in that sentence. “And that she’s right. Now, I would appreciate it if you’d let us go. We have practice to do,” unlike Akko’s, her voice _was_ filled with menace.

“You’re throwing away your only chance at-” the leader started again.

“If you think you can get the prize,” Amanda finally snapped out of whatever had happened to her, “why would you need to bribe us? Or are you planning on bribing the other nine racers when you get to the Inter-Planetary Race?” She was glared at every single Aos Sí. “If you can’t beat us, then you’ll hold absolutely no chance during the real deal.”

The Aos Sí remained silent for a while. The one that had shrunk went back to his fifteen-meter form and sat back down. They looked over the humans, but while Diana had believed their looks to be wise and respectful before, now she saw only spite and childishness.

The archway reappeared, and suddenly Diana felt a strange pressure on her chest, as if someone was pushing her out of the place, without actually touching her. She didn’t fight with it, she wanted to leave anyways. She climbed onto the Shooting Star, waited for Hannah to get in, and in less than a minute both broom-racers, along with the little broom of their teacher, were slowly leaving the central tower behind.

Diana now felt a lot more sure of herself, and of Akko.

She actually believed, now, that they would win.


	16. Chapter 16

Akko wasn’t nervous.

Or at least that’s what she tried to tell herself. What she had said yesterday – or, rather, today? Time was weird here – still echoed in her mind. The feeling of betrayal, the anger, the confidence. She had told those glowing dudes how things were and she was happy about it.

Now she only had to make good on her words. The race would start in less than two hours, when the sun disappeared over the horizon. There were many reasons why Akko had started to second-guess herself. For starters, they hadn’t practiced at night! Things would be so different without light…  And the racers! She hadn’t the slightest idea how their rivals would look! How could she plan a strategy – not that she would’ve done it, but that was besides the point – if she couldn’t see them before hand? Everyone had seen their brooms!

She watched from the top floor of the building they were staying in – it was slightly taller than the ones around it, allowing her to see outside the Seelie Court – towards the straight river that led to the _Dragon._ And the weird ocean in a mountain.

What she saw wasn’t calming. The start of the race was to be in the very archway leading into the city. The route hadn’t been discussed yet, but Akko hoped it would be in the straight line along the river. This being a qualifier meant that they could allow themselves to have a simple race. It was a slim hope, but maybe…

She sighed. She was going to win, right? After what she’d said, not doing so would be so freaking lame. Plus, she didn’t want to lose to Diana, and Diana was most definitely going to win. She needed to win too. Guarantee their passage into the main event and…

“Akko, Ursula is looking for you,” Lotte appeared from the stairs behind Akko. There was wind up here, though she couldn’t really enjoy it.

“Those elevators are really interesting,” Sucy added. Because, yes, there had been an elevator in the building all along. It had just been on the side of the building Akko hadn’t checked out. She tried not to think of that as a negative, as it had allowed her to live an adventure and stuff.

“I’ll go in a few minutes,” Akko rested on the stone balustrade. It was the only piece of art actually attached to a building she had seen. This building seemed was special, being the only one with a door and stuff. Apparently it had been the ancestral home of some important faerie.

Lotte rested next to her, and Sucy drew closer, but not _too_ close. “You’re nervous?” Lotte asked. Her kind voice always seemed to put everyone at ease, Akko included. Shaking her head, Akko didn’t really know how to reply. She was nervous, but admitting it would be like admitting what she had said the day before was nothing but an empty threat. She closed her eyes and, with satisfaction, recalled the moment where the Aos Sí had stepped back. He had tried to do something to her, when she had first talked. She had felt a strange pressure on her chest, but she had overcome after realizing it wasn’t her own feeling.

“Do you even need to ask?” Sucy said. “When have you seen Akko thoughtfully look towards the horizon?”

Akko frowned, turning to her purple haired teammate. “Hey, I can be thoughtful if I want.”

Sucy chuckled. “Sure, if the topic is food, you can think about it for the whole amount of ten seconds. Fascinating.”

Akko was going to reply, but instead she crossed her arms. “Hmpf,” she let out as she looked away. Near the entrance of the city, the crowds had already gathered. There were thousands of humans and faeries in stands, small floating brooms or just straight up flying. The Planetary Alliance cameras had already arrived and two enormous screens lazily floated around the place. A small tower had been set up for commentators just outside the walls. Well, ‘small’ compared to the city’s buildings. Being taller than the outer wall meant that it was pretty damn tall.

“See?” Sucy said. “She isn’t even bothering to scream like an idiot even after what I said.”

Lotte put a hand on Akko’s shoulder. It felt comforting. Way more than it should’ve. “You’re going to do just fine,” she said. Her glasses reflected the strangely red light from the setting sun. It wasn’t like earth’s orange. It was a deep crimson, making the fields of marine grass look brown and the forests look like blood on the landscape. It made Lotte’s hair look like it was on fire. Rather cool.

“I’ve had only two days of flying and actual practice,” Akko said. “Do you really think that?”

“I think,” Lotte said after some thinking, “that as long as you try your best it’s going to be fine.” She squeezed Akko’s shoulder.

“I mean, if you lose then everyone is going to think you’re lame,” Sucy added from behind. Akko grimaced. Lotte shot the girl a glare, but quickly turned back to Akko.

Akko understood what Sucy was trying to do. In her own way, she was trying to help. In her own very special and messed up way, yeah, but trying to help nonetheless. Either that or she was really just mocking her, but Akko preferred to think it was the first case to avoid getting depressed.

“Don’t listen to her. I won’t think you are, at least. And neither will Ursula,” Lotte said. It wasn’t much of a relief, but Akko felt like she had sulked enough. She smiled at Lotte and Sucy, taking a deep breath.

“I’m fine now. Come on, let’s go,” she walked towards the stairs. “I have a race to win.”

 

The sounds from the outside were muffled through the windshield. The crowds cheering and booing, the obnoxiously loud voice of the human commentator – humans were, in fact, one of the only three races with commentators – and the roar of the Shiny Rod’s engines. Akko watched in front of her. The race would take them around the city counterclockwise. Touching the wall was instant disqualification, but other than that everything was fair game. The sun was about to disappear, and Akko feared the imminent darkness. Right after the sun set, everything would…

But, she noticed something strange. The grass that appeared to be brown due to the mix of red and green now appeared to be… purple?

“Good luck, Akko,” the communicator in her helmet allowed a voice to pass through. Ursula.

“Akko, don’t stick close to the wall,” another voice said. Diana? “They’ll want to disqualify you. Before trying to get ahead, even if it would be the faster route, keep near the mountains and the sìth.”

Akko nodded. She still failed to grasp the fact that no one was seeing her.

The sun disappeared, and the world changed.

Akko didn’t have time to process this as a loud gunshot was heard and both racers shot forward next to the wall. The faerie ship, this time, was a short and flat wooden heart-looking one. Well, like a heart if someone had taken a couple bites off its top.

Akko was on the side of the wall and, just as Diana had predicted, the first thing the faerie pilot tried to do was bump into her. She panicked for a second, but a barrage of magic from the weapons kept the faerie at bay. Amanda was _really_ good. Too bad she didn’t know it. Akko kept accelerating. Rounding the entire city, even at near supersonic speeds, would potentially take about ten minutes. It was a large city.

A large city glowing.

The grass, previously marine green, was now pale purple and glowing. The sky remained slightly red, now more towards a maroon. The trees glowed with their original colors, but the most impressive thing was the city itself. Every stone, brick, nook and cranny. The wall, buildings and even the central tower, they all glowed with the pale green light characteristic of magic. If she weren’t in the middle of a race, Akko would stop to appreciate the dream-like landscape.

But in a race she was, and another barrage of attacks kept the faerie away again. Taking a deep breath, Akko steered to the side, as if to bump into the faerie. Amanda seemed to notice her intention and didn’t attack. The faerie pilot hesitated for a second, second that worked for Akko. Heart pounding, she tried to do something she had seen Diana do a couple dozen times during training, and that she’d done a hundred in her videogames.

Right before hitting the faerie ship, she jerked the joysticks with a quick movement. The Shiny Rod jumped and barrel rolled at the same time. The faerie pilot – a strange reptilian-looking humanoid – looked up in surprise as the Shiny Rod managed to jump over it.

Akko was now slightly disoriented, as the sudden spin was not what she had expected. She barely avoided crashing with a sìth – actually grazing it with the side of her engine – and with that she started flying through a mountainside. She could feel the broom pushing slightly downwards as she moved, but she had trained on how to do this.

She didn’t need lights, but she still had them all. A part of her mind took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the glowing landscape, but the rest of her mind beat it to a pulp. This was not the time to let her focus problems take over.

She expected the faerie to try and get ahead now that it was the one who could be pushed into the wall, but instead it decided to attack.

Wait.

It was so unexpected that Akko didn’t even react when the faerie, aiming with nothing but a stick, shot a laser of magic towards the Shiny Rod. Amanda was fast enough to get the shields up, but Akko felt the ship get pushed back by the strength of the blow. Right in that moment, Akko saw a sìth placed in a strange position. It led up to a mountainside, being far longer than most, and at the end of it… A cave?

She had seen some caves here and there during training, but this one seemed a little too perfect. The way the two mountainsides were just of a perfect steepness, the unnaturally wide sìth, the way it perfectly led into the tunnel…

Three Planetary Alliance cameras were following Akko – big water-drop like things that were about one quarter the size of the Shiny Rod – and another three were following the faerie.

Without thinking it through, she climbed onto the sìth and entered the cave. As she suspected, the faerie followed her. She instantly noticed something strange: the curve was a lot more pronounced. She slowed down, since the tunnel was narrow enough that the faerie wouldn’t be able to get ahead of her even if it wanted. The tunnel, made out of grey rock – this one didn’t glow, but the Shiny Rod’s lights were potent enough to let her see – was definitely man-made. Or, well, faerie-made. As she moved, she had to slow down even further. Diana had been right, of course. Akko had been panicking before, but yeah, slowing down was the natural solution to when you had trouble maneuvering. From behind, the faerie seemed eager to try and get past Akko. It couldn’t. Whoever had made this tunnel made it for one ship. Even in the narrow space, however, Akko was going at a steady two hundred meters per second. Still, why did this feel so off…?

“Alcor,” Akko called.

 **What is it, Not-Chariot?** The green crow with the four-pointed star appeared to her side. She hadn’t bothered to call for the radar, since the race was pretty straightforward. Also, she really needed to change her username or whatever.

“Can you give me a map of the area? And I mean, the entire city.”

Alcor didn’t even reply as it turned into a small ball of light that started pulsing with the sound of a submarine’s radar. Slowly, with Akko at the center, the map got bigger and bigger even as she moved. It took just about a minute before the entire city was mapped.

Including the underground tunnel, which was a circle about half the size of the city.

Or, in other terms, an illegal shortcut.

Akko smirked, looking back. So that was it, huh? They were planning on cheating! They’d try to get her to go ahead to avoid getting disqualified by touching the wall, then go ‘casually’ into a tunnel that would be hard to tell, from an outside perspective, was actually way shorter than the set track. The faerie, from behind, was lit with the magic fire of the Rod’s engines, and while Akko couldn’t see his frustration, she could _feel_ it.

Trying to communicate with others during the race was completely illegal too, so Akko couldn’t tell the others about this. This, however, gave her an idea.

 

Ursula looked, with a frown, as everyone in the audience booed. The race had been boring, really boring, since nothing had changed from the second they had entered that tunnel. No one had realized what the tunnel was. Ursula suspected not even most seasoned pilots would realize. Only those in the actual race would be able to tell, or someone like Ursula, who’s job the past few years had been all about looking at races from the outside and trying to find the best pilots on the explored universe.

The tunnel was obviously a shortcut. Akko had found it on accident, that much was evident, but the way the faerie kept moving around, impatient, made it obvious that it hadn’t expected this development. Ursula had to grit her teeth to keep from taking the leftover Shooting Star and going after the cheating bastards in the tower. However, Lady Fortune smiled at Akko tonight. Ursula wondered if Akko had realized what was going on with the tunnel. If she knew how to activate the mapping function of the Shiny Rod, she probably would have.

And she had obviously done so, because suddenly the Shiny Rod accelerated in a burst of supersonic speed. Ursula cringed, thinking she had done so on accident or something. Instead the, the rod came out of the tunnel and came into view even for the spectators in the stands. The white broom had appeared just a minute away from the finish line – a race that should’ve taken ten minutes, despite the slow pace, had taken just five – approaching through a suspiciously straight valley at incredible speed. Oh, not suspiciously enough that anyone would believe it was tampered with, just enough to make it an obviously good choice to put the exit of your cheating tunnel in.

Behind it, the faerie came out, but in the screens it looked dazed and out of itself. It had taken the full force of the sonic boom inside a cave: Poor fellow would be lucky if it didn’t end up deaf.

The Shiny Rod was, obviously, the first one to cross the finish line, followed by the faint echo of the sonic boom from earlier. The cheering wasn’t particularly loud, not compared to the booing. People came to watch a race, not a couple of brooms peacefully go through a tunnel. And, Sídhe races were usually so exciting too. With all that in mind, Ursula could understand the frustration.

She would still have liked to make everyone shut up. Akko had managed to win!

“I can’t believe it,” Barbara said from her position next to Ursula. “She actually won.”

“By cheating,” Hannah said with a dismissive wave of the hand.

“I think,” Diana said. Was that a smile on her face? “that you got it the other way around, Hannah,” she said. Wait, had she noticed? Damn, this girl really was an expert in the craft with only sixteen years. What would she have been able to do, had she been chosen by the Shiny Rod?

Lucubrations for another day.

Akko piloted the Shiny Rod out of the way as the other pilot arrived. The reptilian like creature jumped out of its wooden ship and took of its helmet, throwing it away with anger.

A few minutes later, everyone had gone to the human pits – for lack of a better word – as the preparations for the Second Category race were made. Akko and Amanda stood next to the Shiny Rod as Akko explained Amanda what had happened.

Lotte was the first one to step forward and pat Akko’s back. “Congratulations!” she exclaimed. Akko smiled nervously.

“I don’t think the win should count,” she said instantly. Then, she explained everything to the others. Exactly as Ursula had suspected. “I think I’m going to explain everything and…”

“What!” Hannah, who had been dismissing the win earlier, was now livid. “Don’t you dare! You crushed them in their own games! Plus, I don’t think you could win an actual race.”

Diana cleared her throat. Ursula was really curious as to what she would have to say. “While the last part was uncalled for,” Diana said, “I believe she’s right. The circumstances of your win were ones set up by your rivals. They will not go to the authorities with this and, maybe more importantly, you should not feel ashamed of having won fair and square.”

Akko didn’t seem convinced, so Ursula stepped next to her and grabbed her shoulder. “If you feel like you should speak about this to the committee, then I won’t stop you.” She hesitated. What she was a “But this won’t be the only cheating you’ll see during the race, Akko, and I’m afraid no one is going to do anything about it.”

Diana turned to her, raising an eyebrow. “Cheating? On the IPR?” She cocked her head. “Sure, there’s been rumors, but nothing was ever…” She seemed to have a realization, and her eyes darkened. “Do you know for certain this is the case?”

Ursula paused. Diana was a smart girl. Too smart, in fact. Akko might have been a little too oblivious to figure it out, but she was another story. “Yes,” she said after some deliberations.

“Don’t you think you should’ve told us?” Hannah looked at her. “If they cheat, then we just have to cheat back on them,” she smiled while saying this, planning.

Akko grunted at this. She obviously didn’t like the idea. “No,” Ursula said to stop the girl from going further down that line of thought. “Hannah, I understand how you feel, but just because a couple of jerks do it doesn’t mean we should, got it?”

“Not that we would need cheating to win anyways,” Amanda claimed. She was looking at the stands. The faerie Second Category pilot was already at the start – and also finish – line. “Those who cheat aren’t good enough to win on their own terms, after all.”

“I agree,” Diana said, to the surprise of everyone. “And I plan on proving it.” Ursula looked at the blonde girl, who was staring with cold anger at the faerie pilot. Ursula didn’t believe she’d ever seen Diana in an angry state. And even if the girl was more than ten years younger than her, she couldn’t avoid being thankful not to be on the end of that piercing stare. In a way, the intensity resembled Akko’s, but while the brunette’s was more of an explosive, wild one, Diana’s felt more akin to a carefully handled gun, precise and focused.

“You just have to get in the tunnel before them, right?” Barbara asked.

Diana shook her head. “No. I don’t need such underhanded methods to win. Let’s go, Hannah,” she said, mounting on the Shooting Star. Before closing the windshield, however, she looked down. “You did well, Akko, please bear that in mind.”

The windshield closed. They were still connected by communicator, but pointing that out would probably ruin the moment. Ursula eyed Akko, who seemed shocked to have received praise from the blonde girl.

“We’ll see you in a while,” Hannah smiled with confidence as she climbed onto the turret. The Shooting Star started and took off.

Everyone watched in silence as the broom got into place next to the wooden ship of the faeries. “Wait, we can’t watch the race from here!” Akko said. “Let’s go!” she strode towards the stands.

“Coach, you think it’s going to be fine?” Amanda asked as everyone started walking, looking away. She and Ursula were a bit behind the others. Guess she couldn’t always keep up the though girl attitude. “The IPR, I mean.”

What an inconvenient question. In all honesty, Ursula had no idea. “It will,” she said. What these girls needed wasn’t her inner doubts, however. She’d keep those to herself.

Amanda nodded, hastening to catch up to the others, and Ursula was left behind to think alone.

 

Diana closed her eyes, focusing. The world around the Shooting Star glowed purple, and the Seelie Court did so on green. This was the first time a race had been held at night: Faeries considered the night to be sacred, therefore always making sure the races were ran on daytime. This year, however, due to time constraints, there was no other choice. That might have been why there weren’t as many faeries as it should; most of them would be inside the city sleeping. Diana had read about the bioluminescent plant life of Sídhe, but she had been amazed nonetheless by its beauty. Too bad the memory of the planet would now be forever sour, linked with the memory of its rulers.

“Let’s do this, Diana,” Hannah encouraged through the communicator. Diana feared she would try to shoot at the other pilot, since their ship had very few safe spots to aim. But then again, Hannah had an incredible aim and an ever better judgment, at least when flying. She wouldn’t do something stupid.

The race would start, this time, when the little old faerie walking across the finish line stepped inside the city walls. She looked like an old lady, if that old lady had four legs in a line and a couple of dove wings lazily flapping behind her without doing anything. Her hair glowed with a faint blue light.

She moved awfully slow, making Diana wonder if it was some kind of tactic too. Still, it was close to the end, so she found it hard to relax. She knew she should relax, being tense could cause problems when piloting.  She looked at her arms, dressed in marine-green. It was a color very similar to how the grass had been during daylight. Diana didn’t care about the appearance of the uniforms, but she had to admit they weren’t among the best Earth had to offer.

Everyone had already wished her good luck through the communicator. She found the wishes awkward, as she didn’t feel like luck would have much to do during this race. The faeries had prepared a way to cheat, they had definitely a backup plan. And now they _needed_ this win. Diana could lose and Earth would still have a chance. That chance, however, would be Akko. Diana didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on the brunette.

The old faerie was now just a few steps away from the wall. Ten seconds at most.

Then again, the pressure of not putting that pressure on Akko now fell on her, and she felt her shoulders heavy with it.

Nine.

In all honesty, Akko had won the last race on luck. It’s not that Diana didn’t believe she could win on normal circumstances…

Eight.

… but it just so happened that Akko realized something was off with that sìth and tunnel, getting into it before the faerie.

Seven.

Of course, this didn’t mean Diana was in a better situation. After all, she was still a novice, no matter how much practice she had from beforehand she had never been in an actual race.

Six.

And the faerie had those powerful weapons, too. A faerie, attacking. Whatever the grand prize for the race was, it was something serious. Far more serious that Diana had believed the day before.

Five.

The Shooting Star didn’t have defenses like the Shiny Rod’s, so she had to avoid that laser at all costs. Magic manipulated directly from a simple stick, it was almost as if Magic Energy could work like, well, actual fantastic magic.

Four.

Diana started to think of ways to avoid it. Depending on the angle, accelerating or falling back would be good options, while in others going up or down would be best. She would remain at about four meters above the ground to have some dodging margin. A meter was more than most people imagined.

Three.

A sweat drop ran down Diana’s cheek. She was nervous, way more nervous that she would ever be willing to admit or even accept. This was not the time for nervousness, she needed to remain calm and collected. The entirety of Earth counted on her.

Two.

This thought didn’t help. She was used to people watching her, but statistics said that about sixty percent of earth would be watching this race. More than a half of earth’s population. It was crazy. Had Akko realized how crazy this all was?

One.

What were they thinking? Two teenagers against seasoned pilots on alien planets? It was outrageous! Was everyone freaking mad? How-

“You better win, Diana!”

 Zero.

A gunshot sounded, and Diana casted aside her worries as she accelerated next to the wooden faerie ship.

 _I can do it,_ she thought. Akko’s words had been unexpected and had startled her, but they had also helped her snap out of her stupid train of thought. It was too late to realize how troublesome her situation was now. What she needed to do was win the stupid race.

They started next to each other. This time, however, the humans had started in the outer side, meaning that they weren’t open for disqualification. Diana was tempted to try and force the faerie pilot – this one being a rather translucent humanoid being – into the wall and get this over with quickly, but she recalled the way that faerie ship from the recording dropped below what her broom would be able to and feared that was part of the plan. If Diana overdid it she would crash into the wall herself.

She still was amazed by how responsive the Shooting Star was. Even the slightest movement of her hand commanded the broom to do as it was told. It wasn’t far before they reached near supersonic speeds. The landscape passed around her, purple to her right, green to her left. It was at these speeds that Diana thanked the magic of brooms. Normally, at these speeds, a human wouldn’t be able to react. Hell, even with the magic, most humans wouldn’t be able to do so. But brooms enhanced reaction time many times. It wasn’t perfect, but it had been a necessity. Other races could keep up with those speeds naturally, for one reason or another. Humans weren’t made for it.

Some humans had better reaction times than others – Akko seemed to be pretty good at that, despite being rather clumsy – while others trained to better themselves, like Diana. However, going faster started to get really dangerous. Even enhanced reaction started to fail at supersonic speeds, which was why most kept those speeds for straight lines with no obstacles.

Next to the wall there was about ten meters of free space where there was nothing, and the Faerie was keeping the Shooting Star out of it. So it was that Diana feared something would appear in her way – a sìth, a three, maybe even a random flying faerie.

They passed the tunnel Akko had found, the faerie making no attempt at using it. Diana tested moving a little faster. She started to get ahead of the faerie, but then it took out a stick and aimed. In a swift movement Diana fell back right as a laser shot in front of her, not hitting the Shooting Star by a shadow’s width. The laser hit a mountainside and Diana barely caught a glimpse at the burst of dirt and magic.

 _Amazing weapon,_ she couldn’t help thinking. She slowly moved to the side, a new idea hatching in her mind. Her broom was way heavier than the wooden one the faerie was using, maybe she could force it to move. Again, the faerie aimed. Diana moved up in time to avoid another laser, keeping up her push. Slowly, the faerie drew closer to the wall. Maybe she could make it…

And, right as she expected, the faerie dropped until it was almost touching the ground. What Diana was about to do wasn’t cheating, probably.

“Hannah!” Diana called. “Shoot in front of the faerie, heavy projectiles.”

“In front? Why would I shoot in front, all it would do is… Oh,” even through the communicator, Diana could tell Hannah would be smiling. It didn’t take more than two seconds before the Shooting Star attacked the ground in front of itself. The faeries didn’t use windshields, trusting magic to protect them. Well, maybe this would backfire on them.

Magic projectiles hit the ground and craters were created on the earth as explosions of dirt popped into existence in front of the faerie racer. With the Shooting Star on top of it, Hannah making sure to keep the right-side gun firing so that the wooden ship had only one way to go: Back.

Diana’s plan worked, the rival pilot panicking and falling back at the unusual strategy.

She claimed the free space completely. “Keep it busy, Hannah. If he aims, warn me.”

“Got it!”

Diana pressed the nitro, and the broom burst with speed.

Hannah had her back. All she had to do was keep up the speed. The landscape started to become a blur, and the force of the g’s was being handled by her suit. Focus. Just focus. Winning. It was a simple race, she didn’t need to over-think anything. Just get around the city and everything will be fine.

Or not.

Her body reacted before she realized what she had done, but she tilted the Shooting Star to avoid destroying one of its wings with a massive stone block sticking out of the outer Seelie Court wall. She instantly slowed down. That hadn’t been natural, she had done a couple rounds around the city before and that brick hadn’t been there.

“Those bastards!” Hannah cried, and while she wouldn’t have phrased it like that, Diana had to admit the sentiment was better expressed in Hannah’s words.

Going outside the ten-meter range outside the wall meant risking trees and sìth, and going further into the mountains meant an irregular terrain that, while maybe useful during IPR races, it would be nothing but a hindrance in the current race. Those giant blocks of stone sticking out could easily be passed as something natural or coincidental. The faerie pilot would know where they were, giving him the advantage. So this was their plan B.

Another block appeared. It was sticking out just three meters out of the wall, nothing too obvious, but this one was placed strategically as a small grove started. With how massive it was, the Shooting Star couldn’t get over or under it. She barely had time to react before something shot forward. A magic laser – the Shooting Star’s – that obliterated the trees to the right. Diana used this to pass through the cloud of smoke and leaves, avoiding the block. The faerie, however, passed just under it, getting ahead of them in a burst of speed. Diana gritted her teeth.

The next block was in a similar situation, where a mountainside had been cut off forming a wall to the right too. Climbing it would make anyone lose precious seconds, but the faerie pilot just passed under the block again. This one, too, was sticking out rather more prominently than the others. There was just a four meters gap between the wall and the block. Even tilting the ship wouldn’t be enough, she’d have to fly vertically if she wanted to pull it off.

Only problem was, the mountain wall was inclined in just the right way to stop them from doing that too. They were basically forced to climb the mountainside if they wanted to pass through. The mountainside with trees, plants and other obstacles that would make them lose a lot of time.

She wasn’t going to let those cheaters get away with it.

She climbed the mountainside. It wasn’t that steep, not at this point, but it quickly became more so. It didn’t matter to Diana. Right before she hit the first line of trees – trees that Hannah was aiming at – she pressed the nitro again and jumped off the artificial precipice. Brooms couldn’t fly, but they were aerodynamic enough to glide, particularly with the angle Diana was using for the fall.

She glided over a long distance, which didn’t feel that long due to her speed. It was a tricky moment, since at this height she couldn’t control the broom, but she fell down, almost touching the ground, and rebounded up to five meters right behind the wooden faerie racer. She slowed to avoid crashing into any of the walls.

“Try to stay stable, Diana!” Hannah said, and then the guns started attacking.

Diana tried to focus on keeping the ship in a stable flight, but she was worried about more blocks. The corridor created by the mountain ended, followed by a small plain, where two rivers joined and disappeared underground – the water also glowed, beautiful streams of violet light dancing in the purple landscape.

Diana hadn’t noticed, but her breathing had become heavier, and her heart was pounding. Sweat pearled her forehead, but if the helmet detected it would become a problem, it would automatically release a small current of air to cool Diana down.

Hannah’s attacks weren’t effective. They hit, but they rebounded off the wooden racer as if they were nothing but rubber balls. “Damn it,” She said. Diana hummed in the low. Interesting, the faerie had found a way to keep their ships protected from energy blasts. No other race had managed to do that, energy was very hard to channel into something like a shield. Most used either other methods of defense or focused on dodging.

Diana tried moving to the side, but the faerie blocked her way. It wouldn’t allow Diana to get ahead again. “Hannah, keep the guns in laser mode. Maybe I’ll need you to destroy something else,” she made sure to keep her teammate focused.

The faerie didn’t realize in its attempt to block Diana’s path, but she had been slowly drifting away from the wall. They were now a fair distance outside the safe ten meters. In front of them a sìth raised, pointed straight upwards from the plain, like a pillar.

This was the moment. She checked her fuel. She had already used one third of it. Going fast used up a lot of energy, but Diana was surprised it wasn’t lower. The Shooting Star really was amazing. Then, she pressed the rightmost pedal to gain a burst of speed again.

The faerie pilot instantly moved to the left to avoid collision. Diana wouldn’t manage to get ahead of it before the pillar forced her to get out of the way. Diana took a deep breath. This was why she had put effort into getting away from the wall subtly. In a swift moment, she aimed her broom at the faerie racer. When the pilot noticed what she was about to do, it dropped below the height the Shooting Star could reach. “Eyes forward, Hannah,” Diana said. Hannah made a noise of acknowledgement through the communicator.

The faerie instantly fell back, probably remembering what had happened before. However, the ease with which he did that made Diana suspicious. So there were more traps ahead. Fine, that was perfectly fine.

She kept up the speed. The other racer started to do some sudden movements, as if desperate. It had probably realized how far away they were from the wall, which had allowed Diana to pull off the movement without fear of getting disqualified.

Trees ahead, more blocks in the wall. They were going so fast that Diana instantly knew she wouldn’t be able to determine if she would be able to pass through the narrow space. Using this speed and the laser at the same time would be a real waste of energy, but they couldn’t really do anything else. “Hannah,” Diana called.

“On it!”

The laser instantly went off, creating a path in the trees. The faerie racer had been left behind – the Shooting Star really was faster by a fair amount, but Diana would have to slow down before she crashed into something or ran out of fuel.

She passed through where the trees had been a second ago, leaving trails in the smoke.

“Diana!” Hannah suddenly called. Diana reacted by instantly barrel-rolling to the right, and a second later a laser passed through where she had been. The barrel roll, however, forced her to fly inclined through a mountainside. With her speed, this quickly deviated her to the side. She got off the mountainside, trying to get back before-

The wooden racer appeared. Diana had been outside the safe zone for less than ten seconds, but this damn cheater… It really was more experienced than her. Another block up ahead, and like before, next to a wall created from a mountain. The Shooting Star had to slow down as Diana grit her teeth. She didn’t want to risk gliding again, if she hit the wall or damaged the ship by crashing it against the ground…

An idea suddenly appeared on her mind. If she wanted to do this she would have to stop using supersonic speeds, but… “Hannah, shoot the block, make it look like you were aiming at the ship, try to create a ramp.”

“With the laser? Diana, we’re going to run out of-”

“Trust me.”

Hannah didn’t argue a single word more and shot. Her aim was perfect. The shot cut the upper half of the block, making it slide down.

The faerie pilot panicked, and _stopped._

Diana didn’t accelerate like before, she needed to save the energy. Each one of those blasts would take a good portion of the power. Lasers were not efficient, but at least they were effective. With a sudden pull, the Shooting Star jumped over the Faerie ship. Diana wished she could look down to see the pilot’s face. The slid block had fallen in a way that would allow the broom to climb over them and a second later Diana was gaining ground on the other pilot without needing to go at great speeds. “Ha! Screw you, asshole!” Hannah cried.

Diana was down to half the fuel. If her orientation wasn’t failing her, they were already past the halfway point of the race. And for a full minute – in which Hannah destroyed another two blocks – the faerie pilot wasn’t able to catch up to them. However, it eventually came back. “Aim at the ground with one of the guns,” Diana said. Hannah understood why she was saying it, not answering. The faerie wouldn’t be overtaking them from below.

Surprisingly enough, there weren’t any blocks for another full minute. Three fourths of the race were done, just two more minutes to go. They could do it, they could-

“Diana!”

Diana tilted the Shooting star, not wanting to barrel roll into a mountainside again. She had figured out that the faerie’s laser had some kind of cooldown, because if not it would be spamming it. The laser, as expected, passed under her right wing.

And impacted on a mountainside ahead, creating an explosion. An explosion that was way too big for magic. An explosion of fire and earth that caused big boulders to fly into the sky. An explosion caused by, well, explosives, probably hidden below the earth.

It was too risky to try and fly under that. Diana would be forced to slow down, let the faerie catch them. But being so close to the finish, the risk of letting it get ahead was… No, their lives came first. Brooms weren’t invincible. Diana was about to gear down when Hannah interrupted. “Don’t you dare do it, Diana, I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “Let’s show that dumb redhead how a real gunman shoots,” her voice was a mixture of anger and excitement. “No cheating bastards are going to win on my watch!”

The guns started firing in single-shot mode. It was the most hard of the modes to use, but also more powerful than rapid-fire and wasting way less energy than the laser. Diana was amazed as each shot took down a different rock falling from the sky. Big or small, Hannah vaporized them all.

The shooting star didn’t need to slow down. Actually, Diana sped up. Not to supersonic speeds – she still feared more blocks – but to the optimal limit before starting to waste fuel for speed. From behind, she could sense the desperation from the opposing pilot. “Diana!” Hannah cried, but Diana didn’t bother. Indeed, what the faerie shot at them was no laser. It hit a wing like if it had been fire from a water-gun, doing nothing but a scratch.

The finish line came into view, a big red-neon sign hanging in the air. No more stone blocks in the way. Diana allowed herself to smile. The faerie pilot was a full five seconds behind her. She didn’t need to, but she accelerated anyways, traversing the remaining distance in a blink.

She stopped a long ways from the finish line and looked up, at the central tower, now a pillar of green light against the black, starless sky – as one might guess, the ambient luminescence of the land didn’t allow the stars to shine in the night. The Aos Sí hadn’t come to watch the race, or so they claimed. But beings like them could probably watch the race without bothering to actually show up for it, even if they didn’t have TVs. She tried to look defiant, but after a few seconds she felt rather silly, so she stopped.

“Now who’s the unworthy one, suckers?!” Hannah chanted from the turret loud enough that Diana probably wouldn’t have needed the communicator anyways.

She waited until the faerie ship stopped. Unlike the First Category pilot, this one just looked down in shame. Good, at least someone had some common sense.

Satisfied, hearing the cheers of the crowd, she went back to the human pits

 

Akko stood atop the dais, feeling the grimace on her face as she received praise from the minotaur faerie she had seen back when she first stepped out of the _Dragon._ Well, she thought it was the same. Maybe it was another minotaur. She hadn’t had time to congratulate Diana on her win, because the second the blonde girl stepped out of the broom they had both been carried to the stage.

It was hard to enjoy the moment. Akko felt strangely disconnected from the world around her. The cheering of the humans was just white noise in the back of her mind, the flashes of their cameras not helping. She didn’t feel like she had really won. It was hard to feel good while knowing the opposing team had cheated, and a lot. Akko had seen Diana’s race and noticed all the cheating, how could no one else do it?

Or maybe they didn’t care?

It was something she didn’t want to consider, but it didn’t look like her brain would give her a choice on the matter. In all honesty, all she wanted was to race for real. But, racing for real… She looked at Diana, who wore her usual expression. She had won even against all odds. The cheating during her race had been so much harder to deal with than a secret tunnel. Akko knew, while watching that race, that she wouldn’t have been able to pull through all those situations.

Diana noticed she was being watched, and looked at Akko with some discomfort. Akko didn’t notice. She was looking in the general direction of Diana, but she was now lost in thought and not actually looking at her.

Such an amazing pilot, Diana was. And Hannah had been amazing too. Amanda was good, but Akko wondered if she would’ve been able to do what Hannah did or if she would have just set up a shield. Though, she had countered what Hannah had done…

“Ehm, Akko,” Akko snapped back into reality. “Would you mind not staring at me like you are doing right now?” Was Diana blushing?

She looked around, suddenly remembering where they were. She tried to smile and wave, but it came out stiff and robotic. Diana took a few glances at her to make sure she wasn’t still staring, but now Akko was trying to focus. On her surroundings. On the cheering humans, the sad faeries, her friends in front of the dais smiling. She didn’t feel happy, or excited. Not angry or disappointed, either. She probably would’ve been much more excited to just see Diana climb in here. She did deserve the praise.

In the end, Akko realized, she was just tired.

Suddenly, the prospect of another three months of this seemed like a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of the second batch. Leave leave a comment down below and suscribe, hit that like button and don't forget about the bell to get-  
> wait, wrong website.  
> Hope you're enjoying it so far!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, when I finished this, I realized it would be a much better wrapping point for the whole Sídhe-arc (Not that it's much of an arc, but that's another story) than the previous chapter. So, I'm making the exception and posting it alone. Highly doubt this'll repeat, I'm doing it just because I genuinly think it's a better place to stop.

How could _anyone_ sleep in this damn planet?

Hannah was lying down, eye twitching with frustration, as she tried to get some rest. It was _impossible._ The stone glowed! There was no way of turning off the lights! The stone shouldn’t be glowing here, they had an anti-magic field! And she wasn’t the only one. Amanda and Diana didn’t look particularly happy with the situation either. The only one actually sleeping in the room was Akko, and her snoring didn’t help with the dilemma.

Though, Hannah had other reasons that kept her mind going. She was angry, very angry, at those cheating bastards who called themselves the Aos Sí. And at herself for being so useless during the race. Sure, she had done a few things, but usually keeping enemies at bay felt so much more real. This time she had to use what were basically environmental hazards. And that against the Second Category pilot! Not that the first one was better, probably, given how he was given the easier way of cheating. Not to mention, she was half afraid faeries would start coming for them in anger that they’ve won. No matter how much Diana assured her they were peaceful creatures, she had seen how that pilot shot them with hate in his eyes.

“Screw this,” Amanda suddenly sat up and jumped off her mattress. “I can’t sleep on this light,” she crouched next to Akko and started shaking her shoulder. Hannah frowned.

“And because you can’t sleep you’re going to wake her up?” She asked.

Amanda snorted and looked back at her. “Since when do you care about Akko?”

“I don’t, but what you’re doing is outright mean.”

“I have to agree. Akko had a hard day, you should allow her a few hours of rest,” Diana added from her mattress next to Hannah’s. She looked frustrated and angry, which just showed how tired she was, since she normally wouldn’t ever let those feelings show.

“Oh shut up, she can sleep later. I’m bored,” she kept shaking Akko, who grunted, still asleep.

“Can’t you have fun with us?” Hannah asked, though she instantly regretted the way she had phrased the question. Amanda didn’t make the obvious joke, but her smirk proved she could’ve.

“Yeah, I’ll ask to hang out with you when I’m in need of a lecture or a lesson on how to wipe twenty kilograms of makeup off my face,” Amanda shrugged. Hannah blushed slightly, though she didn’t know why. Wearing makeup was normal, and she didn’t wear nearly as much as Amanda made it out to be.

Diana sighed. “May I ask what is it you want to do that Akko is needed? Couldn’t you wake up one of your teammates?”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “My teammates can’t ride the Shiny Broom,” she said, as if that explained everything. Akko grunted again, mumbling something. Damn, that girl really had heavy sleep. Hannah slowly sat up too, deciding that she wasn’t going to sleep anyways. Diana followed.

“If what you want is a ride, I can take you,” Diana said. “Assuming we don’t take too long,” she added, uncomfortable with the idea.

“Diana, if I could use the Shooting Star to get where I want to, I would’ve hijacked it and fucked off on my own,” she explained.

“What?” Hannah asked. “Where would you want to go that the Shooting Star-”

“Top of the tower,” she pointed up. It took Hannah a few seconds to understand what she meant, but when she did she deadpanned the redhead.

“Why don’t you climb it yourself instead of trying to get Akko to take you?” Hannah asked.

“‘cause I don’t want to enter the tower again. Those old farts are there, right?” Amanda paused for a second. “Yeah, no need to see them ever again,” she shuddered.

Hannah stood right as Akko half-opened one eye. Her head moved sloppily around, and she cringed at the light. She looked rather dumb, which fit her just fine. Diana stood and made her bed. Hannah would’ve done it, but they were already sleeping in the floor, so what was the point anyways? Sleeping in the floor… Each time she recalled that, she wished they’d just been allowed to sleep at the _Dragon_. Uncomfortable as they were, at least they had _real_ beds over there.

“Can’t you wait until she wakes up?” Hannah wasn’t particularly interested in protecting Akko’s sleep, but she was just annoyed at Amanda’s attitude.

“And risk Ursula being up too to tell us not to do it? Yeah, sure,” Amanda didn’t even turn. Akko finally opened both eyes, focusing them on Amanda.

“What?”

“Come on, get up, let’s go do something fun,” Amanda prodded her arm. Akko sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes.

“What do you want to do?”

Hannah pressed her lips. It annoyed her how… not-annoyed Akko was. She looked back at Diana, who appeared to be on an internal debate of her own. In the end, Hannah decided to stop caring. If Akko didn’t, why would she? The brunette was stupid, Hannah didn’t know why she expected more from her.

Amanda explained her plans to Akko, whose eyes slowly went from tired and confused to awake and excited. When she moved she still did so kind of sluggishly, as if her body wasn’t as awake as her mind. Still, she managed to put on her suit and helmet and, when both girls were finished, they waved goodbye while striding to the door.

“Wait,” Diana said, standing. She had finished putting on her suit too. “I’m coming with.”

Hannah’s eyes widened. Why was Diana going with them? Had she somehow gotten infected with the same idiocy the other two had? No, no, they had spent roughly the same amount of time together, Hannah would be infected too. “What are you doing?” She asked, looking at her.

“I am fairly certain I just stated it,” Diana answered.

“I mean, why?”

“Yeah, what do you plan on doing? Snitch on us?” Amanda said with a hostile expression.

Diana shook her head, completely unaffected by the redhead’s attitude. “I am simply curious as to how the look is on top of the tower. Plus, I know for a fact two people fit inside the cockpit, so we all should be able to go,” she explained in a calm voice. Hannah started to get nervous. Were they going to leave her alone? Well, the other girls were still in the other room, but Hannah was fairly certain they were all asleep. Maybe the race had affected the participants more than anyone assumed.

“I’m fine with her coming,” Akko shrugged. Diana nodded as a sign of thanks, and Amanda rolled her eyes.

“Ok, whatever.”

“Wait, I want to go too!” Hannah cried. The other three girls looked as she quickly dressed up. She had said that in the heat of the moment, but the truth was she really didn’t care about the tower, she just didn’t want to be alone for god knows how long while not being able to sleep. Her fear of faeries was similar to her fear of monsters when she was a child.

“I don’t think we’ll fit, though,” Akko said, looking uncomfortable. “Guess we could squeeze ourselves a little on the cockpit…”

Hannah started. Oh, right. Space was something she should’ve thought about that beforehand. Amanda opened her mouth and hesitated, drawing attention. She looked away, but still spoke in a half grumble. “In the turret there is enough space for two people, if you’re fine with losing your memory afterwards.”

“Oh, that sounds fine, then,” the Shiny Rod was pretty small, so Hannah assumed its turret wouldn’t be particularly big or something. _It must be pretty spacious for two people to fit in,_ she thought. The Shooting Star’s turret barely had enough space for Hannah alone.

“Well then, it’s settled,” Akko said. Amanda mumbled something, and everyone walked out of the building, helmets on. The outsides streets were empty and silent. Faeries slept. They slept the entirety of the night, long as it was. That was amazing to Hannah. But, well, they also stayed up the entirety of the day, so…

They walked a few hundred meters away from their building, to another one where the front wall was missing. That was their temporal hangar, where the Shiny Rod and the two Shooting Stars remained. It was rather precarious, but it wasn’t as if anyone on this planet would know how to pilot the things.

Hannah approached the Shiny Rod first on chance, touching it. The white broom instantly started sounding a really loud and annoying alarm that only lasted for like two seconds before it just vanished in a flash of light. Slowly, she spun with an apologetic smile. “It’s really jumpy, huh?” She tried not to sound too embarrassed. Why did it do that? How did it detect the user? Same thing happened when anyone but Akko touched the key-wand. There was no other broom in the world that managed to recognize its Witch or Wizard on touch. Now that she thought about it, no information about the Shiny Rod had ever been given. How had Chariot ever managed to get it approved for use, if no one had inspected it? Just who had built it?

Akko waved her key-wand, and the Shiny Rod reappeared, making Hannah jump back. No one looked particularly annoyed at Hannah. Akko quickly climbed onto the cockpit, leaving the three remaining members of the group standing around uncomfortably.

“Uhm, so, who’s going down there with me?” Amanda asked, stepping closer to the broom-racer.

Diana and Hannah looked each other. “I’ll go!” Hannah jumped. Diana would volunteer without hesitation if Hannah let her, but she wasn’t deserving of having to go next to the annoying troublemaker. Well, no, Akko was the annoying troublemaker. Amanda was the _mean_ annoying troublemaker. Diana didn’t deserve to go with Amanda, was the point.

“Are you sure?” Diana asked with a raised eyebrow. She knew how much Hannah hated Amanda.

“Sure, sure.” Hannah waved a dismissive hand as she walked to the back of the ship, half-pushing Amanda along with her to stop any kind of further arguing.

While they waited for the turret door to open, Amanda eyed her.

“I don’t think you’re going to like it,” she said nonchalantly.

“I’m going to forget it anyways, right? Who cares,” Hannah shrugged.

Amanda narrowed her eyes, probably trying to figure out if the comment had been made sarcastically or not. The answer was yes. Hannah didn’t believe for a second she was going to forget what happened down there. The door opened, and both girls crawled under the ship and climbed onto the turret.

It was a narrow, empty space of white. When getting in, they both had to lie on their sides, face to face – well, visor to visor – to fit. “You said two people fit in here,” Hannah complained as the door closed.

“Fairly certain we do,” Amanda said with a shrug, which also moved Hannah. It was hard not to notice that the redhead had quite the bust, cramped as they were. Hannah rolled her eyes. She probably would’ve tried to come up with another way of complaint, but the Shiny Rod started.

And nothing happened.

A few seconds later, the broom had already teleported and stopped, opening the door again.

Amanda and Hannah stepped out, and Hannah raised an eyebrow in inquiry to the redhead. Amanda looked slightly awkward as she answered. “It was too fast, the turret didn’t even start, don’t expect it to work like always, I guess…” She didn’t sound convinced.

“Aha,” Hannah put up a poker face. She didn’t know what she had expected. Maybe Amanda wasn’t lying, but she had just gotten a chance to prove it and it hadn’t gone well for her. Amanda sucked in her lips, shrugging again. “No, it’s fine, I get it,” Hannah turned as Diana and Akko left the broom. Diana appeared to be slightly amazed by the sights. In truth, when Hannah started to look around, she also was.

The top of the tower, the battlements were amazing. Curiously enough, they were human-sized, so they could look through the square openings and down onto the city.

The city glowed. That wasn’t news, but seeing it from up above, what had been an expanse of green before was now an expanse of mostly blue with thin lines of green here and there. The roofs of the Seelie Court glowed, of course, but to Hannah’s surprised they did so on a dark blue rather than purple like they had been during day.

They could see past the city walls and into the purple hills and mountains of Sídhe, but a few hundred meters after the wall, the world seemed to end, the black wall of the sky cutting the sight like a curtain. It was beautiful, yes, but Hannah wished she could see to the real horizon.

It almost made her forget about Amanda’s lies, but when the girl jumped over the battlement to perch on a merlon, Hannah almost had a heart attack. First she tried to look at Diana for support, but the blonde girl had gone to the opposite side of the tower.

“Amanda what the hell are you doing!” She said quickly. “You’re going to fall!”

Amanda didn’t answer. She sat with her feet hanging over the edge, looking down. Hannah hesitated, wanting to jump and pull the girl down to safety. However, for a second, she stopped. Amanda made fun of her – well, she did fun of Amanda too, so they were probably even on that. Amanda, however, was reckless and annoying and a real pain in the ass. And a liar, too.

But Hannah didn’t want her dead, mostly. Just to be sure, Hannah reached up with her hand, grabbing Amanda by one of the little straps around the suit that served to hang things on them, kind of like pockets but way less useful. Most only hung wands in those.

“Don’t you ever feel like you want to fly?” Amanda asked, not looking at her.

“Look, if you want to get philosophical, you can do it while not staring down to a horrible death,” Hannah said in annoyance. She wasn’t in the mood to humor Amanda. She doubted she’d ever be in the mood to humor Amanda, period.

“I do,” Amanda completely ignored her. “I often climb to high places just to get a grasp of that feeling, you know?” She now looked up, leaning back and helping Hannah relax, if just a little. Hannah felt the horrible need to say ‘yeah, I know,’ but she found that saying it would be super weird. Why would she know? She didn’t. Yet, she felt like she did.

“Well, if you fall, you’re probably going to feel it for a few seconds before you become a mass of blood and bones on the ground,” Hannah said. “What the hell is going on with you, anyways? You high or something?”

“I mean, we’re in a tower that’s as tall as a mountain,” Amanda replied, looking down to her. Hannah gave her a flat look. “I guess the thin air this high might be getting to me.”

That was stupid. The helmet would automatically fix that to make sure she could breathe normally. Hannah was about to point this out when she caught something on her eyes. Emerald eyes that shone reflecting the green light from the tower. They looked almost like actual gems.

“You were good, out there,” Amanda looked towards the outside of the city. “Honestly, how you blasted those rocks blew my mind.”

Hannah narrowed her eyes, feeling like Amanda was mocking her. “You’ve already countered something like that, though,” she recalled their mock race with bitterness.

The surprised look Amanda gave her was… genuine. “I did?” She asked with a frown.

“Are you seriously going to pull that now?” Hannah pulled her lips into a line. “Fine, whatever, I don’t care,” she let go of Amanda.

The girl had apparently been using her hand as some kind of support, because she suddenly stumbled in place. Her eyes widened in a second of fear. Out of instinct, Hannah instantly reached up and grabbed her waist, making sure she regained stability. “ _Boy,_ that was scary!” she cried. “And I still don’t know why you think I’d lie about something so stupid,” she finished by turning around and getting down from the block of stone, falling next to Hannah.

Hannah hesitated. In truth, she still hadn’t thought of a reason why Amanda would want to lie about it. And she had some good points. Still, something drove her to keep pushing. Maybe she was just being stubborn, but well, she had _just_ ridden in the ship and she hadn’t lost her memory, though the short travel part was true… “It’s fine, really, I don’t really care anymore,” Hannah lied.

Amanda parted lips, but closed them again. Whatever she had to say, she decided to keep it for herself.

Hannah sighed. “You did it pretty well too,” she praised. “You saved Akko back there, during the race.”

Amanda looked at her with uncertainty. It was really hard to tell if that was just acting or she was genuinely unsure of what she had done. “Thanks,” she said. Hannah pursed her lips, but didn’t say what she was thinking. Mostly, that just saying that was pure cowardice.

Without saying anything more, however, both girls turned to look over the battlements. At least the view was nice.

 

Akko was amazed by the sea of blue and green buildings, surrounded by a line of purple in the distance. It was sooo pretty. The sky, like a black canvas on the background, made it all the more amazing. Like a pocket dimension where dreams could come true. While looking down on the city, she could almost forget about her worries. She smiled softly while looking down. She wished she had brought Lotte and her camera; it would be nice to send a photo of this breathtaking view to her family.

She rested her head on her arms, tiredness slowly sipping in.

“Are you tired?” Diana, who was just a few openings to her right, looked at her. “We have probably seen all there is to see. Amanda has already gotten her wish, and you probably want to go back to sleep, am I wrong?”

Akko yawned. Yeah, Diana was right. The race, the anger, the excitement, everything weighed down on her. But she wanted to stare a little longer. Diana’s wavy hair and pale skin were tainted completely green. Akko had to hold back a chuckle. She appeared to have painted herself all over.

“I’m fine,” she said. She could sleep when they went back. Diana nodded, going back to her own landscape admiring. After a few seconds of silence, Akko started to feel slightly anxious, as if she should say something. Or maybe the anxiety came because she wanted to say something but she was afraid to make Diana mad? The memory of the race was fresh in her mind. She didn’t _look_ mad, sure, but her race had been so much harder than Akko’s just because she was the Second Category pilot, while Akko had won with barely an effort…

“What you did today,” Diana suddenly said, to Akko’s surprise. “If it were me, I am nothing but sure that I wouldn’t have entered that cave,” she didn’t look at Akko while she spoke. “It was reckless, and you were lucky.”

“I wouldn’t say it was reckless,” Akko answered. She wasn’t sure of how to take what she was saying. A lecture, now? Really? And she was thinking about trying to be nice, too. “I mean, it was pretty suspicious…”

“It could’ve been a trap. What if it had explosives, and the cave collapsed? What if it was just a dead end, meant to trick you?” Diana shook her head.

“I would’ve lost the race, I guess,” Akko sighed. Well, Diana was definitely mad. Not that Akko had doubted, really, but she had held onto the slim hope that she wouldn’t be.

“Not that,” Diana finally looked at her. “You could’ve gotten hurt, or worse. Going into a cave in an alien planet at near supersonic speeds? What were you thinking, Akko?”

“Hey, you didn’t sound particularly angry when I won,” Akko frowned, frustrated. She didn’t like when people chastised her for things that _could have_ gone wrong. By that logic, she could go and chastise literally everyone because they could trip with each step they took, so dangerous!

“I hadn’t really thought about the matter back then,” Diana admitted. “But after thinking it through, it becomes fairly obvious that what you did was _not_ ok.”

“In the end nothing happened, though,” Akko argued.

“It could have.”

“But it _didn’t,”_ she was starting to grow frustrated. Who did Diana think she was? Her mother? Her expression, like stone, remained unchanging. Akko had seen her show emotions before, but other times, like this one, she genuinely considered if the girl was just a robot. She talked with calculated coldness and a hint of superiority to her voice, like she _knew_ she was right. It was at moments like these that Akko regretted trying to be nice.

Diana remained quiet, which didn’t really help Akko’s growing frustration. “I suppose you are right,” Akko perked up, raised eyebrows, surprised at what she heard. Had Diana just…? “But I still suggest you try to think things through a little more. It can be hard on a race, but luck won’t always be on your side.”

And she had to ruin it. Well, at least she admitted that Akko was right! “I’ll try,” Akko said. Now that she wasn’t blinded by the boredom of being lectured, she saw that Diana did have a point.

She nodded appreciatively. Both of them stood, watching each other, for a few long and awkward seconds.

“Also, thank you,” again, it was Diana who broke the silence. She was really talkative today.

Akko cocked her head, unsure. “For what?”

“For your encouragement, right before the race started. I would be lying if I said it didn’t help me.” Diana’s stone expression dropped for a second, and Akko caught a glimpse at a smile that quickly went back to normal.

Akko blushed lightly. “Oh, I just said that ‘cause I can’t have my rival losing when I won, you know,” she laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head.

“You consider me a rival?” Diana asked, sounding amused. Akko blushed a little further, realizing this had been the first time she’d put the feeling into words. Or into thoughts, really. Diana was so many leagues above her, it was silly to consider it.

“Yeah,” she still said. Silly or not, the feeling of wanting to surpass her was one of rivalry, at least in her mind. “I told you, didn’t I? I’m going to be better than you, one day!”

“I believe that what you said was ‘I’m going to be the best witch’, nothing specific about me,” Diana explained. Akko paused. Was that what she had said? Why did Diana remember it and not her? “But I’m flattered you consider me to be your rival, since it must mean you see me as the best.”

“Well, you are, aren’t you?” Akko said. “You earned the spot on the Inter-Planetary Race, after all.”

Diana’s eyes darkened at the mention of this. Akko mentally slapped herself. Stupid! They were having a relatively nice conversation! Why’d she bring that up? Yeah, Diana had earned a spot, a spot Akko had stolen!

Amanda and Hannah, who had been on the other side of the tower, had slowly been approaching the Shiny Rod. Diana looked towards them and, before Akko could try to fix it, started walking. “They seem to be bored already. It would be best if we went back now,” she said, coldly.

“… Yeah,” Akko said without energy. Well, at least she had probably made some progress. Assuming the last thing she had said hadn’t made her go back to square one. Well, she still had a lot of time ahead. _I’ll find a proper way to apologize, one day,_ she thought with resolve as she followed Diana.

If this conversation was anything to go by, Diana wasn’t half as bad as Akko assumed her to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it, don't forget to leave a comment and shit. Guess you can call this the true end of the second batch.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, welcome to the third batch of chapters. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them. Don't forget to leave your criticisms and seriously people if you like it (or not) leave a comment 'cause I really like reading them.  
> Just as a reference, I started writing this exactly one month ago, on november 5. 85k words in a month isn't bad, huh? Oh, and it has 102 pages, in the page format I work with  
> Anyways, here goes nothing.

“Get up, girls, now!” Ursula’s voice, alarmed, made everyone stand up in confusion. “We need to go, _now.”_

“What’s happening?” Diana asked, snapping out of her sleepiness quickly and dressing up. In the corridor she saw the members of the _Dragon’s_ crew run around.

“Magic storm,” Ursula simply said. The others looked at her in confusion, but Diana had read about the event.

 _Oh, no,_ Diana thought.

Magic storms were rare, and faeries could sense when they would come – approximately. They were a natural phenomenon caused by the planet’s own rotation. There were places in Sídhe that had a lot more magical charge than others, and they were dangerous even to faeries. Eventually, the movement of the planet itself caused those zones to release their magic, creating the storms. They didn’t affect the plant life much, but faeries could die, and non-magic beings like Humans…

“Where are we going?” Diana asked. She assumed they would climb the buildings, since the storms had a height limit.

“To the _Dragon,_ that much magic energy can destroy the entire system, we’re making an emergency take off. Get ready,” she threw something at Amanda, who barely had the chance to take it. “Amanda, you’ll be piloting the Blue Star,” Ursula said. “Go, girls, get to work.”

Amanda started to change with more energy, excited at the prospect of piloting one of the Shooting Stars. Diana didn’t know how she felt about the whole idea, and she didn’t really have much time to think it through.

“How much time do we have?” Diana asked.

“The storm will reach the _Dragon_ in about three hours, three and a half here. Drive the Brooms, get to safety, and ask for the crew to guide you to your rooms. You’ll get different ones this time. Now get moving!” She stormed out of the room and started giving the other girls the same speech.

Diana started to grow nervous. The faeries knew this was coming, didn’t they? Why did they chose to run the race on such a dangerous night?

 

Amanda laughed as she raced both Diana and Akko to the _Dragon._ _This_ is what she had been looking for! Sure, something felt off, but that was probably because she had never driven a Shooting Star before. And that feeling, it was nothing compared to the sheer speed and awesomeness of the broom. No gunmen, just sheer piloting ability. Akko was behind them, even though she had chosen to go over the river to gain an unfair advantage. It didn’t matter, the Shooting Stars were crushing her. Side to side, the blue and red brooms fought for every advantage they could. Try to push the other into trees, or force them into the water. They had crossed the river a couple dozen times already, and Amanda felt _alive._

The broom was impossibly responsive. Amanda understood it wasn’t just a vehicle, it was an extension of herself. With each passing second, she was more and more sure the thing had been built exclusively with _her_ in mind. The smile wouldn’t leave her face and hell if she wanted it to, she was genuinely happy for the first time since this damn thing had started! She rolled to avoid a sìth and then used another one to jump over the river, since there was a small grove ahead in her side of the riverbank and she was not about to lose speed because of it. Diana had to go into it, making Amanda gain seconds on her.

The _Dragon_ appeared on the distance, and Amanda had chosen the right side of the riverbank. She pressed the nitro, and broke into supersonic terrains. Diana followed her just a second behind, but Amanda broke into the ocean first.

She came to a halt in front of the world-hopper, and she got off the broom with some reluctance. She wanted to gloat to Diana, but the blonde girl just handed her key-wand to a member of the crew and turned to enter the ship.

Amanda frowned, ready to go and get her gloating in even if Diana wouldn’t let her, but she paused when she suddenly noticed a little headache. She was too tired…

_Guess I’ll gloat tomorrow._

 

Diana watched, from the bow of the _Dragon,_ as the massive wave of magic passed below them. They were quickly rising in the air as the takeoff had been made in the nick of time.

“Well that was close,” Barbara said, standing next to Diana. The group of students, minus Amanda – who had gone to sleep, claiming that she felt bad. Diana suspected she had hit her head or something during the earlier race, with her crazy piloting – looked down from the windows. It moved like water, like a tsunami of green light against the purple and violet of the grass and ocean. A single touch of that wave could easily kill you.

“Talk about luck,” Akko said. “Good thing the _Dragon_ has all those super sensors or whatever.”

The only one among them who didn’t seem to be feeling relieved was Diana. She was worried, not about the wave, but about what it meant. That wave, she was _certain_ the faeries knew of it. Most of them were half animal, they could sense when these kinds of dangers would arrive. They’d known for days, if not weeks. Yet, none of them warned humans. Not a single one of them.

Their morality would be different than that of humans, Diana understood that. But their rulers, they were definitely _persons._ Nevermind the species, race or planet, they definitely acted for their own gain. It felt ominous, somehow. Did they _want_ to get rid of humans? Was there a reason for it? Was she looking too much into it?

They soon left the planet, everyone going to their rooms to finish the sleep that had been interrupted. Diana was tired, _really_ tired, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Instead, she encouraged her teammates to go and sleep while she was going to grab something to eat. She’d be back in their rooms in no time.

With this excuse, she set off and started walking around the ship. They were in the Gold Deck, with the Shopping Town and the artificial park. But this wasn’t a good place to think. Too much people. She considered the corridors of the ship itself. Their small metallic frames would be great for focusing, but she didn’t want that, sitting in there would be weird. She lingered in the main street of the deck for a while, looking at the small door to her favorite restaurant. Entering would have been a treat for sure, but she felt like if she sat down there she was going to end up falling asleep.

So, instead, she decided to go for a quiet place where she could relax.

She climbed onto the elevator and pressed the green glowing button. The Magic Deck one. It examined her fingerprint before allowing her to go up.

When the doors opened, she found herself in the most luxurious of all decks. Being around the same size as Bronze Deck, the Magic Deck was nothing if not absolute proof that people liked commodities no matter what they were doing. It was an ‘exclusive’ place, where only a handful of passengers had access. Diana wouldn’t have paid money for it, even if she had it, but she wouldn’t refuse to use it if she had access to it. The deck didn’t connect to the outer hull of the _Dragon,_ so there were no windows. It had no shops, no restaurants. It was a dark place, only lit by magic lanterns – big sticks of magic – and the glow of different screens with ads. No. What the Magic Deck had was a spa. It was dark to create contrast with the other decks, and to hide most of who came here from view. Usually, those who could afford this place were among the most powerful men on earth, either by political influence or economic one. More often than not, sadly, by both.

It was a silent floor. People came here alone, and with a clear goal in mind. Diana too. However, when a member of the staff approached her, she simply raised a hand and strode into the relatively small place. The floor was cobblestoned – Or at least it felt like that. Diana doubted they’d used real stones, due to the weight problems that could cause.

There was a section, in the far end of the small deck, dedicated to one particular thing Diana was very fond of.

Personalized baths. It was the darkest place in the deck, barely enough to see where you were putting your feet. It was also empty. Rich people preferred the more fancy treatments. Another member of the staff – a lean woman in a white uniform – approached her. Diana couldn’t see her face. Diana explained to her what she wanted, and the woman, if slightly confused, nodded and went to prepare it.

Five minutes later, Diana was slowly dipping into cold, bubbly water. The cold sent a shock through her senses, helping her stay awake, and the bubbles… Well, Diana played around with them while thinking. This was mostly the reason she hadn’t wanted her friends to follow her. Playing with bubbles wasn’t particularly impressive.

Then, she allowed herself to relax. With the cold, and the fear of drowning, she was sure she wouldn’t fall asleep. But she wasn’t like others, thinking while walking could be fine, but she preferred quiet and stillness to meditate.

She didn’t need to close her eyes with how dark it was, but she still did it. The faerie had wanted to get rid of them? But they had prepared ways to cheat, they probably expected to win. So, why not warn them? Or, maybe… Maybe the magic wave was the ultimate cheat. Maybe they held onto the information to get one final shot. If the Humans won, they could still get to the race in a simple way: Get rid of the humans, which would disqualify them, and since the race hadn’t officially started they would get the human spot.

Of course, Diana didn’t want to believe such a thing. No one would do such a thing just for a race. Kill thousands of people just because you wanted a prize, that was ridiculous. And yet… What did Diana know of the prize? What could it be? Ursula hadn’t told them, though Diana had forgotten to ask, weirdly enough. She would do so next time she saw Ursula. Assuming, of course, the teacher knew. Not that Diana thought she wouldn’t share it, but maybe she hadn’t been given the full information, as often was the case with chains of command.

Ursula, she was their coach, but up until now she hadn’t really done much for them. Simple practice exercises, things Akko and Diana could’ve figured out alone. Hell, she hadn’t given them a single piece of advice on how to pilot yet. All of this mixed with her sudden appearance started to make Diana suspect. Maybe she wasn’t really a pilot. Maybe she was here because of nepotism, or some hidden reason by the Planetary Committee.

Suddenly, Diana started to feel current inside the tub. She had made herself a beard out of bubbles while thinking, and had proceeded to covering her hair with them. The current kept the water at the temperature she had asked for.

Someone stepped into the tubs zone of the spa. Diana panicked for a second, wiping her face, but whoever it was had the tall build of a man, so no one she knew. Still, this made her slightly more self conscious, and she stopped messing around with her face, choosing to just build figures that were backlit by one of the magic lanterns.

She ended up with a figure that looked one heck of a lot like the Shiny Rod. She sighed, destroying it. _I earned my spot, huh?_ She thought with bitterness. She had barely won against a Second Category pilot, cheater or not, and she had been supposed to be the First Category one? What a joke. Maybe her entire mistrust of Ursula came from here, from her own lack of confidence.

Her next figure looked like a girl. She first saw Akko in there, followed by Barbara and then Hannah. After a few seconds, everyone had been that figure in her mind. She destroyed it. Sometimes, Diana thought she could be a little too harsh. Akko was obviously intimidated by her. Even if she wanted to hide it behind brave words and determination, Diana had seen the looks Akko often threw her way, of uncertainty and doubt. It was annoying, Diana didn’t want anyone to be afraid of her. But she didn’t know what the source of the problem was, therefore could not fix it, and asking Akko directly would be too much. They didn’t know each other that well. Maybe one day she’d get the courage to ask, but for now, she’d deal with the intimidated Akko. In truth, it didn’t help that Diana often decided to just run away from conversations that made her uncomfortable. She knew of this flaw, but hadn’t ever made an active attempt at fixing it. Being almost always sure of what you said gave you confidence, but when insecure, Diana basically shut down entirely.

Luckily, there weren’t many times like that. She was a knowledgeable person. Akko just had a gift to speak about things that made Diana uncomfortable.

_You better win._

For some reason, the words still echoed inside her head. Diana had been about to snap from the tension. Akko had helped her with her cheering. It was… weird, at best. When doing things, people didn’t try to cheer her. They may wish her luck, but she was _expected_ to do things right. No one doubted. Hannah and Barbara sometimes cheered for her, but they did it for others, more than her. As if reassuring that Diana was indeed the best.

When Akko had said it, it had felt… genuine. She had _ordered_ Diana to win. She hadn’t taken it for granted, she’d felt the need of making sure Diana gave it her best.

Diana took a deep breath and submerged completely, feeling the stab of cold water on her face help her stay focused. After a few seconds, she came back out. Cold water normally didn’t help one relax, but Diana often found that hot water made her feel groggy, and she got distracted more easily. Hannah and Barbara were often surprised by the fact that she didn’t stay in the shower for long, unlike them.

Hannah and Barbara. Friends, teammates, and followers, all at once. Diana didn’t really know where she would be nowadays without them. Sure, they had flaws – some of them worse than others, but they were still good persons and, even if some wouldn’t believe her, kind people. During their first day at Luna Nova – or, rather, the pre-school of Luna Nova, which wasn’t obligatory but highly encouraged - both of them had approached Diana, even before having been teamed up. They had seen her alone and decided to talk to her, despite knowing who she was. Not many people did this. Sure, they had been a little fan-girly, talking as if she was a celebrity, but Diana had been relieved that someone had talked to her. That fanaticism had never gone away, but their interactions had become a lot more natural over time. Their biggest flaw was maybe how they treated everyone else when comparing them to Diana, but well, they had never done anything _too_ mean. She didn’t have the heart to tell them off, even if she should have.

She realized how her thoughts had gone off the rails. She had looked for this place to think about… What? Ah, yes, the magic wave. The fact that everyone could’ve died, just for whatever was the prize of the race.

 _Enough thinking,_ she thought, pressing a button next to the tub to activate the process of washing to get rid of the bubbles. _I need to ask Ursula._

Ursula sat alone in her new room. It had a single bed and a desk, coupled with a small locker and drawer. It was small, but with the retractable bed and desk it could become much bigger. She sat in the floor, eyes closed, trying not to panic. It was hard. She had expected some dangers during the IPR, but _this?_ They had been lucky someone was actually checking out the magic readings on the planet instead of partying. Humanity had left Sídhe victorious, but with a grim reminder of the fact that it was an alien planet, with disasters that they hadn’t even imagined. And that was one that functioned fairly similarly to earth. The planet they were next going to, well…

A knock on the door distracted her. She stood slowly and went to the door, opening it just enough to see who was outside.

A red-eyed face smiled at her from the other side. “See, I told you she was going to be awake…” Akko turned her head and covered her mouth from one side, as if that would keep Ursula from hearing it. She spoke to Sucy, her purple haired teammate. “Hey, coach, wanna hang out?” Akko asked. Ursula raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to react. “We couldn’t sleep, and I thought it may be nice if we brought you along. You haven’t explored much of the ship, have you?”

“I appreciate the offer,” Ursula started to refuse, “but I really should be getting to-”

“Come on!” Akko’s hand shot forward, clinging onto Ursula’s forearm. “We’ll just go eat something and come back. It’ll be fun!”

Ursula smiled awkwardly. Akko was being a little too pushy for comfort, but Ursula had the feeling she wasn’t going to let her go. That glimmer in her eyes… Ursula suspected what this was about. She nodded slightly, making Akko beam, but raised a hand to go back into her room and put on more comfortable clothes. She was wearing the Luna Nova g-suit that was her uniform, but she wasn’t forced to wear it while inside the Dragon. She put on her track suit and stepped out of the room. Sucy was wearing a long cloak that completely hid her body, and Akko wore a blue t-shirt and shorts. Did that girl wear anything other than shorts when not in uniform?

“Where is Lotte, if I may ask?” Ursula noticed the absence of the third red team member.

“Oh, she said she wants to read something and get to sleep,” Akko explained, happily walking towards the elevators.

“She said the reading part so that Akko would let her sleep, though,” Sucy clarified, making Akko pause. The brunette seemed to be considering going back for her, but she shook her head.

Suddenly, behind them, a door slammed open. The three of them jumped in surprise as two little kids ran into the hallway, going the opposite direction as them. A few seconds later, a man and a woman exited the same room, throwing apologetic looks at them. Then, they were gone.

“People are just waking up,” Sucy noted. “Wonder how many will be surprised to find out that we’re already in space.”

Ursula hadn’t really thought about that, but yeah, the race had been about ten hours ago already. While probably all humans watched the race – either from inside the ship, those too afraid to get out, or from the stands – with the different time zones a lot of them went to bed right after it, missing on the entire magic wave drama. No humans had been left on Sídhe, thanks to the strict policies of the space cruiser.

They climbed on the elevator, and Akko pushed the silver button.

They stood in silence for a few seconds before the doors opened, and Ursula stepped out and into the Silver Deck, also known as the one everyone was always in. It had a giant pool – or, rather a giant series of interconnected pools. It was about half the length of the ship, and people bustled about in swimsuits. The deck appeared to be split in two, mostly. Behind the elevator, and occupying about one fourth of the deck, were the kid pools and attractions. While not too fancy, due to height limitations, waterslides were everywhere here. Kids were absolutely prohibited from leaving that area, however. Ursula didn’t agree with that, she liked kids, but too many people didn’t like them, so sadly they got the short end of the stick in this situation.

As she walked around, Ursula checked the insane amount of food stands. No restaurants here, just… Stands, with all kinds of food, everywhere. Mexican tacos, Chinese or Japanese noodles, hamburgers, pizza, hot dogs, corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, gum, chocolate… She was starting to get a little overwhelmed.

“So, whaddya wanna eat?” Akko asked, speaking too fast, to neither Ursula nor Sucy in particular as she looked around with excitement. Sucy looked back at the kids’ area and nodded solemnly, as if thankful for the separation. Truth was, the adult area was a lot cleaner and less noisy.

Sucy grunted. “You would be the only one to pick a place to eat based on food stands instead of an actual restaurant,” she said.

“Hey, food stands are awesome! They give you the food on the spot and you don’t have to wait sitting around until it comes, and you can leave right after!” Akko explained. Ursula kind of understood her point, but she’d rather sit down and enjoy a meal than chug it down. Nowadays, at least.

The deck was packed with people. Bronze and Silver Decks had a very similar ratio passengers per square-meter, after all. Since room payment and deck payment came in different packs, lots of people pushed for the second deck while getting smaller rooms to be able to pay for it. Gold Deck was probably out of the question for a good half of the passengers, but Silver was in the limit of what was affordable… For those who could afford these kinds of things in the first place.

Maybe she was getting too old for this, and she was only in her late twenties…

“Sure, whatever, let’s just eat so that I can go back to my experiment-” Sucy eyed Ursula and froze. “Uhm, sleeping.”

“Sucy, you know it’s extremely against regulations to manipulate any kind of magic outside the labs, right?” Ursula said, raising an eyebrow. Sucy looked away.

“Tch, I’m not going to mess up or anything…” she said. Ursula sighed, holding back from scolding her. Sucy was a student most teachers seemed to be at a loss about, back on earth. Ursula hadn’t had much time to meet her, but the girl was definitely something of a particular case. Studying medicine through magic, she focused mostly on the creation of _potions_ that changed the way humans functioned, instead of trying to use it on a more mundane medical way. Ursula had heard other teachers say they had confiscated from her _potions_ that could make someone drunk with a single drop or others that changed the colors of the eye and skin. Nothing she did was ever particularly harmful, but using unregulated medicine like that was downright illegal. Apparently, though, her guinea pig was Akko, and the brunette hadn’t ever bothered to actually complain about it to a teacher, so they could let it slip. Sucy had, after all, very good grades. Not Diana-tier good, but she was among the top ten students at school. Even higher than Lotte, something that, after meeting them, had surprised Ursula.

They walked for a while, not in silence, since there were a lot of conversations around them, plus shouting and laughs. Ursula watched as people walked around pools that weren’t particularly deep. The deepest one probably only reached two meters. Men, women and everything in between lay at the pool. A couple persons even had done some genetic modifications to themselves, exhibiting animal ears or proudly displaying colorful skins. Sadly, what most people imagined the future would be hadn’t come quite yet. Magic allowed these things to happen, sure, but trying to change too much could overload you with it. Scientist were working on that, and progress was being made, but they’d probably have to wait a couple more decades until people could _really_ start modifying their bodies.

“Well I don’t know about you but Imma get some ramen,” Akko said, stepping up to one of the stands – a big one, more of a small bar than an actual stand. She sat in one of three small stools and patted her sides. Sucy sat with a grunt, and Ursula sat on the other side. She smelled the ramen and flinched slightly at the wave of nostalgia that it produced. Memories of the past assaulted her, accompanied by feelings she didn’t want to recall. _It’s been ten years,_ she thought. _I need to get over it._

The man in the stand was definitely Japanese. Or at least he looked the part. The _Dragon_ cared for nothing if not authenticity in these things. He was so Japanese, in fact, that when he spoke, Ursula didn’t understand. After a few seconds, she realized he hadn’t talked in English.

Akko answered him, making him slightly surprised. After a short chat, Akko turned to her companions and asked what they wanted.

“I thought you didn’t want to sit down,” Sucy said after they had ordered, her voice a grumble. Ursula started to heat up, noticing that the temperature was higher in the Silver Deck. She looked up, to where a series of yellow bright lamps stood, definitely the source of it. That hadn’t been there the last time she’d been here.

“This is different. The food will be done in no time and I can pay and leave without having to worry about etiquette or whatever,” Akko answered with a defensive tone.

“You can do that any-” Sucy paused herself. “You know what? I don’t care, let’s just eat this ramen.”

Right on cue, three bowls of the food appeared in front of them. Ursula’s had some meat in there. Akko’s had _a lot_ of meat in there. Sucy’s had mostly vegetables.

It was good, but Ursula found it hard to eat. Despite her best efforts, it probably showed in her face, because Akko eyed her with her mouth full and swallowed quickly. “Do you not like ramen?” She asked, somewhat uncomfortable.

Ursula was quick to shake her head and smile. “It’s not that, I’m just…” excuses were not her thing, “not really hungry.”

Akko considered this, then nodded and went back to eating. Ursula was sure she’d just shove her face in the bowl, with how close her face was to it already. On the other hand. Ursula noticed that Sucy hadn’t bothered trying to use the chopsticks and was using a fork. Ursula hadn’t eaten with chopsticks in years, but her fingers still remembered the motions. She had eaten with them so much, during her youth…

More painful memories. She shoved them away, trying to continue with her food.

Akko finished her bowl in a heartbeat, asking for another. While she waited, she looked at Sucy, who was only halfway through hers. “How is it?”

“Edible,” Sucy said curtly. Ursula smiled at this, finding it funny. Maybe she was just too stressed. Akko puffed her cheeks in annoyance, looking at her coach instead.

“So, Ursula, do you remember when was the first time Chariot won a race? Before becoming famous, I mean,” she asked as another bowl appeared in front of her.

Ursula had seen this coming, so she simply kept eating and then looked at Akko. “Sorry, not really. I… I don’t think she was particularly good, back then,” she looked away.

“What do you mean? She won the annual Luna Nova race!” Akko said. Ursula started, recalling that. Well, yeah, but that had been mostly because of someone else’s instructions… “And then the Moonlit Witch race!”

Ursula parted her lips. Yeah, she had actually won that one, but it had been during her last year, after having practiced a lot. “Well, I guess you’re right,” Ursula wasn’t particularly eager to explain these details to Akko, however. “It’s just been so long, I don’t really remember most of it.” Ursula took off her jacket, starting to really feel the heat.

Akko nodded, buying the excuse. However, Sucy looked at her with a weird expression. The longer she stared, the more Ursula looked away. She picked up on a kid crying nearby, where a guard was carrying him over to the kids’ area. Sucy stopped staring after a while, shrugging. Whatever she had thought, she kept to herself. Ursula was tempted to prompt her, but she’d rather not force the conversation.

“I mean,” Akko said after finishing her second bowl. She hesitated, probably wondering if she should get another one. “If I had been on the same year as Chariot I’d probably remember everything about her, but not everyone is as big a fan as I, sadly.”

“If everyone was as big a fan as you, she probably would’ve even come back for this second race, despite what she did in the first one,” Sucy commented. She had already finished her own bowl. Akko had decided not to ask for another. Ursula had advanced steadily, but she hastened her pace to not get Akko impatient.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Akko said. Sucy rolled her eyes, not bothering to answer. The girl was wrong: Chariot would’ve never appeared again in public, even if the entire population of earth still loved her and wanted her back. Luckily for Ursula, most people seemed to hate Chariot nowadays, or at least dislike her.

She drank the broth left and then they paid. There were three main ways of paying in the ship: Physical, credit cards and fingerprint recognition, for members of the staff and other important people. Like, for example, the pilots, the coach and their companions.

Ursula was about to use this method – they would get most things for free – when Akko pulled out a bill from her pocket.

“Akko, what are you doing?” Ursula asked.

“Paying…” The girl said, confused.

Ursula stared at her. Then at Sucy, who wasn’t paying attention. Then at Akko again. “Ehm… Akko, you know you don’t _have_ to pay for stuff here, right?”

“What!” Akko’s expression of utter shock surprised Ursula. She tried not to treat her as a kid as she explained how paying worked. Her face turned into one of rage. “Hey, I’ve spent like thirty dollars inside the ship! This is outrageous!” Akko stood. The cook turned, surprised, as Akko took off at a run. His expression darkened for a second before Ursula offered her hand. He sighed, then put Ursula’s hand against a small tablet. After a few seconds, the payment was made and he waved Ursula and Sucy goodbye.

Ursula tried to run after Akko, but Sucy put a hand in front of her to stop her. “Don’t. I know where she’s going. I’d figured she’d do this when she learned about this.”

Ursula turned to her, unsure. Sucy didn’t walk so much as she slid across the floor. Ursula wondered how she did that. “Wait, so you knew about this and didn’t tell her?” She asked.

“Unlike her, I read the information about the place I was going to be spending the next three months of my life basically living in,” Sucy said with a shrug. “I wanted to see how long it’d take for her to figure it out. I was betting on a month. You ruined it,” she didn’t sound particularly upset about this.

“I… am sorry?” Ursula said, stepping aside as a little old lady passed by them.

“Well, that was it for me. If you really need to know, Akko will be in the deck below, probably arguing with some stand owners in the fair.”

Then, she started to move faster, leaving Ursula behind, and slightly confused. Why would Akko be arguing with… _Oh, no_ , she thought, taking off at a run.

 

Amanda woke up to the feeling of a hangover. _Why do I feel so bad?_ She didn’t really have a hangover, she knew that. It was probably that her messed up sleeping schedule from the last couple days was starting to kick her mental ass. She could feel she hadn’t slept well at all. However, the piercing pain she could feel across her head, as if someone was shoving a needle directly into her brain, was proof that maybe something else was wrong with her.

She tried to stand up, but the stab of pain made her stumble. The new rooms they’d gotten were bigger than the ones before. They actually looked similar to the ones they had back at Luna Nova, but with an extra bed and a bathroom. Amanda tried to climb back onto the bunk bed, but she slipped on the sheets and didn’t have the strength of dexterity to do so.

 _Aw, fuck this,_ she thought, annoyed. There had to be an infirmary somewhere where she could take some medicine or something. Maybe Sucy would have something to help.

She walked, with some difficulty, to the door. This room actually had a rug, so her steps were silent. She was wearing nothing but a shirt and a short, but it’s not as if it was dangerous to walk barefooted on the corridors of the _Dragon,_ unless a party had been thrown around.

The light outside burned her eyes, and she closed them. _Aw, hell_. She understood that this was going to be harder than she expected. Well, better to go to the closest place first. What a horrible way of celebrating that she had beaten Diana.

She knocked on the next door down the hallway. No answer. They were all probably asleep…

Right as she walked away, the door opened. The ship was a little inconsistent with doors, some opened manually, some were automatic. Probably had something to do with money. Everything had something to do with money, as far as Amanda was concerned. Actually, she suspected that there was some kind of super-big bet going on around the rulers or representatives of the different alliance planets, and that it was the reason of the faerie’s attitude towards the race.

From the room, a redhead appeared in the corridor, tired eyes and yawning. “Amanda?” Lotte asked. Amanda nodded weakly. She was using the wall as support to walk. Lotte closed the distance between them after realizing the state Amanda was in. “Are you sick?” She asked.

Amanda cringed. “Speak lower, please,” she said in a whisper. Lotte nodded.

“Where do you want to go?” She said in a whisper.

“Is Sucy awake?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then the infirmary.”

Lotte instantly slipped under Amanda’s arm to help her walk. She was shorter than Amanda, but it helped. Both redheads started moving towards the elevator, though Amanda had no idea where Lotte was actually going. Right now, the girl could probably throw her into the dumpster of the ship and Amanda wouldn’t have had the strength to fight back. She had started to feel really bad after piloting the Blue Star – that was how they were starting to call the Shooting Star that was painted blue, for simplicity’s sake – and she had attributed the pain to tiredness. She still half did, now. Maybe the medics of the ship could just force her to sleep for a good eight hours.

They walked in silence. The elevator ride went downwards, and they slowly made their way across the repetitive landscape of the corridors of the ship. Amanda grunted in pain from time to time, but she kept it down. She wasn’t a kid, she could deal with a simple headache.

Amanda didn’t realize how long they had walked until they half-stumbled into a room that, unlike everything else in the ship, was completely white. It smelled of hospital, which made Amanda cringe, but she didn’t have the will to complain right now.

A lady in a white uniform instantly went to them, recognizing Amanda and helping Lotte carry her to a stretcher. They laid her down. Amanda’s head was pulsating with the pain. “Can you speak?” The woman asked.

“Not so loud,” Amanda begged. That answered her question, too.

“Ok, can you tell me what hurts?” The woman now spoke in a much lower voice.

Amanda was half tempted to say ‘everything’, but that wasn’t precisely right. “The head, mostly. I feel like it’s going to burst or something,” she said with a grimace. The woman nodded. The room was empty, other than the three girls in it right now. This was probably one of the minor infirmaries around the ship. The big one was near the upper levels.

The nurse started to check a few things in Amanda. She lit one of those lantern-thingies into her eyes – which made Amanda want to die –, she shoved a stick in Amanda’s mouth to check her throat, and then she took her temperature.

“Hmm, nothing obvious,” she said after checking the thermometer. “Guess I’ll bring out the big guy,” she said with some reluctance.

She didn’t ask for Amanda’s name; she didn’t need to ask for Amanda’s name. Amanda was surprised more people hadn’t recognized her, actually, given her status as First Category gunman. Or maybe they just hadn’t approached her. There was this unspoken rule about not bothering pilots or gunmen, and she was half grateful for that. She didn’t like the attention. Well, at least not _that_ kind of attention.

The woman went to the end of the room, disappeared behind a curtain and then came back with a not-so-big machine that she carefully set down next to the stretcher. Amanda recognized it as a M.M.U. or Medical Magic Unit. Lotte looked at it with curiosity. Amanda hadn’t even noticed, but she was wearing baby blue pajamas. She’d have to apologize for making her come with her later.

Apologizing… _Ugh._ She didn’t like doing that, but she wasn’t an asshole. At least not to her friends.

With a big needle in hand, the nurse stepped closer to Amanda. The girl offered her arm. Surprised, the nurse tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear before nodding approvingly and carefully stabbing Amanda’s wrist. Amanda didn’t know much about MMUs, or medicine in general, but she understood the basics. The machine would inject some magic into the system, manipulate it somehow, and then come back with a full analysis of the body. Amanda didn’t feel much pain from the needle, but she was uncomfortable in the position.

The MMU took a full three minutes to finish its analysis. Amanda didn’t like staying still, but she wasn’t Akko. She took it in stride and didn’t move a muscle during the whole analysis. Then, the nurse’s eyes widened. Lotte looked at the screen it had, but Amanda doubted she’d understand what it said.

“Tell me… O’Neill, right?” The woman asked. “Did you happen to enter in contact with Sídhe’s magic while on the planet?” Amanda shook her head. She hadn’t. Or at least, not as far as she knew. “Were you nearby a magically charged place recently? Or maybe took too much Magic medicine?” Again, Amanda shook her head. She hadn’t taken any kind of medicine in months. The nurse seemed dumbfounded. “You see, you have a bit of Magic poisoning on your system,” she sounded puzzled. “Oh, don’t worry,” she clarified, seeing Amanda’s expression, “it’s not high enough to kill you, but… It is strange. Are you certain you have no idea how that magic could’ve gotten into your system?”

Again, Amanda shook her head. She tried to think, hard. Nothing in her recent memories seemed to fit the premise of her somehow getting magically overcharged. Hell, she had started to feel sick _after_ reaching the _Dragon._ She had flown the Blue Star back to the ship – probably the most fun experience she’d had in her life – and then she had started to feel a light headache and had decided to sleep it off.

That didn’t work this time. Magic poisoning? She was lucky her brain hadn’t melted.

The nurse then started to manipulate the MMU. Amanda waited patiently. It was kind of humbling, realizing you could’ve seriously fucked up your entire life for not bothering going to check up because of a headache. Lotte stood in place, fidgeting with her fingers. She was surely tired, but the scare of learning about Amanda’s situation had slapped the sleepiness out of her.

“I’ve taken all the magic out of your system,” the woman said after a while. “You should do a checkup of your helmet and suits, maybe one of them had a small leak. I’d suggest getting completely new ones, just in case,” she started. Then, she reached into a series of drawers near the door and gave Amanda a small white pill. “Painkiller. You should try to rest until the headache disappears on its own though.”

Amanda nodded, taking an offered glass of water and drinking the pill. The pill took effect instantly, bless modern medicine. She looked at Lotte. With the pain gone, the lack of sleep suddenly became very apparent. For both of them, actually. “Let’s go back,” Amanda said, standing. She would have trouble walking now, but because her eyelids felt heavy.

“Before you go,” the nurse gave Amanda a little paper. “If you start feeling pain again, show this to any member of an infirmary and they should give you some painkillers. Tell them to check you for magic again then, just in case.”

Amanda took the paper, nodded in thanks, and then pointed with her head at the door while looking at Lotte. The glasses-wearing girl waved goodbye to the nurse and they both left.

“Sorry,” Amanda said, not giving herself time to think it through. “Man, what a pain.”

“It’s fine. You’re feeling ok?” Lotte had a really kind voice and demeanor. Amanda was sure someone had aken advantage of that in her past. She sure would’ve, a few years back. She had gotten past that phase, but…

“Yeah,” Amanda let out a yawn. “Just tired.”

“Me too,” Lotte mimicked the action.

Then, they walked in silence for the rest of the way. Before splitting, however, Lotte said one more little thing to Amanda. Amanda smiled, because she liked the idea of waking Akko up like that.

Inside the green team’s room, Constanze and Jasminka still slept, completely unaware of what was going on with their teammate. Amanda was perfectly fine with that. Feeling relieved, she finally managed to climb onto her bed and rest.

She’d figure how the hell she had gotten poisoned tomorrow.


	19. Chapter 19

Hannah woke up and found herself surprised by the fact that Diana was still sleeping. It felt wrong. Diana was usually the last one to sleep and the first to wake up. She must’ve been really tired.

 _Of course she is, you idiot,_ Hannah chastised herself. She shook her head, tip-toeing around the room and making as little room as possible to avoid waking her up. Moving too much would turn on the lights, too. The light from the bathroom told Hannah that Barbara was already up, which was nice. Hannah wasn’t accustomed to being alone, ever.

After dressing up, she knocked on the bathroom’s door. It slid open, showing the black-haired Barbara half-naked. She was the kind to go to the bathroom first, then prepare. As was evident, Hannah was the opposite.

When Hannah came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, Barbara was also dressed. Diana hadn’t moved an inch – she was a very quiet sleeper. Sometimes Hannah was tempted to check her pulse and breathing just to check if she was still alive.

“So, what now?” Barbara asked. Hannah smiled. She already knew what she wanted to do today.

“Did you put on a swimsuit?” she asked her friend.

 

Hannah basically tackled Barbara into the water, since the coward had been complaining about it being too cold or whatever.

They fell into the pool – one of the deeper ones – and struggled underwater for about ten seconds before coming back to the surface, coughing. Hannah laughed, Barbara punched the water and splashed her. “Are you nuts?”

“Sorry, had to do it,” Hannah said, still half laughing. “Come on, pools are the best.” She tried to apologize with a look while shielding her face from the water Barbara kept throwing at her. Soon, she started counter-attacking. This particular pool wasn’t that crowded. It was near one of the corners, and they had chosen it precisely because of that. It was middle-sized, and there were only three other persons in it. Pretty surprising, when the next pool over – and even the small canal between both pools – was completely full.

The other three people on the pool was a man in his fifties, a younger man and an older woman definitely on her golden years.

Soon, the war-water Hannah and Barbara had come to an end. It was, in Hannah’s estimation, her win. She rejoiced in the lightness of the water, in the wetness and coolness. Swimming was something she enjoyed more than anyone would expect from her.

“Why the pool, though? It’s not particularly hot,” Barbara said after a while.

“Temperature has nothing to do with it. Being in a pool is just fun,” Hannah shrugged. She… Hadn’t really talked to Barbara about her love of pools before. She couldn’t even remember when the last time she’d been on one was. Sure, they had gone to the sea together, but a pool had its own particular charm.

“If you say so…” Barbara went underwater and reappeared on the other side of the pool. Hannah was about to follow when, for the first time, she actually looked at the other people on the pool. Then she froze.

She recognized them. Paul Hanbridge was one of them, head of the IPR committee on earth and Dorlin – Hannah couldn’t palace her last name – the older woman who was another big shot in the world of races. She was head of… Some important cups, back on earth. Diana would probably know.

She swam to Barbara, nudging her with energy. The girl raised an eyebrow at her before turning to see at what was Hannah was pointing at.

“Ohmygod,” she whispered as soon as she saw him. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod,” she kept saying. Hannah agreed with the sentiment, but she was too stunned to speak. Next to his father, the one and only Andrew Hanbridge stood, slender body shirtless, his dark wet hair combed back and showing the most handsome face Hannah had ever seen. His green eyes and perfect jaw could have made anyone faint.

They three of them were arguing calmly. Well, Andrew wasn’t actually speaking, more like listening. He was a student of… well, everything from aeronautics to foreign culture – meaning, alien culture - and, as far as Hannah had heard, he was among the best of his generation. Everyone knew he aimed to become the next head of the IPR Committee, arguably one of the most powerful positions to be in on earth. The Inter-Planetary Committee was technically more important, but the IPR one moved the real numbers when the race arrived. During an IPR, the amount of contact made with other races was tenfold that of a normal year. The head of the IPR committee was probably the most important ambassador Earth had.

And damn, the next one was _hot._

“Should we talk to him?” Hannah asked in a low voice.

“He’s busy, don’t you see?” Barbara splashed water into her face.

“Hey!” Hannah returned the splash. Another water fight started before both of them became self conscious of the fact they were acting like fools in front of the hottest guy on the ship. “Come on, go talk to him.”

“Why me? You want to go, you do it,” Barbara pushed her away. Hannah pouted, looking at the guy. What would she even say to him? She only knew about him because his father had brought him along in some events at Luna Nova. The woman, Dorlin, was a retired Witch, and she had been at a number of events for alumni in the school.

“I can’t,” Hannah said, turning around. “He’s half naked, and he seems busy. We’ll get to see him again sometime,” she said, swimming away.

Barbara followed. “You’re a coward!” she teased. Hannah started to kick the water hard, to bother her. Barbara caught up to her and grabbed her ankle. They struggled for a while before deciding to just float around and chill out. Hannah didn’t really understand why everyone had fled the pool. At first she had assumed someone had peed on it or something, but the water had chemicals that glowed if you did that, and there wasn’t any of that here.

And the chemicals worked, she had checked the kids’ area and half of their little pools were actually glowing. Thank goodness she wasn’t younger than ten years.

Still, neither her nor Barbara left the pool. If everyone else was intimidated by the three persons, then that was their fault. Hannah was here to have fun, and getting an unobstructed view of Andrew’s beautiful body was definitely the kind of fun she’d welcome.

 

Diana exited her room with her goal unchanged. The previous day she had resolved to asking Ursula about what she knew, but the teacher hadn’t been on her room, so she had given up to tiredness and decided to try again after waking up. She walked a few corridors down the one where the three teams resided, to a lower-tier series of rooms, and knocked on the teacher’s door.

It took long enough that Diana considered the chance of the teacher still sleeping or maybe off doing some work, but the door opened slightly – it was a manual door, curiously enough – and Ursula’s face peeked from the other side. After checking, the door opened completely, allowing Diana in.

“Hello, Diana. Is there something you need?” Ursula’s kind voice always struck Diana as kind of fake. Not that she thought the teacher wasn’t kind, but it felt as if it wasn’t her natural way of speaking. 

“Yes,” Diana simply said. She stood there until, awkwardly, Ursula pointed inside the room and let her in.

Diana took seat on the desk’s chair, noticing the paperwork on top of it – well, it was written with her wand on a virtual sheet, but it was still called paperwork. Reports of some kind, she guessed. Her handwriting wasn’t particularly good or, well, readable. That seemed to be a common thing for a lot of adults nowadays, with writing recognition software being a thing, as long as what was on the documents _resembled_ a letter, the software cold translate it. Diana didn’t bother with those, as she much preferred just typing with a keyboard. More practical.

Ursula sat on her bed and looked at Diana. “Is something wrong?” She asked, concerned.

Diana nodded. “You could say that, but I believe it is you who should answer. I’m here in the hopes that you can tell me about this grand prize the Aos Sí mentioned,” she didn’t beat around the bush.

The teacher looked taken aback, eyes surprised and lips parted in an expression of uncertainty. She regained her composure, however, and cleared her throat. “That, I fear, is classified-”

“They tried to _kill_ _us all_ ,” Diana said, narrowing her eyes. “Miss Ursula, I understand there are rules in place, but I would like to know what I’m risking my life for.”

Ursula held her stare, but was the first to look away. She sighed. “Guess there’s no way around it, huh,” she removed her glasses, looking Diana straight in the eyes. Suddenly, she looked far older than she was. “I don’t have that information. Sorry. I just have orders to ‘win the race no matter what’.”

“So it’s something we can’t even know about?” Diana started tapping a finger against her lap. “I don’t know how to feel about this,” she confessed. She was tired of just thinking, and Ursula hadn’t been able to give her the answers she sought.

“If it helps,” Ursula’s eyes went back to her more kind expression, “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want, no matter what the higher ups say.”

“What if I want to drop out of the race?” Diana raised an eyebrow.

“I highly doubt you’ll do it,” Ursula smiled. “You’re far too smart far too smart for that.”

And she was right. Diana wouldn’t drop out of the race just for something like this. If the grand prize was as important as the faeries had made it to be, then letting it fall into the hands of any other race would be a mistake. Diana didn’t like conflict, but she was aware of the tension between different factions of the Planetary Alliance. Conservatives, who wished to stay put. Who needs more space exploration? They were fine as they were. Explorers, who wanted to go further and further for the sake of knowledge. Conquerors, who wanted to take over all of the sentient races that weren’t part of the alliance – just two, but there would be more for sure.

Earth was a neutral force in all of this, but their enmity with Appal automatically put them at odds with the Conqueror faction. In all honesty, Diana was fine with that. She didn’t exactly like Appal’s cultures. Well, mostly. Their food – when edible – was wonderful.

“You’re correct,” Diana said with a sigh. “I won’t,” she stood, looking down at the teacher, who put her glasses back on. “Thank you for the information,” she turned to go.

Ursula stopped her by putting a hand on her forearm. “Also, one more thing,” she said. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t… tell others. About this, I mean,” it was a request, not an order. Diana nodded. Her questions had only worked to make her worry more, but at least she knew the teacher wasn’t hiding anything important from them. Or she was lying, but that wasn’t the case, probably.

Again she turned, ready to go spend the next three days they were going to spend on the _Dragon_ worrying.

Until someone knocked on the door.

 

Akko woke up to the sound of a party horn. She jumped, exalted, hitting her head on the top bunk and crying in pain before looking, still half asleep, to what had made the noise. Lotte stood next to her bed, party horn on her mouth, little party hat on her head. “Wha…?”

“Hey Akko,” Lotte spoke. “We threw you a party!” She stepped aside, letting Akko get a view of the room. There, all of them wearing party hats, were Sucy and the members of the green team. Constanze and Sucy didn’t show particular emotion. Amanda was chuckling, probably thanks to the hit Akko had taken, and Jasminka was eyeing a cake set up in the desk of the room with desire.

Akko was barely able to process what was happening.

“Uhm, thanks?” She said, voice sloppy. “For what, exactly?” She rubbed her eyes, yawning.

“For winning the race, of course!” Lotte explained. Akko frowned at this. Had they forgotten how she felt about having won that race?

Lotte seemed to notice the change in her expression, but before she could say anything else, Amanda sat next to Akko. “Now, listen to me, Akko,” she threw an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t you dare say you didn’t win that race. You won, and not only that, you won against freaking cheaters,” she raised a finger in front of them both. A middle finger. “I say fuck the faeries, you bested the guy. The race, really, was up until the entrance of that tunnel. You entered first, so you won.”

She kept saying ‘you’, which kind of weirded out Akko, until she remembered that Amanda wouldn’t actually know what happened. She probably had seen it later on a recording. “But…” she received a slap on the back of the head.

“No buts!” Amanda said. “Enjoy the damn cake, it was the best we could get up in the Shopping Town. Who the hell gets a bakery inside a space cruiser anyways?” She stood, shaking her head. Akko eyed the others. Constanze was nodding, agreeing with Amanda’s assertions. She met Sucy’s eyes, and then remembered that she was supposed to be angry with her… But she was Sucy, she never did things out of bad intentions. Just out of… _wrong_ intentions. That made sense, didn’t it?

“Something like what Amanda said,” Lotte encouraged her. “Akko, you _won_ that race. Easy win or not.”

None of these arguments really convinced Akko, but she understood they made sense. Yet, the problem was deeper than that. She didn’t even know if she was angry about the race per se; she was starting to suspect the anger was from somewhere else.

“Fine,” Akko stood. “But first, let me wash my face.”

 

“Come on, come!” Akko tried to drag Diana out of the room.

“I must respectfully decline,” Diana was trying to free her arm, but Akko was obviously stronger. “I am not in the mood for something such as a party,” she explained. Ursula watched with amusement as the brunette girl, wearing a party hat and having a chocolate smudge across her left cheek, fought to bring Diana with them.

“They made a party for me, but you did it so much better! You deserve a party too!” Akko explained.

“And don’t ‘respectfully decline’ us again! You think you’re too good for our party or what?” Amanda, who was next to Akko in the hallway, narrowed her eyes.

Diana’s expression hardened, and with a strong movement, she freed her arm from Akko’s grip and pushed her out of the way.

“Told ya,” Amanda said with a snort. “She hates fun.”

Akko grunted, determined, and walked away from the room, probably tailing Diana.

Ursula stood to close her door with a smile. It was good to see the girls having fun despite everything. Mostly, it was fine seeing that Akko had gotten over being ‘scammed’. Then she walked back to her desk and started writing with her wand. She could’ve used a keyboard, but she liked to feel like she was actually doing something. She stretched her legs, placing her feet on the edge of the bed, while working. You didn’t need a hard surface to write with a wand, despite how easy it could make it. It took some time getting used to it, but writing mid-air was perfectly possible.

When she finished her report – why did she have to do a report, anyways? There were a ton of recordings of the race. Surely the committee didn’t need _another_ person covering the events – she dropped on the bed. She hadn’t slept at all since the previous day, and she was beyond exhausted.

She still had so much work to do, though. She needed to talk to Captain Kannazuki, make sure the brooms were being properly maintained – well, the Shooting Stars, at least, since no one was allowed to touch the Shiny Rod – and then call headmistress Holbrooke to give her a report on how the students themselves were doing.

She needed…

 

The auditorium was full. Every student, old or new, got a chair. Every teacher and member of the racer teams stood at the edges of the room, with its red carpet and immaculate white walls. In the back of the room there was a stage, and in it, a small dais. Chattering slowly came to a stop as a small lady walked to it, wearing a massive hat, like that of an actual witch. She had a kind smile on her wrinkled face, and her eyes, behind some spectacles, shined as she looked over the new students of Luna Nova.

Chariot could barely contain her excitement. Her legs shifted in place and she fidgeted with the slider of her zipper, bringing it up and down constantly. The girls around her gave her annoyed looks, but she didn’t mind them. Or, more like, she didn’t read them. She was smiling broadly as the headmistress gave a speech, a speech she didn’t really hear. Sure, she got the gist of it, but who cared about _that?_ She was at Luna Nova! The most amazing academy in the world! And she had gotten here without the pre-school, which was quite a feat!

She wondered which team she was going to be put on. Hopefully one with a good gunman. A lot of people didn’t care about gunmen, mostly because they didn’t aim for Inter-Planetary Races. That was fine, but in Chariot’s mind, there was no point to racing if you didn’t aim to be the _best_.

Chariot had barely made it into the school, and she was among the lowest scoring students to make it in, but scores meant nothing next to practice!

The headmistress finished her speech, and then pointed at the rows of seats. “Now, our best student will come and give her own little speech,” she said, waving for whoever it was to approach. Someone raised, and Chariot found with amazement that she recognized her. She didn’t remember her name, but it was a student one year older than her. She had won the previous year’s Moonlit Witch race. She would have probably won the Annual Luna Nova Race, should she have been allowed to participate, but that was a different event, where every year competed within itself, while the Moonlit Witch race allowed participants from _all_ years.

Chariot wouldn’t be allowed to take part in this year’s annual race – first year students weren’t divided into specializations yet, so she wasn’t technically a ‘pilot student’ – but if she managed to somehow get a broom she would be allowed to take part in the Moonlit Witch one.

The student climbed onto the dais. She had long, lavender hair, paired with a couple of teal eyes hidden behind glasses. Colorful hair wasn’t completely natural or even standardized, but it had become more common over the past century. Chariot got her crimson red hair because her mother had been in constant contact with magic during her life. Maybe this student – She had presented herself as Croix… something – had something like that too. Despite the advancements made with genetic modification, changing the color with which hair grew was harder than most assumed, so it was that or dye. Or a wig. Maybe it was a wig. Either way, at first glance, Chariot found her beautiful.

Now, that was not the point.

Croix finished her speech – It was the boring kind of ‘this school is great you’re going to love it here’ speech that was always given at these events – and bowed slightly as the audience started clapping unenthusiastically. Chariot followed her with a nonchalant glance, as did everyone else. Yet, during a split second, Croix looked her way. It was probably Chariot’s hair what called attention to her. Either way, during that blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, their eyes met.

Chariot felt something. She didn’t understand it yet, but she knew it was important. A connection.

She wanted to talk to that girl…

 

Ursula woke up to find the lights of her room off. If there wasn’t movement inside the room for a long enough time, the lights would automatically turn off. For a few blissful seconds after waking up, she believed herself to be in her Luna Nova room. Her two teammates would be sleeping, Croix would be waiting for her in the library or cafeteria for some practice…

 _Wake up already,_ she thought as reality clicked into place in her mind. How long had she been out? She felt like it had been a long time, but like she hadn’t rested well. She was in a weird position and she was still wearing sneakers. With a sigh, she got up, moving slowly to avoid turning the lights on. She undressed and then threw on some pajamas. She was still very tired, and now she also felt depressed.

She’d deal with whatever she had to deal with tomorrow, or whenever she woke up. Hopefully her inner clock wouldn’t be destroyed, but right now she didn’t care much.

After a quick visit to the bathroom, she went back to bed, and this time she fell asleep properly.


	20. Chapter 20

Amanda exited her room only to find the blue team exiting theirs. They all wore light clothing, and were obviously going to the pools. “I wonder if we’ll get to see Andrew today…” Hannah was saying. Amanda found herself lingering in place, wondering if she should say something. Diana had been kind of ignoring her for the past two days, since she’d say that at Ursula’s door during the party.

She hadn’t meant to offend her; it had been more of a… friendly banter. Kinda. She had been in kind of a bad mood because there hadn’t been any cake left for her, and maybe she was a little bitter by the attitude of nonchalance Diana had to having lost their little race. But she wasn’t friends with Diana, and that showed. The blonde still looked at her with a particularly icy stare. “Hey,” Amanda said, raising her hand.

This time, the three girls shot her glares before turning a ninety degrees and striding off in the other direction. “Well, goodbye,” Amanda said to herself. She wasn’t eager to apologize. In the end, what she had said was true. Diana did consider herself better than all of them. It wasn’t like Amanda should care. Or cared at all. Though, it was weird having one third of the only people she knew on the cruiser mad at her.

With sigh, she followed the blue team. Not that she meant to, the elevators were just that way. As she walked, she caught more of their conversation across the corridors. Sound carried marvelously inside the metal bowels of the _Dragon._ “…You’ve talked about nothing but him for the past two days…” Diana was saying, with annoyance. Who were they talking again? Andrew? Who was that? She felt like she should recognize the name, but she was as interested in guys as she was in diving into a tank of piranhas. Actually, diving into a tank of piranhas sounded kind of fun…

“He was just so… Perfect! He looked like one of those Greek statues, I swear!” Hannah continued.

Amanda decided she had heard enough of that wonderful and interesting conversation. Before reaching the corridor of the elevators she waited and allowed the other girls to disappear before walking and calling for one. She wasn’t going to any of the decks today.

The elevator went down, and for the second time since the travel started, she found the doors opening up to the ship’s hangar. She didn’t need to look far to find the Shooting Stars and the Shiny Rod. She stared at the white broom, covered with a giant black cloth to stop anyone from accidentally touching it. She frowned at it.

“Why do you take away my memories?” She asked. As expected, there was no answer. She had a lot of questions that she knew wouldn’t get answers anytime soon. _How does it refuel? How does it keep to the air? What’s with the crazy security system, how does it detect who touches it? Why did it choose Akko?_

And, maybe more importantly, _how come I become such a good gunman inside the turret?_

Again, she climbed on it. During the past two days, after recovering from her magic-sickness, she found herself wanting… No, _needing_ to come again. She just hadn’t found the chance, with the party, and then with the extra day of exploration she had planned with Jasminka and Constanze. They had found nothing interesting for the second time in a row, sadly. Still, the ship was so massive, there _had_ to be something interesting out there. And then she had gone to the pool with her team and the red one. The blue team had gone to the pool three days on a row now. Hannah really seemed to love it, though now Amanda considered that maybe she was just obsessed with this Andrew guy.

Finally, this morning, she had resolved to come. Seeking answers from a source she knew wouldn’t give them to her. Yep, she was that smart. Tomorrow they’d be arriving at the new planet, and the first one to officially be a part of the IPR race. They’d be practicing every day of a whole week. They hadn’t been informed which planet would it be, as to not let any race have unjust advantages. Except the planet residents, of course. Curiously enough, the win-ratio on home planets was very low across the entire Planetary Alliance. Some called it the home-race curse. The only ones who hadn’t ever suffered from that curse in the race were the Shapeshifters, since their planet was too hostile for most other creatures in the alliance. Amanda had seen a few images of it, but they were too dark to see anything.

She knocked on the surface of the Rod, the cloth muffling the sound. “What about teleporting?” She asked out loud. “How the hell do you do that? And you have a ton of other crazy abilities, if I remember correctly,” There was that hook-thing Chariot had used that one time, or the time the broom’s front had become kind of bulky and sharp, completely destroying a barricade of rocks, or that time where the broom just _obliterated_ the competition by completely changing shapes and starting to go at speeds that should’ve been impossible for any broom.

It was a box of mysteries, yet Akko didn’t seem interested in it. Hell, she barely seemed to think about the broom at all if she wasn’t piloting it. Why was that? Amanda could barely go an hour without something about the Shiny Rod in her mind. And now, laying in it, feeling it below her, brought her a peace she hadn’t felt in a long time. She _wanted_ to ride it again, even if she wouldn’t remember it. Maybe it was the curiosity. Who knew, maybe the next time she might keep her memories.

She sat up, getting down from the broom. She looked around. No one. She was fairly certain she was the only one in the entire _Dragon_ who actually came down here for anything more than guard duty. And this time there wasn’t even a guard. She crouched and then lay with her stomach on the floor; then she finally crawled under the broom. The floor was dusty, but this didn’t bother her. She watched the broom from below. Four of the seven glass balls that worked as its weapons were visible from this angle. Two near the back, placed under the ship, two near the front placed on the sides. The top three were directly in front of the cockpit and almost at the tip of the broom. She was supposed to know how to work them, but of course, she didn’t even know how the controls looked.

 The opening to climb into the turret wasn’t obvious either. And, now that she thought about it, she didn’t recall where the emergency exit was, either. Absent mindedly, she extended a hand, touching the belly of the broom. Instantly taking it back, she cringed as she waited for the alarm to go off. It didn’t. Instead, the trapdoor to the turret lowered. Stranged, but curious, she climbed on to it.

When the entrance closed, she panicked for a second. But, somehow, the panic was slowly overtaken by another thing. Trust. She felt at ease, inside the broom.

And then, something happened. She… connected to it. She got a strange feeling, as if the ship itself was talking to her. The feeling was familiar. Was this what happened to her every time? No, she understood that wasn’t the case. “What do you want from me?” She asked in a whisper. “What’s going on?” It was silly, trying to talk to a vehicle, but…

Again, as if in a wave, she felt tranquility. “That’s not an answer you piece of scrap,” Amanda said. Her voice didn’t come off aggressive at all. “Can’t you give me a hint? I know you’re somewhat intelligent. I mean, Alcor is a thing,” she tried, but her only answer was silence. _Well this isn’t helping much,_ she thought with a deadpan expression. Would the broom realize she was getting tired of it? Hopefully.

She stayed there a while, thinking. She hadn’t figured out what had poisoned her, in the end. Her suits had been in perfect condition, but she had received new ones anywyas.

The turret was comfortable, despite lacking any actual comfort. Sure, it could get a little claustrophobic, even to someone who wasn’t particularly so, but the peace she felt counteracted everything.

Well, everything except boredom. “Ok, I’m done,” she tapped the sides of the turret. “Can you open up or…?”

She didn’t know what she had expected, but she was surprised then the door actually opened. Careful, she climbed out of the turret and watched it close up.

Then, she rested in the floor below the broom. That had been a weird but strangely nice experience. Then again, now she had more questions than ever about the workings of the damn thing. Maybe she should get Akko to climb onto the cockpit and make her ask Alcor directly.

But for now, she got back on her feet and back to the elevators. Jasminka and Constanze would surely be awake by now.

 

Diana sat on the rim of the circular pool, her feet hanging on the water. She watched with satisfaction as Barbara and Hannah swam around, having fun. She was a little tired, not in the mood for swimming, but she had come on Hannah’s insistence. She had been obsessing over Andrew Hanbridge for the past couple of days. She always did, after seeing him. Diana would’ve told her she didn’t need to come to the pool every day to see him, as they’d be spending time with him in the near future, but there was no need to kill her enthusiasm. If anything, Diana was hoping Hannah would forget about the guy. He wasn’t bad, he was just… annoying, to put it lightly.

Well, at least to Diana.

She wore a one-piece black swimsuit, rather conservative compared to the countless bikinis around her, but she didn’t care about that. Even then, she drew some looks, probably because of her hair, proof of her heritage. Sometimes she wanted to hide it, but she was more proud of it than self-conscious about the attention she got. Plus, even if she hid it somehow, now she was one of Earth’s pilots, every passenger in the _Dragon_ would recognize her by figure alone.

She stood, starting to slowly walk around the pool, distracting herself. She didn’t want to stay put and focus. Instead, she looked around. The amount of people on the second deck was still amazing to her, particularly when there was very little to do besides swimming. Eventually, she found herself near the nose of the ship, where giant glass panels allowed a view of the universe outside, but it got very old very fast. Even with the speeds at which they moved, the universe seemed static. Sure, sometimes something would come close, but the space between planets was a whole lot of _nothing._ Maybe some space rocks, but the defense system of the space cruiser vaporized them all just in case, so at best you’d get a fireworks show.

Diana continued walking, not interested in looking outside. It was strange, how normal space had become to humanity. Sure, the _Dragon_ was the only world-hopper, and she was slightly interested in the astronomy and astrology of other cultures, but in most planets where humans could comfortably remain they already did, and where they couldn’t… Well, that didn’t stop them from trying. Diana was confident that in less than twenty years they’d make the first steps to setting down a little colony on Poseidon, the Medusa’s planet, and hopefully they’d manage to find a way to settle on Darkworld at some point during her lifetime. She also expected humanity to find a way to land on Erebus, home of the Daemon and the only known source of Inferno Energy so far.

She came to a halt as she saw a series of figures walking nearby on another pool. The Red team. Akko was trying to get Sucy to dive into the pool but the creepy girl was under a cloak and had obviously no intentions of swimming. Lotte was trying to get Akko to let go of Sucy.

Always so nosy and annoying. Like the other day, with the party thing. She had been knocking at her door for ten minutes straight. Diana suspected she had also wanted to apologize for what Amanda had said, but that was not her job. Still, Diana had been kind of avoiding her. Diana had confirmed, up in that tower, that Akko felt bad for taking ‘her’ spot in the race. Diana couldn’t face her, because in that moment, she had almost _thanked_ her. She had realized just how much Akko had lifted the weight off her shoulders. If they lost no one would blame them, if they won they would get praised, and leaving Diana in Second Category, despite her almost-breakdown, had actually help her feel a little more worth of the spot.

Of course, she couldn’t say any of this to anyone. Be relieved for being number two? Being glad that, should they lose, the weight wouldn’t fall entirely upon Diana’s shoulders? Yeah, no. That was the image of weakness she had fought her whole life to stop.

The red trio was now in the pool, Akko having tripped them all into the water. Sucy’s cloak floated in the water as she swam behind Akko to, presumably, strangle her. Lotte was trying to hold Sucy back but was instead carried along for the ride. Diana smiled for a second at the scene. What a silly situation.

Then, she realized Akko was swimming in her direction. The brunette jumped off the pool almost like a damn dolphin and rolled on the ground, standing and running away in the direction of Diana while begging for her life.

When she saw Diana ahead, however, she stopped. Or not, because she slipped on wet feet and fell on her butt, skidding for a while before coming to a halt in front of the blonde. “Ouch,” she said, putting a hand on her back with a pained expression. She was wearing a red bikini with some frills on the chest. In Diana’s estimation, it was cute.

Diana chuckled. “I believe,” she said extending a hand, “that if you bothered to read the signs – or to have common sense – you would have avoided such an accident.”

Akko blushed while taking her hand. “Well, I-” she stood with grunt and looked back. Sucy was climbing out of the pool, her cloak behind her. “Sorrygottago!”

She ran off, diving into another pool, far more crowded than the one she’d just been in and disappearing between the crowd. Sucy walked slowly. She met Diana’s eyes, but beyond that, she didn’t seem to acknowledge her existence. Diana watched as the girl started circling the pool Akko had dived in. Akko was basically trapped, as to get away from a pool you needed to cross the small canals into another one, and those were made for crawling more than swimming, it would be impossible not to spot her.

Unless…

Not knowing why, Diana decided to carefully lower herself in the pool. Sucy raised an eyebrow at her, but shrugged as she kept looking for Akko. From outside it wouldn’t be visible, but Diana was quick to find the red-eyed face barely sticking out of the water in the middle of three different groups of people that chatted calmly. Akko looked at her with panicked eyes, as if she was going to give her away, but Diana lowered herself too.

“Uhm, hey Diana, sorry for what I just did,” she said in a whisper, barely moving. The water here reached up to Diana’s armpits when she was standing. Akko was in a pretty uncomfortable position.

“Would you find of interest a way to get out of the pool?” Diana asked. While she made the conscious effort to keep her face straight – well, at this point in her life, the line between conscious and unconscious had become blurry – she couldn’t help but feel a small thrill for the situation. Akko nodded, and Diana went underwater, nudging her to follow.

They swam to one of the edges of the pool – one opposite to Sucy – and, still underwater, she kicked open a metal grill. Akko gasped in surprise, which made her let go of her air. Diana swam into the opened tunnel – barely big enough to allow her through it, and with a path to the left that was so dark no one in their right minds would take – and kicked open the grill at the other side, going out into the next pool over and resurfacing to get some air.

A few seconds later, Akko came out of the water coughing and taking deep breaths. She didn’t have the usual strange ponytail she liked so much, and she used her hands to get the hair sticking to her face out of the way. Diana had tied her hair up to avoid such annoyances. They submerged again, swimming to the other end of the pool, far enough that Sucy would probably take a while to find them.

“Holy moly Diana, how did you know about that?” Akko asked with surprise. Seeing her without bangs was kind of strange. Her face was completely exposed, and her red eyes looked bigger than ever. “Diana?”

Diana shook her head to get back into reality. “Oh, sorry. Well, this is not my first time traveling in the _Dragon._ I had the occasion to do so one other time, ten years ago…”

“I didn’t think you’d be the kind to break rules!” Akko said with a smile.

“It is not breaking the rules,” Diana said. “I just… broke some grills and swam through the inner systems of the pool to make a shortcut and aid a friend in need.”

“So you broke the rules for me?” Akko smiled even more broadly, but then she frowned. “Wait, then we _are_ friends!”

“Oh, sorry. We’re supposed to be rivals, am I wrong?” Diana felt strange. She hadn’t even considered it when she used the word friend. Speaking to Akko made her loosen up a little too much. She instinctively hardened her expression. Akko pressed her lips into a line.

“Yes, that’s right,” she said. “Guess I jumped to conclusions,” she sighed. Diana opened her mouth to reply and say that they could still be considered friends, probably, but then Akko looked up and hid underwater, swimming away as a purple-haired figure approached. She wore a dark blue one-piece swimsuit not unlike Diana’s.

When she neared Diana, she scoffed. “Where did she go to now?” Sucy asked.

Diana nonchalantly pointed in the opposite direction. Sucy followed it with a grunt.

Then, Diana went underwater again. _Why did I do that?_ Well, she had done it to help Akko, that much was obvious. But the question was deeper than that. What had compelled her to actually do it? Maybe it was the cold way she had treated the girl back at the tower and then at Ursula’s room. She had been feeling bad for that. And she had shown Akko a way into the inner… _Oh god,_ she realized. _I showed Akko the way to access the inner system of the pools._

Going up for air, she found people had kind of done a small perimeter around her. She sighed. It was the hair. Blonde and tea-green, the Cavendish Family had been one of the first families in the world to get a mutation out of magic. And the genes modified were strong, for _every_ female in the Cavendish family for the past hundred years had cabbage hair – the way in which they jokingly called their strange hairs.

She went underwater again. Hopefully Akko wouldn’t try anything crazy… Yeah, she wouldn’t count on that. Maybe Diana would have to give her a talk about it. But Akko disliked being lectured, and a lot. Diana knew this, but how could you teach someone about something without explaining it to them? She never understood how the brain of people like Akko worked.

Maybe… Maybe she should try to just ask her to not go in there. As a friend.

_Friend._

Were they? They… Hadn’t had much interactions, and a lot of them hadn’t been pleasant. Akko had obviously tried to get closer, but Diana had shut down her every attempt. Either on purpose or not. No, they were not friends, but they _could_ be. Akko was the kind of person who would probably just accept it if Diana asked her, but Diana felt as if there should be more to it. Hannah and Barbara were her only friends currently, and it had taken them some time to get Diana to warm up to them.

But, well, having a _potential_ extra friend… It felt nice.

Diana didn’t even realize it, but as she came out of the water, she was smiling.


	21. Chapter 21

The _Dragon’s_ announcement system started, the voice of the captain resounded everywhere. The ship would be landing in eight hours approximately. No information about which planet it would be, though. Hannah understood why they did it – it was thrilling for it to be a surprise, on one side. On the other, pilots were supposed to be forbidden information about their next destinations – but she didn’t like it. At one point during this race they were bound to end up in the Trashcan, a barren planet that was the dumpster of three different races before the Planetary Alliance had found it had inhabitants. Now it was still a dumpster, but only for controlled garbage.

She shivered. She didn’t want to end in there.

They had just come out of a little game corner in the Shopping Town, having taken turns to test out a VR racing game that was supposedly super realistic. Diana said it felt a little stiff. Hannah and Barbara had loved it. Still, as advanced as VR technology could be, it wouldn’t work to replace real Magic simulators. No amount of virtuality could prepare the body like reality. Or magic-simulated reality.

“Well, I’m beat,” Barbara said while eyeing the different fronts of the shops in the narrow street. “Should we go take a nap before arriving?”

“I find the idea appealing,” Diana nodded. She had been in a strange mood since they had gone to the pool, her voice a little too upbeat compared to her normal one, but Hannah didn’t mind it.

“I’m hungry tho,” Hannah confessed.

“We just ate snacks in there,” Barbara frowned.

Hannah shrugged. “Snacks can’t satiate my appetite.”

Barbara rolled her eyes. “Don’t you wanna grab some McDonalds and go home?”

“Fine, you go back, I’ll grab something quick and meet you there,” Hannah dismissed them with the hand, walking ahead. “You sure you don’t want anything?” She turned.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Barbara gave her a thumbs up.

“I am quite full, thank you,” Diana nodded to her. Again, Hannah shrugged and walked off. Where did she want to go? As she walked into the main street – as always, busy with all kinds of people walking this way and that – she looked around. The Goodwill? Nah, that felt like Diana’s special place, and she didn’t want to go in there without her. Maybe she should just take Barbara’s tip and grab a burger to go. Yeah, that…

“Oh, hey Hannah,” an annoying voice said from behind. Hannah turned with narrowed eyes to find a group of six girls looking at her with various expressions. “We’re going to dine something, wanna come?” Akko asked.

Hannah would have normally declined, making an excuse to go. But she was going to spend the next week sleeping with all of them, or at least in close proximity. Hell, next week? More like a quarter of a year.

“I… Where are you going?” Hannah asked, trying not to sound too annoyed. She noticed that Amanda was giving her a weird look, so she took a second to glare at her. Diana had explained to her what she had said. Of course, Diana _was_ better than all of them, but she didn’t believe that, and whenever someone said that to her she would always be blue for a while after.

“To McDo-”

“Of course you are,” Hannah sighed. “Yeah, I guess I can go.” She approached the group. She tried to stay as far from Amanda as she could as they walked, but that put her next to Sucy. The girl gave her the creeps. Lotte was fine, she guessed, but calling her ‘plain’ would already be giving her too much of a personality, in Hannah’s mind. She was the girl with the glasses. Actually, Hannah didn’t even remember if she had heard her talk ever.

Well, more than Jasminka and Constanze for sure. Most of the time, Hannah completely forgot about their existence. The machine obsessed girl and the black hole girl. Hannah wondered _how_ she could eat so much and not be rolling. Chubby or not, Hannah would pay to be able to eat as much as her and not die of a heart attack.

“So…” Akko turned around to look at her. Hannah raised an eyebrow. She didn’t feel like chatting, but she had accepted their invitation after all. “How’s it going?”

“Akko, we see each other almost every day,” Hannah said flatly. Akko gave her a nervous smile, which in turn made Hannah roll her eyes.

“Oh, you were at the pool yesterday, right? Or was it earlier today…?” Her brow furrowed as she thought. It had been less than a minute and Hannah was already regretting accepting the invitation.

“Yes, I was. I saw your slipup, when Diana helped you up. Pretty fun,” Hannah smirked, remembering the event. It had been oddly satisfying. “I think everyone saw it in fact.”

Akko nodded, as if what Hannah had said was good, and then turned around again. How strange, Akko usually reacted more aggressively to Hannah’s taunts. Maybe it had gone over her head? That was the more likely scenario. Well, it was for the best, probably.

Suddenly, Hannah noticed the small cube floating above the group. A camera spell? No, it moved on its own. A camera spirit, then. Hannah had a few camera spells on her luggage, but she was no good with spirits. Sure, she could manipulate them well enough, but using one on the daily would’ve been too much of a pain. Plus, who’d care about such a stupid thing anyways?

They reached the fast-food place without any trouble and entered. The mega-corporation didn’t spare any expenses in making sure their place looked as modern as possible. The seats and tables floated in the air thanks to magic. A robot – with a spirit inside, most likely – was taking orders in the counter, and the smell of burgers that hadn’t changed their flavor in like two hundred years slipped out of the kitchens. It was not as crowded as Hannah expected, but it was crowded nonetheless.

Luckily, with Akko there, they didn’t have to bother with lines. As soon as they approached the counter, the spirit recognized Akko’s facial features and allowed her to make orders instantly. Akko ordered for everyone, though Hannah’s pride was a little hurt, since the robot didn’t even bother looking her way. She was the Second Category gunman, she should’ve had the same privilege.

Five minutes later they were all sitting and eating.

 _Wait, I was supposed to go back quickly,_ Hannah realized. _Oh, well, I’ll explain later._

The other girls chatted among themselves while eating. Even Jasminka joined in from time to time. However, Amanda only made short comments and kept looking straight at Hannah. The blue team member tried to avoid looking back while she slowly ate her cheeseburger. Diana often asked for salads when coming here and Hannah tried to accompany her, but she was about to spend a whole week on an alien planet living off rations prepared to keep them alive and little more. A cheeseburger wouldn’t kill her. Plus, eating salads when going to McDonalds… Well, it felt silly. At least for her, because for Diana it was what one expected.

When she finished eating the burger she started with the fries. She put one in her mouth and Akko instantly stopped talking about whatever she was talking, looking shocked. “Aren’t you going to put ketchup on those?”

“I’d rather eat them alone,” Hannah said. Akko’s eyes widened. _Oh,_ Hannah realized, _she’s one of those._

“You can’t be serious,” Akko said. “These fries are made for eating with-”

“Akko,” Hannah interrupted, “I have this discussion every single time I come here,” she pinched the bridge of her nose. “If Barbara hasn’t ever convinced me, I can _assure_ you, you won’t do it either.”

The brunette seemed almost offended by the comment. She pressed her lips into a line and narrowed her eyes. Barbara had made the same expression the first time Hannah had explained to her that she just liked the taste of the fries alone. What was up with people and their obsession of putting ketchup on these damn things.

“But you’re missing on the best part of the McDonalds experience!” Akko claimed. Hannah wanted to bang her head against the corner of the table. Was she cursed to live this forever?

“Leave her alone,” Amanda suddenly said, earning a surprised look from Hannah. “They’re just some fries.” She had already finished eating. Wait, when did she finish?

“Why are you taking my side?” Hannah asked. Amanda was still giving her that weird look that, before, Hannah had assumed was some kind of disgust. Now it just looked doubtful. Meeting her eyes, Hannah recalled how they shone back in the central tower of the Seelie Court. She had a lot of problems – _a lot_ – but no person could deny that those eyes were beautiful.

“I’m just stating the obvious,” she shrugged. “Even though Akko’s right and ketchup on fries is the best, if you want to miss on it it’s none of our business.” Hannah deadpanned. Well, at least she hadn’t insulted her. Still, Hannah didn’t really want to receive help from her. No after what she had said to… “And,” Amanda interrupted her thoughts, “I wouldn’t mind if you could tell Diana that…” her face contorted into one of almost pain, “I’m sorry.”

Hannah’s jaw dropped. Everyone’s jaw dropped. Except Lotte’s. “Did you just…?” Hannah asked in disbelief.

“Yes, I apologized, fuck off,” Amanda looked away, crossing her arms. “Look, I’m just trying to stop every interaction we have from being too weird, particularly when we’re most likely going to be sleeping together the next week.”

Hannah didn’t answer. That sounded like a reasonable excuse, but her sixth sense had activated. There was something Amanda wasn’t telling them, but pushing for it in such a public environment would lead her nowhere. What she needed was to get some moments alone with the redhead, if she wanted the information. Who knew, maybe she’d finally get the reason of her lies out of her too.

“You should’ve apologized when I told you to,” Akko said to her.

“Or just not apologized at all. You didn’t say anything untrue,” Sucy added. Hannah glared at her, but when Sucy glared back, Hannah couldn’t hold her stare. Damn scary girl, Sucy was. Hannah had been known in previous school as the glare queen. She could usually intimidate whoever with a look. But Sucy didn’t just glare, she _threatened_ with her eyes – or, eye, since one of them was usually hidden behind her hair. When looking at that red ring, Hannah could almost feel the poison running through her body. Sucy could probably kill her with a _potion_ that made it look as if she’d fallen sick and died because of it or something.

“I’ve apologized now, so shut up,” Amanda stood. “I’m going to the bathroom,” she declared and walked in its direction.

Now? No, the bathroom in these places was always full, following her there wouldn’t be of any help to anyone. Hannah watched her go and then focused back on her fries. Only when she had finished them Amanda came back. Everyone was already done, so they stood and left the place.

Hannah yawned. She was tired too, and with her stomach satiated, now there was nothing stopping her mind from realizing it. She started to fall behind the group of girls, ready to excuse herself, when she saw a chance. Amanda had stopped a second to look at a small shop that sold little replicas of old brooms. A bathroom wasn’t good enough, but a place where this much people bustled around them, it was the same as being in private.

She took a deep breath, stood next to her, and asked.

 

“Are you fine?” Hannah asked, making Amanda turn her head. She was a little too close for comfort.

“What do you want?” Amanda was suspicious, and that was putting it lightly. Why had Hannah suddenly taken an interest in asking after her wellbeing?

Amanda was looking at the model of one of the first hover vehicles created. Not a broom, as it didn’t work on magic. It was a bulky thing that looked more like a car than an actual ship. It was a ionocraft, the little plate in front of it stating that it was the third functional model produced in the nearing the half of the twenty first century. How far had technology gotten.

Hannah sighed. “Can’t I ask because I… No, of course not. What’s your real reason for apologizing?”

“Yeah, I figured,” Amanda smirked. Hannah was many things, but unpredictable was not one of them. Well, mostly. “Why do you care? I apologized, that’s all that matters.”

“I won’t pass on your apology unless you tell me the truth,” Hannah shrugged and turned around. “You do you.”

Amanda scoffed. God, she hated that girl. She really knew how to pull her strings, make her feel as if she wasn’t in control. Amanda had always been in control before, but this girl… “Look, I just don’t want to be in bad terms with the few human beings I know on this ship,” she confessed. Hannah turned around with a smile.

“I see, but that’s not all, is it?” She walked back, and rested her shoulder on the window. The old man inside the shop looked at them with some annoyance, but Amanda ignored him. “Come on. Do you want to apologize or not?”

Amanda’s eye twitched. “Ok, you know what? Forget it,” she was not going to be manipulated by a little piece of shit who thought too highly of herself. Apologizing wasn’t worth her pride.

“Ok, ok, sorry,” Hannah said with obvious reluctance in her voice, springing into motion when she realized Amanda had no intentions of coming back. “But if something else is bothering you, I think Diana has the right to know.”

Eyeing her, Amanda tried to determine if the girl was being honest or not. She seemed honest enough, but that meant nothing if the girl was a practiced liar. Also, there was the problem that Amanda didn’t really know what she meant. What other reason did she have to apologize? What she had said was what she had first thought of when doing so. “There really isn’t…” Or, wait, maybe there was. “Tell me, what did Diana thought of our race?”

Hannah cocked her head, lips pursed. “Huh? Race?”

“You know, when we were coming back from the Seelie Court to the _Dragon_ that last night,” Amanda explained, moving her hands as if they were brooms and mimicking their movements for some visual representation. Hannah’s expression turned to one of someone who just remembered something not that important.

“Oh, that. I don’t think Diana really considered it a race,” Hannah shrugged.

Amanda froze, frowning. “What? Did she tell you that?”

“Not really. She just didn’t mention it, at all,” Hannah explained, turning. “What does that have to do with this?”

Amanda was in disbelief. Had Diana really not mentioned their race at all? Despite the fact that she had _lost_ against Amanda? “Ah, that must be it. She didn’t mention it because she was ashamed of having lost, is that it?”

“What? No,” Hannah chuckled. “Diana isn’t that pitiful. She was probably just going with the flow, not racing for real”

“Bullshit,” Amanda instantly claimed. “I beat her. You weren’t in the Shooting Star at the time, but I definitely beat her.”

“Did she congratulate you on a good race?” Hannah raised a knowing eyebrow. Her stare, it was the kind of stare Amanda _hated_. The stare of someone who thought they had already figured out exactly how she worked. It made her grit her teeth as she answered.

“No.”

“Then she didn’t consider it a race. Or you cheated. If not, Diana _always_ congratulates her opponents, whether they win or lose. Though she has only lost a handful of races in her life, and all of them simulated,” the smirk on her face was _really_ pissing Amanda off. “You still haven’t told me what this has to do with what I asked, though.”

“I…” Amanda was at a loss for words, and her voice was strangled in growing anger. “I originally told her that because it pissed me off that she hadn’t acknowledged our race at all. And now you tell me that she actually didn’t even take it seriously?”

“What does it matter?” Hannah asked. “It was just to get the brooms to safety, no big-”

“No!” Amanda snapped. No, of course she wouldn’t understand. Some of the people around them turned their heads towards her, but to each one she answered with a glare. “No. That…” Amanda brought a hand to her temple. “That was probably the only time when I’d ever be allowed to pilot a Shooting Star,” she explained, looking down. “That’s why I wanted to race her. And you’re telling me she half-assed it?”

She looked up at Hannah again, who seemed a little taken aback by her outburst. She pressed her lips, then bit them. “I… think so,” she confessed.

Amanda clenched her fist. “Ok, you know what? Scratch the apology, tell her to go fuck herself,” Amanda started walking again, striding past Hannah. That blonde bitch, she would’ve gone and punched her if not for the _Dragon’s_ regulations completely forbidding any kind of violence. Hell, she would’ve done so anyways if not for the fact that tomorrow they’d have the opening ceremony of the IPR and having one of your pilots with a black eye wouldn’t give a good impression.

And, the more she thought about it, the less that mattered to her.

“Wait,” Hannah fell into step besides her. “You can just ask Ursula to let you practice a little with the Blue Star and race her again, don’t you…”

“You think she’d let me?” Amanda didn’t bother looking at her. Right now she was looking for their group, which had gone missing among the crowd. Jasminka’s and Sucy’s hair should’ve been a giveaway, but those were nowhere in sight. “She only let me ride that time because it was an emergency and there wasn’t time to carry them normally.”

“You’re being melodramatic,” Hannah said in a rather petulant tone.

“No, I’m not.” Amanda had to hold back from shouting. “Diana disrespected me.”

Hannah didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Oh, I see. You’re angry because you gave your all, thinking you’d achieved a great victory, but it turns out Diana hadn’t put a real effort.”

Amanda stared daggers at her. “Your little guesses are starting to really annoy me,” she said in a cold voice. When she spoke when that voice, normally, people backed off. Hannah didn’t, instead rolling her eyes, paying the silent threat no heed.

“Am I right or am I right?” She asked. Amanda didn’t answer, instead scoffing. The worst about this situation was, Amanda realized, she _was_ right. And this only made her angrier. She started walking faster. “Hey, don’t run!”

Still walking, Amanda turned. “Fuck off, Hannah. I don’t want to talk to you – or your team – again. You can all go fuck yourselves,” she said in an angry tone, then she turned and walked even faster, not looking back.

She could meet with Jasminka and Constanze back at the room. She didn’t trust herself not to punch someone in this state. And if she talked any more, she might have even…

No, she would never.

Screw Diana. Screw Hannah and screw Barbara too even if she hadn’t done anything right now, she was still a bully and an asshole. Amanda regretted even trying to apologize to the rich bitch. She didn’t need someone like that to socialize with. She’d make some new friends after the week they’d spend on the next planet they were going to, whatever it was.

When she reached her room, fuming, she didn’t say anything to her teammates as she climbed onto bed and decided to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of this batch. I think the average lenght of my chapters has been slowly going up.  
> Anyways, you probably noticed the lack of alien planets and races during these chapters on this fic about _races on alien planets_ but I felt like this was a good place to stop. I still have no idea how long the next portion of the story will be but it's probably going to be long.  
> Hope you're enjoying this and I would highly appreciate a comment (I can't stress this enough. Seriously, comments are the life of creators people. Hits and kudos are fine but comments are the real meat here)


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, welcome to another batch of chapters. Those comments really make writing all of this worth it, thank you. Now with the holidays coming I'd say I'll probably write less but in all honesty I always do nothing for holidays so who cares. Still, hope y'all have a blast and shit.  
> Now without further ado, here's the chapters.

Akko felt a strange atmosphere around her as she waited for the door to open. This weird tension in the air stopped her from showing her excitement or complaining too much about the door taking so long.

Amanda was obviously avoiding the blue team. As in, she always stayed as far away as she could from them. Jasminka and Constanze seemed to know why she did this, but when Akko had asked, Amanda had refused to answer. Hadn’t she apologized earlier today? Had Diana refused the apology or something? This didn’t sound like something Diana would do, but maybe she was just _really_ offended or something.

Nobody was wearing helmets, though they still carried them. This planet had a breathable atmosphere, which narrowed down the options, according to Diana. She had claimed she’d figured out which planet it was, given the time it took and this information. She had refused to say which planet it was. Akko was ok with this, since she liked surprises.

Akko was about to try and talk to Amanda again when the door started beeping, announcing its imminent opening. She jumped in front of it so fast that she almost hit her head. Finally, the door opened, and she tried to stop her legs from jumping out on their own. She was only half successful.

Outside was… Nothing. It was night time, and there was barely any light outside, thought the stars were visible. There was a moon, but it was very little. Or maybe it was far away, no way of knowing. And the landscape was… ocean. In all directions. They were in a landing dock like Earth’s. She couldn’t even tell if the color was different or not, which was disappointing at best. She stood still as the other girls calmly walked down the boarding dock.

None of them looked like they cared about this massive disappointment.

Akko stepped further from the _Dragon_ and, when she exited the magic field around it, she was hit by a feeling of… Energy. No, wait. Her breathing, it was different. And she felt a little heavier. It felt as if her lungs filled faster than usual. She looked back, where Diana had also exited the field and was nodding with a serious expression.

She noticed Akko looking and pointed upwards. “The atmospheric pressure and oxygen levels in Machina are slightly higher than on Earth,” she explained to Akko. Akko cocked her head. Why did Diana assume she would understand that? While Akko expected a roll of the eyes, or some kind of dismissive expression. Instead, the blonde stepped a little closer and explained. “Atmospheric pressure and O2 levels are crucial for our survival. If there is a good balance, then it’s all fine. Too little oxygen would give you hypoxia, too much would poison you.  However, should it be too little pressure, no matter the oxygen, you would still die. Same on the opposite case.”

Akko nodded weakly. She didn’t know what a hippoxia was, but context clues allowed her to figure out it was probably a fancy word for asphyxiating or something like that. Either that or she had completely missed the point of the explanation. “You may grow dizzy with things as they are now, since you are getting more oxygen than normal into your lungs, but it should be fine,” Diana continued. “We’ll grow used to it before the race, probably.”

“Uhm… Thanks,” Akko didn’t really know how to reply. Had Diana always been so nice? She didn’t think so. On the background, Amanda glared, following Diana with her eyes. What _had_ happened between those two? And, what was Constanze doing with that thing on her hands? It looked like a gaming console. Maybe she was playing some games. Akko was tempted to go and check it out, she was in real need of some videogames, particularly with the disappointment that ended up being this planet. Maybe it would be better during the day, assuming the day-night cycle didn’t take like a bajillion days or something.  

Ursula finally appeared, looking at the girls. “Ok, everyone, come here,” she clapped her hands to get their attention. Once gathered – the green and blue teams were using the red one as a barrier between them – Ursula looked at them somewhat stranged, but didn’t make any comments as she looked at a notepad on her hand. “First things first, this planet is Machina, home of the Cyborgs. Too bad we arrived during night, but we did arrive about twelve hours earlier than anticipated. This planet’s cycles are similar to earth, with full day being of about twenty-seven earth hours,” she flipped a page. “Oh, hope you have your sunscreen with you, days can get real sunny in here, and temperature will be up to thirty-five degrees Celsius this week, and we’re not even in the hot season. Carry your Witch Hats everywhere, try to avoid a heatstroke.”

Akko had noticed that the ambient was kind of hot. They were wearing their g-suits, but if it wasn’t dangerous, then they would be allowed to just wear normal clothes, right?

She wasn’t a fan of hot days, but their suits were built to keep their bodies at optimal temperatures. Maybe she shouldn’t use casual clothing. Now that they were close, Akko took the chance to look at what Constanze was doing. Her screen showed some numbers and a spiky line that constantly moved. If it was a game, it looked boring.

“To the racers,” that included pilots and gunmen, “we will begin training as soon as we’re settled. You’ve all slept and this planet’s gravity is somewhat stronger than Earth’s, if only by a little. Still, we don’t know what the rules for this iteration of the Inter-Planetary Race will be,” Ursula paused for a while, “even if it should be a hoop-race, first we’ll get you used to the terrain.”

“In the middle of the night?” Amanda asked.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night, not in this planet at least,” Ursula explained. “Oh, here’s the bus. Come on, climb in.” She pointed at a broom that was coming out of the ship. It was slightly different from the previous bus they’d been in. This one had weird metal parts below. Maybe it was different because it needed to go through water? “The trip will take a while, so if you have any way of entertaining yourself, please bring it. If not, the staff will put a movie or two, I think.”

After everyone fetched their things, they climbed in. Akko ended up sitting next to Sucy. Curiously enough, Lotte sat next to Barbara and they quietly engaged in conversation about something. Akko’s leg started bouncing in place. Traveling in the _Dragon_ felt nice because you could walk around, but being in here instantly triggered her hyperactivity. At least, until Sucy softly put a hand on her thigh. Akko looked at her teammate with some embarrassment until she noticed the wand pointing at her side. She instantly gulped and nodded, and Sucy retrieved her hand. It was hard, but Akko managed not to get any one of those nervous tics again.

She noticed Diana wearing her helmet, which was in turn connected to her wand. She wished she could do that, but the Rod’s key-wand held no files at all.

She looked at Sucy, wondering if she could start a conversation, but the girl appeared to be already asleep.

Akko sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

 

Akko didn’t know how much time had passed. At least a couple hours. But after that couple of hours, she was finally able to see something. In the distance, in the middle of the dark night – where shadows of strange shapes dotted the starlit landscape – she saw a light. At first she dismissed it, but after just some time she was finally able to confirm it had to be artificial. And huge. How far was it? No way of telling, but she started to get impatient at the prospect of getting the hell out of the vehicle.

She watched intently as the light approached. Or, the lights. The many, many lights.

Or, maybe, the many, many buildings. What Akko was looking at was like straight out of science fiction. In a city that glowed in lights of all colors – neon seemed to be a theme all around – skyscrapers raised like beams of whiteness among the smaller but colorful buildings. It didn’t take long before Akko noticed a crazy amount of those lights moving. Flying vehicles. As they drew closer, she noticed that they were going down a hill of some kind.

The city seemed to be like human ones. The center of it was where most skyscrapers stood, while the outer parts of it had more humble buildings, where not everything glowed neon. Akko was so entranced by the colors that she didn’t even notice as they entered the outer parts of the city. Here, houses were about six meters tall and the lighting was a plain electric white. There was a crowd of cyborgs, ranging from three to five meters tall, neither cheering nor booing, but looking with interest. Most cyborgs had a darker skin, probably from the amount of sunlight they received, but the impressive parts were their mechanic – or cybernetic – ones. Some had pieces where big gears were visible, made with metals like bronze and where everything appeared to have been taken out of the inside of a clock. Others – the minority, at least in this part of the city – had parts that looked rather human – or, well, cyborg – but they didn’t bother trying to paint them like their skins or, well, they didn’t paint them at all. The metal glistened in the lights. Many of them, in general, had extra arms. Most remained at two, but it wasn’t uncommon to see three and four-armed cyborgs. Some had their faces looking robotic too. Sometimes just an eye or a jaw, others the entire head looked robotic, however that worked. Some eyes glowed, which kind of intimidated Akko.

“Holy shit,” Amanda said. “Are those _steampunk_ cyborgs?”

“Something like that. The lower classes here can’t afford the more scientifically advanced appendages,” Ursula explained. “But every cyborg has a right to their limbs, so the government gave them those. Functional, but often way less useful than the ones you might seem from the rich.”

“Ah, of course, give the poor the lesser technology so that they remain poor, isn’t that right?” Amanda hissed. She was in a bad mood.

No one replied to her. Akko didn’t really understand much about social politics. Or politics at all. But she could see what Amanda meant. If you gave the poor people the inferior tech, then how would they ever compete against the rich with their high tier ones?

Though, that was only Ursula’s data. Maybe she’d need to talk to some of the inhabitants of the world to learn more. Apparently, despite their early arrival, word had spread about it, because the streets of the city – completely paved – were lined with curious spectators.

And, Akko noticed, most of their houses were built with wood. She found this so interesting because she had assumed they were, well, like human buildings. Particularly as they approached the center of the city, where buildings were taller and taller with each passing intersection. Yet, despite the paint, it was obvious that most of these structures were wooden. Could one build skyscrapers out of wood? Akko doubted it, but this _was_ an alien planet, after all.

Right as she was thinking of that, Ursula started speaking. “Here in Machina they have a particularly strong kind of wood that we’ve named Diamond Wood,” Ursula said. “It’s not nearly as strong as Diamond, of course, but the cyborgs use it a lot for buildings, as you may have noticed. This city particularly, called…” She was reading something out of a notebook. She tried to pronounce the name, but it was a jumble of noises that no one in the bus understood. “Well, let’s just call it Wood City, prides itself in their little waste of resources.”

“Wood City? Really?” Amanda raised an eyebrow, and though it was hard to see, Akko was sure Ursula’s face had gotten a little red.

“Little? Isn’t this entire thing built of wood? I’d say that’s a waste,” Barbara commented.

“Ah, of course, to us it might. But Cyborgs find much more value on stone and metals. Particularly metals, since their entire lives depend on it,” Ursula explained. “So when the founder of Wood City proposed to make an entire city out of pure wood, cyborgs really liked the idea.”

“Don’t they need trees to, like, keep breathing?” Hannah asked with some skepticism.

Ursula smiled. “This planet has double the amount of plant life Earth has,” she explained. “Their oceans are far smaller, and they don’t have deserts. Plus, they don’t use the stuff for much. Even building entire cities out of it, they use it far less than us,” she explained. “But that’s not all. What little ocean they have, it’s _infested_ with coral.”

She remained silent for a while. Akko looked around, but only Amanda seemed as confused as her.

“So, coral is important because…?” Akko asked.

“Coral and algae are a really important part of the oxygen producing, at least on earth, and I suspect it is so here too,” Diana had removed her helmet at some point and explained. “So, in that way, this planet works like earth.”

Akko pouted. “Wait, so we’re basically in another Earth? That’s boring,” she complained. Ursula looked at her with a kind smile, and was about to say something when Diana interrupted.

“You will be surprised, then,” she said. Ursula nodded, and no-one said anything else. Akko looked out the window, but there wasn’t a single plant in sight. Not even grass.

There were, however, a lot of taller buildings than the ones before. The windows were also big, which made sense given who built them. Well, not only that, even the wood planks – when visible – were probably twice as wide as Akko. The architecture of the city reminded Akko of old British mansion, with tall gable roofs and square windows. Most buildings were painted white, probably to reflect better the neon lights on them. Many windows were bay or bow windows and many others led into narrow balconies that were often decorated with bits of hanging metal, and while Akko watched a few of those, she noticed that some of the cyborgs in them lacked arms or legs, but they didn’t seem bothered by it, and the metallic glimmers on the places where they should be told her that they had probably removed them by themselves.

What from the distance had looked like a cyberpunk city now looked like a ‘what if sixteenth century british architecture was used to build a city.’ And then someone threw lots of neon lights in there because they could. The style remained consistent for at least another fifteen minutes, in which the buildings got progressively taller and more illuminated. However, then it started to shift. Elegance gave way to utility, and what had looked like a strange amalgam of mansion and apartment buildings was now indistinguishable from normal human buildings – proportions aside. Still, it looked strange. It was probably just Akko’s brain trying to process the difference of what she had expected from what she actually got, but the city was too evenly illuminated. There were street lamps that were completely circular, lighting both upwards and downwards, and some even changed colors.

Up, the amount of flying vehicles was amazing. These varied wildly in designs, from circular Appali-like constructs to sharp, long and fast ones that appeared and disappeared in a flash. The Cyborgs lining the streets as they passed had started to become crowds and Akko couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed at their lack of enthusiasm. They looked the Human caravan as if they’d seen it before. They’d probably had, at least with those teams arriving before Earth.

“If there’s a fire,” Amanda said, “won’t the city burn to the ground?”

“Well,” Diana started. “Diam-”

“I asked Ursula, not you,” Amanda interrupted, coldly. Diana paused, pressing her lips and not saying anything. Barbara and Hannah stared daggers at the redhead, who didn’t even bother looking at them.

“Diamond Wood is rather resistant to fire. Not that it won’t burn, but it’s not as dangerous as normal wood would be,” Ursula explained somewhat awkwardly. She had obviously noticed the tension between the teenagers too. Akko wished she would do something about it. Mostly because Akko herself had no idea of how to fix it, but she wanted to.

After a while, Akko noticed that the style changed again. Buildings started having wider and wider windows, often with polarized glass in them, and their paint stopped being white but started being metallic. At first she mistook the paint for actual metal, but she happened to see a crew of cyborgs hanging on the outside of a building, painting it. The natural color of the Diamond Wood was light beige.

And finally, they came to a halt.

They stopped in front of a skyscraper. Not the tallest one, they weren’t quite yet to what Akko assumed to be the metropolitan area of the city. The walls were painted in a dark metallic tone, and the windows had to occupy at least two thirds of the entire surface of the building. No balconies. Akko would’ve much preferred the buildings from before. Those looked cozier.

When they came out of the vehicle, a cyborg was waiting for them. Both of her arms – of the high-tech kind – were silvery, but Akko wasn’t sure which metal it was. She was no expert. The tall woman – did you call a female cyborg a woman? Did you call a male one a man? – had a skin darker than most, one of her eyes was completely mechanized. The entire section from the right eye socket to the right ear was metallic, and a metallic eye globe moved in sync with the biological one. Both eyes were green, but the mechanic one glowed. She was wearing shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt along with some sandals.

The humans put on their translation devices – they were designed to be worn with or without helmets – and the cyborg lady spoke. “Welcome, ladies,” she said. Akko looked around. Truly enough, not a single human man was around, the bus driver notwithstanding. Where was the _Dragon’s_ crew?

“Akko!” Lotte exclaimed into her ear. Akko stopped being distracted and noticed the hand the lady had extended to her. She was twice as tall as Akko. Actually, probably more than twice, and her bust was probably ten times Akko’s. Akko took the hand with some fear. Well, ‘took’ is an overstatement, she just allowed her hand to be completely engulfed in the lady’s, who smiled at her. Akko couldn’t suppress a small gasp at the fact that she had black teeth. No one had mentioned that before! Why were they like that?

The lady proceeded to shake everyone’s hands, and Akko was surprised by her delicate touch. It was easy to assume they would all be brutes, but as Akko saw her figure better, she noticed that, should she have human size, she would be considered a perfectly standard woman. Her mate black hair was tied at shoulder length and left to hang. Akko followed the tail that fell all the way to the woman’s knees. Only then she noticed that one of the woman’s legs was also robotic.

“Follow me,” she said after finishing greeting everyone. The girls followed, and the inside of a building made Akko open her mouth in awe. It kind of looked like a hotel lobby, but if someone wanted to make a workshop on it. There were couches, but all of them had stains of what looked like oil. The floor was bare stone, and the counter was full of different little pieces of machinery or electronic and cables.

To no one’s surprise, everything was cyborg-sized, which made Akko feel like if she had shrunk.

“My name is Memory,” the lady said. Akko cocked her head. Why did she have a name in… Oh. She mentally face-palmed. Her name probably meant ‘memory’ in the cyborg language and the translation device had picked it up and translated it. “I’ll be your guide during your stay. Please, let me show you your rooms.”

She guided them to the back of the lobby. There was no-one else in the room, not even someone behind the counter. There, an elevator waited. Akko didn’t know if she should be surprised or not. Well, not _everything_ could be built out of woo-

The elevator was wood too, it had just been painted. However, it moved totally like a human one. Better, even. Memory didn’t need to press any buttons, she just said something Akko didn’t quite get and the elevator started moving. As they climbed, Akko suddenly became aware that _everyone_ got into the elevator. The lady, the nine teenagers and Ursula. Yeah, the elevator was tall, and speaking of that, it was taking its sweet time. The building had looked to be twenty stories high from the ground, but then again, it was a cyborg building, so with each floor being twice as tall as a normal human one… Damn. Akko was feeling more and more like a child every second.

When the door finally opened, they were greeted with a red-carpeted hallway that in symmetric intervals led into a lot of smaller red carpeted hallways. The doors were also massive, with no handles. They had electronic locks. The locks had normal numbers. This wasn’t surprising, since most sentient races in the alliance used decimal numeric systems. After some deliberation, everyone had just accepted to use the Human numbers to write them, because if humans excelled at something that was being stubborn.

Akko was probably the most guilty of all of them.

After a long walk – these corridors looked shorter than they really were – they reached the end of the corridor. Here, there were four doors painted with Earth’s colors. Memory pointed at the final right one. “This is where you’ll be staying,” she said kindly. The translation device picked up the cyborg language way better than the faerie one, so it actually sounded rather natural, except for the little bit of robotic reverberation. Wait, maybe it actually fit the cyborgs…

“Come on girls, get in,” Ursula said. Memory had opened the door for them. It was probably a really heavy door. Akko wondered if she would even be able to open it alone.

“Ehm, everyone into the same room?” Hannah asked.

Ursula nodded. “This time we’re bringing a lot more of us, and these rooms are rather spacious. You’ll be sharing one, though the sleeping arrangements aren’t decided yet. Just remember, this week we’ll have a lot of things to do, not only training. That goes for you all too,” Ursula looked at the non-racer teenagers. “So we’ll have a tight schedule, unlike what happened in Sídhe.”

Everyone nodded, though there was some electricity in the air as Amanda made sure to let her opinion of this known with a glare at the blue team. Diana seemed not to notice, but Akko doubted that was the case. It was pretty hard to miss when, whenever she wasn’t looking around, Amanda was somehow being passive-aggressive towards her.

They entered the room, and Akko was relieved to see that it had human-sized furniture. The ceiling was still absurdly high, so the room felt empty, even if it wasn’t. This, however, allowed for the first thing to catch Akko’s attention: The sphere.

The room was enormous, and at the end, there was a giant sphere, metallic. Akko didn’t pay attention as Memory explained some things about the room. She was drawn to the sphere, her curiosity getting the better of her. It was an absolutely perfect ball. Not a single bump or scratch, just a smooth metallic sphere. It was floating a few inches from the floor, Akko noticed.

She placed a hand on it.

Or, _in_ it. The surface of the sphere was semi-solid, and her hand sunk in it. For a second she feared it would be something like mercury. Mercury was supposed to be very poisonous. But then, this wasn’t liquid, it felt more like… gel. She tried to get her hand out of the thing, but she couldn’t.

And was sucked in.

 

Diana watched, in a mixture of horror and amusement, as Akko disappeared inside the ball. “Excuse me, Miss Memory?” she called to the cyborg – with some panic slipping into her voice –, who was now explaining how the refrigeration system worked. While similar to earth, Machina’s animal and plant life was extremely toxic to humans, due to some elements in the soil of the planet. Actually, eating this life is what allowed the Cyborg race to adapt so quickly to mechanical parts, whereas humans still to this day and age hadn’t managed to find a way of making prosthesis as permanent as Cyborg ones were – even with the data of how the aliens did theirs.

Memory turned, focusing her eyes on Diana. Her glowing neon green eye made Diana feel as if she was analyzing her. “What is it, miss Cavendish?”

Surprised at hearing her name, Diana paused for a second. But, then again, of course she would know, so she got out of her confusion quickly. “Our other pilot was swallowed by that giant sphere,” Diana pointed. The ball was now completely still.

Memory laughed. “Oh, she’s an impatient girl, is she not?” She said. “Worry not, she is perfectly fine. That sphere is a-” The name wasn’t translated, and what she said was nothing but gibberish to Diana’s ears. “It would take too long to explain, but in short, it’s a muscle relaxant,” she explained. “It’s perfectly compatible with humans, I assure you.”

“Oh,” Diana relaxed visibly, looking at the sphere. For a second she had believed Akko had managed to get herself killed due to her impatience. “Could I know what is it made of?”

“Sure. It’s an alloy of-” again, the names of the metals she mentioned were nothing but gibberish to Diana. “I don’t believe you have that particular variety of metal on your planet, do you?”

Diana shook her head. Discovering some of these alien planets had opened up many doors to humans by letting them know of materials outside of the periodic table. It was still unclear why mankind had never managed to find them or build them on a laboratory, even after a hundred years. Truth was, inter-planetary commerce wasn’t something common. Every race feared the others would somehow use their own tech against them – and it was a well founded fear. In the early days of the alliance, far before Earth joined, the sibling race of the Shapeshifters – nowadays just called ‘the white menace’ by humans – had taken their knowledge and used it to try to conquer all other planets. Diana wished to study it, but there wasn’t much information available on Earth about it.

“So, how’s she going to come out?” Amanda asked.

“Once the metal synchronizes with her, meaning, once the tension in her muscles is gone, she’ll be slowly released. You’ll see one of her body parts – probably the legs – popping out of the sphere and then you’ll be able to pill her out.”

“And if there’s no one?” Lotte asked, worried.

“Then she’ll probably hit her head.”

Everyone stared at Memory, but she wasn’t joking. “How long will it take?” Asked Ursula.

“A few hours at most,” Memory said. Ursula bit her lip.

“Isn’t there a way of pulling her out?”

“You’ll probably just get swallowed up too.”

Ursula bit her lip with more strength. Diana sighed. Not five minutes into their new room and she had already managed to mess up Ursula’s schedule. That had to be a talent of some kind. If not because this was a completely alien planet, Diana would’ve assumed Akko did that on purpose.

Memory moved on to keep explaining how the room worked. The bathroom had been re-sized too, but now the bath was more of a communal one. And, of course, cyborgs didn’t use hot water to take baths, just natural one. Diana heard Hannah and Barbara almost fainting at the information, but there was nothing they could do about this particular fact. Out of all the differences cyborgs had to humans, this actually was one that interested Diana the most. Did they develop that sphere metal thing because they were used to showering with cold water? Hot water probably messed up with their circuits, but it was a common way of relaxing.

She was probably jumping to conclusions, but exploring these ideas was exciting. She had never heard about those metallic spheres. Were they, maybe, a recent creation? It was compatible with humans, sure, but it was obviously sized for cyborgs. So many possibilities, so many questions. She’d have to ask Memory or someone else, but as of now, doing so would feel out of place. Or, well, it would eventually, since once Diana started asking she would probably not stop until she knew everything about this planet.

“Well, that should be all. I hope you enjoy your stay. If you need anything, just remember to use the button under that table,” she pointed at the center of the room, where a wide table sat. In the end opposite to the sphere there were three beds. They had been cut so that humans could climb onto them comfortably, but, well, they were still cyborg sized. They would sleep on the wide, instead of the long, because it made the most sense.

“Thank you,” Ursula said, and she followed as the cyborg went and closed the door. Ursula turned to them with a defeated expression. “Akko is gone for a few hours,” she stated, “so Diana and Hannah will start practice on their own. The rest of you, be here and take care of the luggage. The _Dragon’s_ crew should be arriving soon. And Amanda, as soon as Akko comes out of there, if she isn’t covered in that thing, please contact me.”After that, she exited the room.

Amanda nodded, but she didn’t do it with conviction. Diana was tempted to try and talk to her, but she stopped herself. The redhead was mad with her, and maybe she had a reason to be. It was true, Diana hadn’t taken their ‘race’ seriously, to the point that she had actually kind of forgotten about it. Diana understood her frustration, but after what Amanda had said, she was not in the mood to try and work things out. In the end, if Amanda wanted to prove she was better than Diana, she would have to wait.

“Careful,” Amanda said on the low, “Diana might not take the training seriously, since she’s so good.”

Ursula wasn’t even in the room, so it was obvious who this was directed to. Hannah took a step towards her, as if ready to start a fight.

“Let’s go, Hannah,” Diana said. Hannah turned with surprise, looked at her and followed as Diana strode out of the room – the door was surprisingly easy to open, despite the uncomfortable handle – not before making sure to shoot an angry look at Amanda one last time.

 

Amanda watched the two blue team members go without blinking.

To her side, Constanze grunted and set off to explore the room in more detail. She would probably look for any kind of mechanisms she wasn’t familiar with and tinker with them. It was what she had done the first time Amanda showed her the Broom Graveyard back on Luna Nova. She had gone _nuts_. Amanda suspected most of her parts she stole from there, but she didn’t know how. The tiny girl was _real_ talented with machines. She probably would’ve brought all of her little robots if not because she wasn’t allowed. Stanbots, she called them. Worked on magic, they had basically become her familiars. Literally, too. She had fine-tuned the spirits inside them so much that Amanda suspected they would have been called familiars by any expert.

Jasminka instantly went to the refrigerator, but it was empty. She seemed incredibly disappointed. Luckily she had brought a handbag full of snacks. What surprised Amanda the most was how Lotte brought out her wand to read something and she instantly hit off a conversation with Barbara. _Traitor,_ she thought. Anyone fraternizing with the blue team was her enemy. Of the remaining people she could hang out with, only Sucy was available. She was waiting with a grumpy expression for her luggage to arrive. 

Amanda drifted closer to the creepy girl. “Don’t come to me just because you have nothing better to do,” Sucy instantly said.

Amanda gave her a flat look. “Hey, maybe I want to talk to you for real,” she protested. Sucy raised an eyebrow – well, maybe she was raising both, no way of knowing – at her, and Amanda didn’t say more. No, she was totally right. “Still… How you liking the trip so far?”

“Do you want the polite answer or the honest one?”

“Honest, of course,” Amanda said with a smile.

“Well, I’m tired. I don’t like trips, I like being in control of my surroundings – well, not that I was in control with Akko around, but you understand me – and the constant bitching between you and Hannah is driving me nuts,” Sucy said with a tone full of venom, particularly that last part.

Amanda crossed her arms. “Not my fault the entire blue team is full of stuck up bitches,” she said with a rather childish tone.

“You know what _is_ your fault? That we’re here together in the first place,” Sucy said with even more venom. Amanda was taken aback by her words. “And don’t fool yourself, Akko isn’t guilty here. She’s just an idiot. _You_ brought us into this and now you’re acting like an immature prick just because you couldn’t win some race? Well boohoo, why don’t you _at least_ try to be amiable to the girls who actually won their spot here?” her voice had turned into almost a growl. “I don’t like them any better than you, but _I’m_ not making our entire group awkward for some stupid rivalry.”

Amanda was left with her mouth open, words unable to form. _That came out of nowhere,_ she thought with some annoyance. What had she done to Sucy, or at least Sucy particularly, that made her snap like that? _I know,_ Amanda looked down, unable to say it.

She stood and went to the bathroom, which was near the entrance door. The bathtub looked more like a roman bath than anything, and the toilet was simply a bowl-looking thing. Without the tank in the back, it felt wrong. Not that she would use it right now, anyways.

The mirror was enormous, but it had been lowered so that it was in line with the sink. Amanda looked herself in it. Her bags had gotten worse, despite her having sleeping relatively well the last couple of days. They were now starting to darken. The mirror on the ship had been so uncomfortable to use that she had just decided to not use it, so this was the first time she got a good look at herself in four days.

She noticed that she was still frowning. She had been basically scowling for the past six hours without pause, so it made sense. _Man, what an asshole,_ she thought, though she wasn’t sure who she was referring to. Sucy? Diana? Hannah? Herself?

Despite not using it, she remained in the bathroom for a while. What Sucy had said felt like if a bucket of cold water had been dropped on her. She sat on the edge of the tub and let her mind wander.

 

Hannah could feel her chest burning with frustration. “I mean,” she was saying to Diana, “it’s _her_ fault, not yours,” she sounded angry. She knew she sounded angry, she _was_ angry.

“Hannah, you’ve been talking nonstop about this since yesterday,” Diana said. “Part of the fault is still mine,” she explained for the tenth time.

“No it’s not! You had just been nearly killed like five times during the race that same day! She couldn’t expect you to give it your all again!” Hannah explained. Diana sighed, understanding that arguing with an angry Hannah wouldn’t be productive. The door of the elevator opened and they walked through the building’s lobby – horribly decorated, in Hannah’s opinion – to come out. Outside they found the Shooting Star already waiting for them. Hannah put on her helmet and got ready as Diana climbed in the broom. The teacher appeared from around the corner wearing her Luna Nova uniform – if slightly darker than the normal ones – and a helmet Hannah didn’t recognize. The normal ones looked like motorcycle helmets, but with a larger visor and some lines here and there, where the materials on the outer layer overlapped with each other. Ursula’s, however, looked like if she had a polarized fishbowl on her head. All glass.

“Are you ready?” Her voice was muffled by the thing. Both Hannah and Diana stared at her wordless. They didn’t move. Hannah wondered if maybe Ursula had gone crazy for some reason. “Oh, the helmet?” She took it off – it popped softly – and stared at them. Her face was slightly blushed. “They gave it to me. Thought I’d give it a try. Is it too ridiculous?”

Hannah nodded weakly. Diana didn’t answer, but her face as she looked down showed the hints of a smile.

“Well, it’s not _that_ bad,” Hannah lied. It was awful. “Just… weird.”

Ursula sighed, putting it in the back of her little broom-cycle and taking out the normal one. “That one doesn’t have a radio, so I’ll just keep it as a souvenir, I guess,” she said with obvious disappointment in her voice. Her reactions made her look slightly like Akko. Well, like a more mature version of her. Akko would’ve probably just kept the thing on until she asphyxiated herself or something.

Without more delays, Hannah entered the broom’s turret and they started moving through the city. They didn’t go to the outside of the city, however. They moved towards the center of it. The tall metallic buildings glowing with neon lights with absurd proportions made Hannah feel as if she was in stupid toy city. Cyborgs had the aesthetic sense of a blind man, apparently.

“Seriously though, aren’t you angry with Amanda?” Hannah asked for the trillionth time.

“I’ve told you, I am,” Diana said. “But not for what she said yesterday.”

“But-”

“Hannah,” Diana sighed. “You’ve been talking _nonstop_ about this. I would greatly appreciate it if you would just let it go. I would rather hear you talk about Andrew again than this.”

Hannah blushed. Had she really been talking so much about it? It was just so… infuriating! It was as if Amanda was the only thing she could think about. How could someone be so annoying? Stupid pride, stupid determination. Diana had done nothing wrong, how could she have said what she did? Sure, Hannah was often a little too passionate about her anger, but this was completely justified!

She tried to think about Andrew, but she was just too mad for even that.

Instead, she tried to focus on the systems. She did a routine checkup. Nothing wrong. Well, she didn’t know what she expected. Maybe she was just too bored.

“Wanna try the sphere thingy when we get back?” She asked, trying to _not_ think about Amanda.

“I do find it intriguing,” Diana said. “How can a metal ‘synchronize’ with a human? And what even are those metals? I don’t know if I’d want to go in it, but I am interested in experiencing the effects it could have in my body.

“Wonder if it’s like a massage. Or even better, probably,” Hannah said.

Diana didn’t answer. It had been a shallow conversation, but in all honesty, she didn’t know what she should say. She usually talked with Barbara and Diana just offered comments at random times.

She didn’t have to think of anything else, though, because they quickly reached their destination. Hannah instantly recognized the prepared street from recordings of previous IPRs. The barricade, the heavily armed cyborg guards, the wide and absolutely empty street beyond the barricade… This was the ‘racing circuit’ the Cyborg used. It had probably changed somewhat in the past twenty years, but Hannah doubted it would be much of a change.

They approached the barricade and the guards didn’t even bother asking for any kind of identification. It was fairly obvious from the size of their ships that they were humans.

As soon as they stepped into the track, something flashed by at an incredible speed. Something completely black. Hannah instinctively aimed at it, but from behind she could see nothing but a giant wall of crimson red fire. Only broken by a little black Or, maybe it wasn’t fire?

“Seems like we aren’t the first ones here,” Ursula commented. Hannah looked around the street. This was the longest section of the track. The starting line was at the far right of it, and they would be going to the left in a straight line before entering the city proper with its many corners. Tall buildings lined the street, making it feel a little cramped, unlike Sídhe’s open spaces. Here, neon lights were lighted with blue, purple and red, always in that order. Machina’s team colors.

 “Who were those?” Hannah asked. “I don’t recall any team with those kinds of engines,” a lot of the best racers had ships without engines. Daemons, Armor, Shapeshifters and Medusas were the more obvious, though the Faerie also lacked those. Cyborgs used engines, but theirs were special. Appali also used them, though the hadn’t been to a race in ages.

“I believe they were Daemons. No other race should’ve landed here yet,” Ursula explained, though she sounded unsure. “Maybe it’s a new kind of Cyborg ship,” she obviously didn’t really believe those were daemons. They were much more practiced with Inferno than humans were with Magic, and their ships functioned without the need of engines – somehow.

“The ship was too small to be from Machina,” Diana said. “Unless they have a child piloting it,” she obviously didn’t believe this to be the case, if her voice was anything to go by.

Then, almost in unison, all of them hummed to themselves, which was transmitted through the communicators. Hannah had noticed before, but there was a small crowd of Cyborgs outside the barricade trying to get a view of what was going on in here. And, if she looked up, she noticed shadows behind the glasses – most of them polarized. _Wait_ , she realized, _they don’t have damn curtains?_ What a strange society. Now that she thought about it, the mansion-buildings in the outer parts of the city lacked shutters, too.

“Maybe we should wait until they’re finished and then get in. Wouldn’t want to have an accident,” Ursula suggested. Diana agreed with the idea.

Hannah took the chance to ask. “Hey, Diana, do these people have something against blocking their windows or something?” she asked.

Diana took a few moments to ask. “I don’t really know,” she said. “While I’ve studied a little on the planet, not much information on the society was available back home.”

Not even Diana knew, then? Damn, that was a bad signal. If she didn’t know, then no one she knew would…

“It’s religious,” Ursula said.

“Huh?” Hannah asked. She had forgotten to change to the private channel with Diana for her question.

“It’s religious. To the cyborgs, sunlight is sacred. That’s why the more rich they are, the wider their windows. The more sunlight that enters their houses, the better,” she explained. “They believe their sun – which they call _Provider_ , or at least that’s how we would translate it – is a sentient being that favors those who bathe in his light the most. It’s an interesting religion.”

Hannah was a little surprised by this. Both for the information and the fact that Ursula knew it. “Huh. So, what about the countless of other stars in the universe?” She asked.

Ursula turned to look at the guns and their cameras from her broom-cycle. “It’s a little complicated. Every single star in the sky is sentient and has a personality. Actually, their knowledge on astronomy is quite greater than mankind’s. The human scientists living in this planet are, sadly, on the other hemisphere right now, but I believe they will come to us later this week. You can probably ask them about Cyborg culture and they’ll be able to give you more complete answers.”

“But not all cyborgs have this belief, do they?” Diana asked.

“Of course not,” Ursula was quick to answer. “But it is the most widespread religion across the world. They’re all connected through the internet, you see. Or, well, their version of it.”

“Wait,” Diana sounded interested. “They have it inside their heads?”

“Basically.”

Diana didn’t say anything, but Hannah could almost hear her mind working. To Hannah that was kind of a weird concept. Having the internet inside your head? Sounded awful. The internet was one percent useful stuff, ninety-nine percent a cesspool of bad memes, edgelords who thought themselves better than anyone else and lots of shitposting. And then it was another hundred percent of cats and porn. With overlapping between the two, of course.

“How long is the circuit, again?” Hannah asked. With the tight turns due to the layout of the streets, no ship could go particularly fast. Breaking a wall or two was acceptable, but doing it too much could get you disqualified. She had asked wondering just how much it would take for the mysterious racer to appear. From what she recalled, the race could take up to fifteen minutes. But if one was practicing and not having to worry about others, it could probably be less.

“I don’t know the exact data, but it does go around the entire center of the city. Smaller than the Seelie Court, but it makes up with its restrictive layout,” Ursula explained. “While piloting, Diana, I suggest you always keep your feet on the gear down pedal. I’ve noted you’re the kind of pilot to go for moves that don’t hinder their speed too much, and it works on open spaces, but here, a good timed stop will do you much better than a well placed burst of speed. Remember, this won’t be a one-on-one,” that had been a little unnecessary. They didn’t need to be reminded of the fact that they’d be racing another nine ships at once. It was daunting enough as it was. “And Hannah, you’ll need to be keener. You can’t warn Diana the moment you see an attack coming, you need to learn to predict them, ok?”

“Yes,” Hannah felt a little weird. Was Ursula coaching them?

“If I may ask,” Diana said, “why is it that you decided to start teaching us now?”

Basically the same Hannah had thought. Ursula smiled, curiously enough. “I wanted to see how you performed without my interference. I needed to get a hang of how you flied and worked together,” she explained. “And, while you’re remarkable, and probably better than many of the pro-racers I know back on earth, you’re far from perfect.”

Diana didn’t say anything else. Hannah found this strange. Usually, Diana would’ve asked either for more advice or shrugged off the praise as exaggeration. What was she thinking about? Hard to tell.

“It would also be best if you girls could try to fix your relationship with the green team,” Ursula said. Hannah frowned instantly. “I know teenagers can be a little… emotional, but these kinds of things can be as much of a burden as lack of sleep or some injury.”

“We’ll do it,” Diana said before Hannah had the chance to tell Ursula to mind her own business. Diana’s approach had probably been the correct one, but all Hannah knew was that she _wouldn’t_ do it.

She kept the thought to herself, though. Great, now she was in a bad mood again.

The mysterious ship appeared again. “Wait, what-” Hannah looked at the clock: It had barely been four minutes, “the hell?”

“That was certainly fast,” Diana commented. And, as the mysterious ship approached more, Hannah frowned. It was vaguely triangular in shape, but with a couple of smooth indents on the sides, and it lacked wings. It was also rather flat looking, and while Hannah had already noticed, it had a couple of massive engines behind, leaving some space between them. Around its bodywork it had red glass spheres.

Hannah felt her stomach sinking. It was bigger, and proportionally longer, not to mention black and red as opposed to white and green, but that sure looked like…

“The Shiny Rod,” Ursula was the first one to voice it.


	23. Chapter 23

Ursula felt a chill running down her spine. _Impossible,_ she thought as she recognized the shape of the black ship.

The ship came to a stop just a few meters from there. As it shut off, three little wheels deployed, and the ship went down. “Well, it’s obviously just a cheap knockoff,” Hannah commented. “It can’t float permanently like the real one.”

Ursula sighed with relief. Maybe they had just copied the design for some reason. Yes, of course no one could actually emulate the real- “The wheels,” Diana pointed out, “are too small to actually be able to hold it up. It may not be exactly like the Shiny Rod, but…”

With dread, Ursula had to admit she was right. They were too thin and small. Unless this black Shiny Rod was somehow absurdly light, it had managed to achieve at least partially the same as the original model. And that was a _big_ problem. The cockpit of this ship – polarized, of course. Ursula felt like she had barely seen any non-polarized glass since she’d arrived at the city – opened, showing the pilot inside. A bipedal, humanoid creature stepped on top of it. Its skin was almost completely black, monotony only broken by red dots at the points of its many horn-like protrusions all around its body. Well, not ‘it’, ‘him’, or at least that’s what the race had wanted humans to call them like, probably because they had come to associate humanity’s males with ‘strength’. A Daemon, and a mean looking one at that. Daemons didn’t have sexual dimorphism, so their entire race was completely made of basically sexless beings. He didn’t have a single strand of hair, but his eyes were electric blue. _Entirely_ electric blue. No iris, no pupil. And they were also completely round, unlike the more elongated eyes from humans. He had a nose, but his mouth had no visible lips, and Ursula knew for a fact it would open in another perfect circle, showing rings of teeth inside that would completely tear apart anything that entered in it. He had only three fingers in each hand in a triangle formation, not unlike the claw of a crane, and both arms and legs were a little too long for human standards, opposing a relatively smaller head proportionally. He had also a horn in the middle of the forehead. Not two Daemons had the same shape and amount of protrusions, kind of like fingerprints to humans, but Ursula knew it was unusual for them to have any on their heads. He wore no clothes, but he lacked any kind of obvious genitals.

“Humans,” he said as he jumped off his knockoff Shiny Rod, “I greet you.”

The translation device worked rather well with daemon language, but it made a horrible job at conveying how… grind-ish his voice sounded. Like fingernails scraping blackboards. Ursula stood, stepping closer to him. She extended her hand. He looked at it for a second with his pure blue eyes and, after some deliberation, took it. The shake took longer than Ursula expected or wanted. His hand felt rather cold to the touch. “Hello. I’m Ursula. What’s your name?”

“I’m Horn,” he said. Again, as with the lady cyborg earlier, the translation device had probably picked up the meaning of the word. “Pleasure to meet you, **_Ursula._ ”**

Ursula was taken aback by the fact that Horn had managed to pronounce the name in his horrible, chilling voice.

She tried to get over it. While many people feared the Daemon, mostly because of their appearance, they weren’t more aggressive than humanity. Sure, they’d had their wars and one of their teams in a previous race had been a little more violent than needed, but then again, Earth’s fourth team had almost killed another competitor by finding a loophole in the rules – they shot the _support_ of the ship’s engine, not the engine itself.

True humanity right there.

“Same for you, Horn,” She hoped the translation device didn’t modify his name. When a race had many words for a single thing, the translations could get a little crazy. In the past, Ursula had been called “carriage” more than once. Humans often called her that as an insult nowadays, probably because of this.

“You’ll have to excuse our… Inspiration in your own ships for this year’s race,” he pointed at the knockoff, “but I believe you’ll agree with me when I say, we did a pretty good job.” It was hard to read him - Daemon didn’t show emotion with their faces, but only with their body language – but Ursula was sure he was making fun of her.

“It is interesting,” she refrained from remarking the differences in designs, like the split engine or the flatter top, “I have to wonder, though, did you figure it out all on your own?” No one had blueprints for the Shiny Rod. They didn’t exist. If they had managed to get it down so well with just observation, Ursula feared what would happen if they ever got a closer look at the legendary broom.

“Well, we did have some help,” he explained. Was he being sassy or was Ursula reading too much into it? “But a lot of it is actually ours. You will find out during the race…” Suddenly, from below the black ship, another daemon appeared. This one was shorter than Horn, and had more protrusions on the stomach level, opposite to Horn’s more crowded shoulders. Curiously enough, this one had horns sticking out of the tip of its fingers, making them look a lot more like claws. “Ah, let me introduce you to my gunman,” he said. “This is-” this time, the translator device couldn’t pick up the meaning of the word. The name, to Ursula’s ears, was a mixture of a screech and grinding noises that, at least in her estimation, sounded a lot like ‘greed.’ With the e's extended for a while. So, more like “Greeeeeeed”.

Ursula nodded to the newcomer, who’s eyes were far darker than the pilot’s. “Then, are you done using the track? Would you mind if we practiced?”

“Of course not,” the Daemon stepped to the side, gentlemanly pointing to the street. “I do have to point out, I don’t see your First Categories around.”

“They decided it would be best for them to practice after some rest,” Ursula lied. Horn’s shoulders perked up.

“I see. Would you wish to have a training partner?” He asked. Of course, it was just a way of studying them. But the same could be said for the humans. If Ursula agreed to this, they could get a much better idea of just how close this knockoff was to the real deal.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Diana said. Ursula nodded. She had probably reached the same conclusion. Horn looked at Ursula with some impatience, shown through small twitches of his fingers and legs. After some deliberation, Ursula concluded that it couldn’t be that bad.

“Same rules as the official races?” She asked, just to be certain.

“Of course. No shooting at engines or cockpits, if a ship is down you can’t keep attacking,” those were the most basic of rules. They had some extra explanations in the official book, but they narrowed down to that.

Ursula nodded, extending her hand. “Then let’s have a little practice race. No grudges against the winner, of course.”

“Of course,” Horn said, shaking her hand again and turning around. “By the way, the name of our ship, it’s **_Noir Rod,”_** he pronounced the name with his own voice, somehow. Ursula shivered. It was easy to see why those things had inspired stories to scare children.

“So we’re going to be running against the bootleg Shiny Rod?” Hannah asked.

“Yes,” Ursula remained in place, looking as the Noir Rod hovered away. _Noir. He used noir. That was a French word. The official Earth language is English, so why use French? Do they know who I am? My origins?_

She pressed her lips. This whole thing was giving her a bad vibe.

 

Diana stretched her fingers. The g-suit fixed any friction problems that could’ve arisen due to continuous piloting, but the fingers could still get a little tired. The Shooting Star hovered in place at the starting line, next to the Noir Rod. Black Rod. What an original name. Why was it on human language? One would’ve thought they’d at least put something according to their race.

Ursula was at the side, behind the barricades. She had her wand on hand, and there was a little _spell_ floating between the racers. A noise spell, which could reproduce in absurd volumes basically any sound.

One beep.

Two beeps.

Three beeps.

Gunshot.

The start, the long, straight line, was where Diana _had_ to get the advantage. She instantly went at full speed.

The Noir Rod _shot her down_.

It hadn’t been a second. No, it hadn’t been half a second. Diana had pressed the pedal, got ahead, and her wing had _instantly_ been severed. The Shooting Star hadn’t even gotten a chance at gaining speed. It hit the street, skidding for a while and grinding against the floor before coming to a stop. Diana hit her head, but she was, of course, wearing the helmet. She still felt disoriented. She looked to the side, where her left came to a halt a little ahead of them. “What just happened?” Hannah’s voice came through the communicator.

Diana, shocked, stuttered. “T-they…” she took a few seconds to process things. The Noir Rod stopped in front of the destroyed broom and the daemon pilot opened his cockpit and stood on the broom while it was still on the air.

“I suppose this is our win,” he said. He wasn’t particularly loud, but the shooting star’s systems still worked, picking up his high pitched voice. Diana swallowed with a dry throat. She couldn’t move. Shooting someone down at the start of the race wasn’t illegal, of course, but it wasn’t a widespread practice. Particularly for Daemons, who usually cared so much about having proper competitions.

But, in every society there were those who deviated from the standard. “You asshole!” Hannah jumped out of the emergency exit of the turret. “That was your idea of a fair race?”

His fingers wiggled. “It is not my fault, young lady, that you were so predictable,” the other daemon came from under the ship, rolling his shoulder.

“I just aimed at where I believed you would be. I was kind of surprised to find that I hit,” he explained. Hannah said nothing, turning around and forcing open the cockpit. She looked down at Diana with a mixture of rage and worry.

“Are you ok?” she asked, hesitant. Diana nodded, taking the offered hand to get out. She looked at the daemons, and something dawned on her. _They’re better than me._ It was not only how they had predicted her, their entire demeanor spoke of years of piloting.

“You’re the Second Categories, right?” the pilot said. “Don’t feel so bad for your loss. We _are_ First Category, after all,” he explained.

It didn’t help. It didn’t help one single bit. Diana was still wordless. She could barely think. Their shot, it had been so… _perfect._ She should’ve seen it coming. Of course she was going to try and take the advantage at the first moment. Everyone did that in the races here. But before it had been about who did it better. These daemons, however, they just took the chance to take Diana out.

She removed her helmet, running a hand through her hair. The city smelled rather nice, in her opinion. Kind of like eucalyptus. A soft breeze cooled her head as she tried, and failed, to gather herself. “Good race,” she managed to say before robotically getting down from the now unpilotable broom.

She walked away, not slowing as Hannah scrambled after her. “Diana, you sure you’re fine?” Hannah asked.

“I am,” she said, bringing a hand up to her chin. “But now I wonder if Akko will be.”

 

Akko panicked. Anyone would, had they been swallowed by a ball. It didn’t help, not one bit. She noticed she couldn’t breathe, but somehow that didn’t matter. It felt unnatural, but then again, she was in some kind of weird alien metallic ball.

Time passed, and as it passed, she felt more and more relaxed. Eventually, she fell asleep.

And when she woke up, she was in the hands of Amanda and Jasminka, who were pulling her out of the sphere. All of her muscles felt… wrong. Loose. Weak. She felt as if she was really, really tired. So much so that she took a few moments to process that Amanda was trying to say something to her.

“Akko,” she repeated. “You alive?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled. Her feet finally came out of the sphere, hitting the floor. Amanda tried to make her stand, but her knees gave up and she was forced to keep helping. She and Jasminka brought her back to one of the couches near the windows of the room. Akko was too weak to try and turn around and look out the window, but the glimpse she’d gotten had been impressive. Their building was higher than the ones surrounding, allowing a nice view of the city – one Akko would enjoy as her body started working.

“Akko, pal, stay with me,” Amanda shook her a little. “You look as if you’d just been fucked mindless,” she paused to think about what she had said. “Let’s leave metaphors aside. You sure that thing isn’t made of some kind of weed?”

“Wouldn’t know. Haven’t ever tried it,” Akko said. “Not planning to, either.” Her mother had been very thorough in explaining her how her life would go in a downwards spiral of chaos and mishaps the second she ever so much as stared at a joint for too long from a hundred meter distance. It seemed fair enough.

“Well, at least you’re fine,” she seemed a lot more relaxed than earlier, which was nice. Slowly, too, Akko felt her body get into motion. Her fingers started responding, along with her toes. And, what before had been tiredness had now faded, leaving behind a strange energy. Akko’s troubles didn’t seem as bad anymore. She felt cheerful, even.

“What was that thing, anyways?” Akko pointed at the sphere.

“Long story. In short, it’s a massage machine,” Amanda summarized rather inaccurately. Akko didn’t know this, though, so she nodded with interest. It made sense, to her, since her muscles were indeed very relaxed.

“Where’re Diana, Hannah and Ursula?” She asked, noticing they were the only ones not in sight in the giant room. Lotte and Barbara were arguing over something, while Sucy was doing some kind of experiment, as always. Constanze was not in sight right now, but Akko had seen her disappear behind the enormous bar that was near the door.

“Went to train, since you were too busy doing nothing,” Amanda said. Akko blushed. That was right, they were supposed to start training as soon as they got here…

The door opened, and three figures strode into the room. Diana’s first thing was approach Akko and look down on her. “If you’re done goofing off,” she said in a serious tone. “I believe you should use every second of every day training, if you want to _survive_ the next race.”

Akko frowned. “What?” Diana’s hair was slightly unkempt, which was weird for her. She was sweating and breathing slightly heavier than she normally did. “Are you ok? You look… worked up.”

“I am,” she said without hesitation. “We walked back while the repair crew retrieved the Shooting Star,” she explained.

“Wait, what?” Amanda said. “The repair crew? What happened to the Shooting Star?”

“Lost a wing.”

“How?”

“We’ll explain everything later,” Ursula said in a kinder voice, approaching. She looked better than Diana, far better in fact, but something about her expression was off. Hannah stood near the door, waiting for them. They really intended to go right back out. “For now, Diana is right, Akko. You’re going to need every bit of training you can have.”

Akko was starting to feel a little suffocated. All three of them looked shaken. Particularly from Diana, this didn’t feel like a good omen. Whatever had happened had to be big. “Can I at least get a summary?” She asked, hopeful. Diana sighed in annoyance.

She still obliged. “We raced- No, we _tried_ to race a copycat of the Shiny Rod. And the pilot is far better than me, which means he’s _absurdly_ better than _you.”_

Akko got slightly annoyed at the comment, but Diana was obviously in some sort of distress and probably hadn’t meant it in an offensive way. “I’d ask again, but if you’re gonna be like that, can I at least get something to drink? I’m thirsty.”

Diana raised a finger, as if she had expected some kind of discussion, but was surprised when there wasn’t one. In fact, Amanda seemed on the verge of just straight up tackling Diana for what she had said, but she held back.

Ursula went around the bar and came out with a bottle of water. “Since we’re on the topic, just remember not to drink water here. It’s as poisonous as the food, even if it looks the same. And be very careful if you want to take showers. Make sure none of it gets into your mouth, nose or eyes, and if you have any wounds…”

“I got it, I got it,” Akko managed to move her arm and grab the bottle. She drank it all in a single go. “Ok,” she tested her legs. They seemed strong enough. She managed to stand, but she stumbled. Diana caught her with a stare that could cut through diamonds.

“All of your muscles are relaxed. You’re not used to the lack of tension,” she said, though it appeared to be a general comment, not directed at Akko. With a sigh, Diana let Akko go.

When Akko managed to stand on her own, she took a step. Weird, but at least she could walk. She took another one. This was going to take a while, but there was a slight spring to her feet. She was getting the hang of it. Diana sighed and walked ahead. However, she stopped and turned. “Would you care if I help you?”

“I’m fine,” Akko instantly replied. She could do this alone. With another sigh, Diana turned again and left. Akko noticed her hands were strangely stiff to her sides. Amanda walked next to Akko’s slowly increasing pace. They reached the door and, by the time they were midway to the elevator, Akko’s walk was normal speed. Hannah had been mumbling something about her stupidity, but Akko didn’t care none. She felt absolutely, positively, completely and incredibly wonderful. She tried some stretches, and it was as if her body had been unleashed from invisible chains she didn’t know she had before.

_We need to get one of those to take home,_ Akko thought. What a cool thing.

After exiting the building, Akko waved her wand and the Shiny Rod appeared in the middle of the street. Despite that first teleport where it had destroyed a simulator, it hadn’t ever crashed into anything else. Maybe that had only happened the first time ‘cause the Rod was rusty or something.

However, as soon as it appeared, something fell from the air. Akko jumped forward with an exclamation, worried, but paused.

It was an animal. It kind of looked like a bird. It was big. Akko-sized big. Its feathers were absurdly long. The ones sprawling from the neck went all the way down to its tail – a short one, not longer than Akko’s hand - and the feathers on the tail extended a full body length behind it. However, the wings on its two pairs of wings were shorter. Two of them came out of the back, while the other two appeared to come out of its butt. Its beak, straight and pointy, appeared to be made out of gold, which contrasted well with its dark blue feathers. It had big eyes, in proportion to the face, completely black except for some colorful dots here and there.

“What is that?” Amanda was the first to ask.

“Why, that’s a-” the cyborg guarding the door of the building said its name, but it didn’t get translated. To Akko, it sounded like ‘okkorin’ or something like that. She hadn’t heard particularly well either. “It means ‘Metal Bird’! It’s our national bird!” He sounded really excited as he said that. Akko, who understood how languages worked, noticed the difference in pronunciation even through the translator. That meant, the original name probably came from an older cyborg language and they had just kept it. “Seeing one in the city is strange, though. You’re in luck!”

Akko marveled at the majestic creature. It had three legs, curiously enough, all of them like little black sticks coming from under it. Each of them had only one finger and a talon with claws as golden as the beak.

“What does it eat?” Diana asked, curious.

“It eats mostly rocks, but the raw bits of minerals on them goes to their beaks and claws, making them look like that,” the guard explained. Diana seemed to be wanting to say more, but she refrained. Akko nodded. It was an alien, it didn’t strange her that it could eat rocks. Didn’t Armor eat rocks too?

Amanda looked around. “Tch, there’s no rocks around.”

“You wanna feed it?” Akko asked. It sounded fun.

“I want to get it away from our damn broom. Look, it’s scratching it.”

It was, in fact. Akko hadn’t noticed, but the claws had created scratches in the… paint? Behind the white was more white. The scratch was visible because it glowed slightly with magic. “They’re harmless,” the cyborg said, “only attack us if we try to feed them organic stuff.”

Akko cringed. Those claws were sharp, and her instinct told her that they would be as hard as metal. That beak, too. Did cyborgs hunt? She was certain humans would’ve hunted them down for how cool they were.

“We don’t have time to mess with this bird,” Hannah said, walking towards the Blue Star, which was waiting in front of the Shiny Rod. Diana snapped out of her trance-like admiration of the bird, nodding and following.

“I don’t want to start the broom if that thing’s still on it…” Akko mumbled, but she approached. As the cyborg had said, it didn’t do anything to her as she climbed on the broom. In fact, it seemed curious. Akko looked it in the eyes, beak to nose, and found that the little dots of color inside them were moving independently from each other. Some of them were pointed to Akko, while others pointed at Amanda as she moved. Akko cocked her head at this, and the Metal Bird mimicked her.

“He likes you!” The guard claimed. Akko wondered how he knew, but she disregarded it as something he had said just because she had gotten close to it.

She entered the cockpit, and as she sat, the Metal Bird took a few steps closer to her. She closed the windshield as the bird looked at her curiously.

Then, she started the broom. The bird didn’t seem scared at all, but just mildly annoyed, as it rose to the standard two meters in the air. With a flap of wings, it lazily took off to the skies, long feather on the tail looking like a trail of blue light as it reflected the neons of the city.

Ursula started guiding them with her broom-cycle, and as they moved, she started explaining in more detail.

“The demons built a copy of the Shiny Rod,” she said, despite the fact that Akko had kind of completely forgotten about that. Akko hummed in acknowledgement to prompt her to continue. “It seems to work similarly, but we didn’t get much of a chance to see it in action. It took down the Shooting Star in a single shot an instant after the race started,” she had on her explanation voice, but Akko could tell something else was in her mind.

“How did they build a copy of the ship, though? I thought Chariot claimed there were no blueprints of the ship and that people should stop offering her money to buy them,” she remembered that interview. It had been a funny one.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “But just by what little we saw, it seems they’re close to the real thing. They used a laser to completely cut the Shooting Star’s wing. It was… powerful.”

“Isn’t it illegal or something? Copying other’s ships…” Amanda sounded annoyed.

“Well, it hasn’t really happened before,” Ursula explained. “And most races can’t actually copy each other. The methods by which we have all achieved this level of technology differ greatly from society to society. It just happens that Inferno is absurdly similar to Magic in its workings, so they could probably use it to emulate the Rod,” as her explanation went on, she sounded more and more worried. “Their Noir Rod – that’s what they called it – definitely got close to the Shiny Rod. It had some semblance of permanent floating – it was just weaker than the Rod’s. But we don’t know the extent of its capabilities. It could be some kind of trick.”

“Well… Why do we care, anyways?” Akko asked. She felt like she should be angry, but she wasn’t. She could feel the stares looking at her, despite the fact that no one was actually looking. The silence was enough to tell. “I mean, it’s just a copy, it can’t be better than the original.”

“Akko, that’s not how…” Diana sighed. “Anyways, even if it isn’t better, I can assure you, the pilot _is._ Akko, he’s got experience, I could tell. Far more than you. Whatever his ship lacks he can probably make up for with training.” Even through the communicator, Akko heard a sense of defeat to her voice. “It completely read me. Just imagine what he would do with you.”

Again, Akko understood this comment probably came from a place of worry. It didn’t really help her self esteem.

“Maybe you’re just a bad pilot,” Amanda suggested. Diana didn’t bother answering. “In any case,” Amanda continued, “I agree with Akko, who cares if they copied the Shiny Rod? A good ship can only take you so far, it’s the pilot that matters.”

“You saying you could beat the Shiny Rod with a HFV-1800?” Hannah asked with a snort. Akko had no idea what that meant.

“If you’re going to come with ships from sixty years ago just ask me if I can beat it with a car,” Amanda snorted back. “You yourself proved my point a couple times already. The Shooting Star is inferior to the Shiny Rod, yet you’ve beaten Akko more than once.”

“And the Daemon with the copy beat me,” Diana repeated.

“Point _is,”_ Amanda spoke exaggeratedly, “we just have to become better. Well, Akko does, since I don’t really know what I do most of the time whenever the turret is activated.”

Through the communicator came a mumbled ‘as if’ form Hannah, but no one paid attention to it as Ursula started speaking. Half of her hair stuck out of the helmet and whipped behind her in the wind, and it was obviously tied in a ponytail. “Which is why we’re going to practice as much as we can,” she said. She sounded determined, but worried.

Akko tried not to think too hard about the whole thing. Maybe it was because she hadn’t seen it, but some second-rate Shiny Rod would certainly never match the original!

 

Amanda activated the shield. The Blue Star was the enemy. As they raced through the city of neon and wood, all that mattered was making sure Akko was ok. With a mere thought, Amanda shot two bullets in the Blue Star’s direction – in front of them, turning left in a tight hundred and thirty degree, where a crossroad of five different streets had been barricaded so that only this one remained activated. Back on Earth, cutting a portion of the city like this would’ve been very impractical, as the majority of vehicles hovered instead of flied.

The Shiny Rod could fly, under the right circumstances. She knew this instinctively. The Blue Star dodged her shots, but the point wasn’t trying to take it down, but hinder its turn so that Akko could gain some advantage. It didn’t work, as the Blue Star managed to turn in just the right way to avoid both projectiles. Amanda wasn’t allowed to tell Akko about all the things the Shiny Rod could do. She wasn’t ready.

“Akko, you’re focusing too much on trying to get past Diana and not enough in actually piloting,” Ursula’s voice came through the communicator. Amanda barely heard them, but she understood them. She was right. Akko was so focused on trying to get ahead that she kept trying to gain speed on the short straights of the city and then having to take wide turns because of it, losing time instead.  The Blue Star was definitely better at curves than the Shiny Rod. Or, well, better than the Shiny Rod in its current state.

From time to time, Amanda shot. Sometimes lasers, sometimes magic bullets. She wasn’t taking it too seriously – she sensed Akko’s reluctance to hurting Diana, therefore she held back – but she couldn’t explain to Akko that. Her seven eyes watched the city pass, but Amanda wasn’t bored. In fact, she didn’t feel anything. She wasn’t allowed to feel. All her feelings were Akko’s, and Akko’s feelings were almost as important as her direct orders.

Well, almost. There was an underlying rage in Amanda that the Shiny Rod hadn’t been able to quell. It had been dampened, a lot, but deep inside it was still there. However, after the outer layers of superficial anger had been stripped away, all that had been left was the core. A core of rage frothing inside her chest, little tendrils tied around her heart. It was almost suffocating. She wasn’t angry at Diana, or Hannah. Those were excuses, ways of projecting her anger in ways she could deal with on a normal basis. It wasn’t even her mistake at messing up the selection, ending up as a gunman instead of a pilot. No, it went deeper. It was rage at her life, at her family. At her grandmother specifically.

Akko bumped into one of the side barricades. Amanda felt a stab of pain in her body, though it wasn’t her _actual_ body. “Akko, did you hear what I said?” Ursula asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Akko said. However, she made no efforts to slow down. They were now in a relatively long straight – not half as long as the starting one, but double in length as the standard seemed to be in this track – and Akko pressed the nitro, trying to gain on Diana. “Akko, no!” Ursula said.

Amanda understood why Ursula had said that. Akko almost collided with the Blue Star, but Diana elegantly lowered her right wing and allowed Akko to fly past. Akko let out an exclamation of victory before realizing she had made a horrible mistake.

The Shiny Rod hit the tall, metallic barricade at the end of the street. A defense mechanism activated instantly, a giant airbag suddenly bursting from the ground and catching the Shiny Rod before it could crash into the building beyond. The airbag was made of some sort of metal, so it managed to hold the Shiny Rod as it shut down.

Amanda felt her consciousness being shoved back into her body, and when she snapped into reality, the broom was shaking and moving strangely.

“Akko?” She asked. “The hell’s going on?” She asked, confused. It was really annoying to just wake up as if from a dream whenever the Shiny Rod shut down, particularly when it was in weird situations.

“I just crashed,” Akko said with annoyance. Soon after, Amanda heard the sound of another engine nearby, and assumed it would be the Blue Star. “Damn steering is broken or something.”

“Or maybe,” Diana’s voice came through the communicator. “You should’ve listened to Ursula’s advice, Akko. She is our coach for a reason.”

“Yeah but if I don’t go fast how will I ever catch you?”

“Remember what I told you about slowing in curves?”

“Yah.”

“Well, just imagine all of those little straights count as curves too,” Diana explained. “For you to make the turns efficiently, you need to learn to handle your speed first.”

Amanda could _see_ the arrogance through the radio, and she wished to tell her to fuck off and leave Akko alone. _You’re acting like an immature prick._ The thought assaulted her mind, stopping her. Sucy had a point. As much of an egotistic ass as Diana was being, she at least kept being civil. Not that Amanda would ever say sorry, but she could probably keep her comments to herself.

“Amanda,” Ursula commented. “When shooting, always aim to take a ship down. Don’t hold back just because you know Diana. She’ll need the practice at dodging.”

“I don’t even know what I do when-”

“I know,” Ursula interrupted her. “But I’m certain you’ll be able to keep it in mind.”

Amanda was starting to grow tired of being trapped in here. However, it did remind her of something… “Hey Akko, while we’re at it, why don’t you ask Alcor about things?”

Akko sounded confused as she replied. “Asking about what?”

Amanda tried not to sigh too strongly. This was Akko she was talking to. She needed things explained to her with drawings half of the time. “I’m talking about all the weird shit the Shiny Rod can do,” she started. “Perma-float, how it doesn’t need refueling, why the heck it keeps wiping my memory. Stuff like that.”

“Oh. Yes, I guess I could,” she cleared her throat. “Hey, Alcor?”

**Yes, not-Chariot,** the bird replied immediately.

“Why does Amanda lose her memory whenever she comes out of the turret?”

Alcor took a few moments to answer. **Password needed.**

“What?” Amanda cried out. “You birdbrain, answer us!  What password? How the hell are we supposed to get a damn password for a ship that’s not even ours?” Of course, there was no answer for her. She grunted in frustration. Would she be cursed to forever lose her memory of whatever went on the ship? “Also, can we please get moving, Akko? Don’t activate the turret please, I just want to get out of here.”

Akko didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she asked another thing. “Alcor, what’s the energy source of the Shiny Rod?”

**Password needed,** the familiar replied. Yeah, of course. Amanda wondered why did it need a password. It already didn’t answer to anyone but Akko anyways, so what was the point?

“Ehm… Noctu Orfei Aude Freator?” Akko tried.

The ship suddenly moved and shifted, stopping as suddenly as it had moved.

“Did we teleport?” Amanda asked. She’d be giving Akko a flat look if she could.

“Yep, back to the hotel” Akko answered nonchalantly. She repeated the words, and when they reappeared, Amanda kicked the floor and got out of the broom. They were back in the track, though a little further down the street than where they had been. Ursula turned to them with relief. “Well that wasn’t the password, obviously. Chariot probably knew it, and that’s why she could do a lot of cool stuff we can’t…” She sounded more amused by her idea than annoyed, like Amanda was.

“Stupid piece of scrap,” Amanda grunted. She took off her helmet – completely cutting off her communication with the others – and started looking around. The buildings here were tall. It felt like being in the center of any metropolis, but after having shrunk to half your normal size. Not that the neon lights helped, making everything look like out of some cartoon. However, something did catch her eye. The sky was changing colors. Where it had been a star-covered black, it was now turning a greenish grey. A couple stars were visible, though most of them had already disappeared. One of those stars was almost definitely red, and it twinkled with energy.

Dumb Shiny Rod. Amanda hadn’t really expected to get a straight answer out of it but a damn password? Come on! Whoever built that thing was stupid. Had Chariot ever figured it out? Maybe the password would unlock the blueprints of the broom, that would probably be worth to put behind a password… But what about hacking? No matter how good the security was, there was no way-

Amanda smiled mischievously. She had just gotten the idea of the century.

She turned to find Ursula hovering slowly in her direction. “Are you better?”

“No,” she said. “Damn ship won’t give us answers, and Akko fails to grasp basic piloting concepts.”

“If you wish for us to take a break…”

“We already took one, right now,” She sighed. She wondered, wouldn’t the buildings, with their metal paintworks, get _really_ hot during day? She didn’t really know if paint worked that way, but she felt like it probably did. “Let’s just get this over with,” she turned to go back to the Rod.

“Amanda,” Ursula made her stop. “If it helps, I think you’d be a great pilot,” she explained. “I’m sure you’d have gotten an amazing score, should you have been allowed to compete, back on Earth.”

Her comment gave Amanda some pause. “Would you let me practice with the Shooting Stars?” She turned to the blue haired woman. She shifted uncomfortably at the question.

“I’ll… think about it,” she said. “There are many reasons why I should say no,” while saying this, Amanda got the strange feeling she wasn’t just talking about bureaucratic reasons, “but if the opportunity arises, I will let you do it.”

“Opportunities like the magic storm?”

“Yes!” She answered, making Amanda frown. “I mean, kind of. I can’t promise you’ll really get the chance, but, well, a couple times shouldn’t hurt _too_ much.” Hurt? Was she assuming Amanda would somehow harm the shooting stars? Or was she talking about general pain for those involved? She took off her helmet, staring her in the eyes. “But, if I’m going to let you do that, you _should_ try to cool down your temper. You let your emotions rule you too much.”

“I’m not half as bad as Akko,” Amanda replied, crossing her arms.

“And Akko is not half as bad as a baby,” Ursula crossed her arms back. “No one mentioned her.”

Amanda grunted. She wasn’t wrong. “I’ll see what I can do. But you should speak to Diana about getting off her damn high horse,” she made a fist with the hand that wasn’t holding her helmet. Maybe, if Diana didn’t make comments that so often annoyed her, she wouldn’t be always annoyed.

She walked away, not waiting for Ursula’s reply. Instead she tried to focus on the good idea she had gotten.

She just needed to get one tiny girl to help her.

 

Diana lay on bed, feeling defeated. She had done a good time of the track, but Akko had crashed another two times. She could understand where the brunette was coming from, the sheer need to accelerate, but the lack of foresight on her still surprised Diana. It was as if Akko couldn’t or just wouldn’t try to plan ahead. She was the impersonation of living in the present. Except maybe with her obsession with Chariot.

The sky outside had turned a beautiful golden. The sunrise hadn’t quite finished yet, and from her bed – the one she’d have to share with the other team members – she could see out the enormous windows. The sun was rising right in front of them, and from here, it looked _green._ Golden sky that would, apparently, turn into a more yellowy color as the day advanced, and the sun would go from the mint green it was now to a soft cyan. The vision of the city from this height was amazing, too. With the neon lights having been turned off, the city was nothing but a silhouette against the sky. Lotte was, in fact, making sure her little camera spell took photos of it.

“What an amazing view,” Hannah said, laying next to Diana at about an arm’s length. “Green sun, huh?”

Diana didn’t answer. Those kinds of comments were barely conversation starters, and she didn’t want to bother. Plus, Hannah already knew Diana well enough. Her comment had been a statement, not a real attempt at chatting. Diana was bothered by Akko. She seemed a little too eager. Maybe the presence of another Shiny Rod pushed her to be more reckless than before? Hard to know. Ursula had told Diana to get some sleep, while Akko remained to practice some more. Ursula wanted to try and explain things to her without her trying to compete with Diana in hopes that maybe it’d stick that way.

Hopefully she’d manage to take away some of Akko’s stupid recklessness. Diana could try too, but as of now, the bed was so comfortable and the stress of what had happened earlier had her on edge and…

_“Diana,” a voice called. She rolled her eyes, she just wanted to sleep. “Diana, you’re going to be late,” the voice was worried and obviously uncomfortable. Was that Barbara?_

_“Barbara, I have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about, but I believe you’ve mistaken the times. We have nothing to attend to,” Diana said. Her eyes were closed. When had she closed her eyes?_

_“Barbara? What? Diana, are you ok?” Diana felt a hand on her forehead, and she opened her eyes with a flat look. The long hair at first did make her think it was Barbara, but when her vision cleared, she found a disheveled brown hair and tired red eyes over her. Akko had her I-just-woke-up face mixed with a worried one, and her hand was still on Diana’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever, I think. And I don’t know how you would’ve gotten sick, anyways. Maybe it’s an alien virus or something…” She yawned._

_“Akko!” Diana suddenly realized what was going on. “How are you here, how did you arrive so fast?”_

_“Diana, I think you’re hallucinating,” Akko got down from bed and took her suit._

_Diana wondered if she was right. She had just closed her eyes, but she was starting to realize, what she had felt as a simple blink had been several hours of sleep._

_Indeed, if she looked out now, the cyan sun was up in the sky. It was a lot more saturated than she imagined, and a lot less…. bright. The metal city sparkled in the sunlight, and below their level, a lot more of flying vehicles moved around, giving life to the city. It had been pretty active at night, but now, Diana suspected that she could jump out the window and she’d have an incredibly good chance of surviving by falling on those flying vehicles. Well, as long as she hit one of the slow ones._

_“What is it that we’re late for?” Diana asked. She didn’t feel rested at all. Hours or not, it had felt as a mere second. Usually, when sleeping, you could tell you had done it and how long it had been, or had an approximate. Diana had never been through something like this before._

_“The opening ceremony!”_

_Wait, was it?_

_Akko moved to the bathroom, coming out after an eye blink wearing Earth’s uniform, the green and blue one they’d been given for official matters. With a sigh, Diana took hers – the white one – and went to change._

_The bathroom was small, like the ones in the ship, but she managed to get changed and come out. The sky was a beautiful golden color, and a blue bird was looking out the window with her._

_Then, it clicked._

_“I’m dreaming?” She looked at her hands. Yes, her uniform wasn’t really white, was it? And where had the bird come from? A vivid dream, and a lucid one too. How absolutely strange. She didn’t let her emotions get out of control. Lucid dreaming, as she had learned, depended on you being able to keep a level head. What a strange sensation._

_She looked back, and now that she had realized her mistake, Akko was back to wearing the black and green horrible uniform from this iteration of the race. “You’ve got your uniform the wrong way,” Diana pointed out. Akko had her zipper on the back, which would be impossible in real life. Well, maybe not for Akko._

_“It’s fine, it’s fine. Come on, we’re late!” Akko exited the room. Diana followed carefully. It was strange, realizing you were in a dream, trying to keep dreaming. Still, she could slowly feel her consciousness more and more agitated. She’d wake up soon. Realizing this, she tried to play around. She increased her speed. She was still walking, but she caught up to Akko in a second. Akko looked kind of fuzzy now, and her face was slightly different from what Diana remembered._

_They reached the elevator, and it lead directly into a city square. It was definitely an Earth one at that. Of course it would, after all, Diana hadn’t seen any of those around Wood City. This square was strange, not one she recognized, but the size of the buildings and the blue sky confirmed where it was. It was full of people, of whom Diana couldn’t see faces. All of them were shadowed, which was eerie at best._

_Akko walked among the crowd. At some point Amanda had appeared next to her, and Hannah was behind Diana. “come on, come on,” Akko repeated. Her voice was slightly more childish than in reality. As she walked, she phased through the faceless persons in the crowd, crowd that seemed to shift its numbers constantly. She felt lost, but it was natural._

_She tried to fly. She didn’t do it. Diana had read about lucid dreams. Sometimes, doing stuff that you wouldn’t normally do was straining for your imagination, particularly if you couldn’t see yourself doing it in real life. She was afraid of trying to concentrate too much. The dream was losing detail with each passing second, but it was a really interesting experience. She thought she heard some noises, but her subconscious realized those were coming from the outside world._

_Now they were in a stage. When had Diana gotten there was a mystery, but it was fine. Diana looked over the crowd, with the other three members of the team and Ursula to her side, and a microphone appeared in front of her._

_What to say? She tried to speak, but couldn’t. That was normal for dreams, and it was normally stressful. Here, however, she just imagined she had actually said something. The crowd cheered. What had she said? It didn’t matter. None of it mattered._

_However, the cheering of the crowd slowly turned into booing. Diana felt a stab of anxiety, though she didn’t know where it came from. When had it turned to night? Why was the sky starless? Her dream was slowly turning into a nightmare, apparently. Rational thinking allowed her to realize this, and she finally decided to give up on the experience._

She opened her eyes.

She looked around. The noises she had been hearing came from Akko and Amanda as they changed and climbed on the bed. Diana now could finally fear her tiredness. She closed her eyes, trying to push away the anxiety she still felt. She was just nervous about the opening ceremony. That was what her dream had been about. In all honesty, she should’ve realized it was a dream from the second Akko was the one waking her up.

Amanda and Akko made sure to sleep as far away from the blue team members as they could. They looked tired, and Amanda was chastising Akko for something Diana didn’t quite get.

Without paying more attention to them, she looked out the window, and she was surprised to find them covered with boards. They had probably realized Humans would want to be able to keep the sun out at some point. Boards seemed a little unpractical, but Diana didn’t have the energy to care right now, so she just closed her eyes and, this time, went back to sleep willingly.


	24. Chapter 24

Akko tried really hard to not hide. Being surrounded by all kinds of aliens was already scary enough.

Being looked at by thousands of them was just straight up terrifying. She looked at the crowd. It was formed of all kinds of different races, some more than others. Cyborgs, of course. Humans, too. There were a lot of Appali, if one had into account that they didn’t have world-hoppers. Or maybe they had developed one? Akko didn’t know. She barely knew what races had world hoppers. Daemons were rather lacking, which was weird. Some Armor stood in the crowd, but they were probably just members of the crew. Not a single Shapeshifter that Akko could spot, but Shapeshifter spectators were rare anyways. What surprised her more than anything, however, was the amount of Medusas. They all floated in giant bubbles of water on top of the crowd, and there were at least three dozens of them. Medusas never traveled with more than a couple of members.

There were also some races whose teams did not usually make it. Plants were the obvious ones, but Akko was surprised to see some Centaurs – quadrupeds that looked very similar to a horse, but lacked a neck and instead had their faces on the front of their chests. They were kind of unnerving, in Akko’s opinion – and even some Electrics – a race of spider-like creatures that could create static electricity with their legs. Scary, but super cool too. Too bad they weren’t particularly good at making ships.

Earth’s team – along with Ursula and some of the _Dragon’s_ crewmembers – stood in the middle of a giant stage set in the Central Park of Wood city, the only place big enough to hold all the audience. And big it was. Akko called it a park, but like in the rest of the city, there wasn’t a single thread of plant life in sight. It was just a big, giant square in the middle of the city, and behind Akko stood a monstrous statue. It depicted the sun, high up between the buildings, supported by three pillars. The sun was lit with holographic light that constantly shifted colors and moved to simulate solar flares.

In the stage, with Akko, stood another nine teams. Their rivals. Next to the Humans were the Armor, with their rock-like bodies and giant shell-thingies. Their leader looked at Akko with a face that appeared to be out of rock. It resembled more that of an animal’s, with a small snout and tiny eyes. Akko couldn’t read it, but she still gulped. It was probably an angry stare. Or maybe a pitiful stare.

On the other side, Akko saw two Shapeshifters in their natural, shapeless forms. They didn’t use teams, just pilots. Some suspected they didn’t even have a ship, that the Shapeshifters just transformed into that – but Akko was sure that couldn’t be the case, since Chariot in one interview had explained how she had invited a Shapeshifter pilot to eat with her ‘right after he came out of his ship.’

The Human team was near the end of the stage, though Akko didn’t understand exactly why they had been organized like that. Right next to Akko stood Diana, and behind them their respective gunmen. Ursula stood behind them all among the crew. Akko looked back at her, and she gave her an encouraging smile. She had been harsh in yesterday’s training, but she was still a good person. And in the end, Akko hadn’t understood why she kept missing curves and crashing against the sides of the track, but Ursula hadn’t been too mad, and the Shiny Rod hadn’t taken that much damage.

The crowd was loud. The chatter of different languages came to Akko. She could distinguish each different kind. The Armor’s cracking of lips, the daemon’s screeching, the fairly similar but with an absolutely different accent idiom of the Cyborgs… She even saw the medusas communicating by touching their tentacles and the Electrics zapping each other lightly. A cacophony of cultures that Akko found strangely captivating.

Every single building surrounding the square was a skyscraper, and most of them were painted either gold or silver. However, the single exception was the tallest building of the city. It was painted black, but one would barely be able to notice, because it appeared to be made of polarized glass. Akko didn’t know how tall it could be, but she would guess it was, maybe, _super_ tall. Seemed like a good description.

Probably not as tall as the Central Tower of the Seelie Court, but it was amazing nonetheless.

Akko noticed something strange. Diana had her arms crossed, but she was tapping her finger against her arm. It wasn’t audible, so it wasn’t a bother, but Akko found it curious. Even Diana could get nervous from time to time, huh? Akko wished she could see her face, but the sun’s reflection on the visor of the helmet stopped her. Still, she doubted she would show her nervousness that way anyways.

Of course, every human was wearing a Witch Hat. Whether they liked it or not, it was basically a portable air conditioner in the hellish heat of the day. Thirty six degrees Celsius, as the little window of information in her visor showed. And cyborgs found this a ‘mild’ temperature. It was around midday right now, and the cyan sun shone directly above them, the sky being a very bright yellow.

And finally, the crowd started to quiet down. Of course, the only ones that kept talking were humans. All races had their flaws but humans seemed to be the most arrogant of them all. Even Appali, with how similar they were, at least had the decency of knowing when to shut up.

Akko was included in the human race, of course, and she cringed internally remembering all the times she’d done the same as the human audience was doing right now. Maybe she should just take the wand, call the Shiny Rod and get the hell out of there.

She didn’t do this, but she really wished she could. She tried to shoot fierce looks at the humans in the crowd, but other aliens were doing that effectively enough. Akko looked around, curious as to who was the head of the race committee. The Aos Sí had said it had changed recently, but that mattered not to her since she didn’t know who it had been anyways.

The first surprise came, however, when someone appeared floating on top o them. She was riding a tiny, circular device that was glowing with red Inferno Energy. The other surprise was that it was a human. A woman of lavender hair wearing a long red cape and a strange red harness over a black sleeveless shirt, but… Akko’s head started to feel dizzy as she tried to understand this woman’s wardrobe. And her hair was pretty crazy too.

Akko decided not to look at her anymore. All she had to do was hear her, after all.

 

Ursula felt like a flying kick from a cyborg martial artist had hit her when the woman, whose lavender hair she had believed to be a coincidence, spoke. Her voice was slightly different, but it was still impossible to mistake.

“Welcome!” she cried. She wasn’t speaking English, but instead a perfect Cyborg. “Are you ready for the twelfth iteration of the Inter-Planetary Race?!” her voice sounded everywhere. What Ursula assumed to be a normal sound system turned out to be a bunch of those little flying disks spread around the air. When had they appeared?

The crowd cheered, though not too eagerly. This wasn’t normal. Opening ceremonies were about presenting the participating teams and showing respect for other cultures. “Today is a great day, peoples of the planetary alliance!” her Appali was superb, to the point where the translation device worked perfectly. Wait, when did she change? When had she learnt those languages? “For today, it is the start of a new era on the IPR!” She waited for a few seconds. Some more cheering came, this time a little more natural sounding, but it was still weird.

The woman turned to look at them, and her eyes confirmed what Ursula had known. Beautiful teal eyes, eyes that focused on her for a split second. She knew. Others might have mistaken it by simple chance, but Ursula understood immediately. She knew.

“I am Croix Meridies!” she said, looking at the crowd that was behind the stage. _Now_ she was speaking English. “I’m the new head of the IPR Committee!” _How? How did she get there in just ten years?_ Ursula thought as her brow slowly furrowed. “Now, without further ado, let us announce the ten participating races of this race! Boy, we really need better words for this. A race between different races, human language is rather stupid, isn’t it?” She spoke lower, but the voice obviously traveled through the flying disks. A lot of the crowd laughed, though Ursula didn’t find it particularly funny. She had never found Croix’s jokes particularly funny.

“First!” Croix pointed suddenly at the Shapeshifter. “Thousand Lights of Soul!” Wait, had she just spoken in Shapeshifter? How? But, the weird translation of the name was proof of that. Maybe… Maybe Croix wasn’t actually speaking those languages. It clicked. That’s why she had her own sound system around. It was also an automatic translator. And, Ursula noted, the microphone in her hand could easily be a wand. The first shape shifter moved forward, floating in the air slowly, though Ursula wasn’t able to tell them apart. “The chosen Shapeshifter, he defeated a hundred pilots to earn his place in the race! And second to him came Moon of Eternal Eclipse!” The second one matched his companion. “He’s actually the prince of the Shapeshifters! Really impressive!”

She waited for a second. Noone cheered. Shapeshifters weren’t hated, but most held a small grudge about how good pilots they were.

“Next!” Croix turned. She had a self-satisfied smile, and her eyes shone with confidence as her disk brought her closer to Earth’s team. “Atsuko Kagari! No one knows how she made it, but she did! And she’s only a sixteen-year-old student!” The way she said this made Akko look down, obviously ashamed. Ursula narrowed her eyes. Was she doing it on purpose? “And Diana Cavendish! Now, let me tell you, ladies and gentlealiens, one cannot investigate five minutes about the piloting situation on Earth without hearing about the impressive feats of the Cavendish heir!” she turned to the crowd. “One would think she’d end up as first category, huh?” She said in a whisper, as if she was talking to herself. Again, the crowd laughed. Diana didn’t show any obvious sign of being uncomfortable, but she had stopped tapping her finger – which was the only reason Ursula noticed she had been doing it in the first place. “And then there’s the two gunmen, Amanda O’Neill and Hannah England yada yada yada who cares about them,” Croix added with no energy, moving on to the Armor.

“Hey!” Amanda and Hannah exclaimed at the same time, pointing at the lavender haired woman. They looked at each other with annoyance.

“Then we have…” Ursula stopped paying attention to what Croix was saying. She didn’t care about the names of the Armor, or any of the other participating teams. She was trying to focus on just what the hell would she be doing now? She never did anything, definitely not something like becoming the head of arguably one of the most politically important organizations in the explored universe, without some kind of goal in mind.

Croix moved on to present the cyborgs. She was making a show of the presentations. The previous opening ceremonies were tame and boring, but she was trying and somehow managing to entertain the members of the crowd with her flamboyant movements and exaggerated speaking. The way she constantly shifted languages was also kind of curious. _Inferno,_ Ursula realized. _She’s using inferno for her machines, not magic. Daemon energy._

_She’s the builder of the Noir Rod._

It struck like lightning. It made so much sense. Of course it was _her_ of all people. Croix kept flying around the stage, looking at the crowd, presenting the participating races. Shapeshifters, Humans, Armor, Daemons, Medusas, Cyborgs, Appali, Plants, Octopuses and Reptilians. Curious lineup, particularly on part of the Plants and Reptilians. Sure, Appali hadn’t participated in some time, and Octopuses had been in and out intermittently, but Plants had only participated twice in the entire history of the race, and Reptilians just once, on the first of them all. Chariot leaned to see beyond the Armor and saw their figures. Curiously enough, reptilians had been one of the first races to attain world-hopping technology, but due to a revolution and anarchy in their relatively small world their technology had remained stagnant for centuries. They were almost certainly the inspiration for their namesakes on earth, though they looked incredibly different. Their slim and long bodies lacked legs. They moved crawling, like snakes. Even though they had developed no arms, their real way of functioning came from their ability to split the lower half of their bodies into smaller tendrils that were incredibly fast and precise. As far as Ursula knew, they had no limits as to how much they could split them, so they could easily create hands. They were probably the inspiration for dragons. Their faces were big and menacing, full of fangs, kind of shaped like a diamond, and they had spines running from their heads to the middle of their body, which marked the place up to where their tails could split. They were scaled, though each of the four of them onstage had a wildly different color on their incredibly long bodies: A metallic scarlet, mate black, pure white and glistening silver. All of them had the same golden eyes.

The plants, on the other hand, looked like various different types of plant life, but enormous and way more dangerous looking than your average flower. Plus, they were all carnivores. Ursula had once seen one eat an entire cow in under two minutes. Gruesome, but interesting.

“And these are all our participants!” Croix finished presenting everyone, and Ursula paid attention again, since now started the part that interested Ursula the most. “So you know what this means, huh? What rule-set will we use? Can you guess it?” She was speaking Cyborg again. “No you can’t! You know why? Because the rules will be decided on a race per race basis, completely at random, and no one will have that information but me until the ten minutes previous to the race!” She raised her arms into the air.

The crowd went silent.

There was a soft tension in the air as everyone slowly tried to process what Croix had just said.

“What?!” An Armor pilot roared. “How will we prepare, then?!”

Some shouts of agreement came from the crowd. Croix turned with her self-satisfied smile and shook her head. “My good man,” she now spoke Armor, “the true nature of this race is to find who the best pilot is. Are you saying you can’t handle some randomness?”

The Armor was taken aback. The logic was kind of stupid, but anyone with pride would remain quiet after such implication. Ursula considered arguing, but what good would it do? Croix was the head of the race committee and she had basically all the power on how the race was handled. She always did whatever the hell she wanted, usually trying to get some kind of crazy result. Worst part was, she usually got away with it. “However,” she said. “For this first race I will give you an advantage: The rules are standard. Reach the finish line, your position determines your score. Double points for First Category, single points for Second Category. Easy peasy, don’t you think?”

Sure, if you knew nothing about races. When there was no objective other than win, shooting others down was a priority. Sure, they weren’t quite as aggressive as the hoop-races, but then again, few things were as aggressive as hoop races. Ursula closed her eyes for a moment, trying to keep down her rising anger. Whatever was Croix’s plan now she needed to find out. Flashes of her past came to her. She would not repeat the same mistakes.

She looked at Akko, who seemed to not be paying attention. Instead, she was cocking her head and tapping her foot, in thought. She was too eager, and too impatient, to be an effective pilot. Why did the Shiny Rod choose her? Whatever the reason, Ursula could only think of the girl’s earnestness as a positive point. She had potential, but a potential that would take years to develop.

They had what, about a week to try and get her up to the level of the most talented pilots of the explored universe? Yeah, talk about impossible odds.

“But hey, why should I keep boring you? This is the ending of the ceremony. Everyone go home or to your hotels or whatever. Teams, please remember that this evening we’ll have a lovely party for you to get to know other teams and maybe exchange some advice, you know how it goes,” Croix pointed at the teams, and in less than a minute, everyone was being guided off stage by those flying disks – that, from up close, looked a lot like roombas.

Ursula didn’t miss the look Croix gave her. This time it wasn’t subtle. The scientist clearly looked at her and waved a hand in her direction as her roomba spun and took her away.

_What are you up to now, Croix?_

Later that same day, Diana slowed the Blue Star and moved it aside to allow Akko to blast through, making her crash again against the barricade. There was a collective sigh heard through the communicator as Hannah, Ursula and Amanda did so at the same time. Diana didn’t join, instead trying to figure out what drove the brunette into such a frenzy. She waited a minute as the Shiny Rod managed to get up again, and then they restarted the race.

 

Akko saw the small straight line and pressed the accelerator on instinct. Sure, she had already failed a dozen times, but as they say, thirteenth time’s the charm! “Akko!” Ursula said with exasperation, but Akko ignored her. She got past Diana and managed to slow down right on time to not collide, but Diana overtook her again in a tighter curve. Akko was sure there was a secret to this. She had to be able to keep the speed while turning. If not, then what was the point?

 

Diana moved calmly to the side as the Shiny Rod shot past. Again, it didn’t crash by more luck than skill, allowing the Blue Star to get back to first place easily.

“Is she brain-dead? She’s brain-dead, it’s the only explanation,” Hannah said with a grunt. She tried shooting, but as always, the shields of the Shiny Rod easily deflected the magic. “Damn Amanda, can’t she explain to Akko what she’s doing wrong? She’s supposed to be her friend, right?”

Diana didn’t answer. Hannah was just rambling, not speaking to her specifically. She got frustrated with stupid things and, as much as Diana didn’t wish to say it, Akko was being extremely stupid. ‘ **The definition** of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results’ Einstein had said. Maybe he had peaked at the future, saw what Akko was doing now, and came up with the quote.

 

_Ok, I’ve got this,_ Akko thought as she, again, pressed the accelerator. However, the street was shorter than she anticipated, and she was tricked by perspective since the building at the end of it hadn’t been far away, it was just a particularly small building when compared to the ones next to it.

She hit the barricade at full speed, but her body lightened up and she was trapped in a bubble made as if of air. That was just the magic of the Rod protecting her.

“Ok, Akko, get out of the ship,” Ursula’s voice came through the communicator.

“What?” Akko asked, wondering if she had heard wrong.

“If you’re not going to listen to me,” Ursula was using her ‘teacher’ tone, “then I’m afraid I can’t let you pilot and keep putting your life in such a constant risk.”

“Wait, I’ve almost got-”

“Akko,” Diana intervened. “You don’t. Just do as Ursula asks of you so that we can go back to actual flying, if you please.” She sounded as always, but the words hit Akko hard enough to get her lips to turn down as she furrowed her brow.

“You don’t get it!” Akko tried to explain. Couldn’t they see? There was a technique here that everyone was missing, but she was on the brink of figuring it out. “I just need some more tries!”

“Well, you know what?” Amanda’s voice intervened in the conversation. “Count me out. I’m starting to get a headache from coming in and out of consciousness so frequently. Hey Diana, got any room on the Shooting Star?”

Akko gaped. The fact that Amanda preferred to climb onto the same ship as Diana and Amanda spoke miles of her mood. She hardened her face, offended. She wasn’t crazy! Sure, she kept going onto the barricade, but with each try she was a little closer to the perfect curve! She could _feel_ there was a way, somehow, of making it!

Amanda got out of the Shiny Rod through the emergency exit of the turret. When had she found it? She looked at Akko, shook her head and hopped off the broom. She walked a few steps towards the Blue Star, stopping, and then sighing. “Ursula, could you come pick me up?”

“Weren’t you going to get a ride with Diana?”

“I’d rather not.”

Ursula hummed, but agreed in the end. Hannah snorted, while Diana’s reaction was unknown to Akko.

 

Diana kept trying to figure out why Akko was so absurdly reckless. She _had_ to have a reason; no one could be that idiotic by nature. Probably. Sure, Akko could be dumb, clumsy, impulsive, reckless, hyperactive and a little too dense, but she did have some basic understanding of piloting.

But, she obviously couldn’t explain it, or she would’ve done so instead of saying what she had said. Probably. When speaking about Akko everything seemed to have a ‘probably’ stuck in the end of it. Diana didn’t know her much, or more like, she didn’t know her _enough_. How did she think? Everyone worked on logic, even if a twisted version of it. Akko would be no exception. As she heard Akko and Ursula argue over the communicator, she noticed something curious.

The sky started to darken. It was barely a few hours past noon, no way it would… Clouds. Clouds were covering the sun. Dark clouds. Not black, but almost. “Rain,” Diana said. “Miss Ursula, I believe it’s going to rain,” she explained carefully. Suddenly, Ursula stopped arguing with Akko.

“Is that so?”

“Fairly certain.”

After a few seconds, in which she probably checked the sky, Ursula grunted. “Then we should head back to the hotel.”

“Why? Because of a little rain?” Amanda, in the middle of the road, looked up. Without the neon lighting, the city appeared to be some kind of mock-up city, with the metallic painted buildings made of more crystal than actual wood. All the flying vehicles going over their heads went in constant, perfect streams around the buildings. Diana had noticed they kept to certain altitudes, rarely going up or down. It made sense, if not, things would be chaotic. “Are you afraid of getting wet?”

“You will see why it is wiser to go back once it starts.”

“You sure it’s going to rain?” Hannah asked. “I mean, do Cyborgs even have weather forecasts?”

“They don’t really need them,” Ursula explained. Diana didn’t hesitate to start moving back to the hotel. As she slowly hovered between the tall buildings, following the track at a normal speed, she heard what Ursula was explaining. She already knew this – she had a basic knowledge of how most planets on the Planetary Alliance worked – but maybe Ursula could add something to her data. “Machina is a planet with very predictable weather. If you see clouds in the horizon moving in your direction, it will most certainly be rain. Well, it _could_ be snow, but the chances of snow in an average century in most Machina cities is of 0.0001 percent. I think last time it snowed was four hundred years ago here in Wood City, when a storm happened to cross one of the poles and carried over a cold wave. Some Machina will probably tell you they remember it, though none of them live _that_ long.”

It didn’t add much, but it was a nice distraction.

“This doesn’t really answer why we should stop training because of rain. We don’t use the ground, we can’t slide on water and such,” Amanda insisted.

“Amanda, is it that hard, for once, to just follow an order?” Hannah said with a tired voice.

“Shut up, England, unlike you, I don’t follow orders blindly to suck up to my superiors. I like to know why I’m being told to do shit,” the redhead’s tone wasn’t as much aggressive as it was annoyed.

“I don’t-” Hannah barked back, but was cut by a sudden turn Diana made sure to take particularly fast. Sometimes she wondered if she was the only one that cared about things. Hannah was so easily irritated, and Amanda so irritating, that they seemed to be made just to oppose each other.

The trip back to the hotel was uneventful. As they entered the room, the first obvious thing was the lack of any other humans in sight. “Where is everyone?” She asked, turning to Ursula.

“Oh, they must be exploring the city. Lotte asked me about it after the ceremony,” she pressed a button on her helmet, changing communicator frequencies to contact with the other group.

Akko came into the room with a frown. Diana wondered if, maybe, asking her about why she kept doing it would work. Maybe it’d help Akko understand what she kept doing wrong. But that seemed to be a touchy subject, at least right now. Hannah walked straight into the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower,” she said with a grimace. She wasn’t a fan of cold water, no matter how hot it was. Diana wasn’t either, but it was not as if she dreaded the thought of doing so like Hannah and Barbara did. Amanda instantly walked to the other end of the room and dropped on the couch next to the big windows, where the boards had been removed to allow light to enter.

Akko, instead, went to the fridge. The _Dragon’s_ crew had already filled it with food and other things. Akko took out a can of soda – with the more modern technology, the supplies this time could be a little better than they had been back on Sídhe – and opened it. It sizzled and started to leak out.

“Aw damnit,” Akko said, quickly raising it and drinking half of it in one go. It ran down her chin and stained her uniform, but at least that was waterproof. When she put it down, she wiped her face with her arm and sighed.

Diana approached her, earning a look of narrowed eyes and betrayal.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I should stop and-”

“Actually,” Diana interrupted. “I would like to ask you something unrelated to today’s events.” Akko looked at her with suspicion, but her expression softened and she shrugged. “How did you come to be a fan of Chariot?”

Akko’s eyes instantly lit up. She smiled, giving Diana the look of someone who had been waiting ages to have that question asked to her. “I was just five years old,” Akko started, “the first time I saw her race. It was in the preliminaries of the IPR. I remember the caster saying that she had signed up last moment with a completely unknown ship. That caught my attention.”

Diana remembered the event. She was there, though she tried not to think too hard about it. It was true. Chariot had appeared out of nowhere with the Shiny Rod. Even among the insane amount of brooms, the Shiny Rod had stood out for its weird shape and size.

“And then, the race started. The preliminaries were absurd! Races between thirty three pilots with shooting allowed and all? I thought no one could end up alive after such craziness!” Akko gestured wildly with her hands. Diana also recalled that. Years later, when she had decided she’d become an IPR pilot, she thought back to those preliminaries and shivered a little. They were truly dangerous. “But then Chariot piloted like a madwoman. She blasted through everything and everyone. And her gunman was amazing too! In the end, she won by a mile. I was so… Amazed!” Akko clasped her hands together, getting a dreamy expression. “It was like if I were watching some kind of anime, but it was real!” She looked Diana in the eyes. “From then on, I never missed a race from her, even if it was in the middle of the night…” She looked down, and her expression saddened. “Guess I suck when compared to her, huh?”

“Well,” Diana wasn’t sure of what to say, “I highly doubt her involvement in the race was an accident like yours. You’re doing fairly ok, for someone with so little experience.”

Her ‘encouragement’ didn’t seem particularly effective, but Akko soon got over her blue mood and smiled again. “Yeah, and even then, I still have the Shiny Rod! I’m sure I can’t lose!”

Diana wanted to say that the ship wasn’t the important part, but she had enough social awareness to realize that would’ve just ruined the entire conversation. Instead, she chose to try and continue down this path. “Tell me, what do you appreciate on Chariot’s flying?” Chariot was now famous for her reckless way of flying. She often took absurd risks with a very small chance of actually being rewarding, and most of her successes were attributed to the Shiny Rod’s strange capabilities. It was fair, most of what she had done would’ve been impossible to pull off with a normal broom.

“Well, how she was never afraid!” Akko said. Diana cocked her head, unsure of what that meant. Akko noticed her inquiry. “You see, when I look at other racers, they’re all like ‘oh I shouldn’t try to get ahead right now ‘cause that would make me a target’ or whatever. Chariot didn’t do this. Right when I believed she should move ahead, she _did._ It was so cool! See during her third race in the tournament, she was against this black broom,” Diana recalled that race. She had been against a MAB-2300, one of the most feared brooms of the competition for its amazing arsenal, “and she had been having trouble getting ahead, but then in the final curve I was like ‘It’s now or never! Come on Chariot!’ and she suddenly accelerated and BAM she took the win,” she clutched her chest. “My heart still thumps whenever I remember that.”

What Chariot had done back then was a gamble. She hadn’t been able to get ahead because of the arsenal of the MAB-2300’s arsenal. However, the race had been going for long. Chariot didn’t know for certain, but she had assumed the other broom was low on magic, so she took the chance. Luckily, her rival seemed to be a simple minded pilot, because if Diana was the one piloting, she would’ve reserved some magic and taken the chance to attack. But it didn’t happen. Chariot got ahead and won, and until years later, no one would question her reckless move.

“She did an interview about her flying methods, did she not?” Diana asked. Akko’s face appeared to shine as she took another drink from her soda. “Do you remember any of them?”

“Of course!” Diana felt a little silly for asking if she remembered them. This was Akko, after all. “She talked about it about seven times. She always explained that she allowed her gut to guide her, as if she could feel the flow of the race.”

Diana recalled the interviews she had seen. That was about right. Of course, no one could ‘feel’ the flow of the race. Media nowadays was of two minds on the issue: Either the Shiny Rod had some weird feature that allowed Chariot to pull off her stunts – the most common belief – or all the races were rigged. The last one came mostly from people who didn’t understand that planetary pride was even more powerful than patriotic pride. Humans, Daemons, Shapeshifters and Medusas particularly would _never_ agree to lose to anyone on purpose.

Mostly because they wanted to show off. Diana wasn’t any different. In fact, the three times rigging had been found related to the IPR, it had happened between planets whose importance in the race was relatively irrelevant. Skeptics existed everywhere, of course, but Diana was actually rather surprised at how cleanly the entire race was run.

Guess it came from it not being run only by humans. Though, now that the head was that Croix Meridies woman… Why did that name sound familiar? Now that she thought about it…

She’d have to ask Croix herself in the party later today.

“Is that how you’re trying to pilot, maybe?” Diana asked. She wanted to slowly steer the conversation.

“I… guess?” Akko pressed her lips. “I mean, I don’t really think when I’m piloting. It’s like… I dunno, I sometimes think I feel like that. And then I fly straight into a barricade. But I almost got it, I swear.”

Diana stared at Akko for a while. The brunette obviously grew a little uncomfortable, but Diana wanted to choose her words carefully. Talking to Akko felt a little like walking on shards of glass, either because she would say something to annoy Diana or vice-versa. “How do you feel, when accelerating?”

Akko paused to think. She looked up, fidgeting with her fingers. “It’s like, something tells me I can turn faster. I _know_ it. But, when the time comes, I just… can’t, for some reason,” she sighed. “It sounds dumb, I know. It’s probably lack of experience or something, but…”

“Would you like to try it with the Shooting Star?” Diana suggested. Akko perked up, cocking her head. She sounded confused. “I have noticed the Shooting Star has a better steering than the Shiny Rod. Maybe if you feel the difference, you will be able figure out what’s failing on your technique.”

Akko’s face of pure bafflement made Diana reconsider her offer. Akko didn’t…

“I don’t know how to pilot anything but the Rod, though,” Akko voiced her thought. However, the way in which she said it made Diana feel bad for having thought badly of her. If no one gave her a chance, she wouldn’t learn.

“I’ll teach you the basics so that you can try it,” Diana offered. Contrary to the reaction expected, Akko narrowed her eyes and stared at her as if trying to analyze her. She so unpredictable that Diana was learning to never try and anticipate how she’d react to anything.

“Why are you being so nice?” She finally asked.

“I don’t believe I’m being particularly nice,” Diana answered. “I’m just trying to help a fellow pilot,” she explained. She almost added that she did it because she wanted Akko to get better, but with Amanda around, she didn’t want to have another discussion with her thinking Diana thought herself above any of them.

Akko doubted for a short time before extending a hand to her. “Fine, I’ll take your offer, but this doesn’t mean we’re no longer rivals.”

Diana allowed herself to smile a little as she took the hand. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said.

Right at that moment, the sky fell. It wasn’t the sky, obviously, but it felt like it. The sheer impact of the rain falling seemed to shake the building. Diana felt her hand being squeezed a little too hard thanks to the surprise the brunette felt. She let go of the hand and ran to the window, where Amanda was already looking outside. The neon lights of the city had lit thanks to the darkness the clouds had brought, and so, thanks to the water in the glass, all they could see was a series of colorful distorted lights in constant movement.

Diana couldn’t help her curiosity, walking closer to the window as Hannah ran out of the bathroom, body covered with a towel, hair still with some shampoo bubbles on it. “What the hell was that?!” she exclaimed.

“This,” Diana gestured as she approached the window, “is why we came back when I noticed the clouds.”

Amanda mumbled something that was probably offensive, but Akko instead looked at the window with awe. “How?”

“The Cyborgs,” Ursula, who had been sitting near the table in the middle of the room while talking to Lotte, had also approached to look out the window, “consider rain to be a messenger of the sun. It’s an agent created to remind everyone of its power. It blocks the sun and brings forth a punishment for those who deserve it.”

“That sounds pretty generic,” Amanda said.

“Most religions are, in some ways,” Ursula explained. “But the rain rarely kills anyone.”

Diana noticed that there weren’t any vehicles flying around the city anymore, as proven by the lack of moving lights. Hannah had gone back to the bathroom, probably cursing the rain. However, this did bring something to mind. “And what was going on with the others?” Diana asked.

“They stayed at an arcade. The rain will last the entire day and night, according to the cyborgs,” Ursula sat down next to Amanda, who looked at her with some awkwardness. “They have really good senses for this. You should probably rest and start to prepare. Tonight we have the party.”

“We’re still going? Even with this rain?” Akko asked with some annoyance.

“Yeah. And you shouldn’t be the one questioning it, you’re the one with the ship that can teleport.”

Akko pouted. “Don’t you like parties?” Diana asked, curious.

Akko shook her head. “It’s not that I don’t like _parties_ , I just don’t like these kinds of parties. They say it’s a ‘party’ but it’ll probably be just a boring meeting with a bunch of important people who I don’t know. My parents always did the same with weddings and stuff. So annoying.”

Diana could understand her. She had been to a lot of these parties, and in her youth, she had been bored to tears by them. But with time you came to appreciate them better. Akko didn’t seem like the type who would ever come to appreciate such diversions, though.

“You could think of it as a chance to talk to the people who run the race and maybe gain an advantage,” Diana suggested. Akko instantly seemed more interested, bringing a hand up to her chin. She had taken it a lot more seriously than Diana expected. She should really top ‘expecting’ Akko’s reactions.

The brunette nodded, as if the idea made total sense to her, and stood. “Ok, I’m going to prepare. I should take a shower, since important people really care about being clean and stuff…”

“I… I don’t think only important people care about it,” Diana said. Akko’s comment had, for some reason, hurt her pride a little. She didn’t seem to listen, though, as she walked and absently entered the bathroom, earning a piece of soap thrown to her forehead. Hannah had really good aim, even if not on a turret.


	25. Chapter 25

The party was _not_ what Amanda had expected.

And she loved it.

The enormous room – twice as long as it was wide, with the ceiling well over ten meters above – was lit with nothing but neon blue lights. The music was loud and upbeat. Nothing like what Amanda had ever heard, but she liked it. It wasn’t as full as it could, but moving around was still annoying. The far end of the room was occupied by nothing but a bar. Amanda didn’t fail to notice the smaller section in the left, where there was a human bartender.

On the other end of the room was a table full of food, but she wasn’t hungry.

She had gotten separated from the others, mostly because she grew tired of Hannah and Barbara complaining about this ‘not being a party, but a rave’ or some idiotic stuff like that. They obviously had no idea of what they were talking about. The music was loud, sure, but it didn’t blow your eardrums away. People – human or not – danced in the center of the room, where there was a dance floor about twenty centimeters tall, but it was a casual-why-not  dance, as opposed to the more HELL-YEAH-LET’S-DO-THIS dance one usually found in raves.

Amanda moved through the dance floor, since she didn’t want to round it. Normally, it wasn’t that hard. Here, however, with all of these aliens dancing, it became a little more complicated. Many of them had erratic movements Amanda didn’t know to expect, their ways of dancing completely new to Amanda. Armor, for example, seemed so enjoy faking seizures with how they moved. Shapeshifters moved around in elegant ways, changing shapes constantly at the rhythm of the music, but never harshly. A plant that looked like a giant leaf with four legs was constantly doing back-flips. There was even a medusa in the middle of the floor that had allowed a cyborg and an appal in its water bubble and they were dancing inside it.

Still, after some time, Amanda made it. The bar consisted of three different sections: A really tall one, probably for cyborgs and maybe reptilians, a medium one, slightly taller than Amanda, probably for armor and plants, and a smaller one that was obviously aimed at the smaller sized races. However, what Amanda had thought was a human bartender was in actuality an appal one. It was hard to tell at a distance, but his absurdly square jaw and strangely thin arms made it clear. He also had a hair so black that it didn’t reflect a single bit of the blue light surrounding them.

“Hello,” Amanda said.

“Hi, miss O’Neill,” the bartender said to Amanda’s instant disappointment. So he knew her. Well, it made sense, but this meant she probably wouldn’t get what she wanted. “What do you want?”

This was the moment of truth. “Gimme a beer,” she said as nonchalant as possible.

The bartender nodded, reached below the bar, and brought up a small bottle of beer and opened it for her. It wasn’t a brand Amanda had ever heard of, but she took it. “Thanks,” she said as she walked away and took a swig. It was softer than she expected. Wheat beer, maybe? And it had a hint of fruit. Not the best she’d had, but it was fine anyways. She was surprised she had been given it, given the fact that she wasn’t legally allowed to do it.

Maybe law was different, here on Machina. Maybe she’d enjoy her stay here more than she expected. If the rain ever stopped.

She walked around the room. She wanted to go dance, since she liked these kinds of parties, but first she’d check out how the other races danced. Dancing was more than just moving your body. It was about respect. When you danced, you tried not to annoy others. Sure, bumps here and there are inevitable, but if you aren’t able to read the dance floor, you better stay away from it.

She decided to rest her back on a wall near some windows. People were smoking nearby. The size of cyborg cigars surprised Amanda. They had to be as long and thick as her entire arm.

She had done right in wearing comfortable clothing over the fancy dresses the Blue Team had chosen. Their looks of disbelief when they entered the party, which was happening in the same building, but in one of the middle floors, had been absolutely fantastic. She took another drink. Yeah, that was some kind of fruit alright. Strawberry, maybe? Cherry? Hard to tell.

The song that had been playing stopped slowly, and then it shifted to another one. This one was a little less energetic, but with a steadier rhythm. Kind of sad. Probably a song of love. Like ninety percent of songs in the universe were about love. It was an universal constant, at least for races with more than one sex. Daemons, apparently, didn’t really have an emotion like love. They didn’t form couples or anything like that. They were friends at best.

Sounded like fun, not having to deal with romance bullshit.

“Amanda?” A voice called to her. With the music it was kind of hard to tell who it was, but it was without a doubt her name.

She looked to the side and almost dropped the beer at seeing a cross-armed Ursula looking at her with disapproval. Amanda considered drinking the whole thing in a single go and throwing the bottle out the window to hide the evidence, but that would probably be a little overkill.

“Hey coach,” Amanda said, taking a casual swig.

“What are you drinking?”

“I dunno,” Amanda looked away. It was hard to lie to Ursula, since she wasn’t an asshole like most adults.

“Give it to me,” Ursula extended her hand. In the blue light, her pale skin appeared to be glowing. Amanda hesitated for a second. _Well, here goes nothing._

She turned around, drank the whole thing, burped and then gave the bottle to Ursula. The coach looked at her with a frown. Amanda tried to keep a straight face as she smelled the bottle. “Beer. Why are you drinking beer, if I could know?”

“Because I like it,” Amanda said, preparing for the scolding.

Ursula sighed, expression softening. “I’ll overlook it this time,” she said, “because I was a teenager too. But please, try to drink something non-alcoholic next.” She gave the bottle back to Amanda and pointed at a nearby trash can, leaving the redhead alone in her surprise. Had she just _not_ scolded her for drinking beer? Damn it! Now she’d feel bad if she actually drank more! She’d rather been scolded!

“Whatever,” she mumbled. She threw the bottle away. _I guess I’ll drink soda or whatever,_ she thought with dissatisfaction.

After a while, Amanda felt ready to go and dance. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, plus some sneakers. Not the best attire for dancing, but it could be much worse. So, she stepped onto the dancing floor. Dancing always cheered her up.

 

The party was _not_ what Hannah had expected.

She hated it.

Instead of a brightly lit ballroom where high-class beings would mingle and chat, where there would be slow dances and canapés and everything would be beautiful and calm, she found… _this._ A blue room full of crazy aliens dancing and music so loud that it barely let her think. If she’d known it’d be like some night club she wouldn’t have come in the first place. She was standing in one of the corners of the room along with her teammates and Sucy and Lotte. Akko had disappeared somewhere while they walked, Jasminka had instantly gone to the food table – hopefully she wouldn’t eat something that could kill her – and Constanze hadn’t even bothered coming to the party. In all honesty, Hannah was jealous of her decision. Even if the food table was in the same side of the room as them, it was so big that it was kind of a pain in the ass to walk back and forth, even if they were only crossing it on the wide.

Ursula passed from time to time to check on them, trying to encourage them to go and have fun, but _how_ would they have fun? They had already gotten drinks, but beyond that, they knew nobody in the party. Dancing was out of the question. Not that Hannah didn’t enjoy some dancing, but she didn’t enjoy _this_ kind of dancing. This wasn’t true dancing, this was just shaking your body at random and not caring about how stupid you looked. True dancing was elegant, careful. She didn’t even understand how people could climb onto that stage and not get knocked out, with how wildly everyone was moving.

She sighed.

“I can make you a brain-slowing potion if you want,” Sucy suggested with a smirk. “It’ll slow your brain activity so much that five hours will feel like five minutes.”

Hannah stared daggers at her, but it had no visible effect. “No thank you,” she simply answered. Sucy shrugged. She was messing with something in her wand, too. Had she brought potion capsules here? She was crazy. Barbara and her had basically ran out of things to complain about, to the black haired girl had slowly gone to talk with Lotte about something she couldn’t hear about. They seemed to talk a lot lately, but well, Barbara didn’t have to train and she probably _had_ to have someone to talk. Of all the options, Lotte did seem like the most normal one.

“Aren’t you bored?” Hannah asked to Diana. Diana took a few seconds to answer.

“I wouldn’t say so,” she said. “It’s interesting, seeing how these alien races interact with each other,” she explained. Yep, that was true Diana right there. “I do wonder, though. Plants need a much higher concentration of oxygen than us or cyborgs. Machina doesn’t really have such a thing, or a particularly high atmospheric pressure. How do they breathe?”

When she got like that it was best not to bother her. This meant, she could try to chit-chat with Sucy or try to go and find something else to do. And she was not going to go back to their room. That would make her look like an idiot. She had decided to come so she would stay.

Walking around the room just helped her prove how much she hated this. At least five people bumped into her as she moved, and none of them apologized. Plus, it seemed like their group had been the only one not informed of the nature of the party, since every other human seemed to be dressed casually or even for a dance party such as this one.

With apparently one exception.

“Why, if it isn’t mi second favorite gunman,” someone said, and as she turned, she saw herself staring at the eyes of an old man with grey hair and green eyes. He wore a fine brown suit and glasses. She instantly recognized his face, of course. Paul Hanbridge.

“H-hi!” Hannah exclaimed. “I’m Hannah England!” she said as she took the hand offered.

Paul chuckled. “I know who you are, girl. I’m basically the one who had to make all of your paperwork for getting out of the planet,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

Hannah blushed. Yeah, of course he knew who she was. “Sorry, I just…” Hannah looked around and was a little disappointed not to see Andrew nearby. “How are you enjoying the party, mister Hanbridge?” She asked, trying to be polite.

“Not at all, actually,” he frowned and looked around. “I was not informed of the nature of this party,” his face showed clear signs of disapproval. “Nothing that a good beer won’t solve, though,” he raised the bottle he was carrying on the other hand. “But well, you’re probably enjoying it a lot more than I do. I’ll leave you be. I’m expecting great things from you,” he patted Hannah’s shoulder and turned around, walking away. “Now where did Andrew get to…” he mumbled as he left. Not ten meters after, he stopped to talk with a Shapeshifter.

Hannah wished she could have some alcohol to deal with the boredom. She had never tried anything beyond some wine at big parties, but people sure seemed to be a lot happier when drunk. She stared at the bar, but even if she wanted to, they wouldn’t serve a minor anyways, so she didn’t even bother. Instead, she looked at the dance party. So many aliens. Wait, was that an appal and a medusa wrestling inside a bubble? And why was that daemon mounting an armor and swinging around a… shirt or something? Daemons didn’t even wear clothing. Wait, she recognized that daemon. It was Horn! The red tips of his horns looked purple with this lighting. Hannah herself was wearing a blue dress that she had found beautiful, but it kind of didn’t stand out _at all_ in this damn room.

She continued walking. She noticed a place near the windows where a bunch of aliens were smoking. She grimaced. So even aliens smoked? Maybe it wasn’t as bad for them as it was for humans, but… All she could do was shake her head. Seemed like this party would be nothing but disappointment after disappointment.

However, as she kept walking, she paused. Through the music and countless conversations, something stood out. Cheers? No, some kind of chant. People repeating a word in a rhythmic way.

It came from the dance floor. She noticed a place near the center where everyone, instead of dancing, appeared to be looking at something. An act of some kind? It poked Hannah’s curiosity. Maybe she was too bored, but…

She started walking through the dance floor. She almost got knocked out by an armor’s rocky arm, and then a cyborg _shot_ his hand to the ceiling and then got pulled up by a cable. This would get out of hand soon, if it hadn’t already. Still, she managed to get on the outer circle of the spectators. Her translator device started to pick up the voices of those surrounding her, and most of the translations were ‘dance’. ‘Dance, dance, dance’ was what everyone was saying. She pushed her way to the center, earning herself some annoyed looks, and when she arrived, she was met a view she did _not_ expect.

Amanda was jumping like crazy. Her jeans had been ripped to form shorts and she was sweating. Not only jumping, she was doing it with only her hands. Then she jumped to the ground and started to move erratically, but with a rhythm. It didn’t take long before she dropped to the ground again, and started dancing with her hands and moving her legs around and… Breakdancing. She was breakdancing. Hannah didn’t know much about the style, but she sure as hell knew what it was. The way Amanda seemed to bounce around, sometimes pausing in strange poses and just moving almost too fast for Hannah to process it was almost numbing.

Before she even realized it, Hannah had forgotten this was _Amanda_ and she joined in the chant. “Dance, dance, dance,” she said, bouncing her head. How long had this been going? Hannah was between a big cyborg and a particularly randomly-shaped Shapeshifter, so Amanda hadn’t noticed her yet. When she stood, her feet seemed to move on a slippery floor, and while she was on the floor, she made sure to let everyone know how strong her arms were. When she stood completely on her hands, her t-shirt dropped, showing her sports bra, but she didn’t seem to care.

The most impressive thing was, definitely, when she just used her hands and started spinning. It was probably the signature move of breakdancing, since it was the first thing you thought about when thinking about it, but it didn’t make it any less impressive, particularly when Amanda lifted her whole body on a single hand and started spinning at a forty-five angle, jumping from hand to hand and awing everyone in the audience, Hannah included.

When she finally stopped, everyone started cheering. “Thanks!” Amanda extended her hands, panting. “I’d continue but I think my arms are going to fall off,” she explained, all while wearing a confident smile. She then took a deep breath and ran her hands through sweaty hair, which made it stand up in a funny fashion. Her eyes seemed to be a darker green than usual, thanks to the lighting, and her hair had turned into a deep maroon.

Amanda saw Hannah, and they both froze. Amanda was the first to come out of her stupor, frowning and retracting her lips a little. Hannah couldn’t hear it over the music, but she suspected Amanda was growling. “What?” She barked. “Gonna tell me to stop?”

Hannah frowned. Back. She had been chanting with the others! But of course, their relationship wasn’t exactly smooth. It made sense Amanda would assume the worst.

Maybe it had been the amazing dancing. Maybe it was the absolute boredom. Maybe, just maybe, Hannah didn’t hate Amanda as much as she believed. Whatever the reason, instead of coming up with a sassy comeback, she instead just gave Amanda a flat look and snorted. “You’re pretty good at dancing,” she said, though she was still a little more aggressive than she needed to.

Amanda shrugged. “I know a lot of styles. This one just happens to be one people seem to enjoy watching at parties.”

Hannah felt irritated by how nonchalant she was being. It wasn’t modesty, Amanda wasn’t modest. She was probably just saying that to get Hannah to go away. In any other situation, she would have done so. Hell, she was about to do it, but her stubborn nature and the knowledge of what Amanda was trying to pull just pushed her the opposite way. “Where did you learn to dance like that?” Hannah asked. She noticed the people around them had started to dance again. Horn was still riding that armor, and she realized that what he was swinging wasn’t a shirt, but one of the torn pieces of Amanda’s jeans. His blue eyes were a strange violet color now. Maybe that’s how daemons showed drunkness? Could they even get drunk? Given that attitude, Hannah would have guessed yes.

“There was this small gang I used to hang out with,” wait, had she just said gang? “They were really into breakdance. If you think what I did was good, boy, you should have seen _them.”_

“But I saw _you_ ,” Hannah looked around. “Maybe we should get off the dance floor to talk…”

“I don’t wanna talk, though,” Amanda said. “I’m tired, but I wanna keep dancing,” she was already sweaty and obviously tired. Hannah suspected the only reason she wanted to ‘keep dancing’ was to stay away from her. She almost took the bait and just left, but right at that moment, the room changed.

The blue light was substituted by a warm, orange light that was apparently mimicking fire, by how it flickered. The music changed too, now consisting of softer and wind-based instruments.

“Ok, nevermind that. I’m going to grab something to drink and wait for the music to get _good_ again,” Amanda said and turned. Wait, was she going to walk through the middle of the dance floor to the bar? Was she nuts? Even then, Hannah didn’t have trouble recognizing the pattern of the music. It wasn’t exactly as it would be on earth, but  it had definitely changed to a slower type of dance.

“So, you say you can dance many styles, right?” Hannah asked. “Can you waltz?”

Amanda turned with a raised eyebrow. “What in hell makes you think I would waltz with _you?”_

Hannah smirked. Amanda’s type was predictable when it came to these kinds of things. Around them, a lot of different aliens had paired up and had started to slowly dance. Most of them weren’t actually doing waltz, though. They were just… walking around. Cyborgs and appali appeared to be the only ones with some sense of what was going on. “So you don’t, got it.”

“Bitch I won three waltz competitions in middle school,” Amanda said with a puffed chest. “I could outdance everyone in this room in the blink of an eye,” she said.

Hannah extended a hand. She didn’t give herself time to think this through. Dancing with Amanda didn’t seem like a great idea. In fact, being near Amanda in general didn’t seem like a great idea. Hell, this could go from a dance to a fistfight in the blink of an eye, if any of them said the wrong thing.

But it was too late to jump off the train. Amanda had ticked her off, and Hannah would experience the train wreck from the passenger wagon. Whether she liked it or not, _no one_ dismissed Hannah, even in the middle of a crazy party and even if it was someone she basically hated.

Amanda hesitated, but then a couple of cyborgs bumped into her and she stumbled forward, taking Hannah’s hand on reflex to stay on her feet.

Hannah smirked. Amanda’s hand was kind of slick with sweat, but Hannah made the effort to not be too grossed out by that. “Fine, whatever,” Amanda said. “Hope you can keep up,” with a swift movement, she put herself and Hannah into position.

She was wearing sneakers. Hannah was wearing shoes with short heels. Even with the extra height, Amanda was still taller than her. When she started moving – being the lead, as Hannah expected – Hannah let herself start to move too. Hannah was instantly surprised by how well Amanda moved. Not only the dance itself, but how she was able to guide them both around the dance floor. “You’re not half bad,” Hannah said as Amanda made them turn in the spot and walk back the way they had come.

“'Not half bad'? I’m great! I may not be a pro, but fuck pros, if I wanted I could probably blast them right off the dance floor,” Amanda wasn’t looking at her. She was looking around, probably making sure they weren’t stomped by some of the bigger aliens. Now the appal and the medusa were, apparently, teaming up to beat the cyborg inside the bubble. They were losing.

“I mean, I’d say you’re a better breakdancer,” Hannah dropped the line casually. Amanda’s grip tightened on her waist and she guided her into a ninety-degree turn, avoiding a passing plant by mere centimeters.

“Of course I’m a better breakdancer. At least that requires some actual effort,” she explained. Hannah smiled.

“You must’ve practiced a lot.”

“A lot may be a tad much, but I did practice more than usual. The gang wished I would take it more seriously, saying that I was as good as them and that I could be much be…” She didn’t stop dancing, but she did shut up and looked at Hannah with a glare. Hannah did her best to try and appear innocent, but it was impossible not to let her half smile show.

They kept moving. Their steps were steady, Amanda had an amazing rhythm. “Done with the false modesty?” Hannah asked smugly.

“Fine, whatever, I’m good. This doesn’t change anything,” Amanda said in a half growl. She stopped them for a second to avoid hitting the giant bubble of the medusa as it floated in front of them. The cyborg was now trapped between the tentacles of the medusa. Hannah had seen enough jokes about hentai to think that she knew where this was going.

“It changes the fact that I got you to admit it,” Hannah shrugged. Again, Horn passed mounting that armor, but now he was hanging upside down from its shell, and he was wearing Amanda’s torn piece of the jean in one arm, for some reason. He seemed less excited than before, though his face was unreadable. His eyes were now purple.

“You’re a cunt,” Amanda said as she swung Hannah around right in time to stop her from being knocked out by a reptilian who hadn’t understood that this song was meant to be danced at a slower pace. Or maybe that was a slow reptilian dance? Who knew.

Hannah’s smirk turned into a straight up cocky smile. The insult hadn’t been heartfelt, like all the others. Amanda had just said it because she had nothing else to say. Hannah replied in the same manner. “Well, go fuck yourself.”

It wasn’t friendly banter, but at that moment, Hannah didn’t hate Amanda. For a few seconds, she realized the party had kind of become what she wanted: A brightly lit ballroom, slow music to dance to and a good dancing partner – even if she was wearing a t-shirt, torn jeans, a couple of sneakers and was covered in sweat.

And then Amanda answered. “Don’t worry, I probably will. Haven’t done it since this whole race ordeal started. I have my needs,” she said in a much more mischievous tone. She was looking down at Hannah from the corner of her eye. As much as Hannah wanted, she wasn’t able to stop a light blush from covering her face. She hadn’t expected such a blunt reply.

“Can’t you have a little more class?” Hannah said in a voice that came out a pitch higher than she intended.

“You’re the one who suggested it, though,” the music was starting to end, and with it, Amanda slowed down.

“Whatever,” Hannah mumbled. How quickly the tables had turned. Amanda was good.

The music ended, and they stopped dancing. Amanda sighed loudly and stepped back. “Welp, I _really_ need a drink now,” she said running her hands through her hair again. She stared at Hannah, hesitating for a second. Then, she shook her head and walked away.

For a second, Hannah considered following her. But she didn’t. They’d had a relatively nice interaction, but pushing it further would be annoying for both of them. Hannah hadn’t forgiven her for what she had said, and Amanda had obviously not forgiven Diana for what she had done.

Hannah noticed they had ended near the edge of the dance floor and took the chance to get out. She didn’t understand how Amanda had managed to not bump into anyone, but she didn’t have that superpower, so she’d rather be away when the dancing resumed. Being knocked out by an armor didn’t seem pleasant.

She did notice that Horn had also walked out of the dance floor, the piece of Amanda’s jeans no longer in his possession. He was talking to a white being, but it took her a few seconds to realize it was also a daemon.

Horn seemed to notice her, and he waved. Hannah hesitated before approaching with another wave. “Good evening, Horn,” Hannah said politely.

“Hey, you’re the Second gunman, right?” Horn simply said. His voice still made Hannah cringe a little. “This here is Deep Darkness,” the translation of his name almost made Hannah laugh. Hannah extended a hand to him, and he took it. He said nothing, however. His horns were still tipped with red, like those of normal daemons, but his eyes were of a strange green that seemed to get lighter and darker in a pulse. “Yeah, he’s white, you may have noticed. Pretty ironic, I know. He’s something we call,” whatever that was, it wasn’t translated. The shriek-like speech almost made Hannah jump, scared. “But I think you humans call it… Albino?” He cocked his head, but Hannah nodded. “Yeah, I knew it. Well, daemons have a lot of different kinds of that. Deep Darkness is a great pilot, though, you’ll _love_ him,” it was impossible to discern if he was being sarcastic or genuine. He didn’t emote with his face, and his voice didn’t shed any light on the issue either, being so absurdly different to that of humans.

“Hello, I’m Hannah,” Hannah said. Both daemons looked at her with their perfectly round eyes. They didn’t blink.

“ _Hannah_ ,” Horn said. If someone were to record her name being said like that and then reproduced it in the middle of the night, Hannah would probably die of a heart attack.

“I saw your race against the faeries,” Deep Darkness said. His voice was definitely deeper than Horn’s – or at least, it wasn’t as painful to hear. A couple of pitches lower for sure. “You’re good.”

Hannah found herself standing a little taller. “Thank you. I’m… Not sure I’ve ever seen you fly, sorry,” she apologized. Horn’s body shook a little. Hannah wondered if he was laughing or something.

“You should check him out. He’s almost as good as me,” he explained. “Actually, my advantage comes just from the Noir Rod. If he were the one piloting it, he’d be the First Category pilot without a doubt.”

_So they only have one,_ was Hannah’s first thought. She had considered the possibility of them having two. That meant she and Diana wouldn’t have to deal with the Noir Rod in the race, but with a more mundane ship. Kind of disappointing, but relieving as well. “Well, I hope we have a good race,” Hannah said. Deep Darkness – damn, that name was just _so_ _edgy_ , she could barely hold back a laugh whenever she thought about it – nodded. “I’ll see you around.”

Hannah left the place and walked away. Well, this had been kind of the point of the party, right? Talking to other teams and stuff. No one seemed to be doing that, though. She felt great now. Maybe she was a little hot thanks to the dance, but the room was pretty well ventilated, all things considered, and the temperature had dropped a good number of degrees thanks to the rain that was still coming strong.

She found herself smiling softly as she walked back to the group. Jasminka was still next to the food table, but now she had an audience looking at how much she could eat, and some servers were refilling every plate of food she finished. Hannah decided not to get involved in that.

Their little group had gotten smaller, Diana having left at some point too. Hannah didn’t mind. She felt good enough to even start a conversation with Sucy. Ursula was nowhere to be seen, though. She was probably busy with social interactions or something

And then, the lights of the whole room went out, along with the music that had just started.

 

The party was _not_ what Akko had expected.

She didn’t really care.

The first thing she noticed as soon as they entered was that the Medusa. She liked medusas, mostly because of their weird water bubbles. It was the only one in the room too, and its water bubble reflected the neon blue light in a manner that was almost hypnotic. So, without even realizing it, she got separated from her group as she tried to get a good look at it. With how big the room was, even after ten minutes of searching, she failed miserably in finding them. It wasn’t so full that she couldn’t move around, but it was full enough that finding a small group of six humans seemed impossible.

She considered dancing. She had gone to some night club parties, and knew some basic dances, but the music wasn’t really to her liking. Plus, Akko considered herself more of a spur-of-the-moment dancer, not one who would actively decide to do it. Unless someone played Chariot’s theme. It had been something a fan created for her, but it had completely skyrocketed in popularity when Chariot herself praised it. It was considered ‘official’ and it was absolutely fantastic. If you played it over any of her races right at the final minutes, the amount of hype multiplied by ten. The montages online were great.

Still, after being lost for what felt like hours, Akko finally found something that caught her interest. Croix herself, walking near the bar. Akko had wanted to speak to her and ask her how she had learned to speak all of those languages. There was one particular thing Akko considered herself good at, and that was languages. She had learned perfect English in under six months, Chinese had been easier than she expected – Cantonese, at least - and she wasn’t half bad at French, Spanish and German. She was meaning to learn Latin at some point, if only to be able to scare her family in the middle of the night and make them think she was summoning demons or something. Seemed like a good prank. Plus, maybe she’d manage to get some info on the races in the future. Sounded like a good plan.

Croix, however, disappeared from her sight as she walked behind a couple of dancing Cyborgs. When Akko rounded them, she was completely gone. Akko was left dumbfounded as she ran to the place Croix had just been in. It _had_ been her. No one else in the universe could wear such a complicated outfit. The red cape had been too obvious to ignore, too.

It was in searching for her that someone tapped her shoulder. She turned, hopeful for a second, only to find a boy. He was taller than her. He was wearing a suit and had his hair perfectly styled to the point where Akko wondered how much time he spent in front of the mirror getting it to look so perfect. He had a couple of green eyes that looked at her without emotion. “Excuse me, have you seen miss Meridies around?” he asked with a serious tone. Was he dying or something. “I believe she was just here, but I lost track of her.”

“Me too,” Akko simply said. “She was _just here_ and then poof, she’s gone,” she explained. Teleportation? Nah, only the Shiny Rod could do that. Probably. Could the Noir Rod – she hadn’t seen it but she had no reason to believe Diana and Hannah were lying about its existence – teleport? Not that it would matter, since Croix was almost certainly _not_ riding it. Unless it could shrink. Or become invisible. No, no, invisible no, Croix was definitely walking.

“I see… Wait, aren’t you the First Category pilot?” the boy asked. Akko perked up.

“Yeah,” she said with some hesitance. “Why?”

“No particular reason,” he looked her up and down, obviously measuring her. “I just expected pilots to come a little better… Dressed,” he said with some distaste.

Akko looked down at her attire. She had chosen a couple of shorts and a t-shirt with some standard canvas shoes. “What’s wrong with this? I don’t look too ridiculous.”

She had completely failed to understand the question. The boy tried to make it obvious that he was wearing a suit, but beyond that, he didn’t continue down that line for the conversation. “So, I take it you were looking for miss Meridies too?”

“Yup, got a few things to ask her,” Akko was still looking around. She took a step, and then she noticed that it felt a little different than before.

“Ah, it must be about the race, like I… What are you doing?” He asked as Akko crouched and started knocking the floor.

“I think there’s a secret trapdoor here,” Akko explained casually. The guy cocked his head, baffled by the short attention span Akko seemed to have. “Ah, here it is!” she exclaimed as she managed to slip a finger under one of the floor boards and slid open a trapdoor to a small dark tunnel beneath the floor.

“Well that is rather curious,” the guy said. “Maybe we should go and ask- Hey, are you listening?” He crouched too, trying to stop Akko from slipping inside the tunnel.

“Whaddya say?” Akko asked, completely ignoring him as she crawled on the tunnel that was just big enough for her to crawl on all fours. The guy hesitated for a moment before following her.

The trapdoor closed automatically a few seconds after.

“I don’t think we should be here,” the guy said, not being able to see anything. Akko could hear him behind her.

“Wait, who are you, again?” She asked, suddenly snapping out of her single-minded focus.

“I am Andrew Hanbridge, heir to-”

“Why are you following me, Andrew?” Akko interrupted, making Andrew stumble a little on his hands and grunt in frustration. He name seemed to ring a bell in Akko’s mind, but she couldn’t place why.

“I… am not sure. Guess I couldn’t let a girl go down a dark tunnel alone.”

Akko considered this for a second. Then she laughed. “What is this, the sixteenth century?” Andrew sighed from behind. The not-this-again kind of sigh. Apparently he got that phrase said a lot to him. “Anyways, since you’re here, do you have a wand?”

“I don’t endorse the usage of magic outside Broom Engines and-”

“So not, got it,” Akko hummed, thinking. “The key-wand of the Rod could make a lantern, I think, but waving that thing is kinda dangerous. If I accidentally summon the rod here…” She imagined the Shiny Rod appearing here in the tunnel and destroying the entire infrastructure of the floor. It’d probably kill her and Andrew, too. “Guess we’re gonna be blind for this.”

Then, a light shone from behind her. Akko turned as best as she could to see Andrew carrying a little device with him. A small earbud he was extending for Akko to wear. Ah, an Ear-phone. A new type of computer that worked completely without magic. Akko didn’t understand why they invented those. Sure, magic phones or computers could be expensive, but these earbuds were even more so, due to the crazy technology they employed.

Well, it did have a lantern. She took it and put it on.

The tunnel had weird markings on the floor – like something had scratched it multiple times. Not animal like, though. More of a someone’s-been-moving-furniture-around kind of scratch. They crawled for a full minute before Andrew broke the silence. “Do you really not know who I am?”

“Andrew Hanride, right?” Akko said absent mindedly.

“Hanbridge,” Andrew corrected. “I’m the son of the head of the race committee on earth,” he explained. Akko nodded, making some noises of acknowledgement.

“Oh, look, there’s a light,” Akko said, pointing forward. It was far away, but it was definitely a light. Or maybe it was a reflection of- no, it wasn’t, as proven by her covering the light with her hand and the one far away being still there. “Wonder where this leads to.”

“Shouldn’t you pause and think? What if it’s dangerous?” Andrew asked.

“If Croix came through here it can’t be that bad, you know?” Akko shrugged. Andrew didn’t argue, probably because he realized that what Akko had said made perfect sense and had flawless logic.

They crawled in silence until Akko stopped, poking her head out of the vent-like tunnel. Looking up, she saw a small, white room. Barely big enough for two persons to stand together, it had a single door on it with no doorknobs. It was lit with a single electric lamp hanging from the ceiling. This was _not_ a room made for cyborgs.

“Could you move, please? My back’s starting to hurt,” Andrew said. Akko moved forward, stepping onto the room. When Andrew came out too, they didn’t have much space to move about. Akko pushed the door with some hesitance, and it wasn’t locked. It slowly gave way to a bigger, darker room. “Are you event thinking before you act?”

“Of course!” Akko said in a whispered exclamation. “And, I mean, there’s no ‘danger’ or ‘staff only’ sign here, right? That totally means we can get in. Wasn’t even locked!”

Andrew grunted. “Then why are you whispering?”

Akko paused. He had her there. “Well there may be people working in there or something, wouldn’t want to…” She trailed off as she finally got to see inside the dark room. It was empty. Nothing. Croix was nowhere to be found. Akko stepped inside with a cocked head, looking around. Not even a light in sight. What was this room?

“Maybe it’s some kind of storage or vent,” Andrew said, stepping in behind her. “We may think it’s a little big, but,” he tapped the ceiling, which was just a few centimeters above him, “but for cyborg standards it could make sense.”

“Yeah but there’s no fan in here,” she said, pointing at… everywhere. “How can it be ventilation without that? Also, it doesn’t make sense, this would overlap with where the kitchen was, I think. We went on a straight line from near the dance floor and the vent wasn’t inclined, but this goes _up_ , not _down,_ which means right now half our body is in the space between floors, while the upper half is on the same level as where we were standing before.”

Andrew was frowning with confusion while looking at her. Akko cocked her head, why was he looking at her like that? “Oh, excuse me. I simply did not expect such a… Logical reasoning from you, given how impulsive you’ve proven yourself to be,” he explained. Akko nodded, not taking it as an insult but a praise.

Wait, that hadn’t been an insult, had it?

“But there isn’t any other way around here, so Croix _had_ to come through here.”

“Don’t you think it would be best to just go back and…”

“No way,” Akko shook her head. “We already came this way, she’s gotta be around here somewhere,” Akko started to pace around the small dark room, the lantern following her. “You can go back if you want tho, no one’s forcing you to stay or anything.”

Andrew hesitated before sighing. “You know, I expected our First Category pilot to be a little more… careful,” he had obviously thought of another word first, but Akko let it slide. _Yeah, me too,_ she thought, but luckily she was busy thinking about Croix and didn’t have time to fall down that spiral again. She looked around the room. There had already been one hidden passage, so why not another?

She started tapping the walls. Andrew caught onto what she was doing and started doing the same from the opposite side of the room.

About five minutes later, he paused in a spot and tapped it with special insistence. “I think this is it,” he said. “Though I see no openings.”

Akko approached. “Maybe it opens with those barometric security systems,” she said, putting her hand against the wall.

Andrew hesitated, eyes narrowed and lips parted as he tried to figure out what the hell she had meant. “Oh, you mean BIOmetric, right?”

“Yeah, same thing, you get what I mean,” Akko shrugged. The wall was doing nothing with her hand, so that wasn’t it.

“No, it’s not, barometric is nothing like… You know what? I don’t even care. I see no way into this door, so…” He turned around, ready to leave, until Akko thought of something.

“Maybe it works with a password of some kind,” she said. “Do you happen to know Croix’s birthday?”

Andrew, as expected, shook his head. Well, of course he wouldn’t know. While Akko thought, she looked at him for a few seconds, and suddenly it clicked. “Wait, aren’t you the guy Hannah was gushing about the other day?”

He seemed baffled by the question. “I… am not certain how I would know if that is true or not,” he said with uncertainty. Akko didn’t understand the answer, but she suspected he was. He had green eyes, at least. Hannah had mentioned green eyes, right? Or was that when she was complaining about Amanda? Whatever.

“Ah, I knew it!” Akko suddenly stood, having noticed something. The wall they believed to have the door didn’t merge with the floor. The corner  had a slit.

She slipped her fingers under it trying to open it. It didn’t budge. “Hey, help me out,” she said with effort. Andrew sighed, approaching and crouching next to her.

“This is obviously locked,” he said, not putting much effort into it. Akko failed to notice this, continuing to pull. With a roll of eyes, Andrew started to take it a little more seriously. Soon, both teenagers were grunting with effort. Right as Akko was ready to give up, though, the wall quivered. “Hey, we’re-” The wall suddenly gave out, making them both fall backwards into their butts.

Behind the wall-door was a really narrow corridor. The false wall was probably to avoid having an obvious door. The corridor was dimly lit by red emergency lights, and the end wasn’t in sight. It was ominous, and that was before Akko heard the strange sounds coming from it.

“I don’t think we should…” Andrew started but stopped himself as Akko stood and strode into the hallway without thinking things through. He put on a poker face as he followed.

The corridor was even longer than the small tunnel from before. So long in fact that Akko was _sure_ they had to be on a different building by now. Andrew for some reason still followed her, but he was obviously nervous. Akko would have been but the curiosity she felt overshadowed everything else. He made sure not to stick too close to her, but he obviously didn’t want to be too far behind either. Well, Akko guessed she wouldn’t want to be left behind either.

The corridor gave way to another small, dark room. The sounds seemed to come from some sort of electronic device. “Argh, not this again,” she complained, walking forward. However, she had completely failed to see the cables on the ground.

“Wait, Miss Kagari-” Andrew tried but failed to stop her. She tripped, falling forward. She managed to catch herself in the wall. When she turned, annoyed, she looked at the cables. They led from one wall to the other, but they didn’t connect to them, they were just passing through. By how thick they were, it was probably the source of electricity for some machinery nearby.

Akko took one, pulling on it.

“Ehm, what are you doing?” Andrew asked for what he felt was the hundredth time.

“Seeing if this does anything,” Akko said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“It looks important, maybe you should leave it alone,” he suggested. Akko completely ignoring, starting to jerk on the cable. “I’m not helping you with _that,”_

“No, no, it’s fine, I’ve got this…” Akko said dismissively. Her brow was furrowed with concentration. Andrew watched her struggle with the thing. Akko started to consider that maybe she wasn’t really feeling like she could pull it out, maybe she was just feeling shifts on the positions of the cables or something. As far as she knew, this thing may actually be two hundred meters long and be connected in the basement of the building or something.

And then Akko found herself on her butt again, with the cable on her hand. The connector was still behind the wall, but she was sure she had pulled it off. She kept pulling on it, and with satisfaction she heard that the connector was now hitting the other side of the wall.

“Great, you pulled it off. Now what?” Andrew asked with some annoyance. It hadn’t changed anything for them, and there were still like four of those cables. Akko wasn’t about to…

“Ok, that’s it,” both Akko and Andrew jumped scared as Ursula appeared in the room. “You two are in big trouble,” she said with her scolding voice. Akko smiled awkwardly. Andrew didn’t seem to get out of his surprise so easily, though. “Now let’s get out of here,” she said. She looked around, as if waiting for something, before finally sighing and turning.

 

The party had _not_ been what Ursula expected.

Not that it surprised her, Croix had a knack for subverting her every expectation.

Ursula had seen Croix go into that tunnel. Where had she disappeared into? Maybe along the way there had been another secret passage they all missed. Of course, she had been planning to follow her from the second she saw her vanish, almost instantly after Akko and Andrew had showed up and… Well, she had kind of ended up following them from the shadows. When she wanted to be sneaky, no one could catch her.

Sneaking around Luna Nova had taught her well.

She sighed for the tenth time in a minute. The party room was dark, and she suspected why that was. When they came to it, everyone was leaving. After all, what was a party without lights or music? Well, some of the creatures were used to darkness – Shapeshifters, Daemons – but most of them just left.

When Ursula guided Akko and Andrew out of the ballroom, she instantly found herself in front of Paul Hanbridge in a corridor lit by emergency lights. “Andrew!” He exclaimed. “Son, I was worried about you. Is your suit so dirty?” He looked back and forth between him and Akko, whose clothes were just as dirty. Ursula’s were too, actually. Then he narrowed his eyes. “You weren’t-”

“Don’t,” Andrew interrupted, “even suggest it, Father. We both know that’s not it,” he said in a perfectly calm voice. It was reminiscent of Diana. Paul then turned his scowl to Ursula.

“Why were you with my son and Miss Kagari, Ursula?” He said in a harsh tone. Ursula didn’t feel offended, she could understand a worried father.

Ursula looked at Akko, who was giving her a puppy-eyed look. Trying to explain everything would take a lot of time, and Akko could get in serious trouble if anyone knew that she was the one who caused the lights to go out. After a moment’s thinking, Ursula stared Paul straight in the eyes. “I was looking at some things in the kitchens and found them there. When the lights went out we decided to wait to avoid getting hurt in the ruckus,” she lied.

Paul’s expression softened, and he nodded, turning to his son. And half-pushing, half-hugging him, he started walking down the corridor. “Now, why were you in the kitchens with the First pilot…” his voice got lost in the distance, and Ursula turned to Akko with a frown.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she said. Akko shuffled her feet on the floor as she tried not to look to guilty. It didn’t work.

“I was just following Croix,” Akko explained.

“Yes, I’d figured that much out,” Ursula said. “Why did you think it would be a good idea to pull on that cable, though?”

Akko pressed her lips and slowly shrugged. “Sorry?” She said.

Ursula couldn’t bring herself to scold her too much. Probably because that was the kind of thing she probably would’ve done back on her teenage years too. “I feel like I should give you the chat about ‘never follow strangers,’ but I think what you did was a step beyond that,” Ursula said as she started walking down the corridor. It was almost empty, save for an appal and a cyborg, who lay unconscious in the ground and were completely soaked. Appali had a funny name, given its context in English, but it actually meant “Conquerors” in their language. They were one of the hardest races to convince to join the alliance, as far as Ursula knew. The fact that they called themselves the same as their planet hadn’t been a good omen either, she imagined. At first, in the alliance, humans had been called ‘earthlings’, but after some protests they changed that. It had been a temporal name anyways, most races had a name completely different from their planets.

No new planets with sapient life had been discovered since Earth joined that alliance. A big casualty, but it did mean that humans were still considered the ‘youngest’ in everything. Most races didn’t care about stuff like that, but humans did. Ursula knew the Planetary Committee back on Earth usually pushed for more space exploration. They wanted more races to be discovered. They also pushed to include the two sapient races that hadn’t yet joined the alliance into it, but, well, if they didn’t want to join and they didn’t bother anyone, then no one else really cared.

“But where did she go?” Akko asked after a while.

Ursula had some theories, but none of them really made sense. The secret passage thing would mean too many modifications to the structure of the building, and if she’d appointed head of the race committee so recently, she wouldn’t have had time to build such a thing. And who’d let her do it, when all the time she was going to spend here was barely a week? Plus, that series of corridors and rooms were actually normal in Cyborg buildings. They were made for little maintenance robots – well, little for Cyborg standards. They were the size of a human, normally – and were basically built for practicality. The fact that Croix had gone into one of those is what worried Ursula. What had she done there? She wasn’t crazy enough to mess up with the building’s structure, right?

Whatever the reason, Ursula would eventually find out.

“Wherever she went, next time you should at least call for me, got it?”

Akko nodded, but she didn’t look particularly regretful. “Ok, party’s over, now what?” Akko asked as they climbed into the elevator – which was full of other aliens.

“We practice,” Ursula said. “You have a race in five days.”

“Oh, right,” Akko said, as if she’d completely forgotten why the reason of her being here were in the first place. She was so easily distracted it was almost unbelievable. Yet, when she set her mind to something – like trying that outrageous turn she so desperately wanted to make – it seemed impossible to get her to drop it. If she could only use that determination to study the basics of flying she’d probably end up being one hell of a pilot.

This, though, could only happen if she didn’t end up dying from all her crashes. If the Shiny Rod couldn’t repair itself, it would probably be already done for. No blueprints, no mechanics that could even touch it… Ursula was surprised that none of the girls had realized it yet.

When they reached their room, the others were already there. “Oh, Akko!” Lotte was the first to react. “Where were you? You disappeared!”

“Well, I…” She looked at Ursula, who made the slightest hint of shaking her head. The less people to know the better. “Got kinda lost,” she said with an awkward smile.

“Only you can get lost on a room with no walls,” Sucy said with a roll of her eyes. Akko didn’t reply, though she was visibly bothered by the comment. Ursula feared she would try to defend herself when the door to the bathroom opened and a wet-haired Amanda stepped out of it with a towel around her body.

“Sorry, forgot my stuff,” she said as she walked to where their luggage was. Diana, who had been looking at Akko with some interest, looked at the redhead with a harsh look.

“You could have asked us to take it to you, instead of walking around naked,” she said.

“Oh come on,” Amanda said a little louder, since she was far now, surprisingly nonchalantly. Ursula wondered if she was feeling ok. “We’re all but naked whenever we wear anti-g suits, and we’re all girls anyways,” she reached her stuff, bending and taking a bundle of clothes. She seemed to say something else, but Ursula didn’t catch it thanks to the rumble of the rain outside.

“Gender has nothing to do with public decency,” Diana continued. Amanda just ignored her and walked into the bathroom again to change.

Everyone was left kind of stupefied. Everyone but Hannah, who was more of pleasantly surprised than that.

“Guess she took my advice,” Sucy commented. What advice? Who knew.

Slowly, everyone went to do whatever they wanted. Just to be sure, Ursula checked on Constanze, who had remained near the giant ball of semi-liquid metal and had been analyzing it with something. Whatever she was doing, Ursula didn’t understand, but she was fairly certain the devices she was using weren’t actually allowed inside the _Dragon._

Well, as long as she didn’t cause much trouble, she supposed she could let her carry on…

“Uhm, miss Ursula?” Someone called to her. Ursula turned to see Diana, who was still wearing her simple black dress. It fit her, but she had obviously not really put much thought into it. “Could I ask you about something?”

“Sure,” Ursula smiled kindly. Diana was strict, but earnest and kind. In fact, she shared many qualities with Akko, even if their attitudes seemed polar opposites.

“Well, I have an idea for getting Akko to understand what she’s doing wrong,” Diana said in a low voice, “but I’m going to need your approval.”

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “I see. What’s your idea…?”

Diana explained her plan to help Akko get a broader perspective in piloting by letting her handle the Shooting Star for a while.

Ursula hesitated. It made sense, but that wasn’t the problem. No one but Ursula and Croix would know what the real problem was. Even then, it was just a little flight, how bad could it be? “I suppose I can allow it, if you’re in the cockpit alongside Akko to make sure it doesn’t go too wrong,” Ursula said.

Diana nodded, looking relieved. She thanked her and walked away.

Ursula was left with doubts, but in the end, she had agreed. She’d just have to be there and make sure Akko was fine. And, Diana was trustworthy too. It’d be ok.

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we end. I have honestly no idea how the hell these chapters ended up being so long. I usually try to keep them under three pages but I guess writing so much is making me lose the sense of exactly when to cut a chapter. In any case, hope y'all enjoying this fic. With this it's already at more than 100k words which is by far longer than I expected this section of the story to be.  
> I have no idea how long this will end up being (I have a general outline of course but It's hard to tell) but I do know not all planets will have 'arcs' as long as Machina's is being.  
> Don't forget to comment and thanks for reading, really hope you're enjoying all of this, and don't be afraid to ask about things. I mean I may not answer because spoilers but ask anyways.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry xmas, people. I just finished these three chapters and thought "why the hell not," so I posted them. It's still 25 where I live in, so this still counts as a christmas present right? Anyways, I cut it off right before the race started, 'cause I'm that nice. Hope you enjoy.

Diana crouched, cramped, behind the seat of the Blue Star’s cockpit. The one currently sitting on it was Akko, and she looked nauseated by all the controls in front of her. “It’s fine,” Diana said, “you don’t have to worry about most of them. Let’s take it easy, shall we?”

Akko nodded. Diana could hear the faint buzzing of the helmet as it cooled Akko off. She was nervous and sweating. She probably recalled what had happened back when they practiced on the simulator. It had barely been a couple weeks from that, but it felt like it had been way longer. Diana wished she could say Akko had come a long way since then, but truth be told, she really hadn’t.

“Ok, first, you make the broom hover,” Diana explained. Most of the levers, buttons and switches in the control panel were for little things that newbies wouldn’t need until way later. A lot of them were for slight changes on the different mechanisms of the broom to make it more efficient on different environments, but right now the broom was perfectly adjusted to Machina. Akko followed the instructions. “Then, the wheels,” Diana continued. Akko followed. “See? It’s not as hard as you thought. Now, slowly press the accelerator.”

Akko did. The first gear of the ship engaged, a relatively slow flying. The street ahead was still wet with water, but the skies were already clear and the few stars that managed to get through the light pollution shone down on them. “Nice. Ok, first things first, you should do a few test turns to-” suddenly, the ship lurched to the side and almost crashed into a building.

“Sorry!” Akko said, cringing. “It’s… More responsive than the Shiny Rod,” she confessed. Diana had to suppress a proud smile. So the Shooting Star _was_ better than the Shiny Rod, at least in some ways. Akko tried again, this time more subtly. She nodded as she did so, understanding.

“Now, remember, up and down are opposite of what you normally do. Pull for up, push for down, got it? And if you want to go up and down _without_ leaning the ship, press this button,” she touched one of Akko’s fingers, the one that was over the button she meant, “and the same principle. However, going up and down like that uses more fuel than normal, so don’t abuse it.”

They were practicing on the long straight of the track, and now the neon lights at the sides of the metallic colored buildings shone with a constantly changing pattern of rainbows. Diana suspected that by the time the race started they would be back to being Machina’s colors. Akko had gone in a straight line for a while. Maybe she already felt comfortable with the steering?

They were nearing the first turn when Ursula spoke through the communicators. “Careful now,” she warned.

“Ok, Akko, all you need to do now is turn,” Diana explained. “Be careful, I know you can-”

Then, she noticed something. Akko’s head had dropped, and only one of her hands was on the joysticks, and it looked to be hanging rather than grabbing. “Akko?” Diana asked, a little worried. No answer. No movement.

Diana jumped forward, taking Akko’s leg out of the accelerator and pressing the emergency ‘break’ on the left joystick – it was under it, where it couldn’t be pressed by accident. It wasn’t an actual break, all it did was shut down all systems on the ship and extend the wheels, allowing the ship to drop and have a rough landing. Diana steered it as she could so that they didn’t hit the wall as they rolled, and after some seconds, the brooms topped.

“Something’s wrong,” Diana said to the communicator. She knew about first aid, so the first thing she did was take off Akko’s helmet. She checked breathing and pulse. Everything was fine. “Akko?”

“She’s unconscious?” Ursula said, sounding worried.

“Yes, how did you-”

“Figures,” The coach interrupted her, sounding worried but not alarmed. “Diana, get her out of the broom, I’ll be right there.”

Diana struggled to get Akko out of the ship. She was heavier than expected, and while Diana had the basic training needed to be a pilot, she had never excelled at lifting things. Still, she eventually managed to get out almost at the same time as Ursula arrived in her little broom-cycle. Diana looked with worry at Akko’s unconscious face. What had happened? The brunette’s face was getting slightly red, and she was sweating bullets.

“We need to get her into the Rod, now,” Ursula said. “I didn’t expect this to happen so quickly,” she seemed to be talking more to herself than to Diana.

“What do you mean, ‘so quickly’?” Diana frowned. “You mean to tell me you _expected_ this to happen eventually?”

Ursula looked up, unfazed by the question. She wasn’t looking at Diana. Instead, she changed the frequency on the helmet and waited for a few moments. She was probably calling to Amanda’s wand. “Amanda, get on the Shiny Rod and bring it here… If that happens we’ll deal with it later, just try it out. Akko left the key-wand on her luggage, I think. No. I don’t know, just search for it, it’s an emergency, come on, don’t waste time.”

She stopped talking. Then, she opened one of Akko’s eyes to examine them.

They were glowing green.

Ursula bit her lips, and Diana brought a hand up to her mouth in shock. “Magic poisoning?” she asked, almost too surprised to speak. “How? What? She was fine just a minute ago. Miss Ursula, would you care to explain-”

“I don’t know,” Ursula said. Was she lying? If she was, she was good. “We don’t have time for this, anyways.”

“But glowing eyes… That’s stage four magic poisoning. It’s impossible to get that unless one has been in direct contact with a stream of magic, isn’t it?”

Ursula didn’t look up. She was uncomfortable with the discussion, but why? “I think she drank something she shouldn’t have at the party,” Ursula explained. “Must have taken some time to digest and cause this.”

Diana frowned. She had to be lying. No race ate magic food. Well, Faeries did, when outside their planet, but there were barley any faeries in the race, and certainly none that were invited to the party from earlier. “Excuse me, but I think-”

She was interrupted by a bright flash of light that appeared next to them. The Shiny Rod floated there, and Amanda jumped out of the cockpit. “I could pilot it!” She cried jumping down. “How? Last time I touched the key-wand it went nuts!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Ursula lifted Akko like if she was nothing but a feather, and without effort took her to the cockpit of the Shiny Rod. Then, she closed the windshield and did something inside. The Shiny Rod moved in circles for a few meters.

“What the hell happened?” Amanda asked casually. Diana frowned again. Something had changed in her during the party, but what?

She was a little too worried over Akko right now to think about it. “I don’t know. She was fine one second and the next just… Unconscious, and she got Magic Poisoning out of nowhere,” Diana explained.

 _What if the Blue Star has some sort of leak?_ She suddenly thought. She turned to the blue broom, climbing onto it. She checked the seat and all nearby magic circuits, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. She frowned. Hadn’t Amanda gotten sick after piloting the Blue Star too, now that she thought about it? But Diana had been piloting it and there was nothing wrong with her.

She got out of the cockpit and sat on the wing of the broom to think. Amanda looked at her with mild curiosity before shrugging and climbing onto the other wing and lying down.

Diana thought. She could do nothing else as the Shiny Rod just kept going in circles. What was Ursula doing? Wasn’t she going to teleport Akko to a hospital? She had to stop herself from asking through the communicator.

She was _worried._ It was natural, but there was more to it. Diana thought many things of Akko, but all of them couldn’t be further from wanting to see her in harm’s way. Well, except that one time, but she still felt guilty for even considering it. Magic Poisoning was not something light, particularly if it was as high as Akko’s. Brain damage was highly likely, not to mention heart or kidney failure.

What would happen if Akko died? No, no, she wasn’t going to die. She couldn’t die, she was too young. But what if she got incapacitated? They’d have to go back to earth, this adventure finished. But… They couldn’t. Diana still recalled Akko’s little speech in front of the Aos Sí. The way it had filled her with confidence, the way it still filled her with confidence, actually.

They would win. Whatever the prize was, they couldn’t allow others to have it.

Diana considered that maybe she had been a little harsh on Akko about her crazy turns. Maybe that had something to do with her magic poisoning, maybe the magic had been clouding her judgment. Maybe she should’ve tried to understand her better back in that moment and none of this would’ve happened…

The Shiny Rod finally stopped, and Diana held her breath. Akko was the first one to come out, looking absolutely fine, eyes normal. Diana let out a relieved sigh and jumped down from the wing. “Are you fine?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Akko said. She looked slightly dazed, but nothing more. “I’m sorry, is the Star ok?”

Diana shook her head. “Why are you worrying about that? You could have died. Are you aware of the horrible effects of magic poisoning? Have you-”

“I don’t think,” Amanda said from behind, “that telling her about how horribly she could’ve died is going to help her,” she sounded slightly annoyed, but not nearly as angry as she had sounded… Well, every other time. Ursula finally came out of the broom too, and as soon as she jumped out of it, the entire thing shut down and went crazy, disappearing  in a flash of light. The loud noise of the alarm made Akko flinch back, as if in pain.

“You sure you are fine?”

“She’ll have a light headache for a while,” Ursula explained. “I’ll take her back to the hotel, you take Diana on the Blue Star.”

Diana, for a second, forgot about her worry, looking at Amanda. “Maybe Amanda can be the one to do it,” she suggested. Amanda raised an eyebrow at her, but made no comment.

Ursula shook her head. “Sorry, not right now. I’ll… Let her do it, some other time,” she sounded very uncertain of what she was saying. “Still, you can use this chance to rest. Maybe this way you’ll get your inner clock synchronized Machina’s day-night cycle.”

Diana nodded, a little disappointed, but Amanda shrugged. She had probably been expecting the answer, which actually managed to make Diana feel bad. Maybe because she was a little on edge for what had happened to Akko – which, for some reason, she felt it was her fault – she turned to Amanda and put on her best poker face.

“Thanks,” Amanda said before Diana could say anything.

Instead of what she wanted to say, Diana found herself asking something completely different. “What changed?”

Amanda understood the question. She pondered on it for a minute before shrugging again. “I guess I just realized I can have fun even with you and Hannah being a pain in the ass all the time,” she explained. Then her voice got pinch of menace to it. “But if you start badmouthing Akko I’ll deck you.”

Diana resisted the urge to clarify she had never badmouthed anyone, as it would do nothing to get rid of Amanda’s vision of things. “I think I owe you an apology,” Diana managed to say. “I didn’t understand, in that moment, how much that race would mean to you.”

At that moment, Diana felt strangely light. She hadn’t realized it, but she had been feeling guilty about that, despite what she forced herself to believe.

Amanda looked surprised. “Sorry for saying what I said back at the _Dragon,_ ” she said, if somewhat reluctantly. “This doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s true, but, well…”

“I believe it would be best if you just left it at that,” Diana interrupted. Amanda nodded, obviously uncomfortable. An awkward silence rose, only broken by the noises of the city around them. After a while, Diana cleared her throat. “Shall we get going?”

“Yeah,” Amanda nodded.

They climbed on the Blue Star and went back to the hotel.

 

Back in the hotel, Akko felt like dying. After getting out of the Shiny Rod, everything seemed fine. And then the nausea and headache started. Ursula was sitting next to her in bed, looking down with worried eyes, but trying to smile reassuringly. “It’ll pass soon,” she said. “You should try to sleep.”

Akko wasn’t tired. She just wanted to die. She wouldn’t be able to sleep, at least. Unable to focus, all she could think about was how she almost hit the wall again thanks to her idiocy. She felt awful. Diana had given her a chance and she had messed it up big time. All she had to do was pilot for a little while a ship that wasn’t the Shiny Rod, but apparently, she couldn’t even do that.

She felt awful, and she could tell it was not because of the headache or the spinning world.

Ursula patted her head with some awkwardness and stood, walking. She said a few things to Diana and Lotte, who were the ones looking the more worried around. Both girls nodded. They had likely received some instructions as to how to handle Akko.

 _How did I get poisoned?_ Akko thought. Maybe it was something about that room she was in. Would Andrew be ok? If he had the same problem then the mystery would be solved. Then again, it came so suddenly, and so many hours after the party, it had to be there.

With a grunt, she tried to sit up. She wanted to go to the bathroom.

“You should rest, Akko,” Lotte approached.

“Gotta pee,” Akko said. Her eyelids felt like led. Damn she felt bad. Lotte nodded, helping her up, but she wasn’t strong enough to carry Akko’s weight. Diana quickly approached to help, and together they carried Akko to the bathroom.

“Can you do it alone?” Diana asked. “We can help you if…” She trailed off as she saw Akko’s stare. Yeah, no. No one was going to help Akko go to the bathroom.

Barely managing to support herself on the toilet’s tank, she managed to get rid of her uniform and underwear, sitting on the cup. She was hot, she noticed. Of course she was, this was Machina. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that the suits and helmets regulated body temperature.

Hey, maybe that’s what she needed! Akko didn’t mind showering with cold water – most of the time at least – and the bath was big enough to remind her of Japanese public baths. It made her kind of nostalgic, actually.

After finishing with the bathroom, she turned on the water and sat inside the tub as it filled. The coldness seemed to give her back some of her senses. She didn’t feel as dazed and disconnected from her surroundings as before, though her head still hurt like hell.

The water wasn’t super-cold either. It was just cold enough to be refreshing, not so much to be uncomfortable. It felt good. Good indeed.

She stayed there for a long while. It was weird, for her, to be so patient. She never took so long in a bath, and this was technically the second time she had done it in the day. But she didn’t want to move. Seemed like the only way she could be patient was through literally feeling like moving would only cause her pain. She didn’t even think, she only tried to relax.

She did her best, but it was hard. The failure from earlier seemed to eat at her, but something else was annoying her. Disappointment. Not hers. She had been given a chance by Diana and she’d thrown it away. Sure, Diana would say it wasn’t her fault, but Akko felt like it somehow was. She was certain Diana would offer to repeat the experiment, but…

 _Did Chariot ever face problems like this?_ She thought. _Of course not. She won every race. Her practice sessions were a blast. She was the best._

Knocking came from the door. “Look, Akko, I get you’re feeling bad and all but I need to pee and if you don’t get out I’m going to poison the water supply of the building to get you out of there,” Sucy’s voice came from the other side. How long had it been? Akko didn’t know.

She carefully stepped out of the tub. She was going to ask for a towel – since she hadn’t planned on bathing – but the door opened slightly, handing one to her.

She took it. She could walk without much trouble now, but her limbs still felt a little weak. She dried up, and her hair had barely been in contact with water, so a minute later she was out with the towel around her body and walking to her stuff. Sucy entered the bathroom and closed the door with a bang.

Akko sat on her bed for a second as she grabbed some clean clothing. Her eyelids basically closed on their own as she tried to wait for Sucy to come out of the bathroom.

She was taking too long. With the possibility to relax gone, Akko’s impatience came back in full force as she walked behind the bar – where no one would see her – and changed quickly. Wait, her other clothes had been basically clean, why not reuse… Argh, too late now anyways.

Now that she actually felt like she could do it, she lay across the bed and closed her eyes.


	27. Chapter 27

Akko had been… Careful, the past days. Amanda wondered – well, as much of her consciousness tied to the Shiny Rod allowed her to – if maybe she still felt sick from the Magic Poisoning. Amanda had felt awful because of it, and Akko’s level had been so much higher than hers. Luckily enough, the Shiny Rod knew how to take care of its users.

Still, Akko had actually started to listen to Ursula’s advice. After the failure of trying to get her to pilot the Shooting Star, Akko had claimed that until she beat Diana in a race she wouldn’t try to pull off her crazy shit. Amanda could feel her through the broom, her disappointment, anger and determination. She had refused all offers to pilot the Blue Star again.

And surprisingly enough, she was doing well.

The Blue Star flew in front of them, and it seemed impossible to get past it. Akko was definitely faster on straights – she didn’t know that, but Amanda could feel it – but in this track so full of sharp turns she couldn’t take advantage of it. Each time Akko got slightly close, the next turn came and she had to slow down.

She hadn’t hit a single barricade in the past three days, and with the race coming in some forty-eight hours, Amanda found she was more focused than ever. She could also feel someone in her mind. It was weird. She couldn’t read thoughts, but she could tell Akko had someone in her mind.

Knowing her, it was probably Chariot.

They were close to the finish line now. Akko started to grow desperate, and with that, Amanda felt like it was appropriate to attack. Yeah, Akko didn’t really like to attack, but this was no mere race, after all.

She aimed for the wing. She charged up some energy and fired from three different spheres at the same time.

The Blue Star answered with a single laser that interfered with one of the Shiny Rod’s while Diana managed to dodge the other two. Amanda didn’t let this discourage her – she couldn’t really feel discouragement anyways – and mentally prepared to shoot simple projectiles. One, two. One at each wing. One, two. Diana got out of the way with a turn.

Two, one. She changed the rhythm, and Diana didn’t manage to dodge it this time. The magic projectile clipped the left wing. Not a horrible damage, but it would affect her flying. Now, Amanda only had to-

The Blue Star attacked. Both weapons aimed at the Shiny Rod and Amanda had no choice but to raise the shields. Shields took all the spheres to make, so she couldn’t attack while in that mode. Hannah seemed to know this, for she made sure to keep the pressure as they turned again.

However, Diana’s ship didn’t turn exactly as she wanted it to. It was a ninety degree turn, leading her to accidentally bumping one of the tall metallic barricades.

Akko saw the opening and accelerated.

That was a mistake.

She should’ve kept her speed and taken the turn from the inside. Instead, the extra speed pushed her to basically mimick what had happened to Diana.

In the final turn of the race.

Diana crossed the finish line a few seconds later, followed by Akko. The Shiny Rod turned off, and Amanda woke up. She was just slightly confused, but she had slowly been growing used to the feeling. She was sure they’d be somewhere in the long straight of the track, and she confirmed it by getting out of the broom. It was the middle of the day, and the cyan sun shone brightly overhead. “Ok, girls, time to go,” Ursula’s voice came through the communicators. “Another team’s going to come practice in ten minutes.”

“Can’t we talk to them about joined practice?” Diana asked.

“Don’t you remember what happened last time?” Hannah sounded grim. Amanda had seen the damage to the Shooting Star and she could understand why she was like that.

“Our skills are better now, I hope, and I find it highly unlikely that it’ll be the daemons again.” Diana explained.  

Amanda found that Akko was awfully quiet. Was she angry she lost yet another race, maybe? The girl in question opened the windshield of the Shiny Rod and looked down with a serious expression that quickly shifted to a more easy-going one. Her usual one. “Can we go eat now? I’m starving,” she said.

She was fine, then.

Ursula denied Diana’s suggestion, saying that most racers didn’t want to practice with others. Amanda climbed onto the turret again after stretching her legs, and Akko teleported them both. This time, however, they weren’t back at the hotel. Instead, they were in a building a couple streets down from it, where there was a human restaurant. Wasn’t being run by humans, but apparently it was a popular spot, for it was filled to the brim.

The front was painted in a metallic red, and curiously enough, it was the only wall nearby not outlined by neon lights. The big sign at the front read “HUMAN FOOD” in all caps and with no fancy typesetting.

“Cyborgs can eat human food?” Akko asked as she also stepped down from the Shiny Rod. She didn’t bother locking it up or anything – Amanda didn’t think that was even possible – for obvious reasons.

“Dunno,” Amanda confessed. “But I’m hungry too,” she said. They waited for Diana, Ursula and Hannah, who showed up about five minutes later. Together, they entered the building.

Inside, the place was even more crowded than Amanda expected. Not only was every table occupied, a lot of places that had been obviously corridors for cyborgs to walk trough were now filled with smaller tables also full of people. The air was cool, too, though Amanda was wearing her anti-g suit – Luna Nova’s one, since she _refused_ to use the horrid black and green one – so she didn’t really care much for that.

Everything in the restaurant was made of a beige colored wood, save for blue cushions on the chairs and the table cloths alternating between purple and red. What did this remind her of… Oh, right. Machina’s colors. Amanda wondered if she should be offended by this, but in all honesty, she didn’t care.

A cyborg waitress approached them. She was lacking half of her hair due to a piece of her head being metal, but she was cool looking. She instantly recognized them and pointed to the back of the room.

There, their friends waited. They were sitting in a strange setup. They had left one side of the long table completely empty, for some reason. Constanze sat at the head seat, while next to her sat Sucy. Then came Lotte, Barbara and Jasminka. Why were her teammates sitting so far apart from each other? Sure, neither of them were great conversationalists, but it was still weird.

“It smells so good,” Akko said, and only then Amanda realized she still had her helmet on. She took it off, and damn she was right.

The sitting arrangement ended up bothering Amanda quite a deal. Hannah hadn’t hesitated to sit in front of Barbara, and Akko sat in front of Sucy. Meanwhile, Diana sat next to Hannah at the end of the table, which left Amanda to seat between Akko and Hannah. She didn’t feel the same despise for Hannah she had been feeling lately, but she didn’t want to seat next to her either. Plus, was left basically isolated from both her teammates.

“So, how did practice go?” Barbara asked from the other side of the table. They had already asked for drinks, and they looked like sodas, though Amanda failed to recognize the brand. She tried some anyways. It tasted like fruity coke. What was up with cyborg drinks and fruity flavors?

“Surprisingly well,” Hannah said. “Diana keeps getting better and, surprisingly enough, Akko too. We managed to make the entire lap in under ten minutes today,” she explained as she looked at the menu.

“And Amanda?” Barbara turned to her, which caught Amanda by surprise. Why was Barbara willingly speaking to _her?_

“Eh, I’d say it was fine, but I literally don’t know,” Amanda shrugged. Hannah had actually stopped giving her glares whenever she spoke about this. She had either accepted that Amanda wasn’t lying or she had stopped caring. In both cases, Amanda couldn’t help but feel irritated. Hannah had either accepted it without apologizing for acting like a bitch, or she was simply thinking to herself that Amanda was a liar and Amanda would rather have it said to her face.

“Oh, right,” Barbara nodded. She had let go of her animosity towards Amanda more easily than Hannah , though both had started being way less aggressive since Amanda had her conversation with Diana.

“You’re as great as ever, if you must know,” Hannah commented. Amanda tried not to get too annoyed at the fact that she couldn’t read her. “Though you’re way more passive than you should.”

“I’ll try to keep it in mind,” she said. ‘Try’ was the key word. Since she didn’t know how things worked inside the broom, she had no idea if she would be able to.

“But if we attack more, we’ll destroy the Blue Star and you’d be out of a broom!” Akko said from next to Amanda. She had been talking about something with Sucy, but she had caught what they were saying. Almost synchronized, the blue team members rolled her eyes.

“Are you stupid?” Hannah asked. Akko frowned. Amanda did too.

“Akko, if you don’t take it seriously, you’re never going to win,” Barbara added. “Don’t you think that by not attacking you’re looking down on them?”

“Well, today we almost destroyed their wing,” Akko explained. “What would happen if…”

“If that’s the case,” Hannah interrupted. “It just means neither I nor Diana are good enough,” she finally stopped looking at the menu, passing it to Amanda. She didn’t even look at it for ten seconds before she decided she was going to have a steak and salad.

“Wait, who’s paying for this?” Amanda wondered.

“The committee,” Ursula said from the second header of the table.

Akko, who had been thinking about Hannah’s answer, raised a finger. “But still, then you wouldn’t be able to participate in the race!” she exclaimed. Hannah sighed while Barbara calmly stared at Akko like if she was a retarded kid.

Amanda felt like she knew what she was going to say. “If that happens, Akko, then it means they weren’t worthy of participating in the race in the first place. If they can’t handle a single opponent, how are they going to handle nine?” Barbara said.

Exactly what Amanda had thought. She may not like them, but she couldn’t deny when someone else had a point. A point that she could agree with at least.

Akko paused, genuinely troubled by the question. Sucy and Lotte were talking in a lower voice about something, while Diana seemed to be discussing with Ursula. Jasminka was quiet while she ate snacks – nevermind that they were going to be eating a meal in a while. Constanze, as always, was looking down at a device.

“Why is Constanze at the header, anyways?” Amanda asked, curious as to why the weird setup. No matter how many times she thought about it, it made no sense that Jasminka and Constanze would sit separately, and a fight between them was as likely as a turtle being dropped on your head by an eagle.

“I think Constanze gets better Wi-Fi there, while Jasminka wanted to be nearest the kitchens,” Barbara explained. Well, it was true that just a couple meters to their side there was a counter and beyond it the kitchens. The counter was Cyborg-sized, so it basically looked like a wall to humans.

“Wait, Wi-Fi?” Amanda gaped. “I thought we wouldn’t have internet during the trip!”

“Oh, I mean Cyborg Wi-Fi,” Barbara shrugged. “Seems like she learned to read their language and now uses their version of the internet.”

“Wait she learned _what?”_ Akko’s thoughtful mood was broken completely as she looked at Barbara and then Constanze next to her. “Constanze, teach me!” She instantly asked.

Constanze raised her eyes towards Barbara. There was murder in them. Barbara gave her an apologetic smile, though no one could’ve foreseen Akko’s sudden outburst. On the other hand, no one could foresee any of Akko’s outbursts, unless Chariot was somehow related.

The waitress approached once more, and everyone started placing their orders. “Wait, I didn’t get to look at the menu yet,” Akko claimed, frantically looking at the options. “Uuh… I guess a steak and some mashed potatoes,” she said. “Yeah, simple and nice.”

The waitress left with everyone’s orders. Amanda had been smelling the food in the air for a while now, and her stomach rumbled. She couldn’t help but look about and damn if the food didn’t look good. As she left, Akko continued pestering Constanze, who had started writing something on a piece of paper.

“Now, for real, you go to a fancy restaurant and ask for a steak?” Hannah asked, looking at her.

“Hey, what’s wrong with steaks?” Barbara said from the other side of the table. Why was she annoyed? She had asked for something with a fancy name that Amanda didn’t even remember.

“You asked for spaghetti. Call me crazy but I find that much more mundane,” Amanda replied, not really liking Hannah’s tone. The auburn haired girl smiled from the corner of her lips.

“Then you know nothing of fine cuisine, my fellow gunman,” Hannah exaggerated her tone to a high-pitched, French-like accent. “For you see, _pasta_ is one of-”

“Why are you talking French? Isn’t pasta Italian?” Akko said, turning for a moment. For someone who apparently couldn’t ever pay attention to anything, she sure was quick to pick up on other’s conversations.

“I don’t know how to make Italian accents, shut up,” Hannah seemed actually kind of embarrassed.

“No, wait. Didn’t it come from china? I don’t remember,” Akko seemed to be thinking really hard about such a trivial fact that Amanda felt like slapping her. Then she dropped the thoughtful expression and turned around, looking at what Constanze had written. “Oh, I see…” she mumbled.

“So, fine cuisine, huh?” Amanda said in a low tone.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Shut up,” she simply said, which managed to make Amanda laugh. Barbara chuckled too, which earned her a glare from her friend. Soon after, the waitress came with the new drinks. Lotte turned from her conversation with Sucy to say something to Barbara, though Amanda didn’t hear it over the bustle of the restaurant. Sucy was looking with some interest at what Akko was reading, which stranged Amanda, until she realized one of her arms was moving. She quickly peeked under the table and, as expected, saw the purple haired girl, with wand in hand, trying to inject Akko something. Wait, when had Akko changed out of her g-suit? She had probably just worn those shorts and t-shirt underneath. Smart bastard, Amanda hadn’t thought of doing that.

Well, she was fine in her suit anyways.

Slowly, Barbara shifted into a conversation with Lotte, and with Diana still discussing with Ursula, that too left Hannah without a conversation. She and Amanda said nothing to each other for a good number of minutes. Amanda didn’t know if she wanted to say something, but she still felt awkward about Hannah. She had apologized to Diana – well, kind of – but they had still kind of insulted each other a lot.

Amanda looked at Hannah from the corner of her eye, getting a small flashback to the dance they’d done the other day. It had been… Fun. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, not even to herself, but that’s how she felt. The feeling of being able to dance with someone else who actually followed her movements was something she wasn’t used to. Hannah was good. Better than any of Amanda’s previous partners, at least. This didn’t make her any less of a sassy bitch, but Amanda did feel like she understood the auburn haired girl a little better now.

During her lucubration some time passed, leading to her being surprised when the cyborg waitress came with their meals.

The steak she had in front of her was big, though maybe she’d preferred it a little less cooked. It still looked great, though. Hannah’s spaghetti looked good too, but not _as_ good as her stake. Barbara’s food, on the other hand, was a small square of something that looked like lasagna but with potatoes instead of pasta to separate the layers and covered in egg.

It looked too complicated, therefore Amanda didn’t like it. She turned to her own plate. Who cared what the others had ordered? Her food looked great. The salad had, apparently, lemon, oil and salt on it. They hadn’t asked her if she wanted it like that, but she didn’t really care.

She took a bite. It was glorious. How had they gotten fresh human food was a mystery, but who cared? As long as they did something worth with it why would Amanda care? She continued eating. She hadn’t noticed, but she was ravenous. In less than five minutes she had already eaten the whole thing, including the salad.

After a long, satisfied sigh, she took a long drink of soda and burped so loudly that some conversations on nearby tables dimmed in volume. She smiled. Why were humans usually happy after a good meal? There was probably a biological explanation, but she had no idea what that would be. It didn’t really matter to someone like her.

“Could you mind your manners?” Hannah said. Ah, yes, this was more like it.

“I mean, I _could,_ but where’s the fun in that?” Amanda asked, raising both hands and shrugging in an exaggerated manner. Hannah rolled her eyes an sighed.

“You’re insufferable.”

“Thank you.”

Everyone in the table had turned to her. Amanda waved to them, as if nothing had happened, before they went back to their conversations. Akko seemed to be making good progress on the learning a language part, which Amanda found interest-worthy. Or she was just bored. Probably that.

“I have to agree with Hannah,” Ursula said. “That was going a little overboard, Amanda,” the coach said with a serious look. The kind of look that made Amanda instinctively try to do the opposite as she had been told. But, because she knew Ursula wasn’t that kind of person, she sighed.

“Ok, fine, sorry,” she said without an ounce of seriousness.

The table returned to its normal activity – mainly, leaving Amanda alone. However, not two minutes after, a cyborg with a green mechanical eye and two metallic arms showed up at the table with a black smile. Amanda got scared for a second, until she recognized her.

“Memory, how nice to see you,” Ursula stood, shaking the female cyborg’s hands. She had to hold it up really high, and the cyborg still crouched to do it. “What brings you here?”

“Nothing of importance,” the cyborg said. “I was eating with friends and saw you here. Are you enjoying your stay?”

“Yes, of course,” Ursula said. “Do you want to go speak on a less crowded place?” She suggested. Memory agreed, and both of them exited the restaurant.

“What were you two discussing so eagerly?” Hannah turned to Diana, who had barely touched her food.

Calmly, Diana started to cut the chicken on her plate and looked at Hannah. “I was suggesting we try to contact other teams and try to get some sort of group practice thing going on. It would be very helpful to have as much practice as possible, but Ursula was explaining to me why each race would probably refuse,” Diana explained and took the fork to her mouth.

Amanda quickly lost interest and stopped listening on their conversation. She didn’t care about what other races did, she wouldn’t be the one racing against them anyways. Or, well, she would but she wouldn’t remember any of it, so who cared.

“Ouch!” Akko suddenly looked down. “Are there bugs in this planet? Something just pinched me!” She exclaimed. Sucy smirked but said nothing. Amanda waited, looking at the brunette to see what had Sucy done to her. Maybe she had injected her with another skin-altering potion.

However, after a few minutes, nothing had changed. Sucy didn’t seem bothered by this, and Akko hadn’t really complained about feeling different, so Amanda was left confused. Maybe Sucy hadn’t actually injected her something after all, but that seemed rather unlikely.

Amanda sighed. She was bored. Would she have a good excuse to go out? Maybe she could take the Shiny Rod for a ride, since she could pilot it. She wasn’t sure what had changed, but as far as caring was concerned, she didn’t do any. Why would she? Piloting the Shiny Rod was basically a dream every aspirant pilot had at some point in their lives.

The day moved on, but the place didn’t become any less crowded. In fact, Amanda could’ve sworn more people were coming in by the second. Why this place specifically? Why go to a place where you could eat the same food you’ve always known in a foreign planet? It made no sense.

When someone approached the empty head of the table, Amanda turned, expecting to see Ursula. Instead, she found herself staring at an old man of grey hair and green eyes. He was familiar, but she couldn’t place him.

“Hello, girls, how are you doing?” He said with a smile. He was wearing a suit. Someone else was standing behind him. Hannah gasped. It was probably the son of the old guy, for they had the same green eyes. He was _also_ wearing a suit. They both probably wanted to look cool, but the beads of sweat on both of their heads spoke to how useful those suits were really being.

“Oh, how curious to meet each other here, mister Hanbridge,” Diana said, standing and taking the offered hand. Amanda finally recognized him. He was the important guy back at the ceremony where they had gotten those medals.

Where had Amanda left hers, again?

“Not curious at all, miss Cavendish,” the old man spoke rather neutrally, but Amanda had already decided she didn’t like his tone. Or the aspect of his son. He looked stuck-up. Wait, that was Andrew, right? She didn’t know if she had ever seen him before but he fit Hannah’s description perfectly. And, given how the auburn-haired girl was looking at him, as if he were some kind of god down on Earth – or, well, Machina –, she decided she was right. “See, I came here to speak to you specifically,” he explained. Diana nodded, and the old guy guided her through the tables and towards the exit. Ursula had been gone for a good while, but hadn’t come back yet.

Andrew sat down in the header, loosening his tie a little. “I hope it’s not a bother if I take this seat. It’s been rather tiring, walking around in this heat,” he said. Amanda instantly decided he didn’t like him either. His voice was pompous. And his hair too, damn it. He looked like he had spent an hour in the mirror trying to get it right. How had it remained like that with the sweat?

“I-it’s fine!” Hannah stuttered. Jasminka was completely unfazed by the guy, though Barbara did look at him with interest. Akko and Constanze hadn’t even noticed his arrival, and Lotte was chastising Sucy – probably for the injection thing.

Wait, Amanda loved those chips Jasminka was eating. She should ask for some…

“And you are… Hannah England, is that right?” He said to Hannah. She blushed, which Amanda found absurd. He had literally just asked if that was her name. Truly, girls with crushes were idiots. Love was an idiotic emotion, in general, in Amanda’s opinion.

“Y-yeah,” Hannah said.

“Well, miss England, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “I’d kiss your hand, but in all honesty, I’m a little sweaty right now, and I would prefer not to.”

Hannah laughed exaggeratedly at the stupid comment. Amanda rolled her eyes. Barbara didn’t look nearly as impressed with the guy as Hannah, though she seemed to be enjoying the exchange.

Akko turned to look at what was going on and jumped from her seat. “You! Marcelo, was it?” Akko said, pointing. “Why are you here?”

“Hello, miss Kagari,” he said. “Why, I-“

“Akko,” Akko instantly said, grimacing. “Just call me Akko.”

“Well then, Akko, I’m here because my father came to take care of some business,” he spoke calmly and collected. It set Amanda off. Then she realized, it was because he resembled Diana in his way of acting. It made sense, then. Amanda seemed to simply have a natural hate of rich people.

“What business would he have in a restaurant?” Akko asked, narrowing her eyes. Wait, did she know him? How?

“He came to speak with your fellow pilot.”

“Why would he have business with Diana?”

Andrew cocked his head, confused. A common reaction to Akko’s idiocy. “Because he’s the head of the race committee on Earth’s division,” he explained with the tone you’d use to describe something to a baby. Again, it pissed off Amanda. True, Akko was an idiot, but that didn’t give you the right to treat her like one. No matter how important or rich your family was.

“Oh, right,” Akko sat back down, seeming satisfied. “Guess it’s fine then,” she said and turned to Constanze again. Amanda was baffled by how quickly she could drop a subject and just do something else.

Andrew looked extremely bothered by the fact that Akko had proceeded to ignore him completely, but he quickly regained his composure and put on his poker face again. He seemed to be worse at that than Diana, at the least. Amanda could _never_ read that girl, unless she let her guard down. Annoying, like everything she did in general.

“So…” Andrew said after some awkward silence, “are you nervous for the coming race?”

“Of course,” Hannah said. “But it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

The way she said that made it obvious that it’s not how she felt at all. Amanda felt bad. In practicing with the Shiny Rod, she didn’t get many chances to shoot. Amanda wondered why there wasn’t one of those fancy simulators inside the _Dragon_. Wouldn’t it be useful to have the team practice while traveling, instead of just letting them goof off and spend days, sometimes even more than a week, going without practice? The closer thing to it they had were games. As one might imagine, games don’t really make the cut as substitutes.

“Amanda, can I ask you something?” Amanda turned her attention from Hannah and Andrew and looked at Lotte, who had talked to her. She looked nervous, as if what she was about to ask wasn’t normal or proper. Amanda raised an eyebrow.

“Shoot,” Amanda said.

“Well, sorry if this isn’t a good moment, but is this you?” She handed something to Amanda. It was an aerial look of a place full of people, lit as if by fires. It took Amanda a second to realize it was the dance floor of the party the other day. Near the center of the picture, Amanda’s hair stuck out as she moved while dancing with Hannah.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Amanda said, handing the photo back and shrugging. “Why?”

Lotte perked up. “Ha, I knew it!” She nudged Barbara. “Did you hear that?”

Barbara, who had been paying attention to the newcomer, turned with some surprise. “Excuse me?”

“Told you this was Amanda. And this is Hannah, right?” Lotte pointed at the figure dancing with Amanda. Amanda nodded. What was the purpose of asking? It was obvious, anyways. There hadn’t been many humans at the party.

Barbara’s jaw dropped. “No way!” she said. “They were still fighting back then, it has…”

“Barbara, dude, I’m telling you that was me,” Amanda said with some annoyance. “Hannah kind of pushed me into doing it, though.”

“Actually, I think it was a cyborg who pushed you,” Hannah commented offhandedly and continued with her own conversation. She was still reddish on the cheeks, but beyond that, she had gotten over the initial shyness of seeing her crush in front of her.

“I don’t think that-”

“But you _danced,_ ” Barbara was in disbelief. She looked at the picture as if it wasn’t real. “Why would you dance?”

Amanda didn’t like where the conversation was going. She had the feeling she was missing something the two girls in front of her understood. “We danced for a couple minutes out of pure casualty, there’s nothing more to it,” she made sure to try to sound serious.

“But Hannah-” Barbara continued.

“Jesus just accept it,” Amanda said with annoyance. “We literally danced because we could and it was pretty fun, why are you freaking out?”

Barbara opened her mouth, but didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at Hannah, who was focused on her own conversation. She was explaining to Andrew the intricacies of being a gunman. Amanda felt like she could learn from it, but then again, she wasn’t really a gunman.

Barbara turned to whisper something to Lotte. Amanda would have said that secrets on the table were bad manners but then again she had made a ten seconds burp not long ago, so she was not the most indicated person to be saying those things.

And so, she was left alone again. Jasminka and Sucy were also alone, but they didn’t seem to mind it one bit. Amanda wondered if she should move to Diana’s seat, maybe to talk to Jasminka, but then she’d get in the middle of the conversation of Hannah and Andrew and hell, she didn’t want to be that much of an asshole. If the girl wanted to talk to the guy, let her.

Well, she was kind of annoyed about it, but that was probably because she got easily annoyed about anything related to human beings such as Andrew in general, so she didn’t think much of it.

At that moment, Ursula came back.

“Girls, do you want to make a small tour of the city? We don’t have much to do until this afternoon when the track will be open for us again,” she offered. Memory was waiting back at the door.

“We should wait for Dia-” Hannah said, but then Diana arrived accompanied by Paul. She seemed slightly upset.

“I would really like that,” Diana said.

“Me too,” Akko stood. “Maybe if I get to know more about the city I’ll be better at speaking cyborg.”

“Fairly certain that’s not how idioms work,” Amanda said, standing. “But whatever, I’m bored as hell so I want to go too,” she said. It was true. She was bored out of her mind. She still eyed Barbara from the corner of her eye, though. The black haired girl was still wearing a shocked expression. Amanda was tempted to ask what was so crazy, but she didn’t want to deal with whatever the answer might be.

After a while, they finally left the restaurant, and Amanda thanked not having taken off her suit, given how much Akko complained about the heat.

 

Andrew and her father didn’t join them. Diana was thankful for that, after the chat she’d had with Paul. She didn’t want to see more of them than necesary. She and Andrew didn’t exchange words, but that was for the best. Due to the close relationship the Cavendish family had with racing and magic back on Earth, she had known Andrew from a very young age. The fact that they were basically neighbors didn’t help either. Diana wouldn’t say he hated him, but she didn’t want to deal with him. Maybe it was because they were so similar. Diana wasn’t oblivious to their similarities, like many seemed to think. But as the saying went, like poles repelled each other.

Hannah seemed disappointed at this development. The girl knew nothing about him but his looks and basic personality but she seemed ready to marry him.

Outside the restaurant was a big, long airship. It kind of looked like an oversized jet without wings and way more windows. A door opened on the side and everyone climbed in. The inside of the ship was cyborg sized, but every seat had some steps obviously put there recently to allow smaller races to climb up to them. They looked comfortable, but there was one little problem.

Almost every seat was taken.

“I guess it was kind of hasty to presume we’d be alone on this tour,” Diana commented.

“Oh, yeah. But two humans can comfortably sit in a single seat, and there’s five free seats, so it’s perfect,” Memory explained. She spoke in a polite, calculated manner, almost cheerful. Diana noticed some daemons on the ship, and for a second thought one of them would be Horn, but that wasn’t the case.

She did notice that there were no Armors aboard.  They were made of rocks – well, not really, but it was the fastest explanation – so they were really, really heavy. And there weren’t medusas either. Their bubbles were probably too big for the ship.

“Sit however you’d like,” memory pointed at the five seats free near the front. One of them stood alone, while the other four were on pairs. Diana started considering what the best configuration would be to allow for minimum conflict between everyone, but Sucy walked forward and sat next to a window – the windows were long and wide, which allowed even tiny humans to look through them – throwing her ideas into the trash.

As expected, Lotte and Akko followed. The green team took the seat behind it, which only left the blue team and Ursula. One of them would have to go with Ursula, and Diana was tempted to offer herself to it when Akko perked up and called for the coach to seat in the same seats as her. Ursula obliged.

The three blue team members looked at each other.

“Sit together,” Barbara said. “I’ll go seat with the green team,” she said and turned.

Diana had also thought that the best option. Leaving Hannah and Amanda in the same row didn’t seem wise.

“Oh no you don’t,” Hannah took Barbara’s arm and pulled her back, quickly taking the seat next to Constanze and behind Chariot. Diana frowned. “You two have had barely any interactions since this whole race ordeal started. Might as well take the chance, don’t you think?” She explained. Diana raised an eyebrow, but that did sound like something Hannah would think about.

Barbara shrugged and sat next to the window. Diana followed and sat beside her. It truly was a comfortable seat. Very springy, probably because it was meant for the way heavier cyborgs. Memory moved on to the cockpit, leaving them alone. Then the ship started moving vertically.

“Wonder how they do that. I didn’t see any means of hovering below the ship,” Diana commented. “Magnetism? Maybe they have a similar technology to the Armor.”

“Nah, if so, why would they have engines? It’s probably something that somehow negates gravity,” Barbara suggested. It made more sense than Diana, but…

“No way, if they had a way to counteract gravity we’d know about it,” she said. “We’re in close contact with each other, but those are the kinds of scientific breakthroughs no race could keep a secret for long.”

“Like the Shiny Rod and the teleportation?” Barbara raised an eyebrow.

Diana pressed her lips. She had a point there. Outside, metallic buildings passed, but no one was really giving them a tour. Diana wondered where they would start. For the direction of the ship, they were probably moving towards the outer parts of the city.

A cyborg lady came out of the cockpit, but it wasn’t Memory. She had a bronze, steampunk-looking arm and leg. Gears were visible, and it moved rather ineffectively. She looked tired as she handed everyone little bags. Inside, there were colorful balls of something. Diana picked one up. They looked like glass marbles, but didn’t feel like glass.

“These,” the lady started saying, “Are candies fit for all races. Try them, we are certain you’ll find them delicious,” she sounded as someone who had said that phrase a number of times already and was starting to get sick of it.

Diana, overtaken by curiosity, put the candy onto her mouth. It didn’t have much flavor, but the texture was absolutely incredible. It felt like chewing on pure water, but that somehow didn’t spread around the mouth. And what little flavor it had was fruity. Diana felt like she had tasted the same slight flavor on the sodas from earlier. She hadn’t had much of a chance to ask cyborgs about their culture yet, but she hoped she’d be able to at some point before the end of their stay in the planet in about three days.

For some reason, she had the feeling she wouldn’t be able to do it.

At one point, the landscape of the city became strange, and it was then that Diana stopped thinking and started admiring. Everyone in the ship gasped as they looked down on Machina.

And its beautiful chaos.

The world appeared to be made of metal. The grass was copper colored. The leaves on the trees appeared to be made of silver. Even rocks seemed to have metallic shine to them. The landscape was rather chaotic, as if the planet didn’t have a geographical cohesion. Around the city there was mostly a copper plain sprinkled with some silver threes here and there. However, to their right, the ground dropped suddenly to become something like a canyon, while to their left there were small hills with a lot, _a lot_ of holes going through them.

“What you’re seeing to your right,” Memory’s voice said through the communicator as Diana popped another candy into her mouth, “is the Metal Mines of the ancients. Before-” Diana assumed what followed was the name of the city, which she had kind of forgotten, wasn’t actually Wood City, “was founded, our ancestors used this land rich in minerals to extract metals from the earth. However, when the metals ran out, this city had already established itself, and not many were willing to leave,” as Diana chewed, she wondered if this had sugar. It was just mildly sweet, but she did like to know what she was eating. “To your left are the Mine Hills, where all the dirt from the mining operations was dumped. Those holes are actually nests of-” the name she pronounced wasn’t one Diana could understand, but she did recognize that the word was the same as that of Metal Birds, “which migrate here every winter.”

Diana wished she had some kind of binoculars to see closer. The helmet she had had many functions, but a zoom was not one of them. Still, she thought she saw some figures flying over the hills. What a strange way to make nests, that one was. Would Metal Bird eggs taste good? That would certainly be interesting.

“What’s that?” Akko asked loudly enough for everyone to hear. She got no answer, but when looking out the window, Diana was sure she spotted what Akko meant. It was hard to see from this angle, but directly below them was an enormous hole in the ground without a visible bottom. Diana looked at it for a while. Whatever it was, she didn’t recognize it from any descriptions of the planet.

The ship turned, and as it did, new parts of the land came into view. In the distance a mountain range was appreciable.  Where the terrain became more regular, a forest started, a forest that spread, Diana suspected, all the way to the ocean where the _Dragon_ would be waiting.

And that was most certainly the direction where the _Dragon_ was, as many human brooms came out of the forest in a constant flow, going to Wood City. “In the horizon you may be able to see the Spiky Mountains,” the voice said. “Cyborgs have tried to conquer them for centuries, but they’re infested with-” whatever she said was lost in translation. “You can actually see an old nest from one of them right below the ship. Those monsters are able to pierce through rock as if it was water and disappear underground faster than we could drop a few Hyper Bombs on them,” Hyper Bombs were, basically, the nuclear bombs equivalent of Machina. In fact, they were probably even more powerful than nuclear bombs, but they didn’t work on nuclear fusion like human ones.

Diana didn’t have interest in how they worked. She wasn’t a fan of massive destruction weapons, no matter who created them.

Now, those beings… Diana had understood something like “Hungarians”, but then again, that was probably her brain trying to interpret the foreign language as something understandable. Like hearing names in the wind or in music.

“Damn, those things must be huge,” Barbara whispered. “What do they eat?”

“I’d guess they’re able to eat nutrients from the soil itself like the Metal Birds seem to be able to do,” Diana explained. “Even the plants of this planet seem to be adapted to the richness of raw mineral. I’d love to see some more flora and fauna to study it a little more,” she considered the possibilities. Did every animal in the planet had metallic taints to them? Why didn’t cyborgs have it, then? Maybe that’s what had allowed them to evolve to the point of sentience. Again, Diana found herself with so many questions but no answers. Maybe Constanze could teach her about things, if she had managed to learn Cyborg language.

As the ship kept moving, Diana couldn’t help but admire the landscape. Tree trunks seemed to have a golden taint to them. Trees of gold and silver. It reminded Diana of a fairy tale.

“Akko, you’re going to fall off the window,” Diana heard Lotte say from behind, and she could easily imagine the brunette sticking her face to the glass in an attempt to better look outside. “That forest to your left,” the voice said. The humans were on the left side of the ship, so they had the better view of the forest, “is the forest our ancestors named-” again, the translation device didn’t pick it up, “which means ‘Trees of Fruition.’ We still don’t fully understand what that means, since none of the trees in the area give any kind of fruit, but we’re still investigating.”

Diana wondered if they didn’t have written records of this all. If they had, maybe they’d see that before the forest did have fruits but something changed and it stopped producing it. Or maybe Diana was assuming everyone else wasn’t as good a researcher as she was, a mistake she seemed to make a little too often for her taste. It wasn’t as if she thought she was better than everyone, it was just…

_You think you’re too good for our party or what?_

Diana felt a stab of cringe as she recalled that. _No, I don’t_ , she had to remind herself. People so often assumed she thought she was above them that sometimes it was hard to remember that was not how she felt at all. Thinking you’re good at something you have proven to be good at wasn’t egocentric or narcissistic, it was merely acknowledging your own abilities and having confidence in them.

“Are you ok?” Barbara whispered to her. “You look stressed.”

 _I’m not,_ Diana thought. Amanda had apologized after Diana’s own apology, but she still believed Diana to be like that. “It’s fine, I believe I just ate a tad too much,” she lied. No need to worry Barbara with her troubles. When Diana eyed her friend, it was obvious that she hadn’t believed her, though.

She didn’t pressure Diana, instead looking out the window again. Diana silently thanked her for that, completely failing to notice the fact that Barbara seemed to have troubles of her own. _It’s ok,_ she told herself. It was just a moment of recalling something hurtful. Nothing that a little logic wouldn’t solve.

“To your right, you will now see a wonderful aerial view of the city,” Memory’s voice snapped Diana out of her mind, and indeed, the view of the city was glorious. Even during day, with the metallic painted buildings in the center, the city sparkled and shone. It was a sight to behold.

It helped Diana keep her mind from going down the path of self doubt. Thanks to that, she simply resolved to ask Memory about it as soon as she could. She wasn’t assuming everyone else to be stupid, she was just used to others not having the same level of investment in things as her. In fact, many of her old teachers had suggested her to pursue a scientific career, instead of piloting. They had a point, but they didn’t understand.

“Diana,” Barbara nudged her with her elbow, “look!”

Diana looked through the left window, and was surprised to see a flock of birds soaring next to the ship. Metal Birds, at least two dozen of them. They had long, beautiful and colorful feathers, alongside with their metallic beaks and claws. Blue, red and green seemed to be the most common colors, though there were a couple yellow and orange ones. All of them had a slightly different metallic color to their beaks, too. Some appeared gold, while others were more silvery. One of them, even, had a very dark beak that, if not for its reflectivity, Diana would’ve assumed it was just the natural color of it.

A red bird kind of reminded her of the Shooting Star, and in turn, that reminded her of practice today. Akko had done well, but not well enough. Or at least, probably not well enough. She still had no idea as to the capabilities of the Noir Rod, but one thing was certainly clear: The daemon gunman was good.

 _“Your aunt sent a message for you,_ ” Paul’s voice echoed in her head. _“But it is of a somewhat… Harsh nature. Let me read it to you: Hello, Diana. Hope you’re doing great. Saw your race against the faeries, that was rather impressive! You almost didn’t make it! I can’t help but fear you’re won’t be able to win future races, and that would be a shame, as it’d mean you’d have to leave the family heritage on my care for another ten years. But don’t worry! I’ll make sure to run everything smoothly!”_

Rather than ‘harsh’, the message had been a reminder. A subtle one, of course, but a reminder nonetheless. When Diana had talked to her aunt about this race, she had been angry. Very angry. Diana would turn eighteen in about a year and a half, and when that happened she would take over the Cavendish family. However, her aunt would still be basically in charge while Diana prepared for the next IPR.

Unless, of course, she won this one.

If Diana somehow managed to fulfill her goal in this race, she would take over fully and probably leave her aunt to rot. This is why she was actually cheering for Diana to lose. In fact, Diana suspected that if she met an accident and didn’t make it back to earth, her aunt would be ecstatic. That’d mean her daughters would be the Cavendish heirs. If that ever came to pass, Diana held no doubt in her mind that it’d be the end of the Cavendish name in the Magic industry. Piloting, medicine or any of the now inactive branches of the family would be lost forever.

Of course, none of them had actually spoken about this. Diana had just mentioned the race, and then they’d had a long conversation full of dodging questions and euphemisms. Diana tried not to think about it, and she normally managed to do so, but her aunt just had to try and bring her down with her stupid messages. There weren’t many people in the world Diana would say she hated, but Daryl held the top spot of that list.

One of the birds, a blue one with a golden beak, suddenly shifted directions, approaching the ship. Diana had to think for a few moments before realizing it was the same bird they had seen back after their first encounter with the Noir Rod. It started flying next to Akko’s window, looking at it curiously, and Diana heard Akko’s exclamation of surprise as the bird pecked the window. “Hello, big guy,” Akko said from behind. The bird pecked the glass again, which made Diana kind of nervous. Was it attacking the ship? Did it want something with Akko? Or was it just a way of saying hello?

“Huh, it really likes that human,” someone said from more on the back. Given the language, it was probably a cyborg. The guard at the hotel had said something similar, hadn’t he? Diana wondered how they could tell. From her perspective, if the bird broke the glass and pecked again, it would probably kill the brunette.

Akko didn’t seem worried about this, however. “Maybe it wants to eat you,” Sucy said with a snicker.

“Nonsense, they eat rocks,” Akko explained, probably having missed that it had just been a joke. The bird didn’t peck again, but it did suddenly move to stick its three legs against the ship, somehow piercing into the hull and managing to stay in place.

“Seems like we’re taking it with us,” Amanda commented, sounding unimpressed.

Diana looked at it with curiosity. What had it seen in Akko? “Looks like one of the Metal Birds has clung onto our ship. Don’t worry, we’re ready for it. They often do this, if they find someone they like inside. It is known that-” Again, Memory pronounced the real name of the creature. It had long vowels and a couple K’s pronounced with almost no intensity. Seemed like it’d be a hard language to learn to speak fluently. “In case you’re wondering, these amiable fellows tend to take a liking to people they feel have similar personality to themselves. They have proven to be particularly good at reading emotions,” memory explained.

The bird pecked again.

 _So it has a personality like Akko’s? How curious,_ Diana thought, nodding with interest. She wondered if there would be a bird who liked her. It would certainly be-

The bird pecked again, this time with more strength. The glass cracked.

“Wait, if this thing is supposed to be like Akko…” Barbara mumbled. Then, it dawned on Diana.

_Oh no._

The next peck broke the window completely, and Akko fell off the ship.


	28. Chapter 28

Akko was falling to her death. This fact, surprisingly, didn’t seem to bother her. Maybe she was too confused to actually process what was going on. Before she could actually think about that, however, something picked her up.

The blue Metal Bird had perfectly clasped both of her arms and was now carrying her through the air in the direction of Swiss cheese mountains – what she had decided to call the holed up hills. It was at this exact point that Akko started to scream. “Woah woah woah!” She cried. “Birdie, can you let me down?” She asked, but it was stupid to think it would work. She was afraid of many things at once, too. The fall, of course, but the bird clasping her arms was kind of scary too. Maybe it’d grab too strongly and cut off her arms, or maybe it wanted to eat her, like Sucy had suggested!

No, that was dumb, but in the moment her mind just seemed to go through the motions, not stopping to think rationally. Well, it normally seemed to work like that, but this was just worse.

The hills ahead became closer, and Akko couldn’t help but be amazed at the speed at which this bird flew. It wasn’t so fast that Akko couldn’t open her eyes, but it did bother her enough that she had to squint. She saw the bronze fields and silver forests as she was carried through the air, and through her panic, a random thought seemed to escape the hyperactive back of her mind. _Everything’s reflective. Must be annoying._

She was obviously not in the best mental state, if she could think like that despite what was going on. Her heart was pounding her heart, and though the wind was deafening, she swear she could hear it.

 _Hey, at least no one will say it was my fault if I died,_ she tried to think positively. She had heard more than once jokes that she would one day die in an accident of her own creation, but jokes on them! If she died, it would be because a giant bird in an alien planet kidnapped her! At least that’d be an interesting story to tell her kids- Wait, how would she ever have kids if she was dead?

While thinking of stupid things, she did manage to calm down, which in turn allowed her to analyze the situation more carefully. Why had the Metal Bird kidnapped her? They were close to the hills by this point. Akko assumed it was carrying her back to its nest. Maybe it had thought her a daughter of some kind. How smart were these creatures, anyways? With how big they were, they surely had a big brain, right?

As she tried to come up with the answers, the bird approached a hilltop and carefully let her down. Akko instantly went down to her knees, as her legs were shaking. Boy, that had been scary, and Akko believed she had grown used to heights. She was impressed by how grassy the grass felt. Yeah, it was stupid, but she had actually expected it to be, well, hard and metallic to the touch, as its color suggested.

“So…” Akko turned to look at the bird. It was looking at her with interest. “What now?”

If it understood her, it didn’t show it. However, it did turn and start jumping downhill. Akko might have been a little more worried about being so far from the city, but she still had the Rod’s key-wand with her, meaning she could probably just go home whenever she wanted. It was worrisome, sure, but not as much as hanging in the air hundreds of meters above the ground had been. Akko wondered for a second if she’d hit the ground stronger or softer than on earth. Gravity was supposed to be stronger here, but there was also more air. Wait, more air meant more air resistance? Hell if she knew. Plus, the difference was probably so small that it wouldn’t affect it that much anyways.

As Akko went downhill, trying not to fall into any of the cave-holes in the side of it, she saw the blue bird entering one. She was quick to follow and enter and, to her surprise, the inside was… clean. It wasn’t dirt, as she’d expected, but actually metal. The tunnel was somehow coated in a dark metallic substance, and in the center of it stood something like a metallic bowl sustaining five eggs.

How the metal had been processed or worked into the sides of the tunnel were things she considered for a split second. Then she decided it would be far too much thinking for herself and she decided to move towards the eggs. The bird stood next to them, as if showing them to Akko.

“They’re very nice,” Akko said. They were white, she thought, but it was far too dark here in the middle of the tunnel to actually tell. She was sure, however, that they had tiny bits of metal into them, as if it was dust sprinkled over the surface, for the way they glinted as she moved around the bowl. She didn’t dare touching one. She wouldn’t risk getting her hand ripped off by a protective mother.

“So you’re a girl,” Akko continued trying to make conversation with the bird that obviously couldn’t understand her. There wasn’t much more to appreciate about this place, though she did understand how amazing it was. These metal coatings were probably the reason the hills hadn’t collapsed despite being so holed up. How many of these were there, anyways? Probably not many, though from the air she had seen at least a couple dozen.

Akko looked at the bird again, trying to piece together why it had brought her here. After some deliberation, she tested approaching her hand to the bowl. The bird didn’t react. In fact, it seemed almost… expectant. It was waiting for her to do something, but what could that be?

Akko tried placing a hand on one of the eggs, and the bird cried. It was like a mixture of an eagle’s cry and a chicken’s song, and Akko jumped back, expecting retribution for having touched the bird’s eggs. Instead, the bird stopped, kept looking at her, and slowly jumped back to the exit where they had come from.

_What’s going on?_

Akko followed it. She wasn’t sure what the bird was trying to do, but she also didn’t want to make it angry, just in case. As they continued going downhill, the bird suddenly stopped and looked at her.

Then, it extended its wings and flew through a tunnel.

Akko ran behind it, but the bird was way too fast for her. That was, of course, until the bird disappeared. Akko kept running, shocked. It had disappeared in an eyeblink, but these nests were made on straight lines, right? So why-

When she reached the midway point, she found herself looking at another tunnel that lead deeper into the mountain, completely lacking of light. So maybe this was more like a burrow than a nest? Akko didn’t fail to notice there were no eggs inside here. Not even a bowl.

When the bird didn’t came back, Akko got slightly nervous. She took the key-wand of the Shiny Rod and very carefully lit it. Now that she thought about it, she had never needed to recharge it, the same way the Shiny Rod didn’t need refueling. How did that go? Maybe back on Sídhe they had been able to absorb magic from the air or something, but here...

 _If I asked Alcor it’d probably just ask me for a password again. Dumb familiar,_ Akko thought as she walked down the tunnel. It wasn’t any different from the other ones, besides having no apparent end. Each of her steps echoed, which made Akko slightly uncomfortable. There were no other sounds, and she wondered if the blue bird had even come through here. A wand’s lighting wasn’t the most efficient, either. Its eerie green light worked fine, but wands didn’t have that much power.

Then, something ahead suddenly reflected her light. She panicked for a second before assuming it had to be the blue Metal Bird. “You know, I oughta give you a name, what do you think?” She asked. Her voice also had an incredible echo. “I think I’ll call you Elizabeth. You’re probably wondering why such a fancy name for a bird, and, well, that’s the point! To get people to ask why the name. Am I smart or am I smart?” Akko chuckled.

She then paused, realizing she was talking basically to herself.

Elizabeth was waiting for her at a dead end. There was nothing here. In fact the wall ended in dirt, not metal coating, like she had expected. Akko looked at the bird, wondering, yet again, what the hell did it want, until it lowered its- No, wait, Akko had named her. The bird lowered her body, inviting Akko to mount her. Or at least that’s what Akko got out of it.

She carefully mounted her, and Elizabeth instantly took off. The speed at which she was flying made Akko nervous. They were approaching the tunnel that did connect with the sides of the hill, but with this speed they would crash. Akko had a sudden flashback at her own attempts at turning with the Shiny Rod.

The bird, however, instead of slowing down, accelerated.

 _Oh boy,_ Akko thought, ready to die for the second time in less than an hour.

 

Diana couldn’t help but cry out in horror as the girl fell out of the ship, sound cut off by the roar of wind that came through the broken window.

Amanda was quick to try and catch her, but with the seat in between, she obviously didn’t make it in time. Suddenly, everyone rushed towards the window, trying to look down to the falling Akko. Diana felt as if time stopped for a moment, a thousand ideas crossing her mind in a split second. None of them would work to save her, however.

And then the blue bird who had broken the window caught her-mid air and carried her away.

“Holy shit, it did want to eat her,” Sucy commented. Diana frowned, who would make a joke in this situation?

“Of course Akko would be the one to be kidnapped by a giant bird,” Hannah said. “Seriously, can’t she spend _five minutes_ without causing some trouble?”

“Don’t be unfair,” Amanda said, “It’s not her fault the bird took her. Though that seems like something very Akko to happen.”

They all sounded incredibly calm, opposite to how panicked Diana was feeling. “Uhm,” Diana said, uncharacteristically unsure of what to say, “aren’t you worried?” She asked, frown still in place.

“Eh, I was while she was in freefall, but if the giant bird took her to its nest, then Akko can probably get out of there with the Shiny Rod,” Amanda shrugged. Diana tried to see a hint of doubt, but she couldn’t find any.

“Plus, she’s too stupid to die anyways. I bet she’d find some way of surviving the fall anyways,” Hannah explained. Diana understood why she would have such a perception of the brunette, but it didn’t mean she was ok with it. After all, Akko did have a talent for getting into strange accidents and somehow come out of them mostly unscratched.

Diana still wasn’t ok with the attitude, but seeing the others so calm helped her calm herself. Akko would be fine, she had nothing to worry about.

It didn’t stop Ursula from standing and walking into the pilot’s cabin with an angry expression.

Diana considered following, but she would feel out of place. Ursula was their guardian for the time being. Still, she felt a soft emptiness in her stomach. Nervousness. Seemed like no amount of rational thinking would stop her brain from making her worried.

But she was sure everyone else was worried too, they just trusted Akko more than her. Or, in the case of Hannah, had a perception of the brunette that just led them to believe she would be fine anyways. Diana couldn’t see Lotte from here, but she suspected the meek redhead would be as worried as her, given the fact that she hadn’t said a word in this whole time.

Akko would be fine. She always got out of troubles like this one.

 

Akko had seen – not, had _lived –_ what the bird had done, and suddenly everything just made sense. They were now overflying the city, sun shining brightly in the sky - though the wind helped Akko not die of a heatstroke - where the gable roofs quickly gave way to metallic tall buildings with flat tops. Some cyborgs on top of those pointed at Akko and Elizabeth with wonder. Akko had managed to get over her initial fear of the height, but she tried to not look straight down. In the distance, more clouds gathered. It would rain again? What a pain in the ass.

It didn’t take long before they reached the dark metallic skyscraper of the hotel, where Elizabeth left Akko on the roof. Akko mounted down from her and looked into her black eyes dotted with color.

“Uhm, thanks,” she said, smiling. “You were really helpful.”

Elizabeth lowered her beak and poked Akko in the chest. Akko timidly patted her head, and they stood like that for a minute until Elizabeth jumped back and extended her wings, gave a little nod with her head and flew away. “Hope we’ll meet again!” Akko said. The bird squeaked something in return and, despite not knowing what it meant, Akko felt strangely warm inside.

And outside too, now that she was standing in the sun. Damn it was hot. She waved her wand, and the Shiny Rod instantly appeared in the roof. She quickly climbed into it, took her helmet and put it on. “Hello,” she said, hoping someone was hearing her.

“Akko!” Ursula’s voice came through the communicator. It had a mixture of scolding and worry Akko was, not proudly, used to. “Are you fine? Where are you? What happened?”

Akko took a deep breath. “Yes, I’m at the hotel, and the bird that kidnapped me took me to see her eggs back in her nest and then it flew me around for a while and I think I made a new friend,” she said that in as quick succession as she could without making unintelligible. She wanted to get the explanations out of the way quickly. “Also, you should come back. It looks like it’s going to rain,” Akko said, looking towards the horizon. Hopefully it wouldn’t rain for long, she wanted to practice some more.

It didn’t take long for everyone to come back, and Akko had already explained everything to Ursula through the radio and showered by then. She was rather tired, the emotions of the day being a little stronger than usual. The clouds had approached considerably, so Ursula decided they wouldn’t be going to their next time of practice. Stupid rain. Akko liked it back on earth, but if it didn’t even let you go outside…

“Akko!” Lotte almost jumped on her when the door to the massive door opened. “You had us so worried!” she hugged Akko, squeezing her, as if trying to prove she was real. Most of the other girls shrugged, though Akko did notice Diana’s look on her. Was it disapproval? No, not harsh enough. Disappointment? Maybe, but Akko hadn’t done anything to actually earn it. It was kind of soft, and the blue eyes of the blonde seemed even warm from her position in Lotte’s hug.

“I’m glad that you’re fine, Akko,” Diana simply said, walking away. Akko had half expected some kind of scolding, but she wouldn’t complain. When Lotte finally allowed her to breathe, she found Sucy staring at her with quiet intensity.

“Next time,” she commented, “take one of those eggs. Might make a good omelette,” she turned and entered the bathroom without further word. Akko hesitated for a moment, unable to tell if it was a joke or she actually meant it. One could never be sure with Sucy.

“Oh, ignore her. She was worried too,” Lotte said. “So, you said you had gotten some kind of idea?

Akko smiled at the reminder. “Oh, yes. I came up with a wonderful plan,” she explained. “All I need now is some practice…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the ending of the xmas batch. Hope you enjoyed it. See you most likely next year. Don't forget, I appreciate comments more than I do kudos.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New year, new batch. My daily wordcount has probably gone down a little, and you may think it's because of the holidays, but fuck those, I was playing CrossCode and fuck it I regret nothing. Those were the most fun 60 hours I've spent in a long while. Oh, and I also have work and shit but that's like way down on my list of priorities. Who needs money amirite.  
> Anyways, if you're somehow still reading this, enjoy the batch.

Akko didn’t get her chance to practice. Hannah was slightly worried about this fact, because it seemed that when the idiot had finally gotten an actually good idea, the universe had conspired to make her unable to carry it out. It had rained for two days straight and now, as the sun was setting over Machina’s horizon – a beautifully blue sunset - it was too late. Hannah and Diana were right now in a small scenario created for the sole purpose of showing off the Second Category teams.

Diana seemed nervous, but not that much. She had talked a lot with different cyborgs the past two days, and that had helped her keep her mind off the race which she wasn’t getting any practice for. And, when she wasn’t talking to cyborgs, she talked with Hannah and Barbara, explaining things about their society. About how their priests wore very thick cloaks, because their sacred duty was to spread the warmth of the sun but not enjoy it themselves, or about how most of their society learned the basics of mechanic to learn to take care of their own limbs at least for basic maintenance. She had gone on and on about how they hadn’t actually developed a writing system until very later in their society, using instead their apparently incredible memories for most things. She had explained that the metal sphere back in their room was made partly of tantalum, which was a metal that was strangely compatible with them – and humans too – and that it worked by literally synchronizing its vibration to the ones in the being inside it. Hannah had only understood half of all of the things she had explained, and she hadn’t cared about the other half. For example: The forest of fruits or whatever it was had never held any kind of fruits in it, so its name was still a mystery, which was such an interesting fact that Hannah had to thank her, lest she not be able to sleep later.

Now, however, when facing reality, Diana held her arms crossed and rhythmically tapped her finger against her arm, something she didn’t do often.

Hannah wasn’t nearly as nervous as she should’ve, given the fact that she had barely gotten any kind of practice. It was futile trying to attack the Shiny Rod, and while she did attack it from time to time to make sure her aiming wasn’t bad, the waste in energy was something to really keep in mind. If she was right, then the Shooting Star used up about one fourth of its fuel while doing the lap in a normal speed and without shooting. If one added shooting it would probably go up to a half. Hannah suddenly realized why all those pilots from the past were so sparing in their attacks and bursts. When she saw an opening where a pilot might have been able to gain an advantage or a gunman a good shot, they didn’t see it that way. The shooting star was really efficient in its usage of fuel. Brooms from the past… Well, ‘might be able’ to gain an advantage or ‘good shot’ weren’t good enough. They had to be certain what they were doing would put them at an advantage. Hannah found a new sense of respect towards those pilots.

In the little scenario stood every team. They weren’t cramped but there wasn’t much room to move either. To her left, Hannah saw the white daemon, Deep Darkness, and if she had heard right when they were presented, his gunman was called Jester. To her right, two massive cyborgs, one male and one rather androgynous female, the two of them blocking the view of the rest of the pilots.

The spectators suddenly started to cheer, a massive roar of a dozen different languages, so loud that Hannah considered buying earplugs to avoid ending up deaf. The scenario wasn’t facing them, though. It was facing the other way, towards the racing track, which kind of made Hannah wonder why they needed the scenario in the first place.

Diana stopped tapping her finger. Hannah knew her enough to understand that meant she was now nervous enough to realize she was, and had consciously inhibited any show of emotion. Because this was Diana, after all.

On the air, then, appeared Croix Meridies, floating in those devices that worked on Inferno. Her lavender hair stood, as always, in an overly complicated style that seemed to want to be a cross between a pompadour and a side-cut and, in all honesty, Hannah wondered how the hell did she managed to get her hair done like that.

“Welcome to the first official Inter-Planetary Race!” She spoke to the audience behind the scenario. They cheered, again. “As always, the Second Category pilots and gunmen will have the honor of the initiation! As you know, this will be a normal race. No tricks, just a normal track – if probably a tricky one. The pointing system will be the normal one, too. First place gets ten points, last place gets one. Now, go, pilots and gunmen! Complete three laps and claim the prize!”

Hannah, who had started to move, froze. She wasn’t the only one. Everyone in the stage but the two demons turned to look at Croix, who just floated there, confident smile on her face.

“Three laps?” Someone asked. An appal, probably, by the language spoken.

“Why, yes. Never said it would be a single lap, right?”

“You said we’d have to reach the finish line and that’s it!” An armor yelled.

“Yeah, so? I’m the one who decides when the starting line becomes the finish line in circular tracks,” not that it was a true circular track, it was just the name that tracks where the start and finish line were the same received.

Hannah sighed, pinching her nose. She was fairly certain previous human racers wouldn’t be able to actually finish this race, either for lack of fuel or by not being able to defend themselves. Or, if they did finish, they’d come in last.

“We’ll have to be very sparing,” Diana mumbled as everyone continued on their way, aware of the fact that arguing would lead them nowhere. The only ones who didn’t seem surprised – or just didn’t care – were the daemons. They were already besides their ship, which they had brought into the track before the ceremony had started. And what a ship it was. Contrary to tradition, instead of being completely black, it had white lines painted on the sides. It was a long ship, around the same length as the shooting star, but the main body was thinner, making it look longer. It had four sets of wide, sharp-looking wings pointing backwards, though they weren’t more than two meters long each, giving the whole ship an arrowhead-like appearance - daemon ships always seemed to have that particular thing in common. Unlike the Noir Rod, however, this one lacked a visible engine.

“Diana,” Ursula’s voice came through the communicator. “You’re at a disadvantage in long races. You should focus on staying on the race, even with the reserves, going overboard will… You already figured this out didn’t you?”

“Yes, excuse me,” Diana said. She was obviously distracted. “Hannah, make sure to use nothing but the single-shot mode on the turret.”

Hannah had already figured she’d need to do that. The amount of fuel used in single shot was the most efficient. Laser mode was completely out of the question, and quick-fire was fine but it was still not optimal. She took a deep breath. Single-shot mode meant she would have to be not only precise, but also careful.

Hannah listened silently as everyone in their group wished them good luck. Including Amanda, which was strange. Hannah couldn’t help feeling a little bitter at her wishing of good luck. The Shiny Rod wouldn’t have to worry about any of the things the Blue Star would.

As always, Akko was the loudest.

The Blue Star was inside the human pits, of course. The cyborgs in the building had allowed them to use their garage as such. Hannah was sure the IPR made enough money to build actual, official places to run these races, probably multiple stadiums for planet, but they never did. Whether it was to keep true to tradition or to keep all the extra money in their pockets was unknown to her.

“Ready, Hannah?” Diana looked at her. Hannah smiled, trying to be comforting, giving Diana a thumb up.

“Are _you?”_ She asked in return. Diana blinked at the question, obviously not having expected it, and hesitated. Diana hesitating? Damn, this was even more worrisome than Hannah believed.

“I… Don’t know. But we have to race, and we have to _win,_ ” Diana said, her blue eyes flaring with an emotion Hannah couldn’t place. Determination? Anger? Fear? Whatever it was, she didn’t have time to answer as one of the mechanics doing a last checkup on the Blue Star gave them the green light and Diana climbed into the ship’s cockpit.

Hannah climbed into the turret and stretched her muscles. She couldn’t be tense for this. Diana was an amazing Witch – well, she technically wasn’t one, since she hadn’t graduated yet, but she was in the IPR, so that had to count for something – and she was an amazing gunman. It wasn’t arrogance, it was just what the statistics said.

She wondered, subconsciously, if Amanda felt any kind of nervousness before climbing on the Shiny Rod.

Hannah closed her eyes and waited until the race started.

 

Diana took a deep breath. When the red Metal Bird in front of them flapped away from the middle of the road, they would start. Each race had their own rituals to start races, which was something Diana always found curious. She couldn’t focus on this now, however. She had to focus on the bird.

She couldn’t.

“Akko,” she said after a while. “Would you mind not using our frequency for your humming?”

“Oh, sorry,” Akko laughed nervously, and everything went silent. Diana took another breath. She had used an annoyed tone, but truth was, having Akko humming in her ear had been kind of relaxing.

“Can’t believe we had to make her aware of it,” Hannah commented. “It took her a full three minutes.”

Diana didn’t reply. Focusing on the bird. The spectators were also waiting impatiently. Watching from rooftops, or from many stories up in buildings, or in stands in every street behind the barricades. Diana had seen those barricades being destroyed with magic and by the Shiny Rod crashing into them, so she questioned if they were there for any reason other than marking the way.

The bird moved, Diana prepared.

It was just a jump, though. She sighed, slightly annoyed. And the neon lights didn’t help either, they were bothering to her eyes.

“Dumb bird,” Hannah said. “What if it decides to sleep there?”

The answer was obvious. Even if that was the case, they would wait in place until the race started. Though it was kind of a problem, as staying in hovering mode did waste fuel, something they shouldn’t be doing at all.

The bird moved again. Diana tensed.

It was just another jum- The flapping of wings.

Diana pressed the accelerator, and the ten ships in the double line shot forward in a roar of engines and whistling wind. Diana was in the third-left position. In front of her was the shapeshifter ship, a triangle of smoking mass not unlike the shapeshifters themselves. As far as she could tell it had barely changed over the years, sometimes being bigger or smaller, maybe longer or wider, but always basically the same.

Tricky part, this one was. If she wasn’t worrying about fuel she might have pressed for a nitro charge, but she couldn’t find it in her. Three laps, three big opportunities to take the lead. Surprisingly enough, no one attacked, though Diana felt some bumps from behind and the side. Behind they had the appali ship, which was more modern in look than the UFO-like ship they had used during their previous attempt. This one was shaped like an egg, and it had powerful engines coming from behind, big orange flames coming out of it. To her side was the armor ship, which appeared to be a big boulder surrounded by three big metallic rings in constant movement. It was strangely satisfactory to look at.

The bump to the side hadn’t come from it – luckily, since those rings probably would have made the Blue Star lose all semblance of stability. Instead, it had come from the two spheres rounding it peacefully. The Armors’ weapons.

It was strange. The start of the race, which in all other cases would have been an absolute mess, this time was rather tame. Everyone moved at an even pace, almost as if they were only testing the waters. Even the first ones in the lines – the reptilians with their ring-like ship and the plants with their actually normal looking metallic ship, lean and pointy, even generic looking. Many humans assumed they’d have wooden ships, but it was kind of like assuming humans would have flesh or bone ships. Well, shapeshifters _did_ have ships that seemed to be made of the same stuff as them, but that was another story – weren’t taking much of an advantage, as if they understood that right now everything was in a strange balance, and the second anyone made a sudden move, it would break.

Diana was the one to break the balance.

She saw an opening, one too big to ignore, to her right. A straight path to the front. She couldn’t help but recall the race back at the simulator and how she had made everyone bite the dust. Maybe that pushed her, maybe it was the need to win, but she pressed the nitro and shot through the opening at blurring speeds.

Once she got at the front, she slowed down, waited  few seconds, and hell broke loose.

“Sphere, missiles and I think the plants are throwing fucking seeds at us!” Hannah cried. Diana heard the turret activating, and whatever Hannah had hit created a loud explosion. Diana checked her monitor showing  her the back of the ship with a single, fraction of a second glance, and calculated the trajectory of the giant sphere. She rose in the air, allowing the sphere to go past her, and then lowered the ship when the ball came back like a boomerang. At that moment another explosion was heard, and Diana felt a couple things hitting her left wing. She caught a glimpse of enormous seeds, and the wing was now slightly dented, though nothing too bad. _Not good enough,_ Diana grit her teeth. Those seeds may not have damaged her too hard, but she had been careless.

In coming back, the giant sphere of the armor actually managed to hit the ring-like ship of the reptilians, but despite being sent into a spin, it was still flying straight, fire coming out of its back.

Diana turned the first corner to her right with slight ease, but she needed to go faster or they’d catch up to her. Right behind her were the plants. The pilot inside the cockpit was that rose-looking plant. The front of the ship had a small cannon, and Diana suspected that was where the seeds were coming from. It was wide, too.

“Hannah,” Diana turned to the left, this one more of a curve than a corner, and quickly moved to the side to avoid a heat-seeking missile shot from the appali’s ship. The missile exploded before Diana and she crossed the explosion, leaving trails of smoke and fire behind the Blue Star, “Try aiming at the cannon, I know it’s a hard hit, but,” Another turn right, this one way sharper than the last, forcing her to slow down, “I trust you-”

“Got it!” Hannah cried, and Diana stopped talking. She turned again, dodging another ball, and a laser of Inferno energy, which she hadn’t seen coming. The daemon’s ship had now joined alongside the plants, appali and armors in pursuing the Blue Star, and from the quick glance Diana gave her screen, the shapeshifter wasn’t too far off, followed closely by the medusa.

Hannah fired, and her shot barely missed the plants’ ship. They had managed to avoid it, but in their movement they left an opening to the daemons who were right behind them. The daemons moved, but one of their wings took the blast. The damage wasn’t too bad, since Inferno and Magic were similar energies and those ships had been made to withstand them. It did throw the daemons for a loop, though.

“At least it wasn’t a waste,” Hannah said, though Diana could feel the frustration in her voice.

How much time had passed now? Two minutes? This was going to be a long race. Now they were in a zone where they had to basically zigzag between a bunch of buildings, and it wasn’t easy when a giant stone sphere was constantly behind you. That was how armor always worked: They used a sphere for attack and another for defense. The rocks those things were made off were basically unbreakable, and their erratic movements ensured they wouldn’t be predictable.

Behind, Diana could hear explosions and more lasers. She could only assume other racers had engaged in a small skirmish while she had the plants and armor at her tail. Speaking of which, Hannah shot again, and her prediction of where the plants would be was right on spot. They tried to move, managing to avoid getting destroyed by a magic projectile entering through the cannon of their ship, but they still took damage on the side, getting a beautiful new hole that started smoking.

The neons on this area were all blue, so to Diana it was like moving between walls of blue light. She would have enjoyed it a little more had she not been trying to focus on dodging seeds and giant boulders.

The zigzag zone ended, and the plants started to have some sort of problem in their ship, since they were left behind. However, the shapeshifter quickly took their place, and the boulder that had been annoying Diana so greatly instead focused on the smoke-like ship.

However, the shapeshifter was aiming for first place. It shot right as Diana turned a corner, but the big, smoky projectile followed her. Diana didn’t know what those things were but she did know they could cause some serious damage upon hitting.

The racing track was now back to normal, with ninety-degree turns constantly but not as closely as in the zigzag part. The strange smoking projectile was about to reach them when a blast from Hannah made it explode mid-air. “Get the hell outta here!” Hannah exclaimed. The shapeshifters had somehow gotten ahead of the armor, who were in turn being chased by the reptilians.

Something shot out of the reptilian’s ship and caught the shapeshifters. A hook? Those weren’t prohibited, but it was stupid at the very best. Tying yourself to other ships might had seemed to a good idea to some, but it was basically a suicide tactic.

The hook did manage to drag the shapeshifter down, however, and the armor got ahead again, its sphere focusing on the Blue Star once more. Diana grunted as she dodged the thing, but all of these dodges were wasting fuel. The problem was that shooting the armor was basically impossible. They weren’t the fastest, but their absurd defense had always been their strong point. How could she deal with that?

Turn after  turn, she was avoiding the sphere, but she understood it would eventually hit her and end it all. From time to time, different racers joined in on the fun too, though the shapeshifters didn’t show up again. In the back of her mind Diana wondered if the reptilians had got them but she couldn’t focus on that right now. The armor weren’t getting any closer, but they had better control than her, so they were definitely not getting any further either. She had to think. She had studied them, she knew of their ways. How had they been stopped before? In the fourth IPR they were stopped by an avalanche. In the sixth one of their giant rocks had gotten stuck on a rock structure and that had somehow impeded them from advancing further. During the last race, Chariot had managed to stop one by actually destroying one of its balls with one of the strange transformations of the Shiny Rod. They could only be stopped by sheer force, it seemed, something the Shooting Star lacked.

They had already done three fourths of the track, but Diana didn’t fail to notice she had already used a fourth of her fuel, and she’d probably be at two fifths when she finished the lap. _Not enough,_ she said. It wouldn’t be enough, even if she was sparing. The reserve was about one extra fourth, but with it they couldn’t access nitro.

As she dodged again, she felt the need to close her eyes. No, this was not the time to panic. But it was hard. Too hard. She… She had taken the first place, but what good would it do without being able to maintain it? She had been hasty. Now, she wouldn’t even be able to finish the race.

_You better win, Diana!_

The voice of the brunette echoed in her mind. Why had that moment left such an incredible impact in her? She didn’t know. But still used it to regain her composure. If she kept dodging, then she wouldn’t be able to finish the race. So what she actually needed to do was _stop dodging._

She slowed down. A lot. They were right now in probably the longest segment of the track besides the starting road, and with her slowing down, the armor went past her in an eye blink. They were probably surprised, for their giant boulder had gone forward again.

“We need to add non-magic weapons to this piece of scrap!” Hannah said, probably noticing the problem with the fuel too. “Some missiles would help against those freaking rocks, I swear they’re driving me nuts!” she didn’t question Diana’s decision to slow down. Probably because she understood.

Behind her, Diana now had three very competitive racers. The daemons had appeared again, followed by a bronze-colored and rather big ship that looked like a small jet but with giant engines on the back. The cyborgs. The medusa finally caught up to them in its giant bubble of water.

 _One step at a time,_ Diana had to remind herself. The armor disappeared around the corner. Luckily for Diana, the three ships behind her seemed to be fighting among themselves. The daemons used little blasts of Inferno coming from the tips of the ship’s wings, the medusa used zaps of electricity and the cyborgs used plain old bullets. Those bounced off the surface of the daemon’s ship, barely making a scratch, and would be obviously ineffective against the water bubble.

A green shot suddenly left the Blue Star, aiming straight at the daemons. They were forced to slow down and avoid it, but the balance of power in the trio was broken and the cyborgs and medusa got ahead, blocking their path.

In the next turn, Diana started going faster. She went as fast as she could manage without risking a crash, but it was hard to catch up to the armor. Soon enough, they finished the first lap, and as predicted, she had used two fifths of her fuel.

She was tempted to accelerate and try to get ahead, but she had the feeling that if she did that, those behind her would do it too, and she didn’t know how much fuel they had. Scratch that, she was certain half of the racers didn’t have to worry about such a thing.

The armor now focused only on winning. They attacked from time to time, but those were barely half-assed that barely required Diana to do any movements. They were warnings to not get closer.

Hannah had to do her own set of warnings, shooting at whoever got close. However, they would soon realize they were trying to save fuel and make a move. Diana felt the need to stretch, but it was too risky. Had it only been ten minutes? It felt like it had been an hour. How different from the Sídhe race. In ten minutes she had been allowed to use almost all of her fuel. Now, she had to be sparing, and being on edge didn’t even begin to describe her state.

The long straight finished without anyone daring to make a move, lest they be attacked by everyone else.

And the play of turns and twists continued.

Diana made sure to never let the armors out of her sight. Sometimes it was hard, as the shorter segments between corners made two turns almost next to each other, and with the constant pursue of those behind her. Wait, when had the octopuses joined? Their ship, similar to a pillar but looking as if it was made out of scrap pieces, had a dozen little engines all around the ship to give it stability. They were rather unfair, since it was hard to hit them without hitting one of their engines. They weren’t engaging in battle, instead fully focusing on trying to get ahead. They considered themselves the smartest creatures of the alliance, but claimed they could never win due to not having access to a lot of advantages other planets had.

Diana often believed that to be an excuse, but seeing their defense mechanism right now made her question her judgment. The ship had like ten little arms coming out of it, all of them holding something akin to a shield and protecting the flimsy looking structure with absolute precision. Diana didn’t fail to notice the metal was probably something alien, but it was hard to tell what it would be, since Trashcan got its resources from many different planets. As far as Diana knew, it could even be some alloy of many different alien metals.

They were approaching quickly, too. They crossed the zigzags from before, in which the daemon caught up to the rest and now there were four ships just two seconds behind the Blue Star. The defense mechanism of the octopus ship was even more impressive than Diana had assumed as it took a fully-fledged red Inferno laser and reflected it.

Towards the Blue Star.

Diana had barely any time to react as she did a barrel roll to the side, almost crashing against the barricades on the side of the street. However, it seemed the beam wasn’t really aimed at them, for when Diana looked, it had hit the armor’s ship. Not very effective, but it had obviously thrown the boulder of a ship off-balance, one of its rings not moving in synchronization with the others.

It was not enough. Not nearly enough, but…

“Try shooting at the octopus,” Diana suggested. Hannah didn’t reply and instantly a shot was fired. As expected, it was reflected.

It hit the medusa right on the edge of its bubble, vaporizing some of the water. Hit a medusa ship enough times without breaking the rules and it will be unable to sustain flight. It was risky, though. But the octopuses _were_ geniuses.

“Should I do it again?” Hannah asked.

“No. They’ll figure out what we’re trying to do,” Diana turned right. She was getting closer to the armor, now that their method of hovering had been disrupted. She didn’t make it obvious, though. This race, it wasn’t as much about attacking as she had assumed it’d be after what had happened in the practice ‘race’ against the Noir Rod. Everyone seemed to be afraid of going overboard. It made sense. If others saw you as too much of a threat, they would – either intentionally or not – team up against you. As things were now, everyone was holding their ground, either for good or bad. It was as if Diana had taken the only good chance at getting ahead the race had. Or, maybe, she had been stupid. The constant dodging had made her wasteful, and she still had one lap and a third to go, with only two fifths of her fuel remaining.

Turn, turn, turn. The motion got repetitive, but she didn’t lose focus. She did notice that the medusa had fallen back, while the daemons had somehow gotten ahead and were approaching.

“Hannah?” Diana asked, a little worried.

“It’s fine. I think something’s up with their weapons, they haven’t shot anyone in a while,” Hannah explained. Diana hesitated, but it was Hannah’s job to worry about those things. Diana’s job was to keep piloting and making sure to win in the long run.

When they finished the second lap, the blue star had a little less than a quarter left. Assuming she didn’t waste any fuel, she’d be able to finish the race with the aid of her reserves. Not wasting fuel implied, however, that Hannah didn’t shoot and that Diana didn’t go faster than she was going right now. She considered trying to use all of her remaining fuel, gamble to be able to finish first only on her reserves, but… Too risky. Then, something sounded. Like a camera’s flash, followed by a flash of red light.

“Diana,” Hannah snapped her out of her thoughts. “No one is following.”

Diana glimpsed at the back monitor. Despite being in the long straight, it was true. They had no one behind. What had just happened? That red energy had been Inferno, no doubt about it.

“You don’t think…” Hannah said, sounding nervous.

The daemons appeared. They had stopped for a second, given that they were now regaining speed, and whatever they had done had obviously impeded other racers from following them. However, they also didn’t do anything else. “Some kind of powerful blast?” Diana suggested.

“It didn’t sound like anything was destroyed,” Hannah explained. “But I have the feeling whatever it was has consumed a good deal of fuel, since they’re not shooting or, well, doing anything at all.”

The long straight finished with no one but the daemons following. Seemed like this would only be a three teams race from now on. _What did they do?_ She’d have to check the recordings of the race later. She would have done that anyways, but now she’d do it with special interest. “Don’t shoot if you don’t have to, but keep them in check,” Diana said. Hannah didn’t answer, but Diana took that as understanding.

It was getting hard to keep focus. Sweat had long ago started the cooling system of Diana’s Witch Hat, but she had never been prepared for these levels of pressure. Now she was in the middle of two of the strongest competitors of the alliance, and one of them had somehow gotten rid of at least another three ships who had not yet caught up to them. It felt like being between the sword and another sword, in a narrow corridor, with only a butter knife as defense.

Turn after turn, the daemons got closer, but didn’t attack. A simple inferno shot wouldn’t be able to do much harm to them, but it could cause instability. If it was good enough, it might cause Diana to crash against a barricade.

Closer. Closer. Each second that passed, each turn, they got closer. But Diana wasn’t in a position to go faster. Not without risking the armor going on the defensive. She needed the fuel. She needed to finish the race. Second place was good enough. It was nine points. They could make up for the lost point if-

_No._

The thought came to Diana before she even realizing it had, but she would not settle for second place. She would not settle for anything but perfection, as she had always done. Winning required one to always aim for the top. If you don’t have the resolution to be the very best, then why try at all?

Diana gambled and changed to reserve power. The Blue Star dipped a meter to the ground before regaining its altitude.

She wouldn’t have a chance to use the nitro again. Not in these short streets and sharp turns. “Hannah,” Diana said, seriousness embed into her voice now more than ever. “The turret is disabled. You’re my watchman now, warn me of danger coming from behind.”

“Diana?” Hannah asked. Usually she wouldn’t bother questioning her, but what she had done now was a little too out there for her. “Did you hit your head?”

“We need to save any fuel we don’t need. I’m going to keep it until we’re closer to the end, where making sure to have enough to defend ourselves is key. Do you understand?”

“I’m not ok with this,” Hannah said, “but whatever you say, Diana.”

Diana was thankful for having such a good gunman, but over that, she was thankful for having such a good friend. No one else would’ve agreed to her stupid plan. The risk of getting attacked and blown to smithereens was too big. But Hannah, she trusted Diana blindly. Maybe that could be a problem sometimes, but today it was a blessing. People were harsh on Hannah and Barbara, but they were truly good people at heart.

And that goodness wouldn’t go to waste. Not now.

 _You better win,_ Diana reminded herself.

The daemons caught up to her. They didn’t attack, however, but Diana started going a little faster. Maybe she couldn’t go nitro, but she still had her basic functions working. She didn’t want to get into a fight with the daemons, but she had the feeling whatever they had done back there had put them in a similar position as Diana’s. Or maybe she was underestimating them.

Hopefully not.

Corner after corner, turn after turn, neither of them managed to get ahead of the other, while they were definitely getting closer to the armor. The rocks didn’t attack. Surely the spectators were bored with their racing, which was as of right now based purely on speed and ability, rather than who could shoot better. Not that gunmen were unnecessary, but Diana had seen how people reacted to these races. They liked when the racers got into fights. It made things a little more exciting for them.

Diana, on the other hand, was finding a newfound respect both in the daemons and armor. She knew this wouldn’t last – she suspected that as soon as they got out of the zigzag segment both of them would get in no-bullshit mode and start attacking to no end. But she had to take her chances.

She was still surprised by the fact that no one seemed to be following from behind. What had the daemons done? It was really nagging at her.

Zigzags. Diana started to purposefully lag behind. Try to be unthreatening. Make them think she was having some sort of trouble. They soon got outside the area and, right as she predicted, the first giant ball came. Also as she had expected, it was aimed more towards the daemons than for the Blue Star, so it barely required any effort to dodge.

And, of course, the daemons answered. What Diana had not anticipated was how they would do so. Suddenly, their entire ship started to glow in red.

Then, it began to spin, and behind it appeared a giant fire of red Inferno. Not long after, it zoomed forward, barely perceptible to Diana’s eyes. The rock ball that was going for it exploded in a million pieces. The other one too, and two of the metal rings around the main body of the armors’ ship were pierced too. All of this was followed by an explosion in the building at the end of the street and Diana was left dumbfounded as she crossed the cloud of smoke and dust, looking at the holed metallic barricade that the daemon left behind. The armor’s ship quickly fell to the ground, rolling away as the last ring fell off. The ship was now nailed on the building which, despite being wood and not metal, somehow managed to not get completely destroyed. Diamond wood was, indeed, worthy of its name

“What the fuck was that?” Hannah asked, worried as Diana turned again and the smoke and both ships left their view. Diana didn’t have an answer for her, but she did have one for herself: Something dangerous, and something she needed to get away from fast. She didn’t know if the daemons’ ship was still functional but she didn’t plan on finding out. Why do that suicidal move in that moment? Why throw the race away? Was it truly worthy just to take out one other racer?

 _They all but obliterated the armor ship,_ Diana realized with a chill. She had been so worried about Akko and the Noir Rod, she hadn’t stopped to think. If the daemons had found a way of building a copy of the Rod, then what would their other ships be like?

Diana continued, but she accelerated as much as the reserve fuel would allow her too, and didn’t look back. Forward, turn, forward, turn. The motion was no longer merely repetitive, it was now automatic. It was probably for the best, as Diana was no longer able to actually focus on that, the fear of the daemon ship appearing behind her too great.

At three fourths of the last lap, she almost had a heart attack when a ship appeared. It was not the daemons’, however, but the shapeshifter, who had somehow gotten ahead of everyone else.

_Ok, now’s the time._

She was almost out of reserve anyways, so she switched back to normal. “Hannah?”

“Got it!” She fired a warning shot, which the shapeshifter dodged easily before letting out its own smoky missile. And another one. And another one. “Going all out, huh?” Hannah said with cockiness. She easily destroyed all three projectiles. “Too slow, too slow.”

They were close now. Turn. Turn. _Come on,_ Diana thought, making sure to keep an eye on the fuel. They could do this. But with Hannah defending against those black missiles, they would go through the remaining fuel fast, and this wasn’t slowing down the shapeshifters in any way.

Turn. Turn. Turn. Just two more. The shapeshifters were at their tail, no longer shooting but somehow dodging every shot even at close range. Just one more. The shapeshifters got besides Diana.

_No!_

Turn. Nitro.

In a final burst, with barely any fuel left and with the finish line basically on their faces, Diana pressed the rightmost pedal and the Blue Star shot forth, losing power almost instantly too as it switched to Reserves, but those couldn’t handle the speed, so as the Blue Star tried to slow, it shot down. It fell to the ground, skidding a few meters.

She was disoriented, but alive. Had she hit her head? Probably.

After a few seconds, a voice came and Diana found herself smiling at it. “THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!” Akko cried through the communicator. Diana didn’t reply, too tired. She wished to just close her eyes and fall asleep right then and there. “Diana, you won!” Akko continued.

“Akko, shut up,” Hannah said. “We can hear you.”

 _I won,_ Diana thought, barely processing it. All the tension she had been building up got released at once, and she lost the strength on her limbs. “I won?” Diana asked through the communicator, sounding way more tired than she expected. She lost sense of time for a while, and her windshield wouldn’t open, since the Blue Star had been completely drained of magic. When it opened it was thanks to the mechanics of the broom, who opened it manually and helped Diana out.

She came out to the roar of the spectators. Thousands of flashes of light from everywhere, neons surrounding her. Diana wondered if she had taken some kind of drug on accident. Her breathing had calmed, at least, and despite the blurry vision, she was starting to be aware of her surroundings.

“Miss Cavendish!” A voice came from her side. Even standing atop the Shooting Star, she didn’t quite reach eye level with the cyborg who was offering her a microphone. “How do you feel about your win?”

Diana paused. She had prepared speeches, of course. She had… She had prepared speeches, right? She was certain she had. Why couldn’t she remember any of them? _Aw, screw that,_ she thought with uncharacteristic rudeness even if it was only inside her head. “I’m rather tired, I must say,” she managed to say. “But I… The result was not out of my expectations.”

With her comment, the audience roared again, though it was only now that Diana noticed there was more booing than cheering. Of course. But she had still won. She tried to smile, only to realize she was already doing it. Soon after, her friends approached, crossing the street with no regards for safety. Well, particularly Akko. “That was so cool!” Was the first thing she said. “You were nose to nose with the shapeshifter and then WOOSH you had crossed the finish line and no one even knew what had happened! And before that, when you were dodging…” Diana didn’t interrupt as the brunette went on a detailed explanation of the race Diana had just lived. In the meantime, the others reached the ship. When had the other racers arrived at the finish line? Probably while she was still inside the cockpit.

Barbara hugged her. Suddenly, the emergency exit for the turret opened, and Hannah came out with a sigh. “Damn thing is hard to open manually,” she said with annoyance. Barbara also jumped to hug her too, almost toppling them both from the ship.

After the almost accident, they got back down, where the others were waiting. Diana noticed how Constanze ran around the Blue Star making notations on one of her devices. She was wearing those goggles she usually wore while working, but Diana was too tired to ask her what she was up to.

“Good job,” Amanda grunted to her. Diana nodded in acknowledgement. Then, the redhead turned to Hannah. “You too. How you took down all those missile thingies… It was pretty cool,” Amanda said almost begrudgingly, as if she had to force herself to say nice things. Diana appreciated the effort, but she didn’t fail to notice how Hannah smirked. If Amanda noticed the expression, however, she didn’t show it, instead turning and walking away at the same time Ursula came closer.

“I won’t praise you,” Ursula said, “because what you did was suicidal, Diana. But I will congratulate you on your win,” she patted Diana’s shoulder. Of course Diana knew her idea hadn’t been the best, but the pressure barely allowed her to think. _Turn, turn, turn,_ she still felt the almost reflexive movement in her hands.

“…Chariot!” Akko finished her rambling, and only then Diana realized she had been talking the entire time. At some point she had just stopped listening.

“Excuse me?” Diana asked, looking at the bright-eyed Akko.

“That it was almost like seeing Chariot! The tension, the last-second win, the maneuvering, all the odds stacked against you… So cool,” she explained. Diana grew a little uncomfortable. No, she hadn’t been as reckless as Chariot would’ve been, except maybe in that last part. Akko was probably just overexcited. It was nice to feel like Akko had really liked her flying despite that.

A figure approached the small human group. A white figure with horn-like protrusions all over its body. Its green, round eyes pulsed darker and lighter each second. “Good race,” he said, extending a hand. The daemon pilot. Hannah had mentioned meeting him. Deep Darkness, was it?

“May I ask why you did that?” Diana asked as she took the hand. It was cold to the touch, but not as cold as Diana expected after reading some reports. Some described them as ‘beings as cold as ice’, but this was barely colder than what you’d get out of a normal fridge. As they shook hands, the daemon didn’t stop looking at her for a single second with its unblinking eyes.

“I failed in some of my calculations,” he explained in a perfectly calm manner. “The armor’s weapon was harder than I anticipated, broke my direction system.”

“I see,” Diana nodded. “I’m sorry you had such an accident.”

The shaking of hands stopped as Deep Darkness stepped back. His gunman was besides the ship that had pretty obviously barley made it to the finish line. “You shouldn’t be. Next time I won’t make the same mistake,” the white daemon said before turning and leaving. He was a lot less cheerful than Horn had been, though Diana still wasn’t sure of how to read them.

“Well,” Hannah approached Diana, “you did it, Diana.”

“ _We_ did it,” Diana clarified.

 _[To all teams, please leave the racing track as soon as possible, preparations for next race must be made]_ A voice sounded, probably coming out of the giant screen floating above the scenario and a hundred other speakers around the area.

“Let’s go, girls. Akko, you need to get ready,” Ursula said. Akko nodded, obviously pumped up for what was to come. However, before she ran off, Diana put a hand to her shoulder.

“Akko,” she stopped her. Akko turned with a curious – if impatient – expression. “Thank you.”

Akko paused, frowning in confusion after a while. “I didn’t do anything, though,” she said, struggling as she tried to figure out why Diana had said what she had said.

Diana smiled and shook her head, letting Akko go. “Don’t mind it. Go get ready. I’m certain that you will win too,” Diana tried to be encouraging, and maybe for the first time, it seemed to work, for Akko got out of whatever train of thought Diana’s gratitude had started and got back to the real world. She nodded with determination before taking off in the direction of the scenario, where the small ceremony for the First Category pilots would be held. Diana saw no point to such ceremonies. They just made everyone lose time and everyone already knew who they were anyways.

“Why’d you thank her?” Hannah asked as they started to move towards the human pits. Diana didn’t answer, but this time it wasn’t because Hannah didn’t expect her to, but because she would rather keep it to herself.

 

 _I’m going to win this,_ Akko was excited as she sat on the Shiny Rod. She had been the first one to arrive at the racing track, and had already taken her place at the front of the line right. “You ready, Amanda?” Akko asked after everyone wished her good luck.

“Whenever you are,” Amanda said. She often replied without an ounce of personality when she was inside the turret. Akko inhaled, exhaled and repeated the process a couple times as she got ready. Where was everyone else? Come on, there was a race to run!

And, as if a god had heard her, someone finally appeared beside her. And it was none other than the daemons and their black rod. The Noir Rod.

Akko couldn’t help but be impressed at how truly similar it was. Hannah had described it as being twice the size of the Shiny Rod but that was an exaggeration. Sure, it was bigger – a few meters longer and wider, probably – but it wasn’t _that_ much bigger. Hell, it was probably barely bigger than the Shooting Star. Besides that and the inverted color scheme, it was basically the exact same. Maybe she should have been impressed, but there was one small problem with that.

She was too big of a fan.

As she looked at it, Akko didn’t fail to notice that the pilot was making gestures for her to open the windshield. Akko did, and despite having to shout, they could now hear each other. “Hey, First Category, let’s see whose version if superior!” he said. Horn, right?

“There’s nothing to see!” Akko replied. “The original always beats the bootleg!” Horn seemed confused by that last word. Maybe it hadn’t translated? “Bootleg means cheap copy!”

Horn seemed to finally get it, and his body started shaking in a strange manner. It was like a controlled seizure. Maybe that was how they laughed? “We’ll have to race and find out!” he cried, giving her something that must have been similar to thumbs up for daemons – he closed two of his three claw-like fingers and held the third one high.

Either that or he was telling Akko to go fuck herself, but she’d rather believe the best of people.

Akko couldn’t help growing impatient. Diana’s race had been so exciting. She had somehow taken a hold of the first place for a long while, even with the armors’ constant pressure, and then the daemons had done that crazy thing before the second lap ended and the absolute madness that had been that weird attack… Damn it, she wanted the race to start! Would hers be as exciting as Diana’s?

The places of the race started to get filled, and soon, Akko was already bouncing her leg, begging for it to start. They used the method of the bird again. Akko looked at the red Metal Bird with annoyance that grew every second it didn’t move.

Someone in the audience threw a rock, and instead of flying away, the bird caught it mid-air and ate it.

Then it flapped its wings.

Akko pressed the accelerator with a smile on her face. _I’ve got this!_ She thought. Elizabeth had shown her the way to do this. She would not only make it, she would do it perfectly. She would pull it off.

Besides her, the Noir Rod wasn’t lagging behind. In fact, they had left everyone else biting the dust back there. _Bigger isn’t always better, what matters is the ability!_ Akko thought. _Wait, no, he’s definitely better than me- No! I am to be the next Chariot! I will prove it!_

In practice, Akko would’ve needed to slow down to not run nose-first into the barricade. Instead, this time, she prepared.

She rotated the ship ninety degrees, and instead of using the horizontal steering to turn, she used the _vertical_ one. The Shiny Rod had a way better control when going up and down than right and left. In fact, she was sure Chariot had often taken curves like this, she jus hadn’t thought much of it until now. In fact, the Noir Rod was also using the same turning. When had the daemons figured it out?

However, she miscalculated, and instead of nailing the turn as she expected, she hit the corner of the building with the cockpit. Luckily, the glass was super-resistant and didn’t shatter into a million pieces, but the entire ship rocked as if stumbling, and she was instantly thrown against the other barricade.

 _Harder than expected,_ she thought as she grunted, seeing as three racers got ahead of her. The daemons, a medusa and the reptilians. Unlike the Second Category ship, this reptilian ship worked with two rings that spun in opposite directions to one another. _Guess I could use some help from Amanda right now._

She began to form words when suddenly, a barrage of magic fired out of the Shiny Rod, aimed directly at the reptilians. They dodged the attack, but they had lost some speed. At the same time, however, someone was approaching the Shiny Rod from behind in the curve they were currently on. Akko had no time to worry about it. She turned the ship on its side, tried to calculate a little bit better and failed again. This time the engine hit, making the Rod bounce and scrape against the barricade for a while, losing speed. However, that lost of speed did help in dodging the giant boulder the armor had aimed at them. The armor got past them, quickly followed by the plants. And as Akko regained her speed – taking a couple of turns in a normal way – the shapeshifters came from behind. They tried shooting a couple times, but Amanda reacted so quickly to the missiles that it looked like they had only caused themselves trouble.

Akko had gained speed enough to start being dangerous to turn normally. So she gritted her teeth. Elizabeth had shown her, when flying out of that tunnel, that by flying vertically it gained way more control over its movements. The Shiny Rod was similar. It didn’t have a fin-like vertical stabilizer. Hell, Akko didn’t think it had any ailerons to being with. It was hard to tell how it worked, but the point was, it was definitely more responsive like this.

The problem was that Akko had gotten no practice, and thus, she would need to master this _right now._

She turned the Shiny Rod on its side and, surprisingly enough, she managed to pull the turn off. Then she instantly realized she needed to turn it the other way around. She tried going down, but the problem was, she couldn’t actually _see_ below her.

She crashed against a wall, coming to a full stop. It was as bad as previous crashes, but this was a _real_ race. She heard as every other racer got ahead of her while trying to get the Shiny Rod back in the road. _Faster,_ Akko thought. Being able to turn it a hundred and eighty degrees in a split second, that would be the key to mastering this way of turning. _I can win,_ Akko thought, _I will take full advantage of my ship’s capabilities._

The next three turns went normally, but right as Akko tried to get it right again, all neon lights around her turned blue. The Zigzag Zone, she had called it. _This is the perfect place for practicing this,_ she realized.

So she tried it.

Hit after crash, zig after zag, she barely managed to make it out of there alive. _Not fast enough,_ Akko thought with frustration. Turning around that fast was a problem. Maybe she had tried practicing something too technical too fast. At least no one was here to bother her. Why was no one bothering her? It seemed-

_Oh shit._

She gained speed again, but her instincts pushed her to keep trying her turn. She was getting better. Two, three perfect turns. A scrap against the barricade here, a bump there, but nothing too serious. Before she even realized it, she had finished the first lap.

She used nitro in the long straight, of course.

As she approached the end, she slowed down, but not too much. To the surprise of everyone watching the event, she actually managed to turn without hitting anything. She also managed to get the next turn right, after slowing down.

The next one was a hit, but it didn’t stop her much. And the next one a success. It wasn’t long until she reached the Zigzag Zone again. _Let’s do this,_ she thought with stubbornness.

This time she managed to get through it relatively incident-free. _Yes!_ She thought right as another racer came into view. The appali. Their ship was a cone pointing forward, a massive trail of fire behind it. As soon as the Shiny Rod came into view, it tried to attack with missiles. Amanda shot those down immediately, but didn’t attack the ship directly, since from this angle they would’ve most certainly hit the engine.

Turning did become easier with time as Akko grew used to it, and she understood that not every turn was worth taking vertically. Her constant spinning around of the Shiny Rod didn’t seem to disrupt Amanda in the slightest, however, who just kept blasting away any attempts of attack the appali had.

It didn’t take long for Akko to finally catch up to them, and only then she noticed the big rip their ship had on the side. How did it even keep going?

She overtook them, quickly advancing. Turning became easier by the second, and she found her confidence growing. When she finished the second lap, she saw at the end of the long straight three ships. Plants, reptilians and cyborgs. Not unexpected. In fact, she suspected the daemons would still be first, probably followed by the shapeshifter or armors. The medusa would probably be somewhere around there too.

Akko pressed nitro, and repeated her trick from last lap.

Or, at least, she tried.

Overconfidence proving yet again to be one of Akko’s flaws, she actually bumped the downside of the Shiny Rod against the metal barricade, which sent her into an uncontrollable spin that ended up with the Shiny Rod upside down in one of those giant airbags in front of a building.

Her stomach sank as she heard the appali overtake her again.

“Noctu orfei aude freator!” Akko shouted, and the Shiny Rod instantly got back on the spot right before she hit the wall. She pressed the accelerator and got back in the race, not worrying too much about the dizziness she was feeling. _You can still make it,_ she thought. She didn’t let go of the accelerator as she started to take turns, each one with more speed than the last. _I can make it,_ she repeated to herself. She managed to overtake the appali before the Zigzag Zone, and while they tried to attack her, with a couple of shields and blasts she managed to get past the group of three. _Thanks, Amanda._

Each turn made her grow more anxious, She was currently sixth, but as she hit the three fourths marker of the race, she wasn’t even seeing where the fifth place was. But then she caught a glimpse of the octopus. Their First Category ship was indistinguishable from the Second Category one, which Akko was actually surprised more races didn’t do.

But this was not the time to ponder over alien cultures.

She accelerated more. Each turn was now actually creating a considerable number of g's on her, a number she understood was starting to get dangerous, even with her special suit. But she was so close!

She got past the octopus ship and just a turn after that caught a glimpse of the smoky figure of the shapeshifter’s ship. _This is it, I can-_

The next turn was the final one, and she crossed the line in fifth place before even noticing what was going on.

She stopped the Shiny Rod, jumping out of her cockpit to look around. _Wait, no!_ She thought. Had she… Had she failed? _No no no no no!_

But there was no mistaking it. The daemons had come out on top, as proven by the cyborg interviewing Horn. The daemon’s speech was not something Akko could listen to. In fact, she wasn’t listening to anything. She had lost. Maybe she hadn’t come out on last, but she… _No..._

She kicked down at the Shiny Rod. It didn’t do anything. It didn’t help with the frustration building up inside her either. Her breathing got heavier as tears threatened to spill down her face. _After finally figuring out how to properly turn, I don’t manage to do it? Why?_

She didn’t even notice when Amanda came out of the broom and climbed next to her. She looked at the rankings shown in the big screen above the scenario before giving Akko an understanding expression. “Hey, at least you didn’t come in last,” she said.

Akko wanted to answer that that wasn’t enough, but right at that moment the cyborg who had been asking Horn for his victory quote approached her. Akko barely registered her. Time was passing too fast. She felt lost, disoriented.

“Miss Kagari, what happened back when you were upside down?” The cyborg asked. Akko didn’t understand the question. She _coulnd’t_ understand it. She kept looking around, at the leaderboard and at the loud spectators, at the pilots and their ships. Everything felt… wrong.

“Don’t answer her question, Akko,” Ursula’s voice came from the communicator, but again, Akko didn’t listen to it. The cyborg seemed to notice Akko’s distress and retreated, though she did look at Akko. _It was over too quickly. I… Was that half an hour? It felt like five minutes._

She sat down, still on top of the Shiny Rod, and took off her helmet. The heat didn’t help her think, but right now, what she was aiming to do wasn’t that. She just wanted to understand what had happened. She had lost. Well, she hadn’t come in last, but Diana had come in first. And without the Shiny Rod!

What was this feeling inside her chest? Defeat? _Twelve points,_ that’s as much as she had made. The daemons had made twenty. Soon, the leaderboard showed the general points, not the individual categories one.

The Medusas were at first, with twenty-six points, followed by the Shapeshifters at twenty-three. Humans and Daemons were tied at third place. Akko didn’t bother reading the rest of it, but she did notice the Appali at last. _If I won we’d be in first,_ she thought. It was an obvious thought, but she didn’t realize this. She just sat there, not even finding the strength to cry. She couldn’t even think properly. _‘I’m certain that you will win too.’_

Only one thought repeated over and over in her mind. _I lost. I_ didn’t _win._

_I lost._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a side note: don't think all races will be similar, not only in rules but also in narration. I've already have a couple in mind that will mix things up a little. Just as a heads up.


	30. Chapter 30

Amanda patted Akko in the back as they entered the humans' pit. “Dude, relax. It was literally your first race of this style and you still managed to come up fifth. I’d say that’s pretty fucking amazing,” Amanda was explaining.  However, the brunette wasn’t responsive at all as she just looked angrily at the ground, carrying her helmet under her arm. She was actually wearing Earth’s uniform, like Hannah and Diana had. Amanda felt a little silly at being the only one still wearing the purple Luna Nova uniform, but she would have felt a lot sillier at wearing that ugly ass suit, so it evened out.

A figure stormed out of the side room that allowed pilots to rest. Amanda had expected Ursula or Lotte coming out to try and fix Akko’s mood, but she instead found a livid-looking Hannah.

 _Oh fuck no,_ Amanda thought, _this is the last thing Akko needs right now._

She stepped in front of the brunette, earning a glare from the girl as the others started coming out of the room. “What?” Hannah barked.

“You look like you wanna scream at something, but Akko shouldn’t be that something,” Amanda said, crossing her arms as if she was some kind of bodyguard.

“Did you see what she did? No, you’re going to say you didn’t, whatever, you should check recordings then,” Hannah spoke fast and angrily. She leaned to the side to stare daggers at Akko, who seemed to be thinking about something. “If she had only stuck with what we knew would work then-“

“Stop it,” Amanda was the one glaring this time. “She didn’t come in last. That should be enough for someone who’s literally been in _two_ real races in her entire life.”

Hannah shook her head, laughing sarcastically. “Yeah, sure, no, you’re totally right, let the idiot be an idiot!” She pointed at Akko, “She almost destroys the Shiny Rod on a dozen different occasions when she could’ve stuck with what worked and maybe even gotten in first! Or in second! I dunno!” Hannah stomped a foot on the ground. “Why the hell did she try that crazy ass way of taking corners? What is wrong with you?” Somewhere along her sentence she had stopped directing herself at Amanda, changing her aim towards Akko.

“Hey!” Right before Amanda could try to defend the brunette, she shoved Amanda aside to look Hannah face to face. “I did get good at it! I almost didn’t crash into anything for the third lap!”

Hannah raised her eyebrows, expression of disbelief as she started to laugh with a somber ring, “Oh, you didn’t crash into anything for your third lap, I see. So you mastered the way of steering, huh?”

“Yeah!” Akko sounded proud when she said that, and Hannah’s laugh died as she nodded and pointed a finger at Akko.

“I see. Well then, now you can use the technique you mastered to win the race… Oh, wait, YOU ALREADY FUCKED THAT UP,” Hannah snapped, placing her finger in the middle of Akko’s chest. “You had a good lap time!” She explained, tapping her finger with each word. “And with your defense system you probably would’ve been much safer than Diana and me! That bullshit turn you wasted two thirds of the race trying to master is _useless_ now!” She pushed Akko back, and the girl actually yelped and brought a hand up to where Hannah had hurt her, probably with a nail. Akko was so taken aback that she didn’t even try a retort. She just looked down.

“Hannah, shut the fuck up,” Amanda said, stepping between the girls again. She didn’t understand what Hannah was talking about, but she did know Akko didn’t do whatever I was that had her so angry on purpose.

“Oh no, I’m not going to-” Hannah started, but paused when someone put a hand to her shoulder. Barbara. “What?”

“Yelling won’t get us anywhere,” Diana said. The group had obviously heard the discussion. Amanda suspected everyone in this pit and the next one had heard it. In fact, some of the members of the _Dragon’s_ staff were walking around with their heads down, obviously trying not to look at the teenagers.

Akko’s clenched fist was shaking, and Amanda was sure her knuckles would’ve been white if not for the gloves of the suit. Everyone stood in silence for a while until Ursula finally stepped next to Akko and patted her back. “You were still great,” she commented reassuringly, though she did so with some awkwardness too. “You managed to best five professional racers from other planets, even with all of your mistakes. That’s something to be proud of.”

“I could’ve ended up first if I hadn’t…” Akko took a deep breath. “If I hadn’t been an idiot.”

“Agreed,” Hannah simply said.

“Another word and I’m going to deck you,” Amanda warned. Hannah stared defiantly, but she did in fact stop talking, probably noticing that Amanda was not one to mess around. She didn’t consider herself a particularly good person, but she really hated people who continuously rubbed in failures to others. Amanda might have felt strangely disconnected from the whole situation, given the fact that she couldn’t even remember what had gone down, but she _could_ see Akko’s defeated aura, the frustration in her posture and the anger in her eyes.

Curiously enough, it was the same kind of demeanor Hannah wore right now.

Amanda stepped aside as Lotte also walked forward. “Miss Ursula is right, Akko. You’re a novice. You did great.”

It was true. Amanda didn’t often think being a novice was an excuse for fucking up, but this was more a matter of practice than carefulness, and Akko hadn’t actually gotten a chance to practice. _Maybe she should have stuck with the original plan, though_ , she found herself thinking. Hannah seemed to have a point. The problem was in the way in which she laid it out, however. Akko was already feeling down, no need to kick the dead horse.

“But Hannah is right,” the brunette said. “I… I should’ve gone with the thing I had practiced.”

“Oh, come on,” Amanda rolled her eyes. In her roll she saw that Diana was looking kind of distressed. She obviously wanted to say something, but whatever it was, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not surprising. Amanda suspected she was torn between the best way of scolding Akko or the best way of explaining how she had done it much better. Well, not that Akko had done badly. She had come out fifth out of ten pros! “Stop moping. It couldn’t have been that bad anyways,” she said. After all, Akko wasn’t a talentless prick. She just lacked experience.

“Oh, you certain?” Hannah fetched her wand and flicked it, showing a holographic screen. After a minute of searching, she found a recording of the race that had just gone down.

A wand could only show videos on a greenscale, but connecting the thing to Amanda’s helmet would’ve been a pain in the ass. Amanda watched with interest as the race started. Had someone thrown a rock at the bird? Where had they gotten it? There were no rocks in the city, as far as Amanda had seen. Maybe it was a piece of armor.

And, at the first turn, Amanda cringed. “Oh,” she said, realizing what had happened. After the curve, Akko kept going, and bumping, and hitting, and crashing. “ _Oh.”_

“Oh in-fucking-deed,” Hannah pulled the wand away. “You see now what I mean?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Amanda admitted. “But you don’t have to be a bitch about it,” she explained. Hannah was right, though. Akko had focused too much on a new flying style that she didn’t know, and that had probably cost her a better place in the race.

“I can be a bitch about it when-“

“No,” Diana interrupted, eyes still fixed on Akko with a troubled expression. “Hannah, do try to be more kind, if you could. Akko didn’t have ill intentions. She was just… learning, let’s say.”

Hannah grunted. Only Diana seemed to be able to keep her on check, though Amanda suspected it was only possible because Hannah was basically her fangirl.

“Whatever,” Akko said, shaking off Ursula and Lotte. “I just wanna be alone,” she said before turning to go. Hannah snorted at this. Diana took a step in the direction of the girl, but hesitated and didn’t follow. Amanda also considered following, but she would have little to say. Not even Lotte dared follow the brunette. Everyone kind of realized being alone was the best thing Akko could do right now.

Well, everyone but Sucy, who after a grunt and some mumbling about ‘of course it’s me’, followed after Akko.

This didn’t really surprise Amanda. Despite what she said, Sucy was very observant and actually cared, as proven by the scolding Amanda had been subject to earlier this week.

“Maybe we should all go to sleep. We have a few hours until the closing ceremony starts,” Ursula said. She was no longer worried about Akko wandering off on her own. “And I don’t want to be here when the reporters come to ask us about teleportation.”

Amanda nodded. She was pretty tired, though she wasn’t sure why. She was always pretty comfortable inside the Shiny Rod, but who knew, maybe once the turret activated everything turned crazy or something.

“Wait, hasn’t Akko been teleporting around town all week? Was it supposed to be a secret?” Amanda asked, not really understanding why they would suddenly grow self conscious about that. Ursula shook her head.

“It’s not the same. One thing is to do it where some people might see it, but their stories would probably be dismissed. She did it on a live broadcast for the entire alliance this time,” she explained. “Now let’s go, I think I already hear them.”

Everyone nodded, following quickly.

 

Sucy had a short temper. She didn’t like beating around the bush when talking, and she hated those who weren’t direct with what they wanted. Maybe more importantly, she had no patience for idiots. Ninety percent of the time, Akko fell into that category. She had grown used to her, but at least her normal idiocy came from her honesty and just doing as she pleased, which was something that, if annoying, Sucy could respect.

Hannah was right. Akko had been an idiot to not go with the thing she was prepared to do. But she had also just done what she felt was right and, while that _always_ meant nothing good could come out of it if Akko was involved, that was not something she should be feeling bad about.

So, as Akko climbed on the Shiny Rod, Sucy made a slight effort and followed. The brunette looked up surprised as Sucy climbed behind her on the cockpit. There was enough room for one person to crouch behind the seat, and Sucy was used to that kind of posture, so she was actually pretty comfortable.

“What are you doing?” Akko turned with a frown.

“Following you, in case it wasn’t obvious enough,” Sucy replied with her usual mockery. Akko didn’t even have the will to complain. The windshield closed and she pronounced the magic words.

And then, they were inside a tunnel. Sucy raised an eyebrow, curious as to where Akko had taken them. However, the brunette didn’t leave the ship. She just sat there. The joysticks of the Shiny Rod disappeared, and Akko just dropped her head onto the space where Sucy suspected the control panel should be. This cockpit was unusually big, particularly for a ship so small, and it had so much wasted space… Truly curious, if not something Sucy was particularly interested in.

“Seriously though, why did you follow me?” Akko asked after a few silent minutes

“Because leaving you alone would be idiotic, at best,” Sucy explained. “Who knows what crazy shit you may try.”

“Yeah, of course,” Akko sighed. “I was pretty stupid, huh?”

“Yeah, you were,” Sucy said. Akko grunted. “But you also did better than anyone expected, so don’t beat yourself over it.”

Akko turned, examining Sucy with a curious expression. “Are you trying to cheer me up?” She asked with some concern in her voice. “You fine?”

“Shut up,” Sucy scoffed. “I’m trying to be nice here.”

Akko laughed. It was a short burst, and it wasn’t very energetic, but it did show that she was feeling a little bit better. Sucy couldn’t help but notice something weird: With her laughter, the light inside the cockpit seemed to grow brighter. “How am I going to make up for this?” Akko said after laughing.

“You could just try to win the next race,” Sucy suggested. “With more practice, and maybe try to follow the advice others give you.”

Akko considered this. She was so easily manipulated it didn’t matter how many times Sucy tricked her into being a subject for her experiments, the brunette always fell for the trick. This was one of the many reasons Sucy chose her as the guinea pig, but it also had to do with Akko’s natural resistance to magic. Things that seemed to affect Lotte a lot – in the few occasions she had been the test subject – didn’t affect Akko as much.

Sucy wondered if she had something to do with the strange Magic Poisoning Akko had suffered. She had never given the girl a dose she couldn’t handle, but she did tend to go a little over the safe threshold to test Akko’s limits. Maybe, over time, she had slowly accumulated the excess and then something had triggered it. She had tested this theory later in the restaurant, giving Akko a dose of pure magic, but she hadn’t even flinched.

What had gotten to her was still a mystery, but Sucy still felt a little guilty over that.

“I guess you’re right,” Akko finally said. She hesitated before continuing but she said what followed anyways. “I’m actually more bummed out about having disappointed Diana,” she commented. Sucy narrowed her eyes. Had she heard right? “She was certain I’d win and… Well, I didn’t.”

“Why do you even care about her?” Sucy couldn’t help but ask in a rather harsh tone. Akko was nice and all, but she didn’t have a particularly close relationship with the blonde. More importantly, of all the people, she focused on Diana?

“Well, she won, and she’s my rival,” Akko explained. When had Diana become her rival? Sucy was confused, but that was not uncommon when interacting with Akko. “Not that I actually expected to do better than her, but… I dunno. Did you see her face back there? She was probably debating if she should even talk to a failure like me,” Akko sighed.

 _Curious,_ Sucy thought. Diana, in her book, was nothing but an emotionless prick that enjoyed looking down on others. Maybe she had more to herself than Sucy had first assumed, though she wasn’t eager to find out. She did think Akko might have been right on her guess, however. She had noticed Diana looking at her with doubt, but she had just assumed the blonde had been trying to find the best way to explain to Akko why she had failed so miserably. ‘Learning’ she had said. Damn that had sounded condescending to Sucy’s ears.

“Listen, I’m only going to say this once so you better pay attention,” Sucy said, closing her eyes. “You’re an idiot, but the way you actually pulled off those turns by the end? That was impressive. I’m fairly certain no one else would’ve been able to get so good in such a short amount of time. You lost, but you didn’t come in last, and more importantly, you’ve grown as a pilot,” Akko’s eyes grew wider with every word. Sucy wasn’t seeing them, but she could _feel_ them. “I’m sure not even Shiny Chariot could’ve pulled something like that off.”

When she opened her eyes, as she had predicted, Akko was staring at her with eyes the sizes of tennis balls. Red eyes, like Sucy’s own. “Thank you!” she finally said, excitement back in her voice.

“Ok, stop shining,” Sucy grimaced. “It is a little too soon for you to stop moping. Go back to being quiet,” she said, dreading having to deal with Akko all by herself.

“You don’t have to be such a tsundere. Come on,” Akko opened the windshield, “I wanna show you something.”

Sucy mumbled a complaint, but after some minimal prodding, she followed. However, despite all her complaining, she noticed she was feeling a little lighter herself. Well, Akko was like that. She could cheer up the most gloomy of persons, much to Sucy’s displeasure, since she was usually within that group.

She followed Akko out of the Rod and into a weird metallic tunnel.

Where the hell were they?


	31. Chapter 31

Diana sat on the edge of the bed. She was still wearing her horrible g-suit, since it was a little too hot for comfort. The technology behind these suits had always impressed her. Magic reacted to certain materials in such a way that it managed to make them superconductors of temperature. Then, after some tweaking, they set the temperature to be one perfect for humans and voilá.

Akko and Sucy hadn’t come back, and it had already been an hour. Most everyone was still awake, save for Hannah, who had complained about Akko being a whiny kid and gone to sleep. Diana understood her frustrations, but she wasn’t feeling so much angry as she was disappointed. Not in Akko directly, but in herself. She had tried to encourage Akko before the race, and Akko had obviously given her best, yet it was not enough. She had still lost, and Diana had felt her heart sink as she saw Akko’s defeated expression. She had tried so hard to find the right words to say that she had even gotten a light headache. She couldn’t find anything that didn’t sound condescending. Even what she had said to Hannah still rang wrong to her ears, as if she had been treating Akko like a child. But what could be said? ‘It’s ok, you’ll do better next time’? That would have just reinforced the girl’s feelings of failure. ‘Don’t be sad, you still did great’ like everyone else had said?

Useless, all she could think of saying seemed just… Useless. She had rarely felt as impotent as in that moment. At least Sucy had had the decency of following Akko. It would be good for her to at least have someone to talk to, though Diana didn’t believe the creepy girl would be the most responsive of persons.

Hannah’s sleeping face was calm. Diana wondered how she could remain so calm. From Amanda she would have expected it, not being able to remember what happened and all. Diana had been doubtful about her claims about the memory wiping, like she was skeptical about all unexplained things, but why keep up the charade so long? At this point, it would be far easier to just admit the lie.

However, Amanda was pacing around the giant metallic ball, looking at it with curiosity. Maybe she wanted to try it out? Diana had been meaning too. Now might be a good moment. Akko had been there for an hour and a half or so, as far as she recalled. It could be a good thing to do before going to sleep, too.

As she considered this, Diana started to walk towards the ball. Yes, maybe after she was relaxed she could find what to say to Akko. Stubborn, hyperactive Akko. Cheerful, clumsy Akko. Diana had no doubts that when the girl came back she would be as cheerful as ever. Maybe thanks to Sucy, more likely thanks to her short attention span. She wouldn’t focus on the failure for long. This did help Diana, but she still felt disappointed. She wondered if her words had affected Akko’s reaction. Probably not, the brunette didn’t seem to hold her comments in high regard.

“Diana?” Lotte startled her. She was standing next to her, looking at her with a worried expression. “You feel ok?” She asked with concern.

“Huh?” Diana took a few seconds to process the question. “Yes, yes. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you’re standing there looking like your stomach hurts, so I thought…” Lotte explained. Diana hadn’t even noticed she had stopped walking. As always, she preferred to be still when thinking. How did people pace when thinking? Moving only seemed to distract Diana.  Then again, more people seemed to think while moving than not, so the real oddity was Diana. Why did she prefer quiet and stillness when thinking? Well, that much was obvious: So that there wouldn’t be any distractions. That was probably why she had also subconsciously looked down to the floor: To not see the moving girls moving around the little apartment.

“I am fine, thank you for your concern,” Diana said a little more harshly than she intended. She was used to speaking with authority. Lotte nodded and shied away. She was reading something on her wand. Probably that series of books she so much enjoyed talking about with Barbara. Silly things, though Diana was curious. A series of books that had changed authors a dozen times and people still enjoyed? And it had been going for like, what, 100 years? Interesting. Sadly, she didn’t have the time or the energy to invest into the three hundred or more volumes the series had. It seemed to be one of those things you either got into as a kid when you had all the time in the world or you just won’t ever start.

Diana noticed she had stopped walking again, so she forced herself to move. Once she reached the ball, Amanda glared at her for a moment before remembering that they weren’t supposed to be hating each other anymore. Diana pushed down the stab of doubt she felt when looking at the redhead. She was trying to not sound as if she considered herself better than others anymore.

Maybe, one day, she would be able to call even Amanda a friend.

“Do I have something on my face?” Amanda asked with narrowed eyes.

“No,” Diana answered.

“Then why are you staring?”

That day wouldn’t be today, though. “Just wondering if you were going to enter the Muscle Sphere,” Diana said, pointing at the ball. She didn’t touch it.

“No, thank you,” Amanda said. Diana nodded in acknowledgement. Then, carefully, she touched the sphere. It felt strange, like putting her finger in a particularly dense pudding. Not unpleasant. She felt the sphere sucking her in, and she pushed her hand into it. Then a little bit of her arm and soon she couldn’t pull away. The sphere swallowed her and everything became darkness.

Still, quiet darkness. She felt herself moving as the sphere took her to its middle. And then, everything stopped. She couldn’t feel anything. Not heat, not cold. Not movement. Not a single sensation. She wasn’t even breathing, and she hadn’t even considered that. How did it work? She’d ask Memory later.

It was… hard, not to be relaxed. Even before the actual muscle loosening process started, the absolute silence and darkness made her comfortable. Good thing she wasn’t claustrophobic. This would probably be like torture to someone with that particular phobia. As she kept thinking, her mind just started recalling Akko’s race. The way her heart had been on edge by seeing Akko constantly try the same move and failing, yet getting better with each turn. Realizing that she had been right, there was a better way of taking curves. Her instincts were sharper than Diana was comfortable admitting.

And then, she had actually been excited when she saw Akko use the nitro on that third lap in the long straight, and she had cringed hard when she had failed spectacularly the turn and had to teleport to not completely throw out the race.

So reckless, but so… Akko.

In fact, that reminded her about what the daemons had done during _her_ race. The flash of light, the way everyone had seemingly been left behind. In her worry, Diana had forgotten to check it out, and now she was kind of out of reach.

Her mind wandered through a lot of things she hadn’t expected. How satisfied she felt at her own win, even if Akko had lost. How she wished she could see her aunt and cousins’ faces when they had seen her come on first. Her own feelings of inadequacy at being surrounded by girls who didn’t really look up to her and not knowing how to interact with them. The feeling of distance she felt with Barbara, which had only been widened after the hastily ended tour. The Noir Rod and the implications of someone knowing how to build Shiny Rod-like ships and what implications that could have for the future of the IPR.

And then, the massage actually started, and her mind went completely blank at the almost painful process.

 

Hannah woke up to the sudden flash of light and rumbling of the engines of the Shiny Rod, which had appeared in the middle of the apartment. Tired, angry and more tired, she looked at the white broom with hate in her eyes. The fact that when the windshield opened Akko was discussing loudly with Sucy didn’t help.

“…believe you could be _that_ stupid, but guess I was wrong!” Sucy yelled, which was really strange from her.

“I said I’m sorry! I didn’t expect Elizabeth to react so strongly!” Akko apologized.

“She almost kills me!”

“You almost kill me a hundred times and you don’t hear me complaining!”

They both stopped talking, stalemate reached in the discussion. Sucy just grunted as she walked out of the Shiny Rod, and Akko did the same. She handed the wand to Lotte for a second and the Rod activated its alarms for a few seconds before disappearing. Hannah shoved down the desire to murder everyone in the room as she tried to go back to sleep. She felt tired enough that she knew she had slept for a little while, but not nearly enough to be a complete rest.

“Akko, where the hell were you?” Amanda asked, not bothering to keep her voice low. Hannah considered the possibility of just stabbing her ears with her wand. Maybe that’d keep the noise away.

“Well, I went to Elizabeth’s nest, and tried to show Sucy the eggs, but she got defensive…”

“Wait, wait. You named the giant blue bird?” Amanda asked with amusement.

“Of course,” Akko exclaimed. “She’s really nice and intelligent, so-”

“Allow me to disagree!” Sucy shouted from the bathroom.

“Not my fault she considered you dangerous! You kind of are!” Akko shouted back. Amanda started chuckling.

“So, you’re feeling better?” she asked.

“Yeah, kind of,” Akko said. Then, there was silence for a blissful while. Hannah tried to take advantage of it, trying to fall asleep again. Until Akko decided to speak once more. “Where’s Diana?”

Hannah snapped.

“COULD YOU SHUT UP?” She shouted, startling everyone in the room, even those who weren’t doing anything. “Some of us are trying to get some fucking sleep!” She said with anger. When no one said anything for a while, she sighed in relief. Wherever Diana had gone, she was probably fine. She only wanted to rest.

As she finally started to get dragged down the dream line, however, someone climbed on the bed. Hannah could feel it sinking, and it snapped her awake. She looked forward with a promise to kill in her eyes as she searched for the perpetrator.

Barbara?

“What?” Barbara asked. Hannah gave her a flat look. Barbara smiled and shrugged. “Sorry. It doesn’t really matter if I sleep here for a while, right?”

Hannah grimaced. Barbara was doing this on purpose. She often teased her like this, though Hannah didn’t understand what she got out of it. She knew Hannah wouldn’t get mad at her, but sometimes she got really, really close to crossing the line. It was hard to explain, particularly because they had known each other for so long, but Barbara, to put it simply, knew her well.

The black haired girl didn’t say more as Hannah tried to fall asleep again, but she could feel the land of dreams flying away as her sleepiness disappeared.

When she opened her eyes again, Barbara was looking at her with a grin. “Fuck you,” Hannah simply said.

“Come on, you’re the only one who’s trying to sleep anyways. We have a ceremony in like two hours. Seriously,” Barbara sat up. “What’s really going on?”

_Too well,_ Hannah thought. Damn Barbara, it was impossible to try to not be introspective or keep secrets around her for long. “You have your own theory, don’t you? Why even ask?”

Barbara shrugged. The knowing the other too well went both ways. “I think you’re just tired of being the only one left who still sees Akko as a troublemaker,” she started, “and that you’re thinking ‘I was right’ after Akko lost,” she raised an eyebrow.

“Come on, anyone could figure that one out,” Hannah rolled her eyes. “What’s your real theory?”

“I think,” Barbara sounded a little more serious this time, “that you’re jealous of the fact that everyone’s been warming up to Akko, particularly Diana, and therefore you’re growing more intolerant to her actions, those of which today reached peak stupidity.”

“Closer, but you can probably go deeper,” Hannah prompted. Barbara’s expression lost the smile.

“I think that you’re afraid of the fact that you’re actually not as angry at Akko as you should be, so you try to blow your anger out of proportion by exaggerating,” Barbara said. “I think you actually found what Akko did back then understandable, maybe even respectable, but you decided to act with the part of your brain that pushed you to be angry because that’s what you consider is more consistent.”

Hannah closed her eyes at that. “I’m not _that_ wrong, though. Akko did fuck up.”

“You were going to treat her like if she had just killed a baby or something,” Barbara pointed out. Hannah abstained from commenting that maybe she had, at some point, with one of her crazy crashes, but that would probably be missing the point. “It’s ok if you don’t like her, and it’s not like she likes you, but she’s civil, isn’t she? You could be civil with Amanda at the party when you were at each other’s throats just before.”

_But Amanda is cooler,_ was the first thing that came to Hannah’s mind. She now wished to puke to try and get out of her system whatever had brought _that_ thought. “It’s just so annoying. How can someone be so stubborn? She saw how she was fucking up, she should’ve just stuck to what worked.”

“Like that time you kept trying to hit on a guy that everyone told you was gay?” Barbara raised an eyebrow. “And when he kindly asked you to stop you acted surprised?”

“Hey, he was responsive at…” Hannah paused, looking away. “Ok, yeah, I guess. But hitting on a guy didn’t cost us a race.”

“There are still nine more,” Barbara shrugged. “Akko will get better.”

“So, you wanted to talk to me about my anger management problems _again_ or was there an actual reason you wanted to talk?” Hannah asked, trying to change the subject. She was too tempted to say that Akko getting better could mean actually learning how to properly steer or actually learning to pilot a real broom.

“Mostly the anger management problem, but I actually wanted to suggest a party for Diana.” Hannah raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “They did the same for Akko last week, right? It feels way longer, god. Anyways, point being, we can probably do the same for Diana, and if we’re the ones to throw it no one will get mad! It’s a perfect plan.”

“Except that Amanda would probably decline for obvious reasons and who the hell knows what Akko might do. Sometimes it looks like she hates Diana, others it looks like she loves everyone and everything, me included.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But what do you say?” Barbara raised an eyebrow.

“If I say yes you’ll let me sleep?”

“We both know that’s not happening either way.”

With a sigh, Hannah sat up. “Ok, whatever.”

 

Akko was walking around the sphere, since it was a place where one could walk continuously without interruptions. She wasn’t thinking or anything she was just impatient. She wanted to get the ceremony done with. Maybe she should go see Elizabeth one last time, since it was unlikely she’d ever get another chance at seeing her after tomorrow.

As she considered this, however, her field of vision got invaded by the sight of blonde hair. She got confused for a second before realizing Diana’s head was popping out of the sphere a good two heads above her, eyes closed. “What the-” while her first reaction was confused, she quickly reacted and made sure to catch Diana before she fell to the floor. She wouldn’t be able to hold her for long, however, and the sphere was pushing her out further. “A little help here!” she cried. Jasminka, who was in the nearby couch, approached, and together they carried Diana towards that same couch and left her there.

“So that’s where she was,” Akko commented. Had she ever gotten a look at a sleeping Diana? She didn’t think so. Diana was usually up before her, and she wasn’t one to look at other people sleeping anyways. It was almost funny how similar her face was to her normal one. Akko could have believed she was actually just blinking or something. Unfair, though. People often told Akko that she transformed into someone else while sleeping, yet Diana kept being perfect even when unconscious.

“She’s cute,” Jasminka commented. Akko looked at her, but she had already moved and was walking towards the giant refrigerator in the other side of the room. Akko looked back at Diana. Well, Jasminka wasn’t wrong. Diana was probably the dictionary definition of beautiful. That certainly included cute, too. But it was hard to see Diana as anything besides perfect, so Akko wasn’t amazed by the beauty. It was expected.

Something felt wrong with this reasoning, but Akko was not one to worry about such things.

“Oh, good morning. Or night, I guess,” Akko said as she noticed one of Diana’s eyes opening. Sky blue. Probably because of what Jasminka had said, Akko felt particularly curious about them right now. “Feeling weak?”

“I would rather say I feel loose,” Diana said. She spoke with an analytical voice, even if she had just woken up. “Curious, you truly feel like you can’t move after coming out of the Muscle Sphere. I can feel my limbs, I just lack the strength to put them to use.”

Akko sighed. Well, she was feeling fine, at the very least. She turned to go, ready to go back to her walking in impatience, but Diana cleared her throat, so she looked at her. “How are you?”

“Fine,” Akko made a dismissive gesture to Diana. “Don’t worry. I’ll just do better next time, I promise,” she gave the blonde a thumb up. Diana nodded, though Akko couldn’t read her expression. Was that normal stone-faced Diana or was it because she couldn’t move the muscles of her face either?

“I feel my muscles weak in places I didn’t even imagine could feel like such…” Diana commented again, and Akko found herself bored by the words. However, she did find the voice to be strangely soothing. Maybe it was because she wasn’t used to hearing Diana talk with this much excitement. Whenever Diana talked to her she used a scolding or lecturing voice.

“Wait,” Akko realized something, stopping Diana from her comments. “Where’s Ursula? I just realized she’s not here.”

“I believe she had something to do before the closing ceremony. Why do you ask?” Diana had started moving her toes.

“Well, she didn’t appear when I teleported the Shiny Rod in the middle of the room.”

“You did what?” Diana suddenly asked, and Akko flinched at the tone. She had completely forgotten who she was talking with.

“Well, you see…”


	32. Chapter 32

Ursula walked in the poorly lit passage below the dance floor of the hotel, though she was suspecting something else was going on, as this passage was too long and big to fit within the building, not to mention between just two floors. She went past the first secret wall and reached the little room with cables in it. This was where she had caught Akko back then. Another false wall was too obvious a choice, particularly for someone like Croix.

Ursula looked up and, under the light of her wand, she found what she was looking for: A small hole that would be practically impossible to notice unless you knew what you were looking for. She reached up with her wand and stuck it in, pressing a button inside the hole.

She suddenly felt as if her body disappeared, only consciousness remaining. The sensation only lasted for a split second, however, as she suddenly regained her connection to reality and realized she was in a small and completely dark room. Or, actually, it felt like a box barely big enough to let someone stand alone inside.

The sliding-door opened automatically, and Ursula didn’t hesitate to step out.

What she saw amazed but didn’t surprise her.

It was a strange mixture between a laboratory and a workshop, and it wasn’t very well lit. Metal scraps on corners or spread around the floor near work tables where unfinished projects laid, yet so clean in places where machinery stood, whether it was working or not. The only light seemed to come from some monitors in a far off wall and the different screens of the machines surrounding Ursula, but Croix had always been one to just work under wandlight.

And, speaking of her, Ursula wasn’t caught off guard when a figure moved in the far reaches of the long laboratory, backlit by the monitors. The stupid hairstyle was immediately recognizable, even if Croix wasn’t using her cape.

“Look at who we have here,” Croix commented. She was wearing a work suit that looked way too hot to be used on Machina. It was a one-piece, baggy utilitarian suit with a lot of pockets, tied with a belt around the waist. She had her goggles hanging on her neck and one of her gloves off the hand she ran through her hair, wiping away sweat. “You entered through the dance floor? How forgetful of me, didn’t think anyone else would be able to see it,” she spoke with nonchalance, as if they were still teammates.

Ursula had to squash the rising nostalgia within her. She looked harshly at her and narrowed her eyes. “How did you do it?” She asked, going straight to the point.

“What? My hair?” Croix feigned ignorance. “It’s a long process each morning, but worth the effort. It’s interesting how-”

“Stop acting innocent. How did you build the Noir Rod?” Ursula cut her off, losing patience. Croix had barely matured in the past ten years, it seemed. Yet, she still had the same beautiful teal eyes. Eyes that looked at everything analytically, that seemed to want to dismantle it to its base elements and learn to rebuild it, or enhance it.

Or destroy it.

“You haven’t even said hello, you know?” Croix turned, putting her glove back on and the goggles in her face. “It’s been like ten years since we saw each other,” she walked out of view, and Ursula quickly followed. The laboratory/workshop was separated in two rooms, and it the one Ursula entered looked like the main one. It was tidier than the previous one. The monitors were completely white, but that was no surprise either. Croix had just made them so that only her goggles could reveal what was going on in them. She was now sitting on a small desk, working on one of her strange flying… Roombas. Ursula ignored the strangeness of that; Croix was not one to follow conventions, even when no one was looking. Next to the dismantled roomba was a small box with two small tubes coming out of it. A magic engine. Or, in this case, an Inferno one.

“Just answer my question,” Ursula tried to keep the conversation on topic. Croix was skillful at diverting others from her mistakes. She never got in trouble back when they were students. In fact, Croix had been considered an exemplar student, despite always joining Ursula in her hijinks.

“You’ve gotten a lot stiffer over the years, you know, Chariot?” Croix using her old name created an automatic cringe in her. “Or I guess you go by Ursula now,” she sounded as unconcerned as she looked. She was tinkering with a piece of her roomba, though Ursula couldn’t care less about what it was. She didn’t answer, deciding not to feed into Croix’s ego. “Fiiine, how I build the Noir Rod, you ask? Well, from memory, mostly. It was pretty hard, but after getting my hands on some Daemon tech I realized just how far and beyond in the handling of Inferno they are compared to human’s and magic. And yet, they hadn’t been able to build something like the Shiny Rod. So I just made some adjustments and came up with the wonderful thing you saw today. Impressive, huh? The Second Category ship is also my creation, by the way. Not as good as the Rod, but it has some neat features, as I’m sure you saw during that race.”

“You expect me to believe you just rebuilt the most powerful ship in the universe from memory?” Ursula asked. The fact that she didn’t believe a word was perceptible from a mile away.

“I mean, you can believe me or not, it won’t change the facts,” Croix pointed backwards with the screwdriver in her hands. How could she be so calm? Ursula looked at her with a mixture of hate and longing. She wanted to punch her, to hug her, to destroy this lab, to join her in whatever crazy experiment she was working now. Croix, however, acted as if everything was still the same. Did she ever think back and wished things had gone a different way? Did she regret her actions? Had she ever gotten anxious wondering what had happened to Ursula?

Knowing her, probably not.

“You just admitted to helping a team,” Ursula said. “I could bring this to the committee and you’d be kicked out of the office.”

“Threats? Why?” Croix turned her chair. A floating chair. Strange, Ursula could swear Machina didn’t have enough of a magnetic force to make things like floating chairs work. “Plus, I’m not doing anything illegal here. I built a ship, big deal. I don’t actually make most of the choices on the committee, I’m just there to give the final word,” she shrugged.

“And you expect me to believe you rose to be the head of the IPR committee in just ten years and with less than thirty years? How did you do it?”

“Well, I am a very… Persuasive person. I don’t see how that relates to your previous argument, however,” Croix smiled. With the goggles in place, the smile looked a little crazy. Ursula held her eyes, but she couldn’t really read the other woman’s expression in the dark and behind those things.

“It relates in the simple fact that I think your standing there is flimsy,” Ursula explained. “I bet if I brought this to light you’d be kicked out.”

Croix laughed. A genuine laugh, not a fake one. She found what Ursula had said funny. “Ah, you always had a talent for being oblivious. Worry not, Chariot, I got the balls of everyone in the committee tightly grasped. They wouldn’t kick me out, believe me.”

“So you admit what you’re doing is wrong, then?” Ursula crossed her arms. Croix’s nonchalance was starting to get on her nerves. Again, Croix laughed.

“No, why would I? I just built a ship.”

“It shows favoritism.”

“So? The rules for each race are completely random. I can prove that,” Croix shrugged again. “If the daemons win it will be because of their ship and ability. They could pay for it, they got it. I’m not playing favoritisms to anyone,” Croix turned again. She started to rebuild her roomba. She wasn’t lying, or if she was, she was convincing enough to make Ursula believe she wasn’t. “Plus, the Shiny Rod is still the superior ship. I couldn’t bring the size of the Noir Rod down, and I can’t quite get right the permanent floating. Well, I can’t quite get right the infinite energy either. I don’t really know what I missed back then, but I’ll figure it out eventually. Good thing I got a new opportunity to study the Rod, eh?”

Ursula paled. “Will you ever leave aside your obsession? This… relentless search for a substitute. Didn’t you get enough, back then?”

To her surprise, Croix didn’t answer immediately. She hoped, for a moment, that maybe she had gotten to her. Maybe all Croix had needed all these years was some words from Ursula. Maybe their past friendship would be enough to make Croix see that… “Nah,” the single word was enough to make Ursula feel like her chest had just collapsed. “This is bigger than you think, Chariot. Now, I believe we’ve got a ceremony to attend, so I expect there’s no one in the bathroom of your room because if not this could get really uncomfortable.”

“What do you mean…?” Ursula frowned, stepping forward, but Croix didn’t even look at her as, for a second, she felt the same strange sensation as before and she was suddenly in the dark. She instantly took out her wand and almost fell to the floor in shock as she saw another light besides her. Her reflection, in a mirror.

In the bathroom of the hotel.

She paused, looking around. She touched the walls, to be sure they were real. They were. But, could it really be?

She stepped outside, opening the massive door… and found herself drawing the confused looks of her nine students.

“What?!” Sucy, who was closest to the door, was looking at her in horror. “How?! I was- I just- What?!” She narrowed her eyes. “Were you spying on me?”

Ursula blushed. Whatever had just happened could wait. “I wasn’t,” she made sure to dispel any perceptions of her that could be improper. Particularly with Sucy. Ursula was half certain that girl would one day kill someone because they looked at her funny, but she was too afraid of that happening to suggest to her to go to a psychiatrist. “It’s just… A long and complicated story,” if one had in mind the entire context behind it, at least.

Sucy didn’t seem convinced, but Ursula was quick to move on to the next topic. “In any case! Are you girls ready?” She checked the clock on her wand. It was adapted to show Machina time. “It’s almost time for the ceremony! I’m certain it’ll be big and important! Let’s go!” She move quickly, feeling the gaze of the creepy girl on her neck. _Please don’t poison me during the night,_ Ursula begged.

She’d have to come up with an explanation later.

 

The ceremony was lame. In fact, Amanda was certain that Croix woman was just running the thing for property’s sake. The thing was quick, the speech was lacking in feeling, and overall it had finished before anyone felt it had even started. No press asking about the teleporting either: Just boredom.

As everyone walked back to the hotel, Amanda took the chance to get a good last look at the city. It was already past midnight, but day wouldn’t come for a few hours yet, so it was still lit in full. The wooden city. The metal painted city. The neon city.

Cyborgs walked about. It was an active city, even at night. Amanda was slightly disappointed that she had never gotten a chance to look at more of those mechanical limbs closely. Her time seemed to have been spent on practicing and doing a whole lot of nothing. They hadn’t really done tourism. At least, not the members of the team. She knew Jasminka and Constanze had actually gone out a few times, and that Constanze had bought a lot of parts from the cyborgs. Particularly the low class, apparently, since their arms were more mechanic than electronic.

Amanda wondered if Constanze could build one of those limbs. She should ask. One never knew what would happen on an IPR. Some pilots had lost limbs. Constanze had learnt to read their language, and even had taught Akko some of it, though Akko had insisted that after learning the basics she would practice by herself – thing she had done during the couple days of rain that had basically cost her the race.

“Incredible,” she heard Diana comment to her right. Amanda, more by nature than actual curiosity, checked out what she was talking about. She was looking at a video on her wand. She wasn’t wearing a helmet, so couldn’t connect to it to check the video in full color, but it was still understandable.

The scene was one Amanda recalled: The Blue Star behind the armors’ ship turning onto the long straight right at the end of the second lap. The daemons were right behind, other racers on their heels. The daemon ship stopped for a single second, exploded in light and suddenly a giant shield of Inferno energy popped up in the middle of the street, blocking every racer off. Then it moved on.

“Ah, that. Shouldn’t that be cheating?” Amanda commented. Diana shook her head, repeating the scene.

“No one has ever done something like this,” Diana said. “It’s not against rules to try and block opponents off. It’s just, well, no one had thought of creating these kinds of traps. It’s… fascinating.”

Amanda had been annoyed when seeing that. It looked unfair, at best. Shields to protect yourself were fine, but a shield to block everyone off? Bullshit. Yet Diana took it at face value and considered it impressive. It took at least twenty second of constant bashing of different weaponry against the shield to finally take it down, and even then, the now clustered ships were fighting for getting ahead between them, none of them being able to go particularly fast. At least until certain Shapeshifter made its ship thinner and shot forward, leaving the others behind.

“I don’t see what’s so good about it. It’s just a cheap trick,” Amanda commented. “If you won’t even race your opponents what’s the point?”

Diana looked at her with her ‘I know best’ expression. “The technology behind it could be revolutionary, Amanda. It’s a shield made of pure energy, the kinds of which we had only seen in the Shiny Rod. Just imagine its applications.”

Amanda tried to imagine it for a second. All she could think about was sci-fi fight scenes were shields protected giant ships from death lasers. “I don’t really get it, but hey, even if it’s as amazing as you say, it has no business inside a race,” she concluded.

Diana seemed to want to argue further, but she refrained. Either she decided it wasn’t worth it or she reconsidered her opinion. In both cases, Amanda let it go too. She still eyed the video as they walked. It had been an impressive race, if nothing else. Diana hummed a low note as she reached the part where the daemons went batshit crazy and almost killed the armors, almost demolishing a building.

Suddenly, someone gasped. Amanda looked up to see what was going on, and found Akko staring and pointing with excitement at something. Following the direction with her eyes, Amanda had to look for several seconds to process what she was seeing.

A giant animal.

It looked like a fox, if a little more feline than canine. It also had six legs, as opposed to four, and its tail was absurdly long. However, its most impressive feature was the pristine white fur. It sat, happily, in the front of a store, tied to a lamp post. It was breathing with its tongue out, like any other dog, and didn’t seem particularly bothered. The weird part was the silver fangs. And its eyes were completely black, save for a few colored dots moving inside, like the bird’s eyes. It was a good head or two taller than Amanda.

Akko ran towards it.

“Doggy!” She shouted as she approached. The giant fox-like creature didn’t even flinch as Akko approached it and studied it in awe. “You’re so cute!” Akko said, extending a hand. The creature looked at the noisy human with interest, and it leaned down to sniff her. It’s nose, Amanda realized, didn’t have just two nostrils, but a bunch of them. Its sniffing blew Akko’s hair backward as she laughed and finally dared touch the animal on its neck. “So fluffy!”

Amanda was curious about the dog/fox/whatever it was, but it made her a little nervous. So big, it could probably eat half of Akko in a single bite. Lotte was the next one to approach, her little camera spirit following and probably taking a bunch of photos, followed by Barbara. They both started petting the animal, who seemed to be very much enjoying the attention as it started to lick Akko’s face.

The three girls seemed to be having as much fun as the creature as it started wiggling its tail. Long as it was, it soon started bothering bystanders on the street, who looked at the humans with frowns. None of the girls seemed to care, though Ursula did throw apologetic looks at them.

Amanda shook her head, and decided that she’d rather keep watching Diana’s video. However, as she looked at the blonde, she froze. She was looking at the big dog, her wand lowered, and she was… “Holy shit,” she mumbled, looking at her.

Diana noticed she was talking about her and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“You’re smiling,” Amanda said stupefied. “Doesn’t your face hurt?”

Diana narrowed her eyes. Amanda had, of course, been only half-joking. She had seen Diana smile a couple times – after winning the race, for example – but it had felt natural that she’d smile at those moments. But here? In the middle of the street? For no apparent reason?

“Well, I am rather relaxed thanks to the Muscle Sphere,” Diana said, either not getting or purposefully ignoring Amanda’s witty question. “So I suppose I am feeling better than usual.”

Amanda checked the giant fox again. Yeah, it was cute, but to get a smile from Diana? “Do you really like animals or something?”

“I’m not smiling because of the animal,” Diana sighed. “I’m just relieved Akko didn’t let the loss get to her. Seeing her down feels wrong, as strange as that may sound,” she explained. She didn’t look to be lying or trying to prank Amanda, but she still found it hard to believe.

“So _now_ you’re happy to see her fine? When you take every opportunity you get to step on her and criticize her for every mistake?” Amanda wasn’t particularly aggressive with her question. She was just stating the facts as she saw her.

Diana didn’t seem to take offense either. “I do wish you would stop saying that. I have been harsh on Akko, I will admit, but I have never criticized her for anything she didn’t deserve, and I fully think I treat her like how I would treat others,” she replied calmly.

“So you treat everyone like shit?” Amanda asked.

“If you want to see it like that, then I suppose there is nothing to discuss,” Diana raised her wand again, smile having disappeared from her face, and Amanda shrugged. She could try to come up with all the excuses in the world, Amanda wouldn’t be convinced she did it for a reason. Sure, even Amanda would probably have criticized Akko for her fuckup on the race, but all the times Diana called out Akko for making mistakes during training were there as a proof. Sure, she’d say ‘this is a really important race,’ but she’d always find something new to complain about.

The party ended for the girls enjoying the giant animal as an old cyborg man, six meters tall, came out of the shop with a big box under its two left arms while it untied the dog with its two right ones. He didn’t seem bothered by the girls playing with her dog. In fact, he gave them a black smile as he walked away.

“Why haven’t we seen more of those?” Akko asked Ursula, obviously disappointed at seeing the animal walking away happily.

“Cyborgs don’t tend to keep animals around because hair can mess up with pieces of their equipment,” Diana explained, jumping to answer the question. Akko didn’t question this – she had no reason to question it, anyways – as she turned around, looking in the direction the fox/dog thing had left.

“Well, that’s a shame. I would have liked to see more of those,” Akko pouted.

“Wonder if cyborgs also have things like werewolves,” Lotte asked, though she didn’t seem to be asking anyone in particular.

“Actually, they do,” Diana instantly said. Ursula looked at her with some resentment, as if she was taking her job. She technically was. “Though it goes a little different. For them, if it rains for more than three days, in the days between the start and finish of the storm those who aren’t faithful to Provider, the Sun, get overtaken by their mechanic parts and go on a rampage. Storms longer than two days are extremely uncommon, though. And, of course, this is nothing but an urban legend,” Diana sounded more interested in the topic than Lotte had been when asking.

“God, you’re such a nerd,” Amanda commented.

“Well, I think that’s pretty cool,” Hannah interrupted.

Amanda laughed and snorted, looking at the auburn haired girl. “You probably think Diana taking a shit is cool, so your opinion is invalid,” she said. Hannah narrowed her eyes, obviously thinking of something to retort with. Amanda was sure she was trying to think of something that wouldn’t offend Diana when saying it.

“Well, cooler than you, at least,” she decided on. Amanda pressed her lips, trying not to laugh. She knew she was going to fail miserably and soon. Hannah paused for a second. “God, that sounded awful.”

Amanda couldn’t hold it anymore. She barked a loud laugh before starting to chuckle uncontrollably. “Did you seriously just imply that you think Diana shitting is cool? Tone down the fangirl, jesus!” Amanda kept laughing while Hannah tried to hide her embarrassed face by looking away, but with the cyborgs’ obsession with putting polarized windows everywhere, it was easy to see her through a reflection.

“So, we leave the planet tomorrow,” Ursula interrupted the conversation. “Is there something you girls wanted to do but missed out on? We still have some time.”

Amanda got an idea, but didn’t share it. She’d actually thought about doing something, but she’d rather do it without the eyes of a teacher on her back. It wasn’t anything bad, presumably, but then again, a lot of things she didn’t consider particularly bad were frowned upon by adults because… Whatever, who cared? Certainly not Amanda.

Amanda felt a tug on her arm, and as she looked down, she saw Constanze pointing at something on her screen. It was a location on a map. It read… “Books?” She asked with a flat stare, but sighed. “Ursula, Constanze wants to go to a library or something like that,” she passed the message.

The coach turned to her and nodded. After Constanze pointed where the library was, everyone agreed to go.

 

“Well, I guess this is more of a bookstore than a library,” Hannah commented, looking at the neat rows of books lining the walls. The bookstore wasn’t big, by cyborg standards, but when even the smallest books were the size of Hannah’s torso it was hard to realize that. “Why did we come here, again? It’s not like anyone besides Constanze can read these things,” she asked Barbara.

“Well, Akko seems to be enjoying them too,” Barbara pointed out. Akko was now trying to climb a ladder that lead to the upper levels of shelves. She was quite literally climbing it, and it was taking some effort, though she didn’t seem too tired. Hannah would have asked what the hell she had seen to warrant such efforts, but she wasn’t really interested.

“Well, I guess Diana is curious too,” Hannah looked at her teammate, who was circling a tall bookshelf in the middle of the room and looking at the books with interest.

“What should we do for her party?” Barbara asked. Hannah had also considered this, but the conclusion she had reached was likely the same Barbara had reached after some more thinking.

“I was thinking that we shouldn’t throw a _party,”_ she explained. “I mean, Diana isn’t fond of parties per se. Maybe we should just hang out together.”

“Yeah,” Barbara sighed. “I got a little overexcited with the party idea. Doesn’t really fit Diana, does it,” she hummed to herself. “I think there’s going to be some big event on the fourth deck. I heard the mechanics talking about it. Maybe we can find out what it is and go with Diana?”

The fourth deck, also known as Platinum Deck. It was an interesting deck. “What kind of event?”

“I just told you I’ve no idea,” Barbara said. “But if all else fails, maybe we can take her to that restaurant she really likes.”

Hannah snapped her fingers. “Ah, that’s right! I had forgotten about that place. We should definitely take her there again. I also wanna eat that soup thing. God it was horrifying, but so delicious,” Hannah recalled the thing. Sometimes she wondered how in hell had she ever decided to taste it, but now she wished to go there to eat exclusively that.

“But that should be saved for something _really_ special,” Barbara clarified. “Now, if all else fails, we can probably still throw a small party. Wonder if we’ll get better rooms this time or the same ones as before.”

“Why aren’t we getting top tier rooms anyways? We’re Earth’s official team,” Hannah said with annoyance. She looked down at her uniform. It wasn’t good. Not at all. Barbara was wearing her Luna Nova g-suit, probably because of the heat. Hopefully the next planet they were going to wouldn’t be too crazy in that regard. As comfortable as they were, wearing anti-g suits all day could be a bother.

Though she’d probably wear little more, since training was a thing.

“Akko!” Lotte yelled suddenly, which made Hannah jump. She looked what had the brunette done now to cause her teammate to yell like that, and found what she expected: Akko hanging upside down by the knees from the top of the ladder.

“I’m fine!” She yelled. She had to be a good ten meters overhead. If she fell it wouldn’t be pretty. What the hell was she doing? “I just tripped!” Of course.

In a movement that took Hannah off guard, she bent and easily climbed back onto the ladder. It wasn’t that Hannah wouldn’t be able to do that if she tried, but Akko made it seem effortless, as if you could just hang upside down and then climb back up easily. She resumed her climbing of stairs afterwards. The ceiling was at fifteen meters high.

“Should we check out something?” Barbara asked. Hannah looked around, uncertain. It wasn’t as if they could read anything, but maybe there were books with pictures somewhere. Everyone else was looking around with some semblance of curiosity, ranging from very – like Akko – to not much – like Amanda.

“Don’t think there’s much point, but if you want, I don’t see why not,” Hannah said.

Barbara nodded, leading her around. She checked some books, though she never stared at them for long. Hannah wondered if she was doing the thing Hannah had thought about, but she dumped the theory after noticing that some of the books she dropped did have pictures.

And, after a while, she reached a shelf that was full of similar looking books. They had dark cover, and the typesetting looked familiar, though Hannah couldn’t quite place it. Barbara was staring at the books with curiosity, so she picked one and opened it. It was kind of fun to see, since it was as long as her arms, and wide like her shoulders, and that was when closed.

She gasped.

“What is it?” Hannah leaned in, but Barbara snapped the book closed and put it back on the shelf, laughing nervously.

“Nothing,” she said, resting her back against the book protectively. “I just mistook what it was, never mind.”

“What did you think it was?” Hannah frowned, not failing to notice the strange attitude of her best friend.

“Porn,” Barbara answered quickly, cheeks getting pink. Hannah raised an eyebrow, but didn’t see much reason not to believe her, so she shrugged. “Anyways, I’m just going to go look for… A bathroom,” he quickly walked away. Strange, but not necessarily suspicious.

She still picked up the book and, of course, opened. There were drawings sporadically, and she could swear she recognized some, but it must have been a coincidence. One thing she did recognize: It was _not_ porn. Why had Barbara lied about it? Well, maybe it was porn, not that she could find out. But the drawings weren’t. She couldn’t figure out what the story was about, but they usually depicted a long haired girl.

Wait a second, it was a _human_ girl! Hannah considered going to ask the employee of the bookstore, maybe she could shed some light on…

“Akko!” Lotte cried again, startling the focused Hannah.

Grunting, Hannah put the book away and rounded the bookshelf to see what the hell was Akko doing this time. As expected, again, it was something stupid. She was trying to get down from the bookshelf a book that was half as tall as she was, but with the same width and bulk. “It’s surprisingly light for how big it is!” Akko said as she tried to get down from the shelf.

“Akko, may I suggest getting a cyborg to help you?” Diana said. “If you fall from that height, you’re going to get hurt.”

Akko paused, and then nodded, as if the idea made sense. Hannah held back from face-palming. Of course Akko of all people wouldn’t even consider to get help from the race this bookstore had been built for in the first place. It didn’t take long for Diana to fetch an employee who kindly helped Akko get the book down.

“What is that, anyways?” Hannah asked. She didn’t really care, but she did want to know what made Akko make such a ruckus.

“It’s a human-cyborg dictionary!” Akko said with a grin, opening the thing. “When Constanze was teaching me I made sure to learn how Dictionary and Human were written. It paid off!” She stared at the first page. Hannah looked at the thing, and the first word was ‘Sun’, because it had to be. However, she couldn’t tell how it was pronounced since she didn’t understand the written language. It wasn’t too far off from practicality that it didn’t look like it could be a human language, but it didn’t look like any human language either. It seemed to be based on a mixture of lines, circles and dots. Sun was, apparently, written like horizontal line, circle with a line crossing it vertically, horizontal line with two points, diagonal line with a circle, and vertical line with one dot on each side.

“How the hell do you pronounce that?” Hannah asked, confused.

“ _Sun,”_ Akko said. Hannah was confused for moment, until she realized, the translator had actually converted Akko’s attempt to show Hannah how it was pronounced. “Though I’m probably completely butchering it,” she wasn’t paying attention to Hannah, obviously focused on the dictionary. Hannah didn’t care enough to ask her to try again, instead changing subjects.

“Why do you even care? We have a translator, and you will probably never need to use it again once you get out of here,” Hannah said.

Akko looked up, shaking her head. “Why wouldn’t I? I plan on becoming the most famous broom pilot on earth, and then the universe. I will certainly get invited to races in Machina in the future. Knowing the language will help me eventually,” she explained in all seriousness. Hannah frowned, but didn’t answer. She hadn’t expected Akko to make such a… rational argument. Hell, now she didn’t even want to make fun of Akko for even thinking she could reach the fame she wanted. It felt… wrong.

Diana was looking at the dictionary with curiosity too. “This is an interesting writing system,” she said. “It has, technically, just six characters. However, you can mix them in so many ways that it becomes absurdly vast.”

“Yeah,” Akko said offhandedly, “it’s probably harder than Japanese in that regard. And let me tell you, not many languages are harder to write than Japanese,” she explained. “Any character can have up to two points in the four cardinal directions, not to count the five base characters can mix with each other in any way. Overall, it’s a shitton of characters, though the connections within them make them easier to understand. And while the phonetics aren’t _too_ difficult, they’re…” Hannah found herself, for the first time in her life, drifting away from a conversation with Akko not for her stupidity but for basically the opposite reason: She was obviously knowledgeable on a topic Hannah knew very little about.

Hannah nonchalantly walked away, trying not to appear too confused. She still failed to see the point of actually learning the language. If Akko ever grew as famous as she wanted, she would probably be given another translator anyways. It seemed like wasting effort on something you didn’t need to.

 

 

She looked around, but didn’t find Barbara. Maybe she was still in the bathroom? Well, whatever the reason…

“Constanze?” Hannah asked after tripping with something. She looked down at the girl, who was also reading a book with her goggles on. She didn’t seem to notice Hannah had basically just kicked her. What she was reading was a book almost as big as she was, with presumably detailed instructions of cyborg mechanics, due to the many schemes showing different pieces on the page. Again, Hannah couldn’t read a thing.

Constanze suddenly rose, nodding to herself, making an approving grunt as she walked to the counter. She was basically dragging the book behind her, so Hannah took pity and helped. Together they managed to get the book to an employee, and Hannah asked for the price.

The employee looked at them with some uncertainty, excused herself and disappeared before a door with a sign that Hannah could only guess would say something like ‘staff only’. Hannah and Constanze looked at each other with uncertainty before the lady cyborg came back and gave them an uncomfortable smile.

“I’m so sorry, it seems that book is not actually on sale,” she explained. Hannah raised an eyebrow, but Constanze didn’t seem to buy it, pointing at something on the counter. It was a small – well, by cyborg standards at least – metallic box. The employee cocked her head, confused. “You want to see the database?” Constanze nodded, which made the woman laugh. “You wouldn’t be able to read it little…” Constanze rolled her eyes, putting her goggles back on before moving closer to the counter. She gestured for Hannah, who guessed what she’d want. After approaching, Hannah put her hands down – she was wearing a g-suit, so they wouldn’t get dirty – and Constanze stepped on them. Hannah boosted her up, and Constanze could climb onto the counter, to the employee’s horror.

At this point, Hannah was just curious, so she waited as Constanze took a little device from her back and connected it to the machine.

A few seconds later, she jumped down from the counter and pointed at the book again, showing her device to the lady. It probably showed that it was on sale.

The cyborg woman floundered, obviously uncertain of how to react to the tiny girl’s insistence. She excused herself again, went through the same door, and came out with a cyborg man. He was taller than the girl, probably a little higher than six meters, and he was muscular, not to mention the fact that both of his legs, a hand and her jaw were all mechanic. He also wore a moustache that drooped all the way to his chest. “I’m sorry, but this book is not on sale,” he said while picking it up.

Constanze made some annoyed noises before showing the man proof of the opposite. He leaned down, trying to see the tiny device, before snorting. “It’s just a mistake on the system. Now, I will have to ask you to leave this establishment.”

Hannah felt her heart stop for a second. The cyborg looked angry, and with his size…

“Is there any problem?” Ursula came to their rescue.

“Not really, but I will have to ask you to leave,” he said. Ursula looked at Constanze and Hannah with a frown before noticing the book. Then, she nodded in understanding.

“I see. Everyone! Come on, let’s go!”

“Wait!” Akko jumped forward, carrying the book. “Can I buy this?”

The cyborg man looked at it for a moment. He seemed to be judging things before reticently agreeing. Angry or not, he probably felt that trying to argue with Akko would have been a bad idea. Hannah got the feeling Akko wouldn’t have left this planet without that dictionary.

When she came back, they were all but kicked out of the bookstore.

“What the hell happened?” Amanda asked, a little shaken about the whole thing. “Was it because Akko was being stupid again?”

“Hey, I was just reading!” Akko complained.

“It was because Constanze tried to buy a book about cyborg mechanics,” Ursula explained. “Every race takes its technology very seriously. Only authorized texts can leave this planet, so when insisting, Constanze made them think she was some kind of spy.”

“Well that’s stupid,” Hannah said. “It’s just a dumb book.”

Constanze didn’t seem all that annoyed though. She was checking her tablet-like device. When Hannah looked at it, she was surprised to find what looked like the pages of the book Constanze had just been reading and prohibited from buying.

When the short girl noticed, she smirked and pointed at her goggles, and then showed Hannah that she had actually taken photos of every page. In a good quality too. “If they find out they’re going to kill you,” Hannah said. She had never actually talked to Constanze before, as far as she knew, but she wasn’t that surprised to find out that Amanda’s teammate was as much of a troublemaker as her.

“We still have time. Is there anything else you girls want to do?” Ursula asked. Hannah didn’t really care to do tourism. Sure, there were probably some good places out there to eat, or some things that would be cool to see, but nothing sounded particularly interesting to Hannah. Maybe going shopping would help, but she highly doubted she’d get any clothes her size. Plus, all cyborgs seemed to wear were t-shirts and shorts.

No one suggested anything. An awkward silence rose in the rather noisy street as everyone had the same kind of thoughts: _We should probably look for something interesting to do, but we have no idea of what. We’re on an alien planet, we’re probably never coming back. Someone else will surely come up with something._

In the end, they didn’t do anything else. Maybe they should have asked for a pamphlet or something. In a slightly weird air, they went back to the hotel. It was time to pack and sleep. The trip back to the _Dragon_ would be a long one.


	33. Chapter 33

Night was about to end by the time almost everyone was asleep. _Now’s the chance,_ Amanda thought, raising from the couch where she had been watching videos of the race – Wanting to be able to recall some of what happened by seeing it, but to no avail -  and walked to the bed. She poked Akko’s cheek until the brunette woke up. She quickly put a finger to her lips to stop her from talking and waking everyone up.

After a short discussion with gestures, Akko woke up with a silent grunt and followed Amanda to the other end of the room.

“What?” Akko asked.

“Wanna repeat what we did back on Sídhe?” Amanda asked with a smile. Akko cocked her head, frowning. “I mean when we teleported to the top of the tower.”

“I don’t think the Shiny Rod would be able to teleport all the way back to Sídhe… Wait, could it? Maybe I could have gone to say hi to my family all along and-”

“I mean that we should go to the top of the tallest tower here. That black skyscraper, you know,” she explained.

Akko got the face of someone who finally understood what was being said to them. “Ah. What, do you want to make it a tradition or something?”

“Ehm… Maybe?” Amanda shrugged. “I just wanna see how the city looks from up there.”

“It’s not raining, is it?” Akko looked out.

“No. I’m not that crazy. Come on now, are you in? If not, just give me the key-wand, I can pilot the thing now too,” in fact, now that she thought about it, maybe she should’ve just taken the wand and returned it when she came back, not that Akko would have noticed. But, well, the mechanics of how the Shiny Rod worked were not clear to anyone. As far as Amanda knew, she may have only been allowed to pilot back then because Akko was basically dying. The Shiny Rod was one smart bastard. Or maybe Alcor was the smart bastard. Whichever the case, Amanda would rather not risk it.

“Fine, I’m in, just let me wake up Diana and Hannah,” Akko said with a yawn, turning. Amanda blinked, dumbfounded.

“What now?”

“Why the hell would you wake them up?” Amanda asked.

“Well, they were with us back on the central tower of the Seelie Court, right?” Akko looked up, thinking back. “Yeah, that’s where I told Diana she was my rival,” she recalled.

“I mean… They just tagged along back then. Come on, let’s just go,” why would Akko even consider doing such a stupid thing? Well, because she was Akko, what a stupid question. However, Akko hesitated. Amanda deadpanned her. “Really now?”

“It just feels wrong. We’re a team, right? We should do it together,” Akko explained. Now of all times she tried to be rational? But it wasn’t out of character for her, despite how much Amanda dreaded the idea of having to take Hannah and Diana with them. But arguing with Akko was more often than not futile.

“Fine, whatever, bring them,” Amanda said. “But if they ruin it I’m going to blame you.”

Akko shrugged, moving to do as she wanted.

 

Hannah had decided not to wear her g-suit for this. Screw the heat, she wanted to wear something normal. She had put on dark blue jeans, a couple of converse and a pink blouse with a little bow in the midriff. Her hair was left the same, she had been too tired to try and do anything fancy.

“Do you really need to dress like that? Nobody’s going to see you,” Amanda complained as they exited the hotel building.

“You’re seeing me,” Hannah answered. “And Akko, and Diana, and all of these bystanders,” she pointed at the few cyborgs still outside. The sky was already light, though the sun hadn’t come up yet. Amanda snorted, but didn’t reply. She and Akko were wearing g-suits – Amanda Luna Nova’s, while Akko was wearing Earth’s – and Diana had chosen to wear shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. Not the most fancy attire but it would probably help with the heat.

“So,” Akko waved her key-wand and the Shiny Rod appeared, “should we go in the same way as last time?”

“Why not, it’ll be for just a few moments,” Hannah shrugged. Diana and Amanda agreed too, so there was no discussion. However, Hannah was very careful not to get too dirty while climbing onto the turret next to Amanda.

They were face to face again, but this time there was no helmet in between them. Hannah couldn’t deny she was getting a little self-conscious about this, but she certainly wouldn’t admit it either. It was just Amanda, after all, with her stupid face and beautiful green eyes and… _Stop thinking about it,_ she chastised herself.

“Akko,” Amanda said. She wore no helmet, how was she communicating?

“Yah?” Akko replied. Broom-racers didn’t usually include any communicating system, which was why Hannah was so weirded out by this. Radios in helmets were commonplace nowadays so why would you even want to waste space on that?

Amanda smirked, looking at Hannah. “Make sure to turn on the turret this time if only for a minute.”

Akko waited for a few seconds before replying. “Ah, I see what you mean. Will do!”

Hannah frowned. This again? How insistent. How would Amanda defend herself after…

The Shiny Rod turned on, turret included.

Everything went white.

White wasn’t really the right word. No, everything went _bright._ Yet, Hannah wasn’t blinded. She couldn’t close her eyes. In fact, she couldn’t move at all. She didn’t need to, anyways, since her mind was being expanded. Everything was suddenly understood. The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. For a second, she felt as if the snap of a finger could change the nature of existence.

And then it was gone. She opened her eyes only to find Amanda in front of her. Hannah was breathing shallowly, as if air refused to enter her lungs. As soon as the exit opened, she crawled out of the Shiny Rod, looking around in confusion. “What… What just happened?” She asked, looking at the smirking Amanda. “What did you do?”

“ _I_ didn’t do anything,” Amanda pointed backwards with her thumb. “The broom did.”

“I know something happened, but I can’t recall…” Hannah paused, realization hitting her like a truck. “Oh my god you weren’t lying.”

The smirk on Amanda’s lips turned into a full on arrogant smile as nodded with her eyes closed. “And now you can stop being a stupid ass bitch about things and start to wonder why the fuck did you not believe me for so long.”

“I’ll do that when you start to act like a respectable member of society,” Hannah replied, fixing the girl with a _really_ angry stare, to which Amanda didn’t react.

Hannah turned in annoyance, and after the initial shock, she got a good look at the city. “Wow” was all she could say.

From this high up, looking at the city felt like a dream. The colors seemed to extend to infinity. Neon was prevalent, but the way it reflected off the metal paint of every building and the windows is what really made the entire thing such a breathtaking sight. Flying vehicles moved about, leaving trails of light behind them with their speed. It was truly magnificent.

The top of the building they were in was a garden. Hannah didn’t think much of it, but it was kind of strange. It had patches of copper colored grass, seemingly at random, while the rest was made up of… Crystal? Hannah looked down, realizing that in fact she was walking on glass. It didn’t feel like it, however, so she put one knee to the ground and touched. It was grainy, like stone. “It’s curious, isn’t it?” Diana asked, noticing what she was doing. “A lot of the roofs of these buildings are built with a really strange type of reinforced glass. It gives it that texture, which also makes it convenient for walking, since it’s not slippery,” she explained.

Hannah looked at the grass and trees, noticing the fact that they were in containers ingrained in the glass.

She stopped looking at the glass, though. The city was what she really wanted to see.

All four girls approached the east side of the building – or, well, assuming cyborgs also named the side where the sun raised ‘east’ – and rested against the railings. Probably by mere chance, Hannah ended up between Amanda to her left and Diana to her right, with Akko to Diana’s right.

“Do the cyborgs have robots?” Akko asked suddenly.

“What?” Hannah asked in an annoyed tone. “You look at this city and think of that?”

“I mean,” Akko pointed to the city, “they are more technologically advanced than humans, but we still have robots to do some of our work, while I haven’t seen any robots here.”

“Cyborgs take pride in their work. It’s a part of their beliefs, in fact,” Diana explained. “They believe the harder they work the better life they’ll live in the afterlife. That is why they don’t care to build robots: They would just take away work that they could do.”

“Wait,” Amanda said. “But some of them have extra arms. Isn’t that cheating?”

“I’m not sure,” Diana admitted. “I don’t think they see it that way.”

Amanda didn’t push the issue, since Diana obviously lacked the knowledge. That in itself was weird, but well, she had only had a couple days to actually ask about Cyborg society, and all in all she was already far more knowledgeable than any of them.

“But I mean,” Akko said after a while. “They have all the technology to do so, don’t they? And I think octopuses have like super-advanced AIs. Couldn’t they work together and create actual sentient robots? Just imagine it!”

“They take pride in their work,” Diana repeated, “and therefore they think everyone else should too. What happened earlier in the library was but an example of this. The reason they don’t like sharing information, particularly about mechanics, is because they believe everything should be achieved by oneself.”

“Wait, so they don’t even teach each other about these things?” Akko asked, obviously bothered by it.

“They do.”

“Well that’s contradictory,” Hannah commented.

“Societies often are, I think,” Diana agreed. “That’s what makes them interesting.”

“Don’t get all philosophical and shit,” Amanda said. “I’m too tired for that.”

“We wouldn’t be so tired if you had just let us sleep,” Hannah complained.

“If we slept,” Amanda pointed, “We wouldn’t be seeing _that.”_

The sky looked like liquid gold. And, from beyond the line of buildings, the sun started to peek. A beautifully green sun, slightly darker than the color of magic, blazing as a mere speck that slowly – very slowly – grew on the horizon. As it rose, some buildings started turning off their own lights. As sunlight reached the landscape, it reflected off the metallic plants and different flying animals. It was like looking at a world made of metal. In a way, maybe, it was.

Hannah was not without some experience in travelling. Her family had been lucky to hit a very lucrative contract when she was still a child, and what had once been a normal life had become one of luxury. They weren’t renown and powerful, but Hannah couldn’t complain. She had seen a lot of different places on earth. Mountains, plains, the ocean, even deserts and jungles – though she dreaded the thought of ever going back to those – and even Australia!

Yet, none of those could beat _this._ A completely alien sight. A world of foreign colors, of gigantic proportions. A world not many humans got to experience.

Hannah eyed Amanda, still thinking about the Shiny Rod. _She wasn’t lying,_ she thought. Her anger before had been mostly at herself. She had actually accepted that Amanda wasn’t lying long ago. She had just kept going out of stubbornness. And now that she was proven wrong, her actions seemed just childish.

A breeze suddenly started, making Hannah’s hair shift slightly. It was cool up here, and the breeze helped. It wouldn’t be long before sunlight started heating up everything again. And they weren’t even in summer? How did cyborgs deal with the heat?

Well, they were probably adapted to it, duh.

“I’m… Sorry,” Hannah mustered the determination to say it in a single second. She knew she wouldn’t say it if she took any longer.

“Huh?” Diana asked, frowning.

“Not to you,” Hannah said, remembering she wasn’t alone with Amanda.

“I forgive you,” Amanda simply said. Somehow, the answer got on Hannah’s nerves.

“That’s all you have to say?” She asked, annoyance obvious in her voice.

Amanda shrugged. “Maybe we can stop fighting every two words now that you’re not annoyed at my ‘lies.’ We will probably fight every four words now. Isn’t that nice?”

How was she being so casual? Hannah thought she’d actually make some more fun of her, but in true Amanda fashion, she was just really talented at messing with her. Hannah thought of a thousand different replies before she realized that, again, she was just being childish.

“Thank you,” Hannah basically forced out of her lungs. Saying thank you to Amanda felt wrong. Well, it would be accurate to describe that every interaction with Amanda felt wrong, if always for a different reason.

“Akko, what are you doing?” Diana suddenly asked, noticing Akko had left the railing and was trying to climb a golden and silver tree. Hannah decided to keep looking at the sunrise. Akko was just being Akko, Amanda was being Amanda and Diana was being Diana. Even after realizing her stupidity, things were the same.

“Thre’s still two months of this, huh?” Amanda said. “What a pain.”

“Two months and a week or so, I think,” Hannah tried to recall the time they’d spent on this trip. About two days on the _Dragon_ , two and a half days on Sídhe… or had it been three? Maybe three were planned, but they had left a lot earlier than expected. Then about two weeks with the next world-hop and the time spent on Machina. It was really hard to keep track of time when you weren’t really bothered by it. And she couldn’t even check her wand, because it automatically synchronized to local timezones, even if on foreign planets. Magic was truly a wonderful curse.

“Will it really last just that long? With all the time it took us to get through just two races…”

“Most world-hoppings aren’t that long,” Hannah explained. “And Machina was kind of an exception in terms of stay, for being the first planet.  Stays often last only two to three days. They don’t want racers to get too comfortable with the terrain, to make things interesting.”

“I see,” Amanda sighed. She looked a little downcast, which was definitely strange for her. Hannah considered asking if she was feeling well, but she didn’t want to intrude. Amanda and her weren’t friends. They just put up with each other – and not even that, more often than not.

“You must think I’m an idiot,” Hannah said.

“In other news, water is wet,” Amanda replied.

“In other news, take this seriously or I’m going to punch you,” Hannah threatened. Amanda snorted, but said no more.

“I mean, with the whole not-believing you thing. I think I was just jealous of… Well, how good you were, and refused to admit it wasn’t your doing.”

Amanda cocked her head. “Wouldn’t it be easier to admit it wasn’t actually my doing if you were jealous?”

“Maybe, but I was just… angry. You just hopped into a broom and were amazing, while I’ve been working my ass off. It’s unfair.”

“It is,” Amanda admitted. Then, she hopped over the railing, putting her feet on the ledge and holding on to the railing behind her while looking down. At that moment, the breeze turned into a weak wind, making her hair whip behind her. With the light of the alien sun, her hair had taken on a darker tone. Ironically enough, it reminded Hannah of Earth’s sunsets.

“Are you going to do that every time we climb a tower?” Hannah asked, slight nervousness to her voice as she instinctively reached and grabbed Amanda’s arm, just to be sure. “If you’re suicidal you should just talk to a therapist.”

“I’m not suicidal, jeez,” she didn’t attempt to shake the hand off, however. “I just like the thrill. This is the closest I can come to actual flying.”

“I think you should want to be an airplane pilot, not a broom pilot,” Hannah said, making sure to keep a tight grab on the redhead, who was just looking at the horizon, light reflecting off her eyes, making them look ablaze. Hannah would admit that Amanda was beautiful in her own right, but she didn’t often let others enjoy it with her boyish attitude. It wouldn’t be long before the sun became too bright to look at directly.

“Many suggest that. But… Well, I also like the speed. I’ll probably become a pilot for both, one day.” Amanda sighed, jumping over the railing again, which let Hannah relax. “We should probably go check what those two are doing,” Amanda pointed. Hannah turned to see… Akko hanging from a tree branch, held only by one of her g-suit straps.

 

Akko had noticed something move on top of the tree, and had decided it was as good a time as any to check out what it was. Maybe it was Elizabeth, wanting to give Akko a last goodbye! So she went and climbed, only to find nothing.

“Akko, did you not hear me? Why are you climbing that tree?” Diana asked from below.

Akko started her descent as she answered. “I thought I saw something, but it was nothing,” she explained. Diana closed her eyes and sighed. She didn’t seem angry, but she had obviously expected a more nuanced motive.

“Is it that hard for you to just hold back from doing something rash?” Diana asked, obviously annoyed. Akko stopped climbing down, instead deciding to sit on a branch. The sight from here was still impressive.

“I know I’m too rash,” Akko admitted. “I know it’s why I lost the race.”

Diana’s eyes widened. She stepped forward, crossing her arms and looking up with some measure of worry. “That’s not what I meant, I just-”

“It’s ok,” Akko admitted. “I messed up. I… I’ll do better next time, and I’ll make up for this. We’re in third place, if you keep winning and I win everything we can still come out on top,” she may not be great at math, but one did not need to be a genius to figure that out.

Wait, they really could still win, right? Let’s see, the Medusas were four points beyond them, and in one race, assuming they did almost as perfect, they would…

“While I am glad you think like that,” Diana interrupted her thoughts, “I need to repeat, that’s not what I meant. I just meant ‘maybe when you see something you don’t recognize on a tree you should think better than to just climb it,’ particularly when we’re on an alien planet where the thing in question may be a dangerous animal.”

Akko didn’t reply, instead thinking back to the race. She could now understand what she had done wrong, and she was trying not to feel too bad about it. Sucy had opened her eyes, but thinking about it still made her feel like if someone was trying to squeeze her heart. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Diana instantly replied. “It was just an honest-”

“Not about the race,” Akko interrupted. “About taking your place. You would’ve probably won that race if you were First Category,” it had always been a touchy subject, but Akko was a little tired of feeling like crap every time she recalled it. “That’s another reason I was so torn up about losing. After all, I made us lose eight points that you would have won without the hint of a doubt.”

“You’re overestimating me,” Diana said, now uncomfortable. “I saw that race from the stands. The fight for first was a fierce one,” She took out her wand, raising it so that Akko could see. “The daemons are a force to be aware of, but the Medusa has some powerful attacks too,” she explained as the video showed the medusa being way faster than she should in dodging a laser from the Noir Rod and counterattacking with a blast of electricity that, despite the lack of sound Akko was surprised she hadn’t heard. It looked like it should have produced a roar like that of thunder.

“What I mean to say,” Diana said. “Is that I don’t think I would have performed much better than you, Akko.”

Akko leaned even further to try and see exactly how the noir rod worked. Then she slipped from the branch. She was ready to fall and catch herself – the branch wasn’t _that_ high – but after a second, she found herself suspended in the air by one of her g-suit straps.

Diana looked at her for a few seconds and chuckled. “Maybe you’ll start to reconsider climbing into any trees you see from now on,” she said. Akko grunted as she fumbled about, trying to grasp the branch behind her, but she couldn’t quite get it.

“I think I’m going to need a little help,” she said, voice strangled with effort. Diana stepped forward, rounding Akko, looking at her with a pensive expression. “…are you trying to figure out how to help?”

“In all honesty,” Diana paused, looking at Akko from behind. Akko started to get a little self conscious about the position. The g-suit didn’t leave much to the imagination, “I’m admiring the resistance of the strap. It’s holding your full weight without much strain. Isn’t it impressive?”

“Could you stop being smart for two seconds and just help me?” Akko whined, trying in vain to get a hold of the branch above her. It was just outside her grasp. Damn smart people and their… smartness.

“What’s going on?” Amanda asked, approaching.

“I’m stuck,” Akko said. “A little help?”

Amanda looked at her for a few seconds. “If you call the Shiny Rod I can probably step on it and lift you so that you can grab the branch,” Amanda suggested. Akko smiled, that was a good idea! She took her key wand, being held in one of the other straps, and flicked it. The Shiny Rod moved towards them, not making much noise. Amanda climbed on it and did quick work of helping out. Not a minute later, Akko was safely back on the ground, the mocking face of Amanda, the amused face of Diana and the unsurprised face of Hannah all on her. _Huh,_ Akko thought, _Diana is strangely lively today._

“Should we head back?” Diana asked after Akko relaxed.

“I want to look some more at the city,” Akko admitted, moving to the side of the building opposite to the sunrise. The greenish light of the star tinted everything in a more subtle way than earth’s orange morning light did, or maybe Akko just wasn’t used to it.

She didn’t wait for the other’s answers, but apparently they had agreed, for they joined her. They set themselves in the same positions as before, probably for the sake of consistency.

“What do you think it is?” Akko asked after a while. She had been wondering this for a long time, but it seemed useless to discuss it too seriously.

“What is what?” Hannah asked with annoyance at the vague question.

“The grand prize. No cyborgs tried to cheat, I think, so maybe it was just something the Faeries really really needed?” Akko tried to explain her rationale. It wasn’t simple, mostly because she could never keep an idea too long in her head before it morphed into something completely new.

“I think the cyborgs didn’t try to cheat because it would have been very hard. Not many people pay attention to the preliminaries, but the entire universe checks out the first race of the IPR,” Diana explained. “Then each subsequent race gets less ratings until the seventh or eighth. Well, last time was an exception,” Diana paused, thinking. “Chariot did a number by winning the preliminary tournament and the first three races, which created a historical rise in ratings for every separate race.”

“Why do you know all of this stuff?” Amanda asked. Akko nodded, why in hell would anyone ever want to learn all of that? It seemed impractical.

“It’s… A long story,” Diana simply said. “But in short, I’ve studied all I can about the race. And I say this because, while no one cheated in this instance – as far as we know, at least – it will get progressively more likely as the races move forward, unless there’s some kind of big drama that somehow brings attention to the event and hampers attempts at doing so. But if the faeries, a race known for their peacefulness, is willing to cheat, we shouldn’t discard the possibility of others doing it too.”

“So why are we discarding that the cyborgs cheated?” Hannah asked. “You don’t sound like you think they did.”

“I don’t,” Diana confessed. “It’s just my belief, of course, but Cyborg ideology goes so against cheating that they have laws with death penalty in place for certain instances of it. That may be why no one cheated during this race, too, due to the Inter-Planetary Law Agreement.”

“Oh, that thing where you must abide by the planet’s laws, right?” Akko was a little surprised at recalling that. Chariot had probably mentioned it at some point and that would be why.

“Correct,” Diana had the face of someone who was seriously considering things. “So whatever the prize is, it’s not big enough to warrant death, so either the faeries exaggerate…”

“Or maybe they just decided that they could afford to lose a race, if everything went wrong,” Hannah finished the line of reasoning.

“Or maybe they’re not all cheaters?” Akko suggested, which earned her flat looks. She knew she was being a little naive but come on, not everyone would have bad intentions always, right?

“In any case,” Diana didn’t seem to take her comment into account, “whatever it is, we should try to win it.”

“No ‘try’, Diana. We’ll _do it,”_ Akko said. “You’re going to win every race, I can feel it,” her race had been very exciting to watch. “And I promise I won’t let the team down.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t- Ouch!” Hannah complained as Amanda pinched her in the nape.

“Ouch! Bitch, you don’t get to do it back when you were the one in the wrong!”

“Yes I do, don’t touch- HEY!”

Diana sighed, looking at Akko as Amanda and Hannah started a discussion. “I also promise not to let the team down,” she said to Akko. “When we win that prize…” Diana closed her eyes. Akko waited, but Diana didn’t finish her sentence. Whatever she was thinking about was obviously serious, so Akko didn’t prompt her to continue.

She gave one last look down at the city of wood, neons and metals, all of it bathed in the green light of sunrise under the golden sky.

It was hard to believe their adventure had basically just started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the end of the batch. You read that last line? That's me projecting. Fucking hell this is turning out to be so much longer than I expected. But it should become a little more fast paced for a while now, at least.  
> Hope you're enjoying it! If you're still reading this, why haven't you left a comment? Like, seriously, we're at like 160k words, did you seriously spend your time reading all of this to not leave a critic?


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a small couple of chapters. Why? Because my word file now has over 200 pages and I felt like posting this was a good way of celebrating it. Maybe I should've waited, but honestly, two days ago I didn't even notice how close to this mark I was.

The doors of the room closed, and Diana let out the air she had been holding in her lungs. She felt lighter than usual, due to the differences in gravity between Machina’s and magic-simulated Earth’s.

She looked at their new room. It was slightly bigger than before, adding a new closet. “If they’re going to upgrade our room every new trip,” Hannah commented, “We’re going to end up in the presidential suits by the time this whole thing ends.”

Barbara chuckled, but Hannah had a point. Why were they upgrading their rooms every time? It was a mystery that right now Diana didn’t really have the energy to solve. The trip back to the _Dragon_ had been long and annoying, and it didn’t help that Akko had been complaining all the way about not being allowed to just teleport back with the Shiny Rod, as Ursula hadn’t wanted to draw even more attention to that particular feature of the ship.

It was weird how no one had actually intercepted the humans to ask for such a controversial thing. Diana wondered what could have kept the press away, particularly when in her experience all delicate matters were the favorite food of journalists all across the universe.

“Well, Diana, we’re off to do some stuff,” Barbara interrupted her thoughts, “you should stay here and rest, you look tired. See you later!” She all but kicked Hannah out of the room with her, and before Diana had even time to fully understand what she had said, they were gone.

This trip was going to take another four days. That meant there was only one planet they could be going to, since it was the only one in such a short world-hopping distance – unless they were going back to Sídhe, which wasn’t a possibility.

Diana set up her bed before putting it back against the wall. She wasn’t as tired as Barbara had implied, and the dopamine she was releasing thanks to the new environment was keeping her awake and would probably do so for another couple of hours. There were a hundred things she could do, and she wished the _Dragon_ had a simulator to practice some more, since she was certain about where they would go next and that meant she could prepare for it.

But standing still and wishing for things that weren’t there was not a very productive thing to do, so instead she set off to at least take a little walk. Maybe she’d hit a gym on the fourth deck, to make sure she was still in good condition.

She exited her room after quickly washing her face on the bathroom – despite the bigger room, bathrooms remained the same horribly small size – and set out to do something productive. She looked around the metallic bowels of the _Dragon_ and found herself slightly disoriented, since all hallways tended to look the same.

Her first sight upon exiting was that of a couple of persons. They both froze at seeing her, and Diana also stood still. She recognized them, and more importantly, they weren’t human. A couple of appali. More precisely, the two pilots. One of them had grey hair – not because of age, though – and bright yellow eyes. His shoulders were a little too wide for his proportions, making his head look smaller than it should, and his overall body like a long triangle. His chin was also a little too pointy. He was slightly taller than Diana. The First Category pilot. His companion was two heads shorter, his whole body somewhat rounder than one would expect from the fact that he wasn’t fat at all. He had a dark pink hair that from a distance could probably be mistaken as brunette, and he had in fact heterochromia, with his left eye eye being a dark grey and the other one being a bright brown. The Second Category pilot. Diana wondered where were their gunmen, but she supposed it would be best to first ask the important question.

“Hello,” Diana said politely.

“Hey,” the First Category pilot say, looking down. He seemed… nervous about something. Diana noticed movement down, and noticed he had moved his hand somehow. Some kind of nervous habit? “Y-you’re Earth’s second pilot, right?” Appali language didn’t sound too far from human ones, like that of cyborg’s. In her estimation, it didn’t sound that different from Russian, if maybe it added a good measure of nasal sounds into the mix. Diana wondered if Akko would be interested in learning it. She seemed to be good at it, for some reason.

“Yes. Diana Cavendish. A pleasure to meet you…” she extended a hand.

“I-I’m H-H-Hadroin,” the pronunciation was a little weird, but Diana didn’t think it was too complicated. Hee-droo-yn. She’d probably annihilate it if she tried pronouncing it, “though I’m usually called Hud.” He took Diana’s hand and gave it the slightest of shakes, as if he was afraid she’d hurt him. He instantly stepped back after taking it, pointing at his companion, who wasn’t as nervous. Diana extended the hand to the shorter appal, trying to keep up her polite smile.

“Call me Shill,” he said, shaking Diana’s hand properly. His voice was deep, and Diana was surprised to find that his name was actually just Shill and the translation device hadn’t just translated some other appal word. Curious, how two different but similar races could have words that sounded similarly but have them mean completely different things.

“What are you doing on board of the _Dragon?_ ” Diana asked.

“Well, we needed a lift,” Shill said, “since our interstellar ship kind of broke and it’ll take some time to fix,” he explained without much trouble.

“Oh, I did hear you had developed a world-hopper,” Diana recalled, “what happened, exactly?”

“Actually, it’s not just a world-hopper, as you humans call it,” Shill smirked. “It’s a full blown interstellar ship. It could go to Andromeda and back in just a hundred years. Cool, huh?” Diana paused, thinking of the implications. Had appali really developed an interstellar ship? No other race had managed to do that, “But it’s not perfect yet, which is why we’re using the race as a means to test it. We’re having energy problems,” he explained.

“Ah, I see,” it made sense. Such a long trip would require insane amounts of energy. “So your ship ran out of fuel?”

“Basically,” he said. He turned to Hadroin. “He could explain it much better, but he’s too shy for his own good. He’s a great pilot, though.”

Diana nodded. He had made it to the IPR, after all, despite not performing very well on the first race. “He was attacked by the daemons, wasn’t he?” Diana recalled the moment. A daemon laser had almost hit them upfront, but the ship had moved out of the way to avoid the bulk of the damage. Sadly, it had been enough to make the ship basically useless.

“Yeah, and their knockoff of your white ship,” he sighed. “Though, no offense, your First Category pilot doesn’t seem to have a good grasp on how to handle it.”

Diana dropped her smile. They weren’t wrong, but this spoke to a higher truth. If they thought Akko was having troubles with the Rod, then most racers would think so too. Diana had hoped it wasn’t _too_ obvious. If others started thinking of Akko as an easy target…

“I-in fact,” Hadroin interrupted, “I’d say she does have a good grasp, s-she just lacks practice,” he explained. Diana kept her neutral face, but it intrigued her. He wasn’t wrong, actually. Akko seemed to have an instinctual understanding of how to pilot the Shiny Rod, she just couldn’t quite act on those instincts without knowing some basic concepts of flying first. A door opened at the end of the hallway, and a girl came out of it.

“Well, whatever. Excuse us, miss Diana, we had plans to go and make sure our ships had arrived safely,” Shill moved to grab Hadroin’s hand, but he quickly changed trajectories and instead took his arm and dragged him behind him. Had she imagined it? Probably not. Diana didn’t pay it much mind, anyways.

“Goodbye,” Diana waved weakly, but the pair had already turned a corner. Diana looked back at who had come out of the room. It was an appal girl of about the same height as Diana. She had really dark long hair and brown skin. Her eyes were of a deep blue, and if not by the girly demeanor, Diana might have assumed her a boy, because she was as plain as a cutting board.

“Were those two Hud and Shill?” The girl asked. She had a really high pitched voice. Annoyingly so. “They’re always running off on their own, damn it,” she talked with a relatively sweet tone, but she was clearly unhappy. “Did they tell you where they were going?”

Diana was about to reply, but she hesitated. Something about this girl wasn’t right, and she was not referring to the abnormally long arms of the girl. “I don’t think so,” Diana lied, “They just mentioned they had plans.”

“Argh,” the girl complained, “why can’t they just do as told?” The girl moved past Diana, leaving her slightly confused. Was that their coach, maybe? She looked young, but appali had longer lifespans than humans. In fact, it seemed that most races of the universe lived longer than humans, though most weren’t as numerous.

Diana saw her go and turned, thinking how rude she had been. Appali had fame of being aggressive, due to their fondness of war, but Shill and Hadroin had seemed fine. Then that girl had kind of fit the stereotype though. Well, stereotypes existed for a reason, whether they were fair or not.

About ten minutes later, Diana was slowly walking through the wooden streets of Shopping Town, in Gold Deck. She had considered asking some of the other two teams to hang out, but she was fairly certain Amanda had gone to sleep and Akko had ran off to do something as soon as they arrived to the ship. Maybe she’d find Hannah and Barbara while walking through the deck, since this was the best place to shop in the entire ship.

Today, Gold Deck wasn’t particularly crowded. It was crowded, yes, but not as much as one would expect from the more famous deck. Diana stopped in front of a clothes shop. It had kind of a punk aesthetic, and in the window there was a jacket with spikes on the shoulders hanging with a big tag showing the incredible offer. It wasn’t that Diana particularly wanted it, but she had often wondered how she would look in clothes such as these. They probably wouldn’t fit her. She was a person of dresses and bright colors, not of harsh and dark jackets and trousers. This didn’t bother her much, she liked dresses and bright colors, but everyone wanted to break away from routine once in a while.

With a sigh, she continued walking. She wouldn’t waste money on that. Clothing and unnecessary things were free, but up to a limit, and there was no need to expend it now. Each store was different, yet to Diana, they all looked the same. People constantly came in and out of them, some with bags, some without. The colorful stream of people that normally would be a nuisance to her was now something she had grown used to. Looking around and finding so many different cultures in plain sight was interesting. Few events managed to draw in peoples from all parts of the world – no, universe – like the IPR. No, not few. No other events.

Two kids came out of a small toys shop, in their hands cheap plastic brooms. No real designs, just science-fiction brooms taken out of movies, far too thin and with too many engines to be able to fly or hover. A couple walked out behind them, telling them not to run off on their own. Diana wasn’t good with kids, but she liked them. Maybe one day she’d have her own, but that was probably more than ten years in the future.

She kept wandering around, aimless, waiting for tiredness to sink in and finally go back to her room and sleep for a while. Hannah and Barbara didn’t appear anywhere, but that wasn’t enough evidence against them being here. This was, after all, the biggest deck on the ship.

Not long passed before she reached the main street. She was still feeling good, and the smell of food made her stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten anything but a few snacks – offered by Jasminka – in the past eight hours. She looked towards the fast food chains in the wide street, but none of them called to her. Instead, her eyes inevitably fell on a relatively average door with an unreadable sign on top.

The Goodwill. Before even pausing to consider it she already found herself opening the door, the long hallway lit by Light Flames and their spectral light-blue illumination. She walked inside, and was surprised to find that there were some people inside. She was used to it being… Well, empty. Diana understood that she couldn’t be the only client, but it was still shocking. A couple and a group of friends, all talking quietly.

She sat down on one of the tables near the bar. It was for four people, but she wanted to be as far away as the other diners as possible. Diana would rather enjoy her time alone.

The Shapeshifter waiter approached. Diana was sure he was also the cook, though she had never asked. He leaned to give her the menu, but Diana raised her hand and asked for what she was going to eat right away. She didn’t know if the waiter recognized her, but he probably did. Not many people had the hair that had become a presentation card for a Cavendish.

He came back soon after with a bottle and a glass in one hand, and a small basket of bread with sauce. As he served her a bubbling dark blue liquid – a really weird blueberry soda, unlike anything Diana had ever tasted elsewhere. It was like drinking blueberries straight up. She still wasn’t sure if it was artificial or not – Diana looked at his head. He had no face, just the hint of it, and his dark grey smoke danced above it as if simulating hair. “What is your name?”

“I am _Last Shadow of the Sky,”_ he bowed his head respectfully when saying this. Diana nodded. Most shapeshifters had long, poetic names. Though some would consider them pretentious rather than poetic. Diana didn’t agree with that assertion, that way of naming wasn’t that different from human one, particularly in Asian cultures.

“Thank you,” Diana said as he retreated. She drank a little of her soda. It was wonderful. This place, in general, was wonderful. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the murmurs of the conversations, and felt herself relaxing with surprising ease. Maybe she still carried some effects from the Muscle Sphere. What a shame cyborgs would probably not allow it to get out of their planet in a long time. Such a thing would be revolutionary back on earth. Those candies they had been offered back in the tour too.

_‘Do you like it, sweetie?’_ Diana heard an echo of her mother’s voice at the same time she ate a breadstick with the mildly spiced sauce. She had hated it on her first try, but she had always been rather stubborn about trying to appear mature, so she had lied. Eventually, that lie became a truth, and now she really enjoyed the sauce. She didn’t eat much of it, though, to save space for the main course.

She waited, comfortable in the silence of the place. As she waited, the group of friends left, which only helped her feel more at peace. Coming here with Hannah and Barbara had been fun, but this was the experience she had really wanted. And, well, she had won her first real race, wasn’t that a good reason to celebrate?

Diana could finally start to feel tiredness. The food wouldn’t take much to get here, so she could probably eat and go straight to her room to get a good night’s sleep. By the time she woke up the Dragon would already be in the middle of its hopping and…

Suddenly, the door at the front opened, and the voices coming from the hallway made Diana freeze.

“Wow!” Akko cried. “Look at those fires! They’re white! And what’s with the gloom lighting?” She sounded curious.

“I believe those are Light Flames,” Lotte mentioned. “Akko, don’t put your finger on them!”

“They don’t burn!” Akko exclaimed with surprise. “It just tickles!”

“Akko, shut the fuck up,” Sucy’s annoyed voice said. “You’ll scare other clients.”

“What are you talking about? No one would…” The trio turned the corner, and despite Diana’s best efforts, Akko instantly saw her. “Diana!” Akko shouted, waving energetically. “What are you doing here?” She said approaching. She sat down without even asking, looking around. “Nice fancy place, huh? Must be right up your alley,” she commented. Then she eyed her drink and bread basket. “You been here for long?”

“It’s been a while,” Diana tried to keep calm. She wasn’t sure of why, but Akko’s sudden intrusion into what just thirty seconds ago had been almost a sanctuary had suddenly put her on edge. Instinctively, she put on her stone face, not letting even the slightest hint of emotion show.

“So, what are you- ouch!” Akko complained as Sucy hit the back of her head.

“Don’t you have common sense? She’s probably about to eat, leave her alone, she obviously doesn’t want you here,” Sucy started to drag Akko out of the chair she had picked, and in being pulled off it, she looked at Diana.

She had big, beautiful red eyes. Probably related to Magic. Something within Diana shifted. Akko wasn’t pleading for help, she didn’t look annoyed or angry. She was making a question. A very simple one. One that, despite her hesitance, Diana knew the answer to.

“It’s fine,” she finally said, which made Sucy stop and look her with surprise. “We’re… friends, right?” She looked at Akko, who nodded energetically. “I don’t mind if you choose to join me.”

Even Lotte seemed surprised, but after a minute, the entirety of the red team had chosen to sit down besides Diana. Akko sat directly in front of her with a thankful look. Despite what she had thought previously, Diana realized she wasn’t particularly angry that her silent paradise had been annihilated by the arrival of the brunette. Last Shadow of the Sky approached the table, handing out menus. “Welcome to Goodwill,” he said, this time the name of the bar being translated, “Do you wish to wait for your friends, miss?” He asked towards Diana as the three newcomers looked through the menu.

“Don’t wait for us,” Lotte said. “We don’t want to be a bother.”

Somehow, seeing the ever-kind Lotte worry about her comfort made Diana even more determined to not let this hinder her experience. “I’ll wait, thank you,” she said politely to the shapeshifter, who nodded and went back into the kitchen.

Akko was looking at the menu with a mixture of emotions. “Wow, so many weird things. Can I eat this? It sounds fun,” she pointed at something called ‘Hourglass Potato Fries.’

Diana had to hold back from smiling. She had asked the exact same thing the first time she looked at the menu. “It’s a highly toxic Appal fruit,” Diana explained. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Fruit? But it says potato, potatoes aren’t fruits,” Akko frowned. “They aren’t, right?”

“No, they aren’t,” Sucy said. “Now go to the section of human foods and stop being an idiot.”

Akko pouted, but did as asked. The next time the waiter came he carried three more cups. The girls asked what they wanted and tasted what Diana was drinking. Akko and Lotte liked it, but Sucy claimed it was too sweet for her and asked for plain water.

They sat in silence for a while, the others obviously uncomfortable with Diana present. It didn’t last long, though, since Akko seemed to have too many inquiries. “So, you seem to know the menu, you’ve been here before?” She asked.

Diana nodded, taking a sip of her drink. “A couple of times:”

“Do you like this place?”

Diana took a second to answer, thinking carefully about how she wanted the others to perceive her. “Yes, it has a very… homely feel to it. I like the peace within it,” she explained. Of course, there was also the extra reason of nostalgia and the emotional value the place had to her, but they didn’t need to know that. Even then, Diana was half tempted to explain this to Akko. Somehow, the brunette looked like someone who could understand her.

“What are you eating?” She asked.

Diana looked at Akko for a while. She started looking at her teammates after the first minute, probably wondering if she had said something wrong. “A stew.”

Akko relaxed visibly. “Wew, you took a while to answer there. Though I had offended you.”

Diana’s lip twitched as she tried to hold back a smile. She wondered what reaction these three would have to her food. Hannah and Barbara had reacted just like Diana had expected, but by this point Diana had learned to never expect anything from Akko. She did imagine Sucy being curious about it and Lotte being weirded out.

They spent a few more minutes in silence. Diana didn’t really know what to make of them. Even the usually talkative Akko was now just looking around awkwardly. Maybe she had gotten drawn into the atmosphere of the Goodwill, but Diana didn’t believe that. Diana was just that disrupting for normal conversations.

“Told you we should have left her alone,” Sucy mumbled. She had probably reached the same conclusion as Diana. This wasn’t something she liked, but she would not deny the facts. People around her usually took more care of what they said, and Akko seemed to be no exception to the ru-

“Forty two,” the brunette suddenly said. “Why does this place need so many torches?”

Diana closed her eyes, and her head cocked on its own. “Why are you…”

“I just counted them. They look like too many, don’t you think?” she extended her hand, which just barely reached the light flame nearest to them. “You could probably have half of them and save a lot of energy, right?”

Diana started feeling like a self-centered idiot. So Akko hadn’t been silent because of her, she had just been focusing on a silly thing. That was very Akko-like indeed. “It’s not that simple. Light Flame isn’t very luminescent, so to reach a level of brightness comfortable enough to eat probably needed that amount,” Diana explained with amusement. She felt like laughing.

“Could you try to stay focused for like five minutes?” Sucy asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I can stay focused if I want to!” Akko asserted, drinking some more from her cup. “This thing reminds me of Elizabeth,” she suddenly said.

“The… giant bird?” Lotte asked carefully, obviously unsure of how the drink had reminded Akko of the Metal Bird.

“Yeah. It’s blue and sweet,” she explained. Diana couldn’t help thinking that was cheesy as hell. It seemed to her something you’d say to a lover, not to a random bird you met on an alien planet.

“Allow me to disagree,” Sucy said with disgust. “It may be blue but it has nothing of sweet.”

“Hey, it’s not her fault her instincts kicked in with you near. You do have a tendency to take eggs from weird creatures,” Akko defended her feathered friend. “I wonder if I’ll ever get to see her again,” she said with a distant expression.

“Isn’t the Shiny Rod able to teleport you?” Diana asked with some interest.

“I don’t really know if it’s able to go between planets,” Akko explained. “I haven’t used it for teleporting more than, like, a few kilometers.”

“I don’t see why that would make a difference,” Diana looked up, thinking. “Teleporting automatically implies that distance is irrelevant. You can travel between two points in space without having to worry about obstacles or time. Be it a meter or a light year, you should be able to do it.”

“Wouldn’t it take a lot of energy?” Lotte asked.

“I’m not sure,” Diana admitted. “I do think the Shiny Rod has a limit to its output of energy, even if it appears to have an endless source of it,” she didn’t really think it had an endless source of energy, since that went completely against the first law of thermodynamics, but that was something she would likely have to figure out if Akko ever decided to allow scientists to study the broom, “Maybe we should try to test the distance it can travel next time?”

“We?” Sucy raised an eyebrow. “You sound like you’re going to be riding it.”

Diana paused. “It was a mere expression,” she said, coldly, “sorry.”

“Sucy, there’s no need to be rude,” Lotte gave her a harsh look. “And you don’t have to apologize, Diana, Akko has already let you in the Shiny Rod once, right?”

Diana frowned, looking at Akko. “Yeah, when we went to the top of the Seelie Court and such…” She laughed nervously. Diana wasn’t aware of the fact that Lotte and Sucy knew about that. Though, apparently, Akko hadn’t told them about their most recent nightly escapade.

“Yes, she has,” Diana said. Why did it bother her that Akko had told her teammates about the experience? It hadn’t been a big secret. Barbara knew about it, too, since Hannah had told her.

“Oh, right, forgot about that,” Sucy sighed. “What got into you that time, anyways?”

“I was just curious about the sights from the highest place on Sídhe,” Diana said. “Is it that weird?”

“Coming from you? I’d say so,” Sucy said. Diana found herself growing frustrated. What was she trying to imply? Sucy obviously disliked Diana. She probably disliked her as much as Amanda, she just wasn’t as direct with it.

“Well, that’s all there is to it,” Diana insisted. There really was nothing more, after all. She was just sleep deprived and was thankful for the offered diversion. She was also quite fond of the memories of that tower, even if the ending had been a little soured by her attitude.

Sucy snorted, but Diana didn’t pay it any mind. Akko seemed uncomfortable with the exchange, and Lotte was on the verge of chastising her teammate again, but then Last Shadow of the Sky appeared with their food.

As he set it down on the table, Diana looked at her Meatflower stew. Her mother had once criticized her for never asking for anything else, but why would she? This was the only place she knew where she could eat it. Not doing so seemed like a waste.

And then, it came. “What the hell is that?” Sucy asked, and Diana allowed herself to smile.

 

“Ok, so it’s a play,” Barbara nodded as they walked. “Think a play is good enough for a celebration?”

Hannah shook her head. “I’m not sure. Diana likes to read, and she seems to enjoy Shakespeare. She probably knows Romeo and Juliet from top to bottom,” she explained, to which Barbara sighed and nodded.

“Then we should take her to the Goodwill?” Barbara seemed determined to carry this plan out. Hannah hesitated. Sure, Diana enjoyed the place, but it seemed… Special, to her. She had the feeling that if Diana wanted to go, she would probably go alone. It obviously brought back memories, and even the only time they had been there Diana had been a little distant. Or maybe, the opposite. It was hard to describe how Diana normally acted, which only made it harder when she did so erratically.

“I’m not sure,” Hannah looked straight ahead. They were in the fourth deck, also known as Platinum Deck. It was of around the same size as Bronze Deck, and it kind of mimicked it in a way, with a big stage in the center and the row of tiny buildings surrounding the entire place. Big difference was, however, the nature of these. While the first deck had mostly little shops, Platinum Deck had mostly recreational places. Seemed like an odd choice to Hannah, but what did she know about marketing and stuff.

“We should check out if we can make a reservation or something,” Barbara said. “Maybe by tomorrow we can have something ready,” she continued. Hannah was only lending her half an ear as she looked around. There were gyms and even a small amusement park in this place, though that ‘amusement’ part was mostly bumper cars, a carousel and one of those things that spun really fast. Wasn’t that dangerous to have so close to the windows? What if it, like, snapped and flew out? Everyone in the deck would die.

With such happy thoughts, Hannah felt Barbara poking her arm. “Are you listening?”

“Yeah. What did you say, again?”

Barbara gave her a flat look.

“Sorry,” Hannah smiled, “I’m just wondering, isn’t this place kinda empty?” She pointed around. For being the second most premium deck, nobody seemed to want to hang out in it. Sure, there were a fair amount of people, but in comparison with the previous three decks this was kind of… well, not very active.

“It is,” Barbara agreed. “Maybe they’re sleeping? We’re preparing for takeoff.”

“Maybe, but I dunno. This place just isn’t the kind of place I’d go to. I can get behind the amusement park, but a gym? A yoga place?” Hannah pointed at the respective buildings, which looked the same save for the signs of different colors. “Well, that thing there looks like brothel,” she pointed at a building slightly larger than the average. It had no windows and the door was made of thick wood, and it had a guard on the front, next to a sign depicting nothing but the silhouette of a woman, “so maybe there should be more men, but who knows if all the ladies in there are ugly or something,” she crossed her arms. “It’s just bugging me.”

“You get bugged at the stupidest things sometimes. We’ll see how full it is on the day of the play, I’m always up for some Romeo and Juliet. Now, how do we proceed?” Barbara poked her again. Hannah sighed, slapping her hand off.

“Ok, let’s see. How about we find some other nice little place to eat between the streets of Shopping Town?” Hannah suggested, “Or maybe we could make a picnic…”

“Ah, that’s a great idea, Diana loves picnics!” Barbara nodded energetically.

“Oh, I do love me some picnics from time to time, too,” Hannah and Barbara paused at the third voice coming from behind them. Turning, Hannah completely went over the old guy who had spoken and focused all of her attention on the brown-haired, green-eyed young man behind him. Sweet lord he was handsome, with that lean body and perfect face, with that perfectly tailored suit and- “Miss England, you did amazingly out there,” Paul interrupted her admiring of the perfect example of a young male by patting her shoulder. “First place! That was certainly something!” the grey haired man smiled at her.

Despite her best attempts, Hannah couldn’t help but look towards Andrew, who was smiling ever so slightly towards her. “And your companion is miss Parker, I believe,” Paul tended a hand to her, which she accepted. “You’re a system engineer, are you not? I’m sure this experience will give you some ideas for future projects,” he also patted her shoulder as he shook her hand.

“Thank you, sir,” Barbara said, somewhat awkwardly. Hannah was surprised that she wasn’t gawking at Andrew. She was probably too focused on Diana’s celebration, poor girl.

“Were you here to get info on the play?” Andrew asked after his father was done. Hannah could barely form a word, fearful that he would find what she said stupid, but Barbara covered for her.

“Yeah, We were thinking it might be a good way of celebrating Diana’s win, but we don’t really think she’d enjoy it much, since she probably already knows the story” she explained.

“Oh, why, I think I agree. I was extremely disappointed to find out it was Romeo and Juliet. Why that one, when Shakespeare has so many other great works. And why does it have to be Shakespeare, even? It’s been over half a century since he died. We all need to move on sometime…” He seemed to be talking mostly to himself, so Hannah didn’t feel too bad about not really paying attention to him.

“Why, that’s a shame. I am rather interested in seeing it. I find the periods within the _Dragon_ to be painfully boring,” Andrew said.

“Well, we didn’t say _we_ didn’t want to see it,” Hannah instantly stated. She hadn’t even processed her words before saying them. Barbara gave her a look with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“Well, I don’t have a particular interest in it either,” she said, “but maybe you could go together! I doubt anyone else in our group is going to want to see it anyways.”

Hannah gave her a panicked look. Paul was still looking at the infinite, seemingly thinking of something important. Andrew, meanwhile, nodded. “That sounds like a great idea. I am in a horrid lack of friendly faces in this ship, it would certainly do me some good to spend time with someone my age,” he smiled, looking at Hannah. “If she wants to, of course.”

Hannah was almost blinded by the perfectness of the smile. She blushed slightly while trying to smile back, “I- I would love to!” Hannah’s voice came a pitch higher than she wanted, but she didn’t even care.

“Well, that was enough mingling for today. Come on Andrew, you can discuss the details of your date over the phone later,” Paul said, snapping out of his dreaming. Andrew bowed his head to the pair of girls and followed his father.

Hannah exchanged looks with Barbara. They stayed like that until the pair of men disappeared, at which point Hannah just let out an excited scream. “He said date, didn’t he? He said date!”

“His father did,” Barbara said, excitement in her face too, “but he didn’t try to deny it,” she was smiling mischievously. “Hannah, you owe me for this.”

“I’ll give you my life!” Hannah exclaimed. “When did you get so smooth? Where did you learn to be such a good wingman?”

Barbara’s smile widened. “Those are secrets I am not allowed to reveal,” she said.

“Oh my god,” Hannah suddenly had a revelation. “What am I going to wear? I didn’t bring anything worthy of a date with the hottest guy on the ship!” She had a good number of dresses prepared for the couple of parties that would be thrown at different points of the race – the first one notwithstanding – but none of them were good enough.

“We can go shopping,” Barbara said. “I’m sure somewhere in the third deck there’s gotta be a good dress or something.”

“No!” Hannah instantly replied. “A dress would make it look like I’m trying too hard,” she put a hand on her chin, thinking. “I have no idea…”

Barbara stopped her on her tracks, putting a hand in her shoulder, she stared at Hannah with determination. “Don’t panic. Let’s go back to our room, Diana will probably be sleeping. We still have like twenty four hours, we can think of something, maybe she’ll help.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Hannah nodded. Barbara was to her eyes a being of pure light, having come down from the heavens to grant her happiness. She couldn’t help but smile. “I can’t believe you got me a date with Andrew Hanbridge!”

With excitement, they both went, half running, to their room.


	35. Chapter 35

Akko stared directly at the Shiny Rod. Well, as directly as she could, considering it was under a giant blanket.

After the chat she’d had with Diana on the top of that building, she had decided she needed to take things a little more seriously. This meant that, for starters, she needed to better understand the Shiny Rod as a ship. Without waiting, she climbed under the blanket and slipped inside the cockpit. It was dark for a few seconds, but it automatically turned on some green lights.

“Alcor?” Akko asked to the air.

 **Hello, Not-Chariot. What should I do?** The crow with the cross on its front suddenly appeared in front of her, which almost made Akko jump backwards. It never appeared so close. Maybe it did it this time because Akko hadn’t even turned on the broom?

“Ehm, Alcor, can you call me Akko?” It had been bothering her, but for some reason she had never bothered to actually address the issue. The crow took a few seconds to process the order.

**Akko confirmed. Hello, Akko. What should I do?**

Akko nodded. How did the Familiar work, exactly? Akko didn’t know exactly how they worked – Lotte would probably know, but she hadn’t thought of bringing her – but it wasn’t normal for them to react so well to her words, right? Usually you had a certain number of commands that produced different results. There were some AIs that learned on their own, some had even been learning for like a hundred years at this point, and they could even pass Turing tests. Sadly, they weren’t sentient yet, but from what Akko had heard, sentient AIs shouldn’t be more than one or two decades away. On the other hand, supposedly no one had been able to figure out how to teleport, but the Shiny Rod was able to do it, so…

“Alcor, how can I get the password?” Akko asked, recalling the time she had actually tried to ask questions.

 **The password is on the mouth of the pilot,** Alcor replied quickly. Akko stared at it for a while, expecting the AI to say something else. Nothing came.

“What the hell does that mean? It’s in my mouth?” Akko was extremely confused. “Can you make a mirror?”

One of the sides of the cockpit suddenly opened, and a mirror the size of Akko’s head suddenly floated until it was in front of her. Akko opened her mouth, trying to look into it. Inside there were teeth, a tongue, and that little punching-bag thingy she could never remember the name of. She studied her mouth, wondering if maybe she would have the password written under her tongue or something.

She found nothing.

“This isn’t helping,” Akko sighed. “Well, whatever, if I can’t know how you work I’ll just learn to handle it. Ok, let’s see. Uhm… Alcor, do you have a panel with like a thousand buttons like normal brooms?”

 **Standard controls activated,** the bird replied.

Suddenly, the entire front of the cockpit, which before had looked kind of like an empty counter, turned and shifted, becoming a control panel akin to the ones used in normal brooms. Akko instantly felt sick. But no. No, she needed to learn to use this. She may only have experience with videogames, but she did know that leaving things in automatic usually was a hindrance at high levels. You needed to learn exactly when to do things in a way automatic couldn’t. Maybe, if she had paid more attention, she may have realized about the optimal way of turning before. She may have been able to win the race.

She would learn exactly how the Shiny Rod worked in the next few days, even if it killed her.

“Alcor, can you give me a tutorial?”

**Simulation activated.**

Suddenly, the cockpit windshield went from the dark brown it had been due to the cloth covering it to a beautiful green, that slowly but surely became an infinite plain. Akko instantly got flashbacks to the first simulation she had been in, getting nervous.

The nervousness was blown away by a thought a few seconds later. _The Shiny Rod has a simulator? Does this mean…?_

No. The past was in the past. She couldn’t have used it to practice for the race if she didn’t even know it existed. Wondering about what might have happened wouldn’t help. “Let’s do this.”

A button started to glow. It was on her right, and it was relatively large in comparison to the others. Akko looked at it, wondering if she should press it, but a mini Alcor popped up in above it. **This is the engine start button,** it said. Akko nodded. She had guessed it. **Press it. In simulation mode, actions will not affect the real ship.**

Akko did as asked, and she was surprised when she actually felt the engine turning on. This was more like a simulation than she had assumed. Alcor moved on to another button. This one formed part of a small rectangle made up of six buttons in two rows. It had chosen the upper left one, to the right of the start button. **These buttons control the stabilizers of the Shiny Rod. If one of them ever gets damaged, you will be able to turn their power up or down according to needs.**

Akko nodded, though she didn’t quite get what that meant, but surely she’d be able to learn about it as the tutorial continued. Alcor moved on to the next button… And repeated the exact same thing.

Maybe he wasn’t as sentient as Akko had guessed it to be.

 

A couple of hours and a lot of little exercises later, Akko was tired. She had gotten a thorough tour of what every button, lever and knob did. She had only retained a fraction of it all, but she had gotten a much better idea of how the Shiny Rod worked. However, one particular thing she had wanted to learn wasn’t mentioned. “Alcor, how do I activate the Rod’s transformations?”

 **Unknown command,** the familiar answered. Akko crossed her arms.

“Shiny Arc. How do I do the Shiny Arc?”

**Unknown command.**

This was obviously getting her nowhere. Maybe all of those things were behind the password or something. “Alcor, how far can we teleport?” Akko asked, recalling her conversation with Diana the day prior. This also borught back memories of what she had been eating. Akko almost puked at the memory. Damn that thing had looked gross. Diana had offered her to taste it but Akko had vehemently refused. Sucy had tasted it and said it wasn’t bad, and Lotte had refused at first before eventually trying it out. She had liked it too.

Akko didn’t dare put that thing into her mouth. Her teammates and Diana were just crazy.

 **The teleportation limit is _unknown_ ,** Alcor said. The last word had sounded a little different than normal, as if it had been forced there.

That answer didn’t help. Well, she guessed she could go with the original plan of trying it out on the next planet.

However, it gave her an idea. The next planet, as fara s she knew, they wouldn’t be spending much time in there, and that meant she wouldn’t be able to get much practice. Could she maybe…?

“Alcor,” Akko hesitated. If this worked, would that be cheating? It couldn’t be _that_ much of a secret, astronomers could probably tell where they were going by trajectories and stuff, right? “Can you tell me where we’re headed?”

Alcor didn’t reply, but he disappeared from sight, probably calculating. Akko wondered if he would be able to tell, since they weren’t moving themselves. Would it maybe think that they weren’t moving because of being in the hangar?

Her question was answered when a sphere of light appeared in front of her. The sphere rapidly turned into a ship. A tridimensional blueprint of the _Dragon,_ which every second grew smaller and smaller. Akko cocked her head, was that some kind of mistake? But no. Soon enough, something else appeared on the sphere of light, far from the dot that represented the world-hopper. An asteroid? And many more. And then a planet, or was that a moon? Or how were the planets like Pluto called, that weren’t really planets but whatever?

All things soon started moving at great speeds, save for the ship, that by now was but a dot of light in the middle of a massive blur of different things. It was a map, a real-time map that showed Akko the space they were traversing.

After a while, the dot in the center that represented the _Dragon_ disappeared to the side, and the things that before were a blur now became lines, zipping from one side of the tridimensional map to the other. And not long after, the entire thing stopped. The center of the map now had another point, though at this scale it was impossible to know what it was. As it closed in, Akko quickly realized it was a planet. Whatever their next destination was, probably.

It closed in even further, until the planet was plenty visible. Akko was surprised to find that she actually recognized it, once the perspective was close enough. “Hey, that’s Pan, isn’t it?” she asked to the AI.

 **Our destination is: Pan, the wild planet,** Alcor confirmed her suspicion. Pan was a planet two and half times as big as earth, and it was, essentially, one giant jungle. Sure, it was different types of jungle, but Akko recognized the fact that there were no oceans in the planet, or at least not obvious ones. All the water was separated in smaller bodies of water spread relatively evenly across the entire surface. All the land was connected, there were no continents, like on earth. She wished it had color. She had read that plant life in Pan wasn’t that different from earth’s, but that it was just darker, since their sun was further away and they needed that color to absorb more of the light.

Akko had been interested in the Plants for a while because of a friendly race Chariot had run during the middle of the IPR. The plants hadn’t been a part of it, but one of their pilots from the time had decided to watch it, and when they met, they had agreed to see who was better. Chariot won by a mile, but Akko had grown interested. However, that was as far as her knowledge of Pan went. She didn’t know why it had sentient plants or even if they had houses or if they lived in trees or what. Though living in trees might be a little creepy for them. It would be like if humans slept on houses made of flesh.

Akko paused. She had a déjà vu. Something about what she had just thought felt horribly familiar, but she couldn’t recall why. Whatever.

“So we’re going to Pan, huh…” Akko closed her eyes. “Alcor, can you create a simulation on Pan?”

**Simulation starting.**

Akko saw the endless grass field change and blur as it reformed. The green darkened, the horizon got cut off by trees, and all of a sudden Akko was in a world of shadows. She looked up, and saw the canopy of leaves above her, the massive trees and other wild life of Pan surrounding her. No plant was brighter than forest green, despite this being quite obviously a jungle. Akko wouldn’t have been able to name any of the plants here, because she just didn’t know any. Some Were similar to earth’s, like a plant like seemed to be made of lilypads interconnected with each other that grew on the side of a massive tree. The trunks on the trees were a normal brown, which Akko found surprisingly disappointing, after coming from planets like Sídhe and Machina were plant life was so different.

 _I could do this,_ she realized. _Alcor probably knows the normal routes or areas for race tracks on the planet. I could get four days of practice extra than everyone else._

She gulped. The Shiny Rod was even more impressive than she had anticipated.  

She took the Key-wand out of the small hole next to the seat and shut the entire ship off. She was somewhat agitated, and it wasn’t because of the training. She started bouncing her leg as she allowed her fist to support her face, with her elbow on the armrest of the seat.

Akko decided she needed to discuss this with someone.

 

Ursula was tired. She had spent all day previously giving a report to the higher ups on Earth and she had slept horribly. She didn’t even know why she had, she just had. It was right as she had finally managed to get some restful sleep that someone banged at her door, and not for the first time, she cursed being the responsible adult of a group of nine teenagers.

With a grunt, she opened the door, look of hate in her eyes directed towards she who had dared interrupt her sleep. Akko looked at her, shuffling in place nervously. Ursula instantly got rid of her angry look, noticing that Akko was troubled.

“Akko?” She said, voice sloppy. “Come on in. Give me a couple minutes to…”

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry, you can just continue sleeping,” she said, turning.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t actually sleeping,” she lied. “Come on.”

Akko accepted the offer, walking inside as Ursula entered the bathroom and washed her face. She could barely think straight, but Akko was her student and arguably the most important passenger of this ship. And, well, Ursula liked her. Not because she was still fond of Chariot or anything.

“Ok,” she said when she came out of the bathroom, still on her pajamas. “What happened?” Her voice was still tired, but at least she didn’t sound like a zombie anymore.

Akko took a deep breath and, in a quick short story, explained how she came to find out that the Shiny Rod had a simulator she could use for what she called ‘maybe cheating’. Ursula listened patiently on the outside, but she was half jumping in excitement on the inside. Akko finding the simulator meant she would have way more practice. Assuming she was able to convince her it wasn’t cheating. So…

“Tell me,” Ursula said after a moment thinking, “would you say the daemons are cheating for having copied the Shiny Rod?”

Akko didn’t seem to understand the purpose of the question. “I guess not,” she answered anyways, “they’re just trying to copy the best ship on the universe, it’s natural,” the proud voice with which she said that made Ursula falter a little. It was always hard to deal with someone who still held her past self in such high regard.

“And would you say it’s cheating that they got to practice a lot more with the ship than you? Because it’s obvious the Noir Rod has been active for some time now, and that Horn is experienced piloting it.”

“Well, no, that’s stupid.”

“Would you say that the other pilots are cheaters for getting many years of practice, probably in simulations of all the potential planets for this Inter-Planetary Race?”

Akko’s face changed. Ursula smiled on the inside. “Of course not,” Akko said, voice a little distant. She had probably already figured out where this conversation was going.

“Then tell me, what’s wrong with getting a few days of extra practice on a terrain you’re completely unfamiliar with?”

Akko suddenly stood, having made a decision. “Thank you, miss Ursula. I’m going to go fetch Amanda so that we can practice together,” Akko said, striding towards the door. She paused as it opened and looked back. “I’ll invite you to dinner later!” she said before closing the door.

Ursula chuckled. “But meals are free here,” she said to herself. Well, it didn’t matter. It was time to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Did you know that as of right now this thing is longer than the first two books of Harry Potter combined? I didn't until someone pointed it out to me. I basically wrote something of the lenght of Harry Potter in barely over two months. This does wonders for my self esteem.  
> Anyways, don't forget to leave a comment and all.


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is up everyone? Welcome to the next batch of chapters.  
> Nothing else this time. Hope you enjoy- HA! Not gonna happen. I broke 200k words, my god, I want to ~~die~~ celebrate! Also, curiously enough, I broke the mark in the same chapter that was going to be the last of this batch. I like how the planets align.  
> Now, for real, enjoy.

Amanda’s first surprise was that there were announcements for a play all over the ship. Like, when she had gone to sleep the day prior she was certain the walls of Gold Deck were _not_ plastered with so many posters. She knew low ranked passengers could pay a fee to stay on the upper tiers some time, but this seemed like a cheap way to make money. Plus, wasn’t there a cinema on Platinum Deck? She was sure of it. Why the hell were people paying attention to a play?

Amanda’s second surprise was that the poster for the play had, in fact, two lead actresses. It wasn’t an all female cast, like she had assumed at a first look. Some of the secondary characters in the poster were male. Well, not some, everyone, from the cool cousin guy to the asshole cousin guy. Yet, the two main roles, Romeo and Juliet were women. And, even more surprising was that the one playing as Romeo was not a tomboy. She had long dark hair, big boobs and was, overall, very feminine.

This caught her interest. Constanze pulled on her shirt to get her moving as she stopped to stare at another poster, this one different from the others and with a better angle of the main actresses. The thing was still called Romeo and Juliet, but Amanda was sure they’d change the name of Romeo. Romea? Nah, that was stupid.

Constanze pulled again, and Amanda sighed. Homosexual recreations of love stories weren’t unheard of, and in all honesty, they were usually bad, because writers, directors or whatever only cared about changing the characters and not taking the time to ponder over what kind of impact that could have on the story. Particularly in those set on the far past, where being a man or a woman definitely had an effect on how those around you perceived you.

Yet, she had never seen a Romeo and Juliet on this particular style. It was strange, in truth. Sure, it was arguably the most famous written work on existence, save for religious texts, so reworking it would place a lot of expectations on you, but one would think someone would have dared to do it before… Well, maybe they had, who would know.

According to the posters, the play would start in little more than an hour.

Constanze kept tugging on her shirt, and Amanda looked at her in annoyance. “Chill the fuck out, Cons, I’m a little busy,” she said, trying to shift the position of her hands so that the heavy bags she was carrying wouldn’t completely cut off the circulation on her fingers.

The short girl grunted. She had been building something, though Amanda wasn’t sure what, and she’d almost panicked when she had run out of pieces, so Amanda and Jasminka had gone with her to buy some. Who puts a scrap shop in the middle of a space-cruiser anyways?

She saw yet another different poster for the play, this one showing the two main girls about to kiss. The girl playing Juliette was a brunette of dark eyes that looked like someone who had been born to play the part. Amanda knew that from that point onwards, whenever she thought about Juliette she’d think about that particular actress. Unless her acting was shit, which may have been possible.

Another tug on her shirt.

“Constanze if you pull on my shirt again I’m going to take it off and walk around with only my top on. I’m serious,” Amanda threatened. Constanze shrugged. Yeah, of course such a thing wouldn’t bother her. “Jasminka, wouldn’t you be embarrassed by it?”

Jasminka shrugged too. She was carrying bags too, so she also wanted to go fast and drop them on the room so that she could go eat. Amanda sighed, deciding that it was futile to argue with her teammates. It took them about fifteen minutes to go back to the room, five or more of those spent on waiting for the elevator. Amanda would have liked to take the stairs, but this time their room was a few levels upwards, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to carry such heavy bags while climbing them. She was athletic, but she didn’t consider herself particularly strong. Jasminka was strong, despite her chubbiness, so she carried the bags without much effort, which made Amanda wonder where she had gotten that strength.

When they finally dropped the bags in their room, Amanda made the decision that she was going to watch the play. At least for a while, she was not fond of theater. But, well, she had never actually been to a play, school plays not counting.

She exited the room. She knew the story of Romeo and Juliet, but she had never actually read it completely. She had only copied essays from the internet and had a basic understanding of the characters and plot points, and in her opinion, the story was rather silly. Particularly the end. Who kills themselves after spending like less than a week in love?

Well, she wasn’t a teacher or an avid reader or anything. Surely there was some hidden meaning to the story she just didn’t give a flying fuck about. Or maybe that’s what everyone thought and Shakespeare was actually just a guy who had tried to warn everyone about the dangers of infatuation.

Why was she thinking about a guy who had died so long ago? Spending time with Hannah and Diana was affecting her. She needed to…

The door to the Blue Team’s room opened, and someone was pushed out of it. ‘Someone,’ because Amanda couldn’t recognize the girl she was looking at.

The girl had to be Hannah, the color of the hair was unmistakable, but… _Wow,_ was all she could think while looking at her.

Hannah’s attire was, in truth, not very complicated. But it just suited her. She wore a skirt that went just under her knees and a halter-neck shirt that hung a little loose on the downside. Both things were of the same light yellow, and blended almost perfectly, making it look like a one-piece dress from far away. She had let her hair down, but she removed the hair from her front with an amethyst barrette. She wore white sandals with platforms, which made her slightly taller, and she wore slight but noticeable makeup. Amanda didn’t know exactly what she had done to her face, but it just looked… cleaner. Whatever was going on, Hannah was nervous, for she struggled and whispered to Barbara to let her in the room again.

 _She’s pretty,_ Amanda noticed. She had long ago realized she liked girls, and she’d had her flings here and there, but she’d never had something serious. Yet she had never seen Hannah like she was seeing her now. She was attractive. There was no other way to put it. She also wore perfume, which she could smell even from this distance. It smelled nice.

Had her heart just skipped a beat?

Amanda walked closer to the pair, and Hannah finally noticed, standing upright and looking at her with a slightly suspicious expression. “Hey,” Amanda raised a hand, “what’re you fighting for?” she asked.

“Hannah has a date, but if she spends more time in front of the mirror she’s never going to get there in time.”

“I still have like half an hour!” Hannah complained, throwing looks of ‘seriously?’ at Barbara. She was obviously not happy that Barbara had confessed the nature of her attire to Amanda.

“Arriving early is key!” Barbara was blocking the door, not giving in to her friend’s demands.

“A date? What?” Amanda frowned. “Who the hell would you find to date in the middle of space?” she hadn’t really thought of why Hannah would be dressing as she was, but it made sense, in hindsight. She hadn’t dressed so well before, even for the party. Sure, she had dressed elegantly, but this was obviously on a whole new level.

“Well, we happen to have the most handsome man on earth on the _Dragon,”_ Hannah said with a smirk, and Amanda instantly understood who she was referring to. “Andrew Hanbridge,” she claimed with satisfaction.

“Holy fuck, male Diana actually accepted a date with you? He must be desperate,” Amanda replied. Hannah narrowed her eyes. “Ok, ok, I’m just joking,” Amanda chuckled. “Still, how the hell did you manage it? You were barely able to look at him on the restaurant the other day.”

“Well, when I want I can-”

“I got it for her, all she had to do was smile and nod,” Barbara cut her off, making Hannah to choke mid-sentence and cough.

“Hey!” Hannah shoved her, annoyed. Barbara shrugged. Looking Hannah so on edge made Amanda smile. “What’s with the smile?”

“Nothing,” Amanda shrugged. “Welp, luck with your date and all,” she said, waving and walking away. For a second, she imagined what would it be like to date Hannah. It was a pleasant fantasy for about two seconds, before she started imagining infinite shopping trips, lots of dinners in expensive restaurants and parties for boring old people.

As she walked down the metallic corridor she heard steps behind her. She turned and found Hannah following her. She raised an eyebrow.

“What? That’s the direction of the elevators, don’t give me that look,” Hannah said with a flat look. Amanda shrugged, slowing down so that the girl could catch up to her.

“You’re pretty nervous, huh?” Amanda asked, failing to contain her urge to look at her. She was just so perfectly dressed. It may not be true love, but if she had seen _this_ Hannah without knowing her she would have definitely tried to get into her pants. Or panties, since she wasn’t wearing pants. But actually knowing the girl made it a little harder to get into that mindset.

“Well, of course,” Hannah explained. “Haven’t you ever been on dates?”

Amanda hummed to herself. “I guess a couple times,” she confessed. “Though they were only excuses.”

“Excuses for what?” Hannah asked. Amanda didn’t reply, waiting for her to realize it on her own. “Wait, you mean you only went on dates to-”

“Yeah,” Amanda shrugged. “I don’t really get the whole nervousness for dates thing. I mean, if you want this guy to bed you just take him to your room,” she said. The idea of Hannah doing this bothered her though.

“That’s not what I want!” Hannah punched her. It actually hurt, but Amanda didn’t flinch. “Jeez, this is why you’ll never actually get a partner,” she scoffed. Amanda didn’t think she was wrong, but on the other hand, she had never wanted a partner in the first place.

“Then what’s the purpose of the date?”

“Well, to get to know him better, and to maybe develop things further, and-”

“And end up in bed?”

“Not everything is about sex!” Hannah cried, instantly covering her mouth with her hand and looking around, embarrassed. “Seriously, you can like someone without wanting to fuck them,” Hannah explained. Amanda failed to understand the concept, but she shrugged. It wasn’t that important, she was just mesing with the auburn haired girl.

“Still, why so nervous? It’s a date, no big deal.”

Hannah sighed. “Because, what if I say or do something stupid? What if he dislikes me because of that?” She explained. Amanda was about to make fun of her for even having such simple insecurities, but she reconsidered. It didn’t seem like the kind of taunt that would be ok to do, not with the girl looking on the verge of collapsing.

“Well, if he dislikes you because of something like that, then maybe he’s an asshole. Just saying,” Amanda shrugged. “Don’t think so hard about it.”

“Oh, great, I never thought about that. What a great idea, I’ll just turn my brain off,” Hannah said sarcastically.

“I’m just saying, if you worry so much about that, you’ll end up perceiving any stupidity as a fuckup,” Amanda replied with some annoyance. “Though if you want to measure your every word then be my guest, who am I to tell you not to.”

They reached the elevator, and while waiting, Hannah didn’t say anything. Once they were inside, however, Hannah stopped her finger in front of the button panels. “That was actually some sensible advice. I can’t believe it,” she said, “Where are you going?”

“Fourth deck,” Amanda replied. In the enclosed, small space of the elevator, the perfume the girl was wearing was a little overpowering.

“Wait, you’re going to Platinum Deck? Why?” Hannah turned with a suspicious look.

“Because there’s a play and I want to check it out,” Amanda replied. Hannah didn’t press the button, instead looking at her with even more mistrust. “Wait, that’s where you’re having your date, aren’t you. Are you seriously going to watch Romeo and Juliet on your first date?” She chuckled. “Talk about cheesy!”

“Oh shut up,” Hannah pressed the button. “The play was the only reason I had the chance at a date anyways…” Thinking about the date in question made her all giddy again. “Oh, I wonder what’s he going to wear.”

“Probably a suit. Looks like the kind of guy who wears them.”

“I know! He’s so handsome…”

Amanda rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help looking at Hannah from time to time. She really was dressed beautifully. Amanda would never wear something so stylish, but she knew the basics of fashion. The rest of the trip up was made in silence.

Once they arrived at Platinum Deck, they were met with a crowd. “God,” Hannah said, “this is nuts.”

“Yeah. Didn’t think so many people would want to watch such an old play,” Amanda agreed.

“Why do _you_ want to see it, anyways?” Hannah asked as they exited the elevator and slowly made their way around the deck. It was _packed,_ to the point where Amanda had to wonder if anyone had anticipated such attendance for the play.

“The lead actress is hot,” Amanda admitted. Hannah raised an eyebrow. “What? She is.”

“Well, I don’t swing that way, but if you say so,” Hannah shrugged. “Still, watching a play just because someone is hot?”

“Yeah,” Amanda nodded, “it’s not that different from crushing on someone just because they’re hot, like you with Andrew,” she explained. Hannah snorted with a laugh, shaking her head.

“Please, I like Andrew for more reasons than being hot. He’s also polite, stylish, rich and a gentleman,” Hannah replied with annoyance.

“Fairly certain that being polite and a gentleman are technically the same thing, but anyways, my point is that there’s nothing wrong with my reasons. At least I’m watching the play for something that is relatively relevant to it, unlike you and your date,” Amanda waited for Hannah’s retort, but none came. She turned, noticing that Hannah had stopped by a small set of bushes in the middle of the crowds. The plants were in front of what looked like a small internet café. Those things only existed for nostalgia purposes, not unlike arcades.

 “You arranged to meet here?” Amanda asked. Hannah jumped, exalted, as if Amanda had come out of nowhere. “Relax, girl.”

“Sorry, It’s just… Yeah, we arranged to meet here, but it’s still early.” She was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, obviously nervous. Amanda didn’t get why she would be so damn nervous, it was just a date. But, well, everyone had their own motives to be anxious, she supposed.

“Want me to wait with you? Lot of people here,” Amanda offered.

“Would you do that?” Hannah’s voice and look showed nothing but disbelief. What Amanda had offered was pretty outrageous. Offering to spend time willingly with Hannah? Yeah, now that she thought about it, she could probably have made a better choice. But, well, the offer had been made and she had no real excuse to back down.

“I mean, if it’s just a couple minutes, I guess we are still on the same team and all,” Amanda sat next to Hannah on the small fence surrounding the bush. “I mean, Earth’s team, not, you know, Luna Nova teams and-”

“Yeah, I get it,” Hannah sighed. They remained in silence for a while. A long while. They didn’t have many conversation topics, but all in all, it was probably the nicest while they had spent together since knowing each other.

People passed in front of them, all in the direction of the central stage. Amanda was surprised by the fact that chairs had been set all around the circular stage, not only on one side. Wouldn’t the props of the show annoy some of the spectators? Not to mention that one of the rules of theater was to never fully face away for the audience – unless it’s required –, which would be impossible this way.

Amanda was surprised to even see kids. Did kids enjoy theater? She sure wouldn’t have, probably. And, given their faces, these kids didn’t seem fond of what was to come either. It was still surprising that so many people had come to see Romeo and Juliet gay edition, though.

“Has anyone before done this thing about turning Romeo and Juliet into an homo couple?” Amanda asked to Hannah.

“Dunno,” Hannah said, “probably.”

Well, not the answer she expected, but Hannah was obviously focused on her own thing and wasn’t paying attention. Amanda looked behind them. The internet café was full of people, though they probably didn’t have real internet. They would probably be playing retro VR games or something.

“You can go get a seat before they’re all taken,” Hannah said. “Andrew’s probably about to appear.”

Amanda swept the zone between the elevator and them with a look, but she caught no sight of the dude with the perfect hair anywhere. Wait, that young dude… Nah, his hair was actually cool looking, couldn’t be Andrew.

“Eh, it’s fine. I could probably get close and sit in the floor anyways, I don’t mind,” Amanda said. Hannah didn’t reply, though she was starting to look around, growing impatient.

“I should’ve picked another getup,” Hannah said in a panicked voice all of a sudden, looking down. “This is why I wanted to look at myself in the mirror some more, the skirt is too long, it should be above the knees for-”

“You look great,” Amanda replied. Hannah paused, narrowing her eyes. “I’m being serious. It suits you. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot of people have been looking at you as they pass,” Amanda pointed at one particular guy who had been looking at her for a while now. He blushed at being noticed and disappeared into the crowd. There had been some people who had stopped for a second after catching a whiff of the perfume, judging by the fact that they had been sniffing around, but Amanda preferred not to mention that.

“Well, I guess you’re not the best person to ask to anyways,” Hannah sighed, looking away, apparently convinced Amanda was joking.

“Fine, if you don’t believe me when I tell you that you look gorgeous I sure hope you at least believe it when that guy tells you,” Amanda pointed forward, and Hannah followed the finger. She sat upright instantly, smiling nervously. The tips of her hair curled ever so slightly, Amanda noticed. Was that natural? It didn’t look like it. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to find a seat.”

Hannah wasn’t paying more attention to her, which she found surprisingly annoying, but she didn’t care that much. With a sigh, Amanda looked at the stage, tried to determine which would be the best angle to get an upskirt of the lead actress – wait, she was wearing pants, what a shame.

As she walked away, she looked back one last time, and was surprised to see Hannah looking at her. She said something she couldn’t hear, but Amanda could have sworn it was a ‘thank you’.

 

“Thank you,” Hannah said softly at the retreating Amanda. She had been… _nice._ Hannah was so surprised by this that for a second she forgot she was about to meet up with _the_ Andrew Hanbridge.

Andrew was coming close, and he waved at her with a perfect smile. He was wearing a suit, as always, but he looked particularly sharp today. His suits always fit him, but this one – matte black - accentuated his from to an absurd degree. He looked taller and stronger than normal. It had also long coat-tails that reached down to his knees, with throusers of the same color and jet-black shoes. All of the buttons on his coat were silver. He even wore cufflinks for his white shirt, a couple of golden circles with something written on them that she couldn’t quite make out.

When he got close enough, Hannah panicked. She had died, went to heaven and met an angel. This was not, this _could_ not be reality. “H-hello!” she stuttered while extending a hand.

Andrew took the hand, but instead of shaking it, he bowed and kissed its back. “Good evening, Miss England,” he said in his smooth voice. His green eyes focused on hers, and his confident smile made Hannah want to cry. “Should we get going?”

“Y-yes,” Hannah said, fairly certain she was blushing. They moved on, side by side. Hannah wondered if it would be ok to grab his hand or his arm. Would that be going too fast? They didn’t know much about each other. Oh, she was so excited she could barely think.

“Do you normally enjoy theater, Miss England?” Andrew asked as they walked through the crowd. He seemed to know where they were going, so Hannah just followed.

“Please, just call me Hannah,” Hannah said softly. “I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been to some plays but it’s not something I normally do,” she confessed.

“Honestly, I’m the same,” Andrew said. “Theater can be fine, but at this point it’s just an outdated form of watching movies. And movies are just an outdated form of VR movies,” he explained. “But, I suppose adding a new spin to a story can make a play worth it.”

Hannah nodded, though she wasn’t sure she agreed. Sure, she wasn’t a fan of theater, but just because newer forms of media existed it didn’t have to mean older ones were outdated. Paintings didn’t disappear once digital drawing appeared, Imagination Drawing didn’t make classical drawing outdated, and so on. But it was a silly discussion, so she didn’t bring it up.

The crowd grew thicker as they approached the ring of chairs, and there was a small fence – actual fence, tall and metallic, almost like a barricade in fact – around the stage. Most seats had been taken.

All segments of the fence had a small door, though most remained closed and read ‘staff only.’ This didn’t stop Andrew from walking to one of them. The guard on the other side of it looked at him, then at Hannah, and didn’t even question them as he opened the door. “Enjoy the play,” he said as he let them pass, and Hannah puffed out her chest in satisfaction as she realized they had been let in because they were recognized.

There were some complains from the normal passengers, but Hannah didn’t pay them mind as she walked down the rows of seats. Again, Andrew seemed to know where he was taking them, and only then did Hannah notice a line of unoccupied seats right besides the stage. It soon became obvious those were seats reserved for some of the most important people on the ship, including the racing team and – obviously – the head of Earth’s race committee and his son.

It was only after they sat down in the relatively comfortable chairs – all the chairs around the stage were the same, no distinction made for those considered important besides the reserved places - that Hannah noticed Amanda was just a couple seats away. She had been a little too focused on looking at Andrew. Amanda noticed Hannah and winked at her with a smile. This was kind of uncomfortable, but the wink seemed to say ‘don’t mind me.’

“Lots of people, I must say I’m impressed,” Andrew commented, looking around.

“Yeah,” Hannah replied, not sure of what else to say. She started to get a little anxious trying to come up with some topic of conversation. “Uhm… And how’s your studies?”

Andrew let out a light sigh. “I haven’t been making much progress. A few of my teachers have accompanied us on this trip, but my father is insistent on that I should accompany him to most of his meetings, so I can only get a few hours of tutoring at best each day,” he explained. “Honestly, talking to clouds of smoke and giant jellyfishes can get old real fast.”

Hannah chuckled a little nervously, not sure if what he had said was a joke or not. “Sounds tough,” she commented.

“It’s not as hard as everyone assumes, but you do need to pay close attention. You would not want to be the one responsible of your planet ending up in the bottom of the scale for the next ten years,” he explained. Hannah cocked her head, what was he talking about? Sure, the IPR Committee had political power, but what did it mean to be in the ‘bottom of the scale’?

That seemed a little too personal to ask, at least right now. Maybe in the future Hannah would be close enough to him to ask about that. _I’m already thinking about future dates,_ she realized with a blush.

They remained in a silence that Hannah considered awkward. What should she do to break the silence? Keep asking him about stuff? Oh, the play, of course! “Are you a fan of Romeo and Juliet?” she asked.

Andrew shrugged. “It’s fine. Not my favorite work, even among Shakespeare’s, but I understand why it’s such a classic,” he explained, making Hannah feel a little better. He was obviously well read, which only made him more desirable in Hannah’s mind. He was smart, rich, hot, a gentleman… Sweet lord, Andrew was maybe quite literally an angel.

Suddenly, the lights of the entire deck dimmed. “Ah, this means the play is about to start, right?” Hannah asked.

“I believe that’s the case,” Andrew confirmed. “It should be no more than five minutes now.”

Silence reigned again as Hannah patiently waited for the play to start. The two main roles were going to be played by women and, apparently, it would have an effect on the plot, or so the ‘new interpretation of the timeless classic’ slogan in the poster said. Hannah was curious. Even if nowadays homosexuality and LGBT related topics were relatively normalized in most of the world, a lot of people seemed to forget the past was not like that. How would they explain a lesbian romance on a past where such a thing would be frowned upon? Of course, it wasn’t anything new, but Hannah was not particularly knowledgeable in the field of novels or stories in general.

Then, the lights dimmed even further, save for the ones pointing at the stage. The prologue of the play started, and the stage suddenly changed, holographic props appearing out of nowhere. Plays that used holographic props weren’t new, but Hannah instantly noticed something curious: She could see through them, and not because they didn’t get enough light. If she focused her eyes too long on something on the stage, it changed and shifted, appearing and disappearing along with the focus of her eyes.

“My, this is remarkable,” Andrew whispered, and Hannah had to agree.

Then, the first actors appeared on the stage, lifted by a mechanism from underneath, and the play in proper began.

 

“Well, that was an enjoyable experience,” Andrew commented as the crowd made a round of applause for the actors as they bowed. The actress for Juliet still had the red stain of fake blood on her dress from the stabbing scene, and as the crowd’s noise died down, those bowing slowly disappeared from view, being lowered into the stage. At no point had anyone decided to sit between Hannah and Amanda, and Hannah was kind of surprised to see Amanda had remained for the entirety of the play, opposite to what one might expect from her.

In truth, not much had happened during the play, besides Hannah getting constantly distracted while looking at Andrew.

“Yeah,” Hannah nodded, “I particularly liked-”

Suddenly, Andrew raised a hand in front of her, basically telling her to stop talking, and then brought the other one to his ear, where he was wearing a small ear-phone. “Yes. Yes, just now. It was fine, I guess. What? Now? No, I’m not complaining, it’s just… Ok, I’ll be there, father.”

Andrew sighed, bringing a finger up to his temple and applying pressure to it. “Is everything fine?” Hannah asked, stealthily placing a hand on his arm. He didn’t react to this.

“Yes. Remember what I told you earlier? My father has a meeting in fifteen minutes and he wants me there,” he said with cold acceptance. Hannah could understand that tone. Diana had used it often, particularly during busy months of the school year.

“Oh, that’s a shame,” Hannah said with disappointment.

Andrew turned to smile at her. “Still, it was a nice time. Thank you for accompanying me, Miss England,” he rose, taking Hannah’s hand again and kissing its back. Hannah thanked being on a chair, because she was fairly certain she had lost the strength of her legs.

“Oh, no, thank you!” Hannah said, feeling the blush climb up her cheeks. “Hope we can do this again!”

She instantly slapped herself, at least mentally, for saying such a stupid thing. She had sounded desperate. However, Andrew didn’t seem to take it that way. “Yes, that would be lovely. Until next time,” he bowed respectfully and turned, not looking back as he disappeared.

Hannah let out a dreamy sigh. How could one man be so-

“Man, what an ass,” Amanda suddenly dropped in the chair next to Hannah, making her jump. The lights had already turned on. Hannah turned to the redhead with inquiring eyes.

“If by ‘ass’ you mean perfect man, then I may just agree,” she simply said. Amanda just shook her head, shrugging, which bothered Hannah way more than it should. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Amanda stood. “Damn it, I knew I should’ve gone as soon as they started bowing. Now getting outta here will be hell,” she grimaced while looking towards the elevators. There were a bunch of them, but all of them were near the same area. There were some emergency ones, but those were close to infirmaries and if they detected someone on the inside would instantly go to them, which didn’t really help most people, and if you tried to abuse it because you were near one of them you could get a severe fine.

“Don’t ‘nothing’ me, now you say it,” Hannah insisted, rising. Amanda was right, almost everyone was going for the elevators. They would probably spend another hour waiting in line. Hannah was sure Andrew would have access to some staff elevators that she didn’t. Wait, didn’t the members of the team technically count as staff? Well, whatever.

Amanda eyed her. Was she uncomfortable? That was new. “I dunno, arguing with a fangirl isn’t really worth it, I’ve learned,” she explained.

“So you’re just hating on him for hate’s sake?” Hannah asked.

“Maybe I’m ‘hating’ on him because he’s obviously an ass,” Amanda said. Hannah simply stared at her until she grunted and dropped down on the chair next to her. “Ok, you’re going to get mad, but whatever.” Hannah smirked. There was nothing this girl could say that could possibly shift her perception of how perfect Andrew was. “For starters, when you were chatting, it was a completely one sided conversation. Back at the restaurant at least he asked if you were nervous, but this time he just answered and then shut up,” Amanda pointed. Hannah opened her mouth to reply, but Amanda continued. “Shut it, let me finish. Fine, he may have been a little distracted, we all are from time to time, but how many times did he look at you?” Amanda asked.

“What does it matter?” Hannah frowned.

“Because you’re rocking it, girl!” Amanda pointed at her. “I told you look great for a reason! You were constantly looking at him, but how many times did he look at you?”

Hannah paused, thinking. It was true, she had never even once met his eyes after he had greeted her. Not even as he said goodbye. “How do you even know that?” Hannah got on the defensive.

Amanda started. “Because _I_ was constantly looking at you,” she admitted. Hannah slid slightly away from her, giving her a suspicious look. “What did I tell you?”

“That I look great?”

“Yeah. The lead actress ended up being not as hot in person, but, well, you’re quite pretty…” Amanda seemed to be struggling to say that. “Don’t take it the wrong way,” she quickly added. Hannah quickly lost the feeling that Amanda was just trying to mess with her and grew a little self-conscious about the fact that she was being called pretty face to face. “Anyways, did he make any comment on how good you looked?”

“I didn’t make one either,” Hannah said softly.

“Yeah but he wasn’t the one obviously putting way more effort than normal into looking nice. I mean, who goes on a date and doesn’t comment on how your partner looks?” Amanda gestured broadly with her hands.

Hannah paused. The word ‘date’ suddenly sounded wrong. She had used it so much, but… “Maybe it wasn’t a date,” she said in a low voice.

Amanda instantly nailed her eyes on Hannah, look of disbelief apparent. “You can’t be serious.”

“He never actually used the word date,” she confessed. What Amanda had said was kind of right, even if she didn’t like it. Andrew had obviously not seen this as a date, but as simply getting someone to accompany him to watch a stupid play.

“My god,” Amanda laughed, “then maybe he’s not an ass and you’re just an idiot.”

Hannah looked down. She tried really hard to recall a moment where Andrew had looked at her for more than just some direct talk, but even then, she noticed he hadn’t really been looking at _her._ Well, it made sense. He was the kind of guy who probably had his entire life figured out. Hell, he would probably go and marry Diana eventually. Everyone thought so. Even if Diana kind of hated him, they would make such a powerful pairing, it just made sense.

On comparison, Hannah was just a meaner, angrier and uglier version of Diana. Her grades weren’t nearly as good, her family wasn’t nearly as famous, her speech wasn’t as elocuent. She didn’t have a characteristic hair style or color. Andrew must have seen her as quite literally just that: A girl to spend some dead time with.

The more she thought about the last couple of hours, the more she realized just how… Useless they had been. He hadn’t even called her Hannah, in the end. Just Miss England.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Wait, what?” Amanda seemed surprised by her answer. Hannah just rose, not looking at the redhead. “Hey, wait, where are you…?”

Hannah didn’t wait, instead just walking away. What had at first seemed like a good time was now soured. She had never actually imagined she had any chance with Andrew until the previous day, but any glimmer of hope she had possessed were now crushed.

She was so submerged into her own mind that she barely even noticed bumping against the crowd of people in front of the elevator. The amount of people was great, and a lot of them were dressed nicely. Hannah didn’t care. She just walked, slowly making her way forward.

She didn’t even notice when she finally managed to get in the elevator, going up and down a couple times before finally managing to press a button. She felt her mind shrouded in fog. It had been such a crushing realization she could barely process it.

By the time Hannah got to her room an entire hour had passed. Yet, to her, it had seemed like barely an instant.

Barbara said something to her, but Hannah didn’t listen to it. She felt like a child who hadn’t gotten any presents on Christmas. The sheer amount of disappointment she felt was one only a teenage girl with a really strong crush could feel. She wanted to shred her dress to pieces and wear black and maybe even cut her hair.

Instead of any of those stupid things, she settled from removing her makeup in a quick face wash and just going to sleep without changing, even though she wasn’t tired.


	37. Chapter 37

Diana looked at her surroundings, certain she was lost.

She usually didn’t get lost, so this was definitely a weird occurrence. Not that one could ever truly be lost in the _Dragon,_ with all the signs pointing to the elevators and different stairs. She had probably mistaken her stop, but this did bring her to an interesting question: What made her distracted enough to cause the mistake?

Diana didn’t consider herself infallible, but she always analyzed why she failed, whenever she did, and tried to correct it. Most people would technically do the same, in theory, but the practice was much different. Humans are the only animals who trip twice with the same stone, someone had said a long time ago. The fact that she couldn’t remember the name was another proof of her distraction, but the point stood. Of course this wasn’t exactly true, but the message stood clear: Humans usually didn’t learn from their mistakes as well as animals did, because logic and reason were capable of overpowering instincts. And sometimes human logic and reason was flawed and stupid.

The point was, Diana was lost and she was trying to figure out how she had messed up and how she had taken so long to realize it. She had been ever so slightly like this since dinner the previous day. It had been an interesting experience. More enjoyable than she could have imagined, even if it had been slightly brought down by Sucy. But over the years Diana had learnt not to take those kinds of attitude too seriously. Sucy was the kind of person who would likely never change her mind about Diana, but at least she didn’t look for a fight, like Amanda.

It was a while until she realized what had happened. But when she did, she chuckled. She had just ended up in the floor they had been during the previous trip. In fact, she had subconsciously walked until she was just around the corner from where their rooms were.

She turned the corner, just to confirm. Yes, she was right. However, she also found something interesting: Croix Meridies herself, wearing her overly complicated attire and hairstyle, standing patiently in front of the door that used to be the red team’s room.

Curious, Diana got closer to her. “Miss Meridies,” she extended a hand towards the tall woman, who jumped slightly at being called.

“Ah, if it isn’t Diana Cavendish,” Croix took the hand, bowing slightly instead of shaking it. “What brings you here?”

“I just happened to make a mistake out of reflex,” Diana explained, “no different than stumbling over this set of rooms, one could say.”

Croix nodded. “I see. This whole race thing, it’s stressing, isn’t it?” She asked, putting her back against the door fo the room. Diana nodded weakly, not really sure if she should show weakness in front of arguably the most important person in the alliance right now. For the duration of the race, Croix would have an amount of power over the masses most could only dream of. Croix seemed to notice her hesitance. She patted Diana’s shoulder and gave her a comforting smile. “Now, don’t be so tense, I was a pilot just like you, once.”

“I’ve read of your prowess,” Diana admitted. “You had quite the achievements. But then you kind of… disappeared,” she recalled how the records on this promising prodigy had suddenly stopped not long after she left Luna Nova.

“Yes,” Croix nodded, sounding solemn. “Had a little problem with my psyche. Too much stress due to family pressure. Completely collapsed. I managed to cover it from the media, luckily. Pesky little runts, all they look for is for some way or another of ruining your life.”

Diana nodded. She had felt that kind of pressure more than once, though she didn’t think it was bad enough to make her collapse. Croix probably had thought the same, though. “And you didn’t ever go back to piloting?” Diana asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I still pilot from time to time,” Croix admitted, “but I prefer creating brooms rather than piloting them,” she winked an eye, though Diana seemed to be missing the joke.

“Impressive,” Diana said. “I myself have thought of building ships, but I suppose it’s not something I’ve spent much time studying,” she had read a few books on broom engineering, but it had been many years ago. At the time, she was really into it. Then she realized it was just sidetracking her from her real goal.

“A shame,” Croix shook her head. “If your grades are anything to go by, you would probably be the next Einstein.”

Diana gave Croix a flat look. “I think many people during the past century have gotten that title. And I’m not certain building brooms can be compared to basically creating the entire basis for modern physics on your own, if you may excuse my rudeness.”

Croix chuckled, smiling. “My, you’re really a smart one. Well, let’s say you’d be the next… What, Elon Musk?”

Diana rolled her eyes. Instead of continuing with this topic, she opted for tackling something a little more close to the present. “Why are you here, miss Meridies?” Diana asked, noticing Croix had not moved from the front of the door.

“You could say I’m waiting for a friend,” Croix explained. There was a subtlety to her tone Diana didn’t quite get, but she was in no position to pressure this woman for any information. “Speaking of which, what about your friends? Aren’t they waiting for you or something?”

“I happened to go to the Magic Deck when two of my friends were preparing for a date. A date, I must add, I did not approve of, but I did not make my opinion vocal, instead choosing to leave,” she was still slightly offended by the fact that Barbara had actively helped Hannah get a date with Andrew, despite the fact that they both knew just how much she disliked him, “and well, maybe because of the relaxation effect of the spa I ended up way more distracted than usual,” that wasn’t exactly right. The spa had had little to no effect on her. She could _still_ feel the effects of the muscle sphere on her, but explaining that would have taken a little extra effort Diana didn’t really want to spend.

“Your teammates, right? How about Atsuko Kagari?” Croix asked. Diana thought for a second. It wasn’t weird she was asking about arguably the most important passenger on the ship, after all.

“She… I’m not sure,” Diana confessed. “I’m not particularly good at reading Akko.”

Croix closed her eyes, considering something. “Well, if you see her, tell her that she did a great job out there during the race on Machina.”

Diana was a little dumbstruck by this. “Do you really think that?”

“Of course. I know of her background, despite what I said on her presentation. She did far better than I expected,” Croix explained. Diana slapped herself mentally. _Of course she knows. She probably knows of my story as well._ Diana felt stupid.

But it was probably time to go back to her room. “Well, I will make sure she gets the compliment. Thanks for entertaining me, miss Meridies,” Diana extended her hand again.

Croix took it with a smile. “Thanks to you for making this wait a little shorter for me. I’ll be seeing you,” she shook the hand properly this time.

 

Amanda hesitated before knocking on the door. She had taken quite a while to get out of the fourth deck, which was a rather annoying thing considering she wanted to apologize.

No, wait, she didn’t want to _apologize,_ she just wanted to know what had gotten Hannah so… gloomy. Had she really taken her joke that seriously? It was hard to believe. Why would Hannah even pay attention to what she had to say? And why did Amanda care? It’s not like she was friends with her.

But, well, she did feel a little bad. She had destroyed Hannah’s illusion of a date. It hadn’t been her intention. She just wanted to make her see that Andrew was kind of an ass. Apparently, he wasn’t as much an ass as he was just clueless. That kind of made him an ass but not the same kind of ass.

What did ass mean, again?

_Oh fuck it,_ she thought, knocking twice. A few seconds later, the door slid open, and Barbara looked at her with curiosity. “Hello,” she greeted, “what can I help you with?”

Amanda pressed her lips. She had hoped she could talk to Hannah directly. She did _not_ want to deal with trying to explain to anyone else why she was there. “I… Uhm… Is Hannah here?” she said, trying to peek into the room. It was dark.

“She’s sleeping,” Barbara frowned. “And she didn’t really seem to be in the mood to deal with you right now.”

Amanda took a step back, looking at the black haired girl, noticing the strong protective aura she had. Amanda couldn’t blame her for being like that. She would never expect herself to be looking out for Hannah for any reason other than trying to start a fight. And yet here she was, worried about her.

_Worried._ The word had come without any warning, and she doubted if that was what she was really feeling. Why would she be worried about Hannah? It wasn’t like what had happened to her was actually serious. She’d forget about it by the time she woke up.

“Oh, well, I’ll talk to her tomorrow, I guess,” Amanda shrugged, turning around. She paused, turning to say something, but reconsidered and walked to her own room. “See you later.”

Barbara gave her a slightly confused look, but waved her hand as Amanda entered her room. As usual, Constanze was taking up the entirety of the desk. Not having a secret workshop was driving her kind of mad. Jasminka, for a change, wasn’t eating. She was drinking. “Where did you get that?” Amanda instantly asked upon seeing the massive, bucket-sized… smoothie?

Jasminka shrugged. She often did that, and Amanda had a hard time figuring out if she didn’t want to tell or she didn’t know herself. Probably the later, as Jasminka was not one that would keep that kind of information for herself.

The bucket was already halfway empty.

“Want some?” Jasminka raised the thing to her. Amanda shrugged and took a sip. It was banana. Rather good, if she was honest. She hadn’t expected much from a giant smoothie.

Amanda threw away most of her clothes, deciding that she was in the mood to be in underwear. After that, she climbed onto the bunk bed, staring at the ceiling. She wasn’t tired. She had been barely… what, seven to eight hours awake? Not much. But for some reason she didn’t feel up for much else. And, well, with Jasminka and Constanze in the room she couldn’t exactly do what she’d normally do in these situations. That being, of course, masturbating like crazy.

She sighed. A long, heartfelt sigh. It was such a sight that it caught the attention of her teammates. Constanze stopped working, looking up, and Jasminka stopped slurping on her giant smoothie to stand and look at the redhead.

“Are you ok?” She asked in her soft voice, and Constanze grunted, seconding the question. Amanda turned to her.

“I think so,” she admitted. “I’m just… confused.”

She stopped talking. Jasminka drank some more, not pressuring her. Amanda hadn’t known either her or Constanze for longer than a year and a half, but in that time she had come to learn a lot about them, and vice-versa. Jasminka knew she would talk, if she wanted to.

“It’s complicated,” she continued, trying to search for an explanation that wouldn’t be too embarrassing. “What do you do when you accidentally ruin someone’s day?”

“Have you tried apologizing?” Jasminka said. She didn’t even wait to give the answer. It was a natural conclusion. One Amanda had reached, but was maybe a little too proud to admit. Well, it was not like Hannah would apologize if she did something similar, so it was not that big a dea…

_I’m… Sorry._

Amanda had a small flashback to the scene of the skyscraper, cringing hard at her previous set of thoughts. Damn memory, making her remember things in the least fortunate of times. “She’s sleeping, so I can’t,” she said reluctantly. She had a sour expression. She now had her conscience weighing on her with full force. What a horrible moment Hannah had chosen to apologize.

“Well, if you feel bad about it, you should do it,” and with that, Jasminka sat back on her bed and continued happily enjoying her extra jumbo sized drink. Where had she gotten it? Seriously, that thing hadn’t been here before Amanda had left for the play.

The play. It had been fun. The explanation for girl Romeo keeping the name Romeo hadn’t been too crazy – her parents had needed her to act as a man, so she had – but what had completely broken Amanda’s suspension of disbelief was that this Romeo was supposed to be a tomboy, yet the actress had a pair of bongers one could probably bounce off of and a silky, long hair that could never pass as that of a boy.

Plus, as she had said, from up close she wasn’t nearly as hot as the poster had made her look to be. Hannah had really been a more enjoyable treat for the eyes.

Amanda grunted. Great, this was going to be bothering until Hannah woke up, wouldn’t it. Eventually, since no one moved much, the lights turned off. Constanze had her own night-vision goggles, so she didn’t care about the dark.

Amanda had resolved to try to sleep. At least that way the wait would be shorter. She closed her eyes, knowing this would take a long time and work, but-

The door suddenly opened, and someone strode into the room, reactivating the light. “Amanda!”

Amanda looked down with an uninterested expression. Akko was in the middle of the room. She didn’t seem to care much about Amanda being on her underwear. “What?”

“Get dressed, we’ve got practice to do.”

_Great, she’s finally lost it,_ Amanda thought. “Akko, I’m not going to practice with that VR game that’s on the-”

“I’ve got a real simulator! Now come on, get dressed, we can practice _right now!_ We can _win_ the next race!” Akko exclaimed imperatively and with excitement. Amanda looked into her eyes, big red irises showing in full since Akko was partially looking at the light, and saw nothing if not truth in them.

Curious, she decided this would be a welcomed distraction to Hannah’s ordeal anyways, so she accepted the offer, dropping from bed and putting on her clothes.

 

“Do I really need to help?” Amanda asked as Akko crawled her way through the cloth into the cockpit. “I mean, I won’t learn anything. Maybe I can be with you on the cockpit and remember things.”

“No way,” Akko said, “I need to learn about everything the ship can do, and I can’t do that with the turret deactivated. Climb in there and stop complaining,” she grunted as she finally managed to open the windshield and drop into the seat inside. She waited until Amanda got into the turret and, without more delay, put the key-wand into its hole and turned the Shiny Rod on. She pressed the button to activate the turret – she had made sure to memorize where that one was – and waited a few seconds.

Then, as Alcor had indicated was important, she checked the Output Meter. It was a black long battery-looking thing in front of the controls. Alcor had explained to her that the Shiny Rod had an output limit. It wouldn’t run out of fuel, but it couldn’t use all that energy at once. So far, since Amanda had been rather peaceful, not much energy had been spent, apparently, but with a single simulation of about ten minutes of flying Akko had gotten the output to about one fourth of what was accepted, going at high speeds and making daring movements that she would never actually do outside of simulations.

“Alcor, activate the simulator. Set the terrain to a common racing area on Pan.”

Alcor answered, quickly transporting Akko to the simulated planet. The tall trees, humid dirt and lack of sunlight soon let her know the simulation had started. She looked around, waiting for Amanda’s reaction, but then she realized Amanda wasn’t going to react.

The sky was slightly visible through the leaves above, being of a blue basically impossible to tell apart from earth’s, but this planet had the interesting thing of having a really tiny moon. It was just big enough to be considered as such, but even then, it was orbiting even further away than Earth’s moon. It basically had little to no effect on the planet itself.

Akko would have loved to pretend she knew all that because of studying, but she had actually just read it in a small guide about the planet that had appeared in front of her.

 “Amanda, first we’re going to try flying and cutting all the trees in front of us with a laser, ok?”

Amanda didn’t reply, but Akko assumed she had been heard. She tapped her foot. “Start the race,” Akko said, and a big three appeared on the air in front of her. Two. One.

A loud bell sounded, and the race started without fanfare. In the map, a red dot pointed to where the ending would be. It was closer than Akko expected. As she flew ahead, straight into a tree, a laser shot out of the rod, taking it out. Magic was energy, but it didn’t react like it when weaponized. It was more like a liquid, or maybe plasma. As it crashed into the wood, it cut it fairly easily, but it lost power, so the next tree on the line managed to stand it.

The tree in front of Akko, however, was way bigger than the ones Hannah had cut off with her lasers back on Sídhe. Even with the laser shot, it took too long to fall, making it so that Akko actually had a harder time dodging it than normal.

“This isn’t going to cut it,” she said, pun completely unintended. As she flew, she manually checked the status of the ship, only to get used to it. Dodging trees wasn’t as hard as Akko had assumed it would be, since the big ones had actually quite the amount of space between them, and the smaller ones she could fly over, since they were small due to the little amount of sunlight they received.

Amanda kept shooting trees left and right, but Akko was beginning to understand that was not a strategy she could use. And, as she checked the meter, she noticed the absurdly high output the Rod was using – the usage of so many lasers had brought it to more than a half. “Ok, Amanda, stop,” Akko said. She paused the simulation.

Ok, she couldn’t cut through trees, so she’d just have Amanda defend the ship. It was kind of hard to figure out exactly how the output of energy worked. It always started at about a fifth, which was the simple usage the engine had. If she forced it would go up to a fourth. The amount of output for lasers seemed to go higher than that. And Akko knew the shield probably used a ton of energy too, since she clearly recalled seeing it being broken through at least four times in Chariot’s career.

Maybe she should test the limits while she came up with another strategy. She was bad at strategies.

“Alcor, create a simple field,” Akko commanded. The jungle disappeared, turning into an endless grassy field. Akko pressed a button on the Shiny Rod that would force it to stay in place, not allowing it to be pushed or pulled. It, of course, stopped it from racing. Like a hand brake. “Create… The Noir Rod,” Akko tested. She doubted the Shiny Rod would be able to do such a thing, but…

In front of the Shiny Rod, the bigger, red and black rip-off appeared.  “Make him attack us when I say go. Amanda! Make sure to get our shields ready!

No response, as usual. Akko stared at the black ship. She had seen a recording of how it had won. It had not been a breeze, as Akko had assumed, but it had won nonetheless. Well, not anymore. Akko would have the upper hand this time. “Ok, Amanda, you ready?”

“Yes,” Amanda answered. Whenever she spoke from inside the Shiny Rod she spoke monotonously.

“Perfect. Alcor, Go!”

The attack started, and Akko paid close attention to the Output Meter. With the engines off, it quickly rose to a fourth as soon as the shield appeared. Each attack from the daemons seemed to make it go slightly up, but not by a lot. “Alcor, spawn… The appal ship. They have a lot of armament,” she ordered. It didn’t take more than thirty seconds for the new ship to spawn and also start attacking. The barrage of missiles and bullets brought the shield up to a little more than a third, maybe three sevenths.

Wait, when had Akko gotten good at fractions?

“Hmm…” Akko thought she was starting to figure it out. The output of energy was the amount of energy the Shiny Rod could use at once, and it didn’t seem to have a time limit but it did increase ever so slightly with time, as if efficiency slowly went down. Or maybe there was another factor in the ship which forced it to make it spend more and more energy the longer it ran without a proper rest. “Alcor, make them attack with all they have.”

The appal conical ship suddenly split, the front opening into a six pointed star that started spinning at an incredible speed. It was creating electricity. That wasn’t what caught Akko’s attention, though. It was the Noir rod. It was… glitching. It started to glow, like when the Shiny Rod transformed for different reasons, but before it could do so it just started blinking with that light, and then popping in and out of the simulation. The Appal attacked, a sudden and powerful blast of pure electricity. It managed to force a third of the output in a single go. Powerful indeed.

The Noir Rod finally stopped glitching, and it shot a powerful a laser with all seven of its spheres. The angle of the shot made all of them fuse at a point. When all the different streams of Inferno fused, a single, really powerful thing was created. Could the Shiny Rod do that?

It hit, and the shield was instantly destroyed.

The simulation shut off, and Akko felt her heart stop for a second. “Alcor?” She asked with slight panic on her voice, wondering if maybe the simulation had broken something. She relaxed when the bird appeared in front of her. “Can the Shiny Rod perform a laser like that one?” It had to be the same that had cut off the Shooting Star’s wing. Such a powerful thing.

**Unknown Command,** the crow said.

_Yeah, it’s always unknown when it best suits you._

“Uhm… What’s the most powerful laser the Shiny Rod can shoot?”

**Unknown command.**

_Oh come on it’s not even that complicated! I’ve asked you harder questions!_ Akko complained internally. She had to think of a better way of finding out. Then, a light bulb sparked to life inside her head. She waved Alcor away, asking him to make another simulation. “Amanda, make the most powerful attack you can.”

Amanda, as usual, didn’t say anything. Akko waited somewhat patiently as the Shiny Rod slowly charged up. The opponent had been chosen as the armor since they had amazing defenses.

The Shiny Rod shot. Akko checked the seven lights to her left that showed the status of the seven spheres around the body of the broom. The lights were put roughly in the shape of the Ursa Minor, which Akko found curious. Chariot had mentioned that she liked astronomy, but had she built this? Not likely. The seven lights blinked to show they were activated.

When the beam hit, one of the spheres the Armor used as defense blew up completely. It pierced through them and hit the main ship, not destroying it, but causing considerable damage. She was amazed by this, a thousand ideas instantly spreading through her mind. Ideas that died when she noticed the output meter was red. She looked closer and saw that it had a paper thin space of free space.

Meaning, she couldn’t shoot this during a race. Bummer. But… Well, the Noir Rod had attacked Diana almost instantly, hadn’t it? That probably meant they couldn’t do this either. They gambled, attacking at the start of the practice race to take Diana out.

She was humming to herself, deeply in thought, when suddenly the simulation shut off. Akko wondered what had happened, until she realized the laser had probably made it past the output limit.

Akko turned off the turret. She needed an actual person to talk to.

“I think we can do this,” she said after a while. Amanda hadn’t said anything, but at this point she should have been awake. Or maybe she had fallen asleep? She had been trying to sleep when Akko barged into her room.

“Great!” Amanda said with fake enthusiasm. “I’m not sure what the hell you’re talking about but I’m glad for us!”

Akko growled. “This is serious, Amanda. Whit this simulator I can finally start to understand how everything in the Shiny Rod works.”

“Akko,” Amanda changed to a serious tone. “I am seriously glad you have found this tool, and that you can make use of it,” she made a pause, probably for dramatic effect, “but I couldn’t give less of a fuck. I seriously can’t stress this enough: I _forget everything._ What happens in there? Yeah, nothing, not a thing, nope, zero, null, nada. I can’t give you feedback on this. You could tell me I just blew up a ship ten seconds ago and I’d have to believe you.”

“You kind of did.”

“See?” Amanda grunted. “This is what I’m talking about. Just turn the damn thing on and keep practicing. If nothing else I can tell you to never give up and shit.”

Akko sighed. “If I let you test it you’ll hear me out?”

“Will you let me do it now?”

“Well, right now I’m practicing but-”

“Talk to me when you can show me the product. Until then, let’s just get on with this,” Amanda said. Akko puffed her cheeks, annoyed. Amanda was being kind of an ass. She had looked kind of irritated before. What had happened? Maybe she was tired and that made her grumpy. It would make sense. What had she done during the day? Akko wasn’t sure. She had woken up late and then had gone to the Shiny Rod where she had made the tutorial and bla bla bla.

She turned on the turret anyways. It would proably help. Amanda had mentioned before that being in there wasn’t all that different from sleeping.

Now, all she needed to do was to figure out a plan of action. Maybe she should do the tutorial once more, just in case.

 

Hannah woke up just a few hours after going to sleep. She stayed in her bed, looking at the upper bunk bed and blinking slowly. She was uncomfortable thanks to not having changed her attire for a pajama, and she felt even more tired than when she had first laid down.

“What happened?” Barbara suddenly asked. She had an uncanny ability to notice when she woke up. Probably due to so many years sleeping in the same room.

“Not-”

“If you say nothing I’m going to throw this bucket of cold water on you,” Barbara moved some more, and the lights on the room suddenly turned on. Hannah blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted, and she noticed Diana was also in the room, looking at her with a controlled yet obviously worried expression. Barbara was indeed holding a bucket.

“Did Andrew do anything?” Diana asked. “If he did, I will find him and give him a piece of my-”

“No,” Hannah sighed, apathy on her voice. “No, he didn’t do anything. That’s the problem,” she said, getting up to start undressing. “I was just too… eager.”

Barbara raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to have to be a little more specific,” she said, annoyed. Hannah looked at her without energy. She felt… nothing. She was numb. She wasn’t sad or angry. She wasn’t even disappointed. Emptiness. Just that. “I thought my date with Andrew had gone well until I realized he didn’t even consider it a date,” she explained in a monotonous voice. “I raised my expectations too high and crashed down to earth. No big deal.”

Diana placed a hand on Hannah’s arm. “I have to say, you shouldn’t feel bad about it,” she tried to console her. “I can tell you from experience, for people like him and me, we don’t often think of romance. That doesn’t mean he can’t come to like you.”

Hannah smiled a little, to show to Diana she thanked her attempt at cheering her up. With how much she disliked Andrew, what she had just said was probably not easy. “I kind of had figured that out, but it didn’t stop me from getting excited,” Hannah said. “I just… Feel like an idiot.”

“I’m sorry your date ended like that,” Barbara said. “But why do you think that? Maybe Andrew is just a little cold, like Diana. Maybe he does-”

“No,” Hannah quickly answered. Barbara was too good at saying the stuff Hannah wanted to hear. “He… Basically paid me no mind. He expected our ‘date’ to be no more than a simple way to pass some time and make some comments during the play. I didn’t notice, but in retrospect it just how it is,” she finally finished dressing up. She chose to wear a summer dress and jeans underneath. It was stupid and it looked weird, but not bad, it wouldn’t make others think she was clueless as to fashion or something. Hannah just felt like dressing weird.

Barbara had obviously noticed this, but didn’t comment on it. “You say you didn’t notice, but when you came back you were already own. So how does that go?” She asked. Hannah waited to answer. She didn’t really feel like mentioning that Amanda had been there the entire time. It would be weird to talk about how _nice_ she had been. It was hard to believe Amanda had actually helped Hannah relax, if just for a short while.

Hannah entered the bathroom. She didn’t hold it against Amanda. Her feelings were her own. Amanda had made an argument – maybe a little harshly – and she had been right. This didn’t bother Hannah half as much as she felt like it should.

“I just realized after the fact,” she lied, exiting the small room and sitting on her bed. “It’s not a big deal, really. I’m just bummed,” she shrugged.

Barbara put on her I-don’t-buy-it face. “I don’t buy it,” she said.

“There’s nothing more to it. I just went on a not-date, had a good time, and then realized maybe it was not such a great time after all. I mean…”

“Wait,” Barbara interrupted. “Amanda has something to do with it, doesn’t she?”

Hannah froze. How did Barbara know? Sure, the girl could read Hannah like a book, and Hannah could – maybe –do the same. But this went beyond that. It was straight up divination. “How…?”

“I knew it was weird for her to show up wanting to talk to _you_ of all people,” Barbara mumbled to herself, making Hannah frown.

“Amanda was here?” Diana asked, shocked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think much of it,” Barbara confessed. Her hair flung around the room wildly as she started to pace rapidly. “But, if I didn’t know her better, I’d say she looked _worried,”_ she paused to look at Hannah. “What did she do?” Her voice quickly rang with menace.

Hannah, on the other hand, was trying to piece together what she had said. _Amanda came looking for_ me _? Because she was_ worried _? I can’t believe it,_ she thought. It was outrageous. Barbara must have read the redhead wrong. It made absolutely no sense for her to actually be worried about Hannah. Sure, she had been kind of nice, but from that to actually go out of her way because she might or might not have been worried…

Diana was looking funny at Hannah. Hannah cocked her head. Diana never had funny looks for anyone.

“What’s so funny?” Barbara asked, voice still in I-will-murder-whoever-did-this mode. For a second, Hannah thought she was also referring to Diana, but she realized her best friend was looking at her.

“What do you mean?”

“What’s the smile for?”

Hannah realized she was smiling. “Oh,” she said. She thought for a second. Why was she smiling? “I guess it’s ‘cause it makes me happy that you’re so worried,” she explained. It made sense. And it was a little funny.

Barbara snorted, but looked away in embarrassment. “That was cringy as hell,” she said, her voice losing its edge. Hannah chuckled.

“About Amanda… She may have gone to the play to ogle the lead actress, and she may have been the one to point all of this out to me,” she finally confessed. Barbara snapped back to attention, but Hannah was quick to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. “But! She just mentioned it without malice. Well, without malice towards me. She was just trying to make Andrew look bad, and things kind of went downward spiral from there.”

Barbara didn’t look convinced, but she closed her eyes. “So you wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t pointed it out?”

“Probably not.”

“And you’re certain she wasn’t making shit up?”

“If I may intrude, Andrew is certainly clueless enough for this to be believable,” Diana said. She looked extremely uncomfortable to be saying that. She was obviously saying it to make Hannah feel better, not make Andrew look good in anyone’s eyes.

“I don’t think she was just shitting on Andrew the same way she’d shit on Diana,” Hannah said. She had only felt the redhead’s inherent disgust for Diana and all things related, including her male version. “She wasn’t looking to make me feel bad. We’re past that.”

Barbara cocked her head. “When did that happen?”

Oh, right. She hadn’t told Barbara about their escapade to the top of the skyscraper yet. Hannah just felt like she shouldn’t do it in general. The first time it had been a casual, even opportunistic little adventure. This time it had been different.

“It just… did,” Hannah chuckled nervously. She looked at Diana for some backup. Did she consider their little adventure special?

Did Hannah?

“Whatever the reason,” Diana said, “it would be surprising if Amanda was truly worried about Hannah. And, on the topic, are you sure you are fine?”

Hannah thanked her silently for the save while nodding. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she… kind of was, actually. The chat had really managed to cheer her up. “And it’s not like I have no opportunity. Next time I’ll make sure he knows it’s a date. A romantic one.”

Barbara looked at Hannah through narrowed eyes, still smelling something was off, but she sighed and dropped next to Hannah in the bed. “Fine. Maybe we should go find Amanda. She was probably going to apologize or something.”

“Highly doubt it,” Hannah said, “and we’ll see her eventually. Right now I’m just hungry.”

“Let’s go grab something to eat, then,” Barbara stood, helping Hannah up. Both of them looked at Diana, who shook her head.

“I’m fine, and I need to check something out. I’ll probably stay in here, so don’t worry.”

Neither of the girls was happy about this, but Diana was more usually than not staying behind to study, so they were sort of used to it. Hannah, however, found that this didn’t sit well with her more and more. One of these days she’d drag Diana out with them whether she wanted it or not and nothing was going to stop her. Well, except maybe a kick to the face.

After quickly discussing what they wanted to eat in a vain attempt to create an appetite on Diana, they left the room. Hannah was feeling surprisingly warm, considering the numbness she had felt just earlier.

 

The simulation ended, and Akko had barely made it through the forest. What at first had seemed complicated soon proved to be next to impossible as she added simulations of other racers to practice. When others were constantly trying to push you into one three or another, piloting and keeping focus suddenly became extremely difficult. Particularly when Akko was still trying to get the hang of what all the buttons, levers and other things did. She was certain one of them controlled the average height of hovering, but when she had tried to turn the knob, all it did was darken the brightness of her windshield, polarizing it. That might be useful on sunny planets, but not in here where the trees fought for sunlight, creating a ceiling of leaves.

Akko changed the simulation to the field, and started to fly around lazily. 

She was tempted to wake Amanda up again, but she didn’t really want to bother her when she was being grumpy. So she flew, thinking. Like pacing, but cooler. Well, she wasn’t technically flying, since it was all a simulation, but she still found the distraction and sensation of movement appeasing. _I have an advantage. I need to make use of it to its fullest._

Diana believed in her. Akko kept going back to the little scene they’d had at the restaurant, in the moment where Sucy had been trying to pull her away from the table, where Diana had stood up – metaphorically – for her. In that moment, Akko had finally gotten proof of the fact that Diana didn’t dislike her. Even when the fear had been mostly gone, it still lingered. Maybe Diana was angry with her, maybe she was jealous of her place. Fears that, like it or not, had been revived by the lost of the first race.

Her worries had been blown away with a single set of words. _We’re friends, right?_

After what had happened in the pools, where Diana had kind of thrown away the idea without thinking too much about it, hearing her say that felt… warm and fuzzy. The stuck up, ever perfect Diana Cavendish had called friends simple plebeians such as the red team.

Akko doubted Sucy and Diana were actually friends, but she would take what she could.

_Wait a second, Diana!_

“Alcor!” Akko instantly said, “Can you make a simulation of the Shooting Star?” In the simulation, next to the Shiny Rod, a Shooting Star appeared. Longer than the shiny rod, two sets of wings, a small one near the front and big one at the back. Slim and fast looking. Not what Akko wanted to see, though. “I mean, can you simulate me flying the Shooting Star?”

This seemed to take some more time. Akko waited patiently. Alcor didn’t appear saying ‘unknown command’ or claiming some sort of error, something that in Akko’s mind was a good thing. And, soon enough, something changed. The front of the Shiny Rod morphed, going from white to red. Extending. Developing a couple of small wings near the front. Akko smiled.

Even the inside of the cockpit changed. Akko was surprised as her control panel turned around, going empty again, but came back about thirty seconds later completely remade. The cockpit shrank a little, somehow, and in no time, Akko was riding and piloting a completely different broom.

“Akko?” Amanda suddenly asked. “What is going on? What’s with all of this bullshit?” she asked.

Akko supposed the turret had also changed. Her smile deepened.

“It’s something that will make sure humans win this race this time.”


	38. Chapter 38

Diana was checking recordings of old races, making notations on a small notebook – physical, since she wanted to keep it away from potential hackers – and overall enjoying her time. It was hard for others to understand when she said that the process of research was one enjoyable to her, but that was not important to her. Not everyone was cut for research. Everyone had their way of learning. Diana just seemed to be particularly in tune with standard methods. They were easy for her.

At least, when a loud brunette wasn’t banging loudly on her door.

She took off the helmet, sighing. Did Akko need to be so loud? Sound always so… excited? Well, it felt wrong when she didn’t, so that probably answered the question.

The door opened, and Akko instantly jumped at her. “Diana, you _need_ to come see this,” Akko said, taking Diana’s arms. Diana took a moment to process what was going on.

“I am in the middle of something, can’t it…” As she started speaking, she noticed Akko’s expression, and stopped. “It’s important, is it not?” Akko nodded energetically. Diana looked back at where her helmet and notebook laid. Well, the good thing about research was that you could always do it later. Unless you were in some sort of deadline. “Ok, guide me.”

Akko instantly took off down the corridor, and Diana found that she was actually happy to see Akko as excitable as ever. She really was recovered from her loss, or if she wasn’t, she was doing one heck of a job to hide it. It was hard to pinpoint why it was, but seeing Akko being happy just made her happier. She could forget about her troubles, if only for a little while.

She was led to the hangar of the _Dragon._ She was surprised to find Amanda there, waiting for them. “Was about time,” she said.

“Hannah is already awake,” Diana informed. “In case you still wish to talk to her.”

Akko turned to look at Diana with a weird look, which wasn’t weird given the fact that she completely lacked the context as to why Diana had said what she said. Diana found silent amusement in seeing Amanda’s face go from surprise, to confusion, to annoyance as she was probably looking for something to say.

She settled on a mildly angered look as she stared Diana on the eyes. “Where is she?” She asked, some strain on her voice.

Diana hadn’t expected her to actually care, of if she did care, to actually admit it. “She went to a barbeque place in Shopping Town with Barbara. Though, at this point, they’re probably walking around looking at clothes, maybe shopping.”

Amanda looked down for a second, crossing her arms. Then, with a growl, she looked towards the exit of the hangars – Well, the common one. “God damn it,” she mumbled. “Akko, imma go. Not that you actually need me anyways. I’ll come back later. Maybe,” she said, and without even waiting to hear Akko’s opinion took off at a stride.

Akko was looking at Diana with confusion, but her excitement soon came back as she took Diana’s hand and dragged her the last few meters to the Shiny Rod. Diana was a little uncomfortable with the contact – she wasn’t used to such things – but when Akko let go she thought she wouldn’t have minded a little more time.

“Ok, follow me,” Akko said, slipping under the cloth of the Rod and starting to crawl her way to the cockpit as a moving bulge. Diana looked around, embarrassed about the idea of doing… _that,_ but no one was around to see her. She wasn’t wearing her g-suit, but she supposed it didn’t really matter, since Akko wasn’t wearing hers.

Diana followed, face red as she imagined someone looking at them. She soon heard Akko opening the windshield, and she was quick to reach the cockpit. Her surprise came when Akko was standing behind the pilot seat, instead of sitting on it. She had a confident smile. She was tapping the seat with her hand. “Come on, sit down,” she said. Her voice was very, very excited, which made Diana wonder just what could have Akko in such a state.

Well, many things, probably, but this excitement seemed too much even for her. Diana dropped onto the cockpit and she first noticed that it had changed. It now had a bunch of control mechanisms it lacked before. Something was off, though. The cockpit… had it shrunk? And these controls looked familiar…

“Come on, sit down!” Akko grabbed her shoulders, pushing her down onto the seat. Then she closed the windshield and turned on the broom.

“Akko, why am I…”

“Shut it, you’re gonna love this,” Akko asserted. “Ok, get ready. Alcor, resume the simulation from before,” she ordered.

**Simulation starting,** the familiar said.

_Simulation?_ Was all Diana could think before she realized what was going on. The windshield changed, and Diana saw how it slowly became a jungle. The amount of plant life was astounding, though it was unusually dark, and more impressive were the giant trees everywhere. She looked around with amazement. “This is Pan, isn’t it?” She asked. “How did you know this is our next destination?”

“Wait, you knew?” Akko asked as an answer, surprised. “Well, of course you knew,” she said with a lot less of enthusiasm. Diana was slightly bothered by that. Why did everyone assumed she knew everything? “Anyways, I found out thanks to the Shiny Rod. But that’s not the impressive thing! Look at the ship!”

Diana was about to say that she had looked at the Shiny Rod a good number of times in the past, but only then she noticed the red nose sticking from the windshield. Slowly, different instincts kicked in as she started to feel uncannily comfortable in the seat. The controls, the size of the cockpit, it was almost as if… “The Shooting Star? You’re simulating the shooting star.”

“… Shooting Star!” Akko shouted alongside her, excitement back. She propped herself against the seat, her head above Diana’s, “this way you can practice too!”

Diana was left speechless, which was strange enough. She always found something to say, but at this moment, all she could do was imagine all the advantages this would give them. Way more hours of practice, the ability to familiarize themselves with the terrain of the jungles much further, a chance to study crazy strategies without a fear of damaging their ships.

“Akko,” she said after what felt like too long. “This is amazing!”

“I know!” Akko said. “Too bad I gotta be inside the cockpit or it doesn’t work, though. Alcor doesn’t answer to anyone else, for some reason,” she paused for a second, looking to the control panel as if it was Alcor itself, “aaaanyways, wanna give it a shot?”

Diana didn’t hesitate, nodding energetically. “Of course!” she exclaimed, eager. Then, she thought again. “Wait, Akko, aren’t you sure you don’t need it more than me?” She asked, turning around to look at Akko’s face. She hadn’t expected Akko to have her face quite literally next to hers, so when she turned her nose brushed Akko’s cheek. She jump back with a squeal of surprise.

Akko turned her face to her, completely uncaring of being so close. “What?” she asked. From this close, Diana could see just how beautiful she really was. Her big red eyes seemed to sparkle, her skin was clean and her hair looked silky and it reflected the green light of the cockpit. In fact, she didn’t look stereotypically Asian at all. If you didn’t know her name, you’d be hard pressed to tell she was Japanese. Well, when she squinted it was a little more obvious, but her neutral face didn’t tell you much about her, save from the fact that her parents had probably been in contact with magic at some point. Red eyes were a surprisingly common side effect of magic on descendants.

“Diana?” Akko asked again, and Diana finally snapped out of admiring her. She was blushing, and her heartbeat was accelerated.

“Excuse me, you just… startled me. Let us continue,” she said, taking a deep breath. Being in this small space next to Akko now felt like it was going to be much troublesome than she expected. “Can I just… do it?”

“Of course,” Akko extended her arm towards the windshield. “Give it a test, I’ll simulate a race for you later.”

Diana relaxed her shoulders, trying – and failing – to get the red eyes of her companion out of her head. She put her hands on the joysticks to control the ship, her feet on the pedals – they felt the same as the Shooting Star’s too – and slowly started her practice by the most basic of things: starting to hover and pulling away the wheels.

It felt exactly like flying the Shooting Star.

 

_Why am I even bothering? I’m going to see her eventually. She’s probably back in the rooms even, and if she’s not, waiting for her there would be a much more efficient way of waiting._

Amanda walked around Shopping Town looking for Hannah and Barbara. It was a futile effort, she knew this. The place was too big for a search to be effective. Still, she kept walking around, half wishing she didn’t actually manage to find her. Why was afraid of it, anyways? It was just an apology. Nothing big. Hannah had apologized, she could do it too. It was a simple ‘sorry I ruined the mood yesterday, didn’t want to make you feel bad about being an idiot, I was just trying to make you feel bad about having a crush on an idiot.’

Yeah, that didn’t sound very good. She wasn’t good with apologies, since she hadn’t really done a lot of them in her life.

She could still smell the perfume Hannah had used the previous day. It hadn’t been like the best thing ever, but for some reason it had stuck with her. Probably because of how strong it had been. Hadn’t Andrew mentioned that? Well, Amanda hadn’t either. She kicked softly at the ground. Had Hannah believed her, in the end? She had said thank you, but she could have been saying that because of Amanda staying with her for a while, not for the compliment.

Amanda didn’t always give serious compliments to others. Sure, she often praised Constanze’s creations, or Jasminka’s incredible skills to sneak into any kind of kitchen and steal food, but appearance-based compliments weren’t her favorite thing. She preferred to save those for pretty girls in clubs she wanted to take to bed.

But her compliment to Hannah had been real. Hannah had looked great. Amanda felt very conflicted about it. If it had been literally anyone else she wouldn’t have hesitated at a chance to flirt. But just thinking of the fact that it was Hannah made her stomach revolt.

She stopped walking, stopping in front of a shop for fancy clothing. The windows had a couple of mannequins showing a really nice suit and a long dress with a petticoat and a bunch of frills everywhere. Both of those looked old fashioned. Like really freaking old fashioned. Three hundred years old fashioned. Well, the dress. Suits hadn’t changed that much.

In fact, that suit looked real nice. It had low tails and a really nice looking vest underneath. Maybe… _Nah, it’s not like I’ve got a party to go to anyways._

She was about to move on when, out of pure chance, she noticed movement inside the store. _No way,_ she thought as she looked at the yellow bow tying up auburn hair. She froze.

It _was_ Hannah. And Barbara. They were talking to one of the employees, who was showing them a dress. They were with their backs to the window, which was why they hadn’t seen Amanda yet. Amanda slowly passed her tongue through her lips, being very conscious of her every movement.

For some reason, she wanted to hide.

_What am I, a five year old?_ She thought to herself. So, to prove she was no child, she barged into the store, almost kicking the door open.

The employee looked at Amanda with shock, and Hannah and Barbara jumped with cries of surprise. Amanda stood in the door, staring through squinting eyes at Hannah. She was angry. Angry at herself. Why was it so hard to do such a simple thing.

“Hey,” she said in a strained voice. “Hannah, how’s it going?”

“Fine…” Hannah said, obviously doubtful about showing she knew the girl who had just almost broken the door upon entering the establishment in front of the employee. “What…”

“Can we talk?” Amanda asked, feeling like she wanted to scream. Hannah looked fine, at least. Hannah exchanged looks with Barbara, who gave her an encouraging nod. Then, with hesitance, she approached Amanda. Amanda turned, exiting the place. She didn’t want to talk in the crowded wooden street, so she just guided Hannah to a small alley that worked as back entrances for a couple of shops. It was empty, save for a cat. Amanda was sure animals weren’t allowed to run free on the _Dragon,_ but she didn’t really care.

“What the fuck was that?” Hannah asked as soon as they stopped.

“Sorry,” Amanda said, feeling her cheeks slowly warm up. “Not for the entrance. For what happened yesterday.”

Hannah raised her eyebrows. “Huh, so you really wanted to do that,” she said nodding slowly. She put her hands on her hips, and only then Amanda noticed her attire. A white, sleeveless summer dress that came down to a little above the knees. Underneath that, jeans. And sandals.

Amanda wondered if it was some kind of new trend. It didn’t look wrong, just… uncommon. “Yeah,” she said, distracted. “I didn’t really think it through and I ruined what had been an otherwise enjoyable… evening? For you,” she finally managed to pull her eyes upwards again, meeting with Hannah’s light brown eyes.

“Thank you,” Hannah said. Amanda could see a hint of amusement in her expression, which annoyed her. “I forgive you.”

She said nothing more, which bothered Amanda. “That’s all you gotta say?”

Hannah raised an eyebrow, and Amanda got a flashback to the skyscraper. She puckered her lips, narrowing her eyes. “What? Don’t like the ironic echo?” She said with a chuckle, “Maybe now we can really stop fighting after every two words.”

Amanda couldn’t help but let go of her half-angry expression to chuckle. “Ok, you got me,” she admitted. “You sure you’re fine?”

“Yeah. Diana and Barbara cheered me up,” Hannah explained. Amanda felt a weight lifted from her chest. “Were you actually worried?” She asked with mockery.

Amanda snorted, looking away. “I just felt kind of shitty,” she lied. “Don’t let it go to your head,” she warned, noticing the smirk on the shorter girl’s lips.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Hannah said, turning around. “Are done here?”

Amanda paused. She felt like the moment had passed a little too quickly. She had imagined something a little more… dramatic. But well, this wasn’t a movie. “Yeah,” she said, sighing. “Next time you go on a date make sure to not have me nearby, though.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Hannah said, walking away. Amanda stared at her as she went and turned the corner. She remained in the small alleyway for a good five minutes afterwards, feeling like she should probably get moving, lest Hannah come out of the shop and see her still standing there being all awkward.

So, she moved, opting for going back to the Shiny Rod. For some reason, it didn’t feel like such a chore anymore.

 

Akko watched as Diana reached the finish line, marked b a giant red sign floating in the air, and let out the air she didn’t know she was holding. “My god Diana that was amazing!” Akko said, shaking the pilot seat with excitement. Despite all the crazy movements, she hadn’t  felt much of the g-forces Diana probably had. She wasn’t sure how the simulator distinguished between them but she didn’t care.

“Thank you,” Diana said, smiling. A genuine smile. “I can’t believe this. With a simulator of this nature I can be a lot more daring without a fearing for the wellbeing of my broom. I can determine which strategies work and which don’t far more easily,” she moved her fingers, relaxing them. Akko was going over the small race in her head. It had been a race against time, not against racers, since without a gunman they couldn’t defend themselves. But Diana had been so… Cool. The way she almost brushed against trees to save time, the way she could turn around big rocks or particularly wide trees without hesitating, her incredible ability to squeeze through groups of trees that were too close to each other. Akko had counted the number of times Diana had done something she definitely wouldn’t have been able to do, and had come up with fifteen instances of it. Fifteen instances of things she would definitely learn to do in the future. “And it also simulates the amount of fuel,” Diana noticed, “It’s… truly amazing.”

“I know! Diana, we’re going to win this race. With this, the IPR is in the human bag!” Akko said with excitement. All she wanted was for Diana to understand this, and she actually looked like she understood it better than Akko. Noone could stop them now. “We’re going to _raze_ this race!” She said.

Diana stopped smiling, looking at her with a flat look. “Was that necessary?”

“Diana,” Akko said in full seriousness. “Puns are _always_ necessary.”

Diana rolled her eyes, looking forward again. “Thank you,” she said.

“For what?” Akko asked. She hadn’t done anything. Unless she had just opened Diana’s mind about how great puns were.

“For showing me this. You didn’t have to, but you did.”

Akko tried to process what she was saying. “What? Why wouldn’t I show it to you?” It made no sense. Was Diana implying she would’ve forgotten to show her? Well, it wasn’t impossible, but it didn’t feel like that would be a very good reason to thank anyone.

Diana paused. “Nevermind me, I’m just being silly,” she shook her head.

Akko frowned, poking her shoulder. “No, now you tell me.”

“I repeat, it’s not something you should worry yourself about,” Diana insisted. Akko poked her again, with more strength this time. “You can keep prodding me, I will not…” Akko did it again, though this time she started poking the whole length of the arm, to make a point. Diana’s skin was smooth and soft. It was nice to the touch, and Akko felt strangely compelled to caress it. “Ok, ok, please stop, it’s _really_ distracting.”

Akko stopped. “So, what was it?”

“I’m… surprised that you didn’t keep this to yourself because you could have gotten a lot of advantage over me, since I’m not getting as much practice as I should. I mean, did you not say we’re rivals? Giving your rival the means to get better doesn’t look like the best option,” Diana explained. She sighed. “But, on the other hand, you’re a kind person, so I’m ashamed I thought that way. Sorry.”

Akko looked at her for a second. She really looked to be regretting it. “It’s ok, what you thought is natural,” Akko put a hand on her shoulder. “But for me, being rivals isn’t just about being better than you. It’s about being better than the _best_ Diana. The one that has gotten as much training as possible, the one that has all the information she needs to work out a strategy and act on it,” she was actually kind of afraid of that. If Diana was this good with the little practice she got, what wouldn’t she be able to do with this simulator? “If I can’t beat you at your best, what’s the point?”

 

Diana nodded weakly. What Akko said made sense. It was pure logic, the kind one wouldn’t expect from her. Yet, something was… different. She felt her chest warm up. Stupid, it was stupid. She had just stated that she wanted to beat Diana at her best. There was nothing else to it. But, when thinking about it for a second, would _she_ have done the same? In Akko’s place, would she give up such a great advantage over her?

She didn’t know. Maybe she would have, but she was afraid to admit it would have probably been only because that way they would have a better chance of winning the race. If the rivalry had been only between her and Akko, no aliens involved…

Was she a bad person? Or was Akko just that much of a good one?

 

Diana nodded weakly. Then she proceeded to stay perfectly still for what felt like an eternity, until she turned to look at Akko, moving her blonde and tea-green hair out of the way. “You can be so smart when you want, you know that?” She said. Akko felt like something had just changed. Something in the ambient. In the mood.

What was this pressure?

“I mean, it’s normal,” Akko laughed nervously, not sure of why Diana’s shift of tone made her so uncomfortable.

Diana shook her head. “It’s not,” she said. She had a really intense look. It was kind of creeping Akko out, in all honesty. What had she done? Was Diana angry? She didn’t look angry. Maybe she was tired? Amanda had been tired, probably. Wait, Amanda had nothing to do with this. And why did Akko relate anger with tiredness? Sure, she got grumpy if she was tired, but- “You are just a great person, Akko. I really am glad to be able to call you my friend,” Diana finished, derailing Akko’s thoughts.

_She’s so close. She’s so pretty,_ was all she could thought in relation to what Diana had said. Akko, unexpectedly, blushed.

“Akko!” Amanda’s voice suddenly came from the outside, and both girls in the cockpit jumped. Akko’s heart started to pound her chest. Why had that moment felt so weird? So intimate? Why did she feel like something important had just been interrupted by the redhead?

“Alcor, open the windshield,” Akko said. The windshield opened instantly, pulling the cloth behind it. “Amanda, did you need to shout? You startled me!” Akko complained.

 

She couldn’t see Amanda’s face, but she suspected she’d be smiling. “What were you two doing in there, huh?” She asked with a suggestive tone.

Akko completely missed the implication. “We’re simulating a race, duh,” she replied, clueless. Amanda sighed, and moved to climb onto the turret. Akko dropped back into the cockpit, closing the windshield, and waited for her to be done with it. “Great, now we can practice with a gunman. What do you say?” She asked to Diana.

Diana slowly stood, rounding the seat from the side opposite to Akko – bending her body to a point that obviously made her uncomfortable – and stepped behind the seat. Akko had kind of been pushed against the seat, since the space behind it wasn’t precisely… spacious. Diana’s body was pressed against Akko’s, and it kind of restricted the brunette’s movements. “I believe,” Diana said, somehow keeping a serious face, “that you should be the one piloting next.”

Akko decided not to question it, if only to move out of the awkward position they were in, and sat on the pilot seat after some crazy maneuvering. The cockpit was smaller than usual because it was in Shooting Star mode. “Amanda, you there?”

“Yah. Though I won’t be much longer,” she said with unusual cheerfulness. Had her meeting with Hannah gone well? Sounded like it.

“Alcor, change back to the simulation with the Shiny Rod,” Akko said. A minute later, the simulation and cockpit had already shifted. Diana watched with immense interest as the cockpit transformed, studying the movements. She crouched at one point, looking as the walls slid back to make it a little more spacious. She even leaned over Akko to look at the windshield.

“It’s incredible,” she mentioned, “even the crystal changes. Akko, this isn’t just futuristic technology, this is straight up Science Fiction,” she sounded excited.

“Well, I dunno much about it, but the ship’s ten years old, so it can’t be _that_ impressive, right?” Akko said, feeling a little self conscious about having such a good ship.

“Fucking hell,” Amanda said in the background, “this whole shift thing happens too fast, I hit my head,” she said.

“Nonsense,” Diana stood back again, hand on her chin as she thought, ignoring completely Amanda’s comment. “Just think about it: Crystal that can expand and compress without breaking? This could change the entire way we see building. Are we sure this was made by humans? I mean, it may run on magic, but I highly…”

“Diana,” Akko stopped her, “All I understand is that the Shiny Rod is the best, but I would really appreciate it if you helped me with the simulation.”

Diana started. “Help you?”

“Yeah, you’re great, I’m not.”

“I think you should ask Ursula about it,” Diana grimaced, obviously not happy about the idea. “I’m… not a great teacher, Akko.”

“I don’t agree. You help Hannah and Barbara study, right? They do great in exams,” Akko countered. She had seen them studying together a couple times. Given, her time at school hadn’t been much, but it had been enough.

“It’s not the same as teaching someone to fly, Akko. I’m not qualified,” Diana explained. “Ursula would really be able to tell the failings in your technique…” She seemed doubtful about that last part. Truth was, Ursula had been a decent teacher, but she usually stayed in her room, not meddling much with the kids. Akko was a little unhappy with that, since it meant she didn’t get to ask as many Chariot questions as she wanted.

“Well then, just stay there and watch,” Akko accepted. “Alcor, start a race. Add another four ships from the first category,” she said. The Shiny Rod suddenly teleported to other race grounds in Pan. The other four teams the Shiny Rod had simulated were the Appali, the Armors, the Medusas and the Shapeshifter. Akko was kind of surprised it could even simulate the organic beings inside the ships, like the clearly visible medusa.

This new area of the planet was kind of a swamp. The wild life was a lot less saturated in color, and the ground was more water and mud that it was actual dirt. “Hmm,” Diana mumbled, “this terrain would be a huge disadvantage for the Shooting Star. Too many ponds of water where it would lose speed… Good thing the Shiny Rod doesn’t have such problems,” she nodded.

Akko wasn’t sure why the Shiny Rod could run on water – the same way she hadn’t even been aware that normal brooms couldn’t until not long ago. She cocked her head. “Alcor, why can the Shiny Rod move on water, unlike most brooms?”

Surprisingly enough, the bird appeared to answer. **The Shiny Rod’s Hovering works by repelling any kind of surface with pure magic, Unlike normal human hovering ships, it doesn’t require of a solid surface to stay above it. Any surface would do, as long as it’s not gas,** the bird explained. Akko nodded, since to her it made as much sense as anything else.

Diana, though, she was _awed._ She leaned forward, checking the familiar. “That’s impossible. It’s like… Like if you were using magnetism, but instead of that you’re just using _Magic Energy_ to pull away from things. That’s not hovering, that’s straight up levitation!”

Alcor didn’t answer to her complain. Diana grunted, frustrated. Akko didn’t make an effort to question further, she was certain Alcor wouldn’t understand something _that_ complex. “Can we start?”

“Yes please, I’m getting bored out of my mind,” Amanda commented. For the first time, Diana realized she was actually hearing Amanda, and looked around to see where the sound was coming from. Akko didn’t know either, it hadn’t been a part of the tutorial.

“Go ahead,” Diana said, arms crossed, obviously unhappy with the result.

“Start!” Akko cried, and a big three appeared in front of them. She turned on the turret. Two. She looked back at Diana. One.

The race started. Akko planned to push the limits of the Shiny Rod for this simulation. “Amanda! Be _aggressive!”_ she ordered.

Instantly, the guns started firing at their nearest rival – the shapeshifter.

Maybe doing things a little differently would help her come up with better ideas on how to run the race.

 

Amanda wasn’t focused. She _was_ focus. Nothing but the deepest of layers of her brain conserved autonomy, and when Akko had ordered to be aggressive, she had become the most aggressive being on the universe.

She was currently shooting furiously at the shapeshifter on rapid-fire. The being kept maneuvering around the stream of bullets, using the occasional tree to gain some advantage. But Amanda didn’t stop there. She couldn’t stop there.

From the other side, the armor ship approached, its three rings and two giant boulders surrounding it. The design was the same as for the Second Category, save for a big line of red painted in the front of the main boulder of a ship. Amanda couldn’t defend and attack at the same time – though she wasn’t sure why. It was as if something blocked her. She could feel it, she could tell she _should_ be able, but… She just couldn’t. As if she didn’t have enough arms, despite being able to see at seven different points of space without trouble.

Well, as the saying went, a great offense is the best defense. As a giant stone ball approached, attacking, Akko dipped. Amanda wasn’t hindered by the sudden movement at all. It was strange, but she could tell what Akko was going to do before she did it, being able to instantly adjust her aiming. She aimed at the main body. The remaining stone stood in the middle of her shots, but she kept putting pressure on them. From the other side the shapeshifter tried to counterattack with some of those smoky bombs, but Amanda shot them and easily brought them down – except, the small bombs somehow dodged her shots and approached at high speed.

Amanda didn’t panic – she couldn’t panic – and turned on the Laser. In a swift motion the two projectiles were out of the air, leaving behind nothing but that black smoke so iconic of their race. She then switched again to rapid fire, as she felt Akko’s desire to not go overboard with energy, lest they met with the Output Limit.

As Akko dodged foliage, Amanda finally got to hit the shapeshifter. The entire ship fell backwards. Hitting shapeshifters was hard, but manage it, and they would suffer great damage. Of course, most beings didn’t understand that the shapeshifter ship was organic. It was, in a way, another shapeshifter, just way bigger. It wasn’t sentient, but it wasn’t that different from a domesticated animal. If it got hurt, it would panic for a while.

Amanda didn’t care about that. She had an order, so if the shapeshifter came into view again, she would shoot it. Now, as she focused all of her attention on the armors, she started shooting rapid fire with two of the spheres on that side of the ship, while using single-shot with another couple of them.

The constant barrage of fire, plus the different angles, eventually made it so that the giant stone ball finally left an opening as it tried to cover every shot. Amanda’s enhanced mind easily picked it up and pointed.

And her aim was thrown off by a sudden rock of the ship. They hadn’t been hit by an attack, they had just bumped against a tree. She could feel what Akko planned to do: That didn’t mean Akko would always be able to pull it off. She also felt Diana giving Akko instructions, though she couldn’t exactly make out the words. She could only hear Akko’s voice clearly, the other girl’s was but a whispered mumble of nonsense.

The mistake hadn’t been too disrupting, but Amanda had lost her opening. She didn’t feel frustrated or angry, since she couldn’t, so she went back to relentlessly harassing the armor ship through the trees and foliage.

However, someone else approached. The medusa.

Amanda was aware of race rules. Shooting at the medusa was incredibly inefficient. She could have used the laser, but the output that would generate would be too close to the limit for Akko to like it. Amanda had her hands – metaphorical hands, since she didn’t really have control of her body right now – tied as she saw the medusa approach. A few sparks of electricity crossed in between the medusa’s tentacles, and not long after, a jolt left the bubble of water to instantly impact against the Shiny Rod.

It wasn’t real electricity. It was an imitation, a fake medusas could create. Real electricity was deadly to them, due to the conductivity of their water. Unlike Earth’s water, Poseidon’s was as efficient in conductivity as a copper wire. So, if they created real electricity, they would basically zap themselves, and real electric attacks were really effective against them. Normal voltages wouldn’t kill them, but Amanda was aware of exactly the amount needed to do so. She also knew no other ship on the race had enough power to kill them off in a single shot. After a certain incident on a previous race, a limit had been put on the amount of electricity allowed for weapons.

The Shiny Rod took on the zap of electricity, rocking a little, but few attacks were able to truly harm the broom. What it did, however, was disrupt with the actual electricity running through the ship. Real or not, it had a lot of the same properties, and it wasn’t particularly friendly when interacting with other types of energy.

Amanda woke up, noticing the turret had been turned off. A sudden turn of the ship threw her against one of the sides, and she grunted. Wasn’t this supposed to be just a simulation? Why was she getting hurt? “Akko!” she cried, “Turret’s off, you idiot, turn it on again!”

“Sorry, having a little trouble!” Akko shouted.

“Akko, stabilizers,” Diana said. Right, she was here too, “the Rod is leaning leftwards.”

“Right, thanks…” Amanda lost track of what she was saying as the turret was turned on again. A flash of knowledge filled her brain for a split second before she quickly readapted and took in her surroundings. The tall trees and dark plant life of Pan coming into view.

Aggressiveness, she recalled. That had been her order.

The medusa was about to release another jolt of electricity, but this time Akko dodged. Amanda looked at the armor, who had fallen back as the conical appal ship had approached and threw their own barrage of attacks at them. They were busy defending with the two giant stone balls.

They kept moving through the jungle. Akko managed to squeeze between two really close together trees by making the Shiny Rod go vertical, but that gave Amanda a disadvantage since she had decided to put the downside of the broom towards the armors, who even if they were fighting against the appali kept getting closer and closer.

Akko didn’t return to horizontal flying. The Shiny Rod had a better pull upwards than downwards, by nature, so Akko took what she had learned on the previous race and applied it to better maneuver through this area of the jungle, area which kept getting more and more thick with trees and foliage as the water disappeared and gave way to a humid but drier section of land.

Akko’s constant shift in movements didn’t disrupt Amanda for their suddenness, but for the simple fact that they forced Amanda to keep changing which weapon-spheres she had to focus on to be able to attack. She attacked as she could, focusing on the closest enemy, the medusa. She aimed at the outer zone of her bubble, knowing that the magic energy would help to eventually stop it from moving, but there was always a point where the amount of water left was just enough to keep the medusa from moving but also just thin enough to basically turn any possible attacks into suicide moves. The armor technically had the strongest defense, but Amanda knew they didn’t have the _best_ defense. The medusas definitely had a better one, and the octopus arguably too, assuming they had mastered their own reflective shields as well as it seemed.

The medusa prepared another bolt. Amanda didn’t risk it. She had been ordered to be aggressive, but she had her own priorities, ones which couldn’t be overruled even by direct orders from the pilot. Keep the pilot alive. Keep the pilot on the race, and more importantly: Help them win.

Amanda rose a shield just as electricity left the bubble, and good thing she did, since Akko wouldn’t have been able to dodge that, as she was too focused trying to not crash the Shiny Rod into anything. It would be hard, if only because somehow the shapeshifter had gotten ahead and had begun to cut down trees with their passing. The half-living ship had some incredible resistance, being able to sharpen itself and attack. Not enough to cut through metal or stone, but wood… Yeah, wood was another story.

Diana said something. Amanda could feel she was being skeptic about the simulation, but not about what exactly. It didn’t bother her.

Another attack from the medusa was caught by the shield. Amanda instantly took it off, deciding she had no more patience. She turned on laser mode, ready to get rid of  it before it became more of a problem.

She shot. She had nearly perfect aim. Anyone inside the turret would instantly become an amazing gunman. Of course, the more training the better. Amanda already had a relatively good kinetic vision, which was enhanced thanks to the Shiny Rod, but her aiming was average. She understood that if she trained more her normal ability it would be greatly enhanced, going to near perfect to absolutely flawless. Sadly, she wouldn’t remember that upon coming out of the turret.

Akko finally returned to a horizontal flying position as the jungle opened up a little, allowing her to fly more comfortably. She was doing a great job of dodging the trees coming from up front, but Amanda still kept an eye out in case she miscalculated. She doubted that’d be the case, though, with Diana near her in the cockpit giving her instructions.

And, all of a sudden, the race ended. That was one of the things Amanda never had access to. She was to always follow her orders, no matter the stage of the race. Then, the turret turned off.

Amanda shook her head noticing that the Shiny Rod had stopped moving. “Akko?”

“We came in second,” Akko informed, sounding frustrated. “The shapeshifters won.”

“Their mobility gives them a great advantage normally, but in places like Pan…” Diana mentioned. “Don’t get discouraged though. We still have days to figure this out.”

“Let’s go again. I didn’t take the optimal path this time. Maybe if I go a little faster in more empty places…” Akko sounded like she was thinking hard. Weird, for her.

“Can’t I just shoot off every tree in the way?” Amanda suggested.

“Already tried that, didn’t work,” Akko mentioned.

“Oh did you really? It had also occurred to me, but I suppose these trees are too tall and thick for it to be a feasible strategy,” Diana said. She sounded so… stuck-up. Even when saying stuff like this. Did she have to ask ‘did you really’? Why did she sound surprised? Akko was smarter than she gave her credit for being.

“Yeah,” Akko said, explaining what the results had been. Amanda didn’t really get much of it, since she didn’t even know how Pan looked yet. “Anyways, wanna go again, or should I…?”

“You need it more than me, I believe,” Diana said. “You can do it, Akko.”

Wait, the way Diana had just sounded… “Ok, let’s go!”

The turret turned on again. Amanda didn’t focus. She _became_ focus.

 

Hannah dropped her bags on top of her bed, sitting down on the desk’s chair and looking at Barbara as she left hers on the floor. “Where’s Diana?” Hannah asked, noticing the blonde was indeed _not_ in the room like she had said she would.

“Well, I guess she’s… I dunno. The fact that Amanda found us was probably related to her, though,” Barbara said while taking out a shirt from a bag. She hurriedly placed it on the small backpack she had bought to carry all of her new stuff, not letting Hannah see it. It was a black shirt, kind of normal looking. Did it have some kind of drawing on it? No way of knowing, now.

Amanda. Hannah smiled when she recalled the scene at the small alleyway. She had been flustered, hadn’t she? What a strange expression for her to have. “Well, who cares,” she yawned. Now she really was tired, but not enough to want to sleep. Barbara looked at Hannah’s bags and at Hannah’s own new backpack.

“Aren’t you going to pack?”

“We still have like two days,” Hannah shrugged. She just wanted to sit down. They had walked _a lot._

Barbara rolled her eyes. “You know, leaving things in bags is still messy. I don’t get how you can be so ordered with other things but not this.”

Hannah shrugged again. They had this conversation basically every week. Hannah stood, ready to comply and pack some of her things, but the door suddenly opened. Diana stood on the threshold, and despite wearing her usual face, when she moved into the room she looked hurried. “Hannah, wonderful,” she said. “Follow me.”

Hannah cocked her head, looking at Barbara, who shook her head slightly to show that she obviously had no idea what was with that neither. “Uhm, why?”

“I have something to show you,” Diana paused, looking at Barbara. “I’d invite you too, but it’s flying related, so…”

“It’s fine, go,” Barbara waved smiling, “I’ll just hang out with Lotte for a while.”

Hannah hesitated. Barbara wasn’t really happy with it. “Wanna come anyways?” Diana looked at Hannah with interest. She didn’t object, however. “It may be boring though.”

Barbara dropped her fake smile, replacing it with a curious expression. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, worst case scenario you can probably just come back and hang out with Lotte anyways,” Hannah said. Barbara took a few seconds, but with an energetic nod she agreed. Diana watched the exchange as peaceful as ever, so Hannah assumed she wasn’t particularly annoyed at the results.

“Ok, let’s go,” Diana turned and walked away. Hannah and Barbara followed.

 

Barbara stood, watching as Hannah disappeared under the ship covered by a cloth. Not long after, Amanda came out the same way, standing and dusting off her clothes before looking up. She examined Barbara with some surprise before shrugging and walking to stand beside her.

Barbara’s opinion of Amanda was not the most favorable one. While she certainly didn’t have as much problems with her as Hannah, it was hard to ignore how aggressively assertive and loud she was, never really caring much for what others said and always off to cause some mischief. Or, at least, that’s how it had been back at Luna Nova.

Amanda was still rather confrontational and she was prone to giving angered looks to the members of the blue team, but she had chilled out. And, more important, she seemed to no longer have beef with Diana and Hannah, which had always been a source of dislike for Barbara. In fact, how Amanda had apologized earlier had worked wonders to make her more of a person in her eyes.

“So,” Amanda said, “why are you here?”

Barbara looked at her. She didn’t look that interested, so it was probably just to make some conversation. “Hannah invited me. Though I kind of expected this outcome,” Barbara replied. She looked at the redhead, who looked like she hadn’t even heard the answer.

“I get how you must feel,” Amanda said, not looking at Barbara. “Being constantly left aside, even if not on purpose,” she spoke casually, but Barbara’s interest rose. Was Amanda being sensitive?

“It’s not a big deal,” Barbara shrugged. “Things will get back to normal in a couple months. I’ve been friends with them for a long time, particularly Hannah,” she explained. She deviated her look, instinctively looking at the Shiny Rod, where her friends were right now. “How good is that simulation, really?” She asked.

Amanda shrugged. “Don’t know, haven’t experienced it,” she explained.

Barbara felt a little foolish for her question. “Oh, right. Sorry,” she desperately thought of something else to say. “So… Can you tell me exactly what happened at the play?”

This caught Amanda’s attention, who snapped her head around to stare at Barbara with intensity. “Why do you ask?” She asked carefully. Barbara smirked on the inside.

“Well, you even apologized to Hannah. She told me some things, but I would like to know the details,” she said, trying not to look too amused by Amanda’s reaction. She knew she was most likely failing.

Amanda  sighed, looking away. “I…” Was she blushing? “Ah, whatever, just don’t tell anyone else, ok?” She asked. Barbara nodded, she wanted to hear it. “Well, I went to the play because the actress looked hot on the posters,” she explained. Barbara already knew that, from what Hannah had told her. “But she ended up not being as hot in person, so… I just kind of stared at Hannah instead,” her voice struggled to say that. “I mean, she looked really good, you know?”

“Of course I know, I helped her pick it,” Barbara couldn’t keep the amusement out of her voice or face any longer. Amanda was admitting she found Hannah attractive. That was the very definition of something amusing.

“Anyways, while looking at her, I noticed Andrew was like, not paying attention to her _at all._ I still wonder if he’s gay. Wouldn’t be surprised, no straight guy could have ignored such a beauty,” Amanda continued. Barbara was smiling at this point, though Amanda hadn’t noticed, since she was looking away in a mixture of embarrassment and reluctance that made Barbara want to laugh. “So then I pointed it out to Hannah, who explained it hadn’t actually been a date and… Well, she got kinda depressed, I guess,” she finished. “At least this drama got solved quickly.”

“So you like Hannah now?” Barbara teased.

Amanda looked at her, still kind of blushed, but not really flustered. “I just think she’s pretty. Guess I wouldn’t mind spending a night with her, but like is a strong word,” Amanda looked up, as if thinking. “Yeah, I don’t think Hannah’s really my type. Too… sassy,” she shivered as she imagined something that made her uncomfortable.

“Too sassy? Really?” Barbara raised an eyebrow.

“Eh, to each their own,” Amanda shrugged.

Barbara shook her head, though she could kind of understand what Amanda meant. This, however, brought another thing to mind. “So… did you dance with her because you liked her?” Barbara asked.

Amanda looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. “No!” she exclaimed. “We literally just danced because… Ehm… Hannah was being a bitch or something, I don’t quite remember. Why are you so hung up on that?!” She sounded exasperated.

Barbara found it hard to explain, but she tried anyways. “It’s just… I don’t know. You were like _hating_ each other back then,” she thought back to when Lotte had first shown her the photo. She had recognized them, but she hadn’t want to believe Amanda and Hannah were actually dancing, so she had kind of blocked the idea from her thoughts.

“Yes, I know. But it was just a dance,” Amanda insisted.

“No, it was _not,”_ Barbara put emphasis on the last word, making Amanda pause. “Hannah is not someone… easy to handle,” she sighed. “When she really hates someone, she will be repulsed by their mere presence. And, most of all, I think you mentioned _she_ invited _you_?”

“Yeah. I was breakdancing for an audience – I tend to have that effect on people – and then we talked about something I don’t remember. I was kinda annoyed, though. Then she invited me to dance and I ended up accepting. There’s really nothing more to it.”

Barbara didn’t buy it, but she didn’t push the issue. Amanda obviously didn’t know her best friend half as much as she did, so she didn’t see the inconsistency. What had pushed Hannah to suggest them dancing? Had she been watching Amanda dance? She had liked seeing guys doing sports back in middle school. But that was it, and she certainly never invited one to dance out of nowhere. Maybe she saw it differently because Amanda was a girl.

Barbara eyed the redhead. Amanda was hot, there was no denying that. Even Hannah would be able to see it. Barbara had seen Hannah fall head over heels for any guy that looked hot, and when she’d met Andrew, he took the first place and no one had been able to dethrone her. To be fair, Barbara had also been kind of in love with him until not so long ago.

“Would you consider yourself as being a hot guy?” Barbara asked Amanda.

Amanda deadpanned her. “What?”

“Would you consi-”

“I heard the question. I mean, why would you ask that?” She asked.

Barbara was sure she was over-thinking. Reading nightfall had kind of created a bad habit on her in which she just tried to piece together every single interaction everyone had and work out why they’d had it and what hidden meaning those could have. But, of course, reality was not a written story. Not every interaction had to have a deeper, secret meaning.

But where was the fun in that? “Assume you were a boy. Just, don’t change anything else about you. Would you say you’re hot?”

“Of course,” Amanda didn’t hesitate. “That doesn’t answer my question, though.”

Barbara ignored her. Yeah, of course she would be hot. Being hot meant different things for everyone, but there were some commont traits most everyone found attractive. An athletic body, which Amanda definitely had. A peculiar hair color, which Amanda’s flaming orange hair was. Beautiful eyes, and those emeralds were the textbook definition of them. Hell, Barbara could feel herself falling in love with Amanda just by thinking about this.

Andrew also held two of these perks and he substituted the hair with money, which whether people liked to admit it or not, was always an attractive feature.

“I’m asking because maybe Hannah thinks you’re hot,” Barbara explained. It made sense. She had never shown interest in girls, but to be fair, she and Barbara had never been to schools that particularly encouraged girls like Amanda to show up. Wait, maybe that explained the obsession Hannah had with that weather reporter when they were little…

“Excuse you?” Amanda asked, disbelief obvious in both her face and voice.

“I mean, it’s just a hunch, but I _am_ really good with hunches. Particularly if they relate to Hannah. Plus, you just admitted you found _her_ pretty,” Barbara spoke rather quickly, as she often did whenever she had too much on her mind. Could Hannah _like_ Amanda? Nah, like Amanda had said, maybe like was too strong a word.

For now.

“Don’t be silly,” Amanda snorted. “Bitch’s as straight as they come,” she said. Barbara couldn’t really refute the point, Hannah _was_ straight. But, then again, how many times had Barbara heard stories about ‘straight’ girls who just had fallen for a _single_ girl for reasons outside their sex? Plus, gender meant next to nothing in this day and age. There was even a push to just create a gender neutral pronoun and be on with it. A lot of idioms had them, so why not English? Most people just used ‘he’ and ‘she’ as convenience anyways.

“You like girls, right?” Barbara asked, trying to work through her mind. She was starting to get overwhelmed all on her own.

“I like _women,”_ Amanda corrected. “Big boobs, long hair, pretty face. Don’t really like’em smartasses, but I suppose I don’t mind a relatively intellectual girl, as long as she doesn’t try to start a religious debate with me or something.”

Barbara nodded. Amanda was attracted to _females,_ not just women, if her comment about boobs meant anything. “Would you mind dating a trans women?”

Amanda shrugged. “I haven’t had the chance yet. Or, not that I know of. I mean, with how advanced medicine is, I probably wouldn’t have noticed unless I looked _really_ close. And, to be honest, when most of my relationships have been one-night stands, well, who knows.”

Yes, she was definitely attracted to females in general. Barbara had never actually asked Hannah about these things. She was usually so vocal about who she liked that there was no need. So…

“Hey, you’re not thinking anything weird, are you?” Amanda narrowed her eyes while looking at Barbara.

Barbara was caught off guard by the question, and her train of thought was derailed. “W-what? No! Of course not…” Was she? “It’s one of the first rules of shipping: Don’t ship real life persons,” Barbara quoted. Then, she face-palmed. “Oh my god I said that out loud.”

“Are you serious?”

“Shut up,” Barbara crossed her arms, petulant. “I’m just thinking that Hannah might think you’re hot, there’s nothing weird about that. Even if someone is straight, they can find someone of the same sex attractive on an aesthetic level,” of course, that was an excuse. The more she thought about it, the more she came to the realization Amanda wasn’t exactly a bad fit for Hannah. Sure, they bashed heads all day, but that was kind of the point. Few people were able to keep Hannah – the real Hannah, not the bashful version of herself she presented to hot guys – in check. If they managed to work past their issues…

“Did you tell your best friend any of this?” Amanda asked.

Barbara gave her a harsh look. “If you dare tell her I will say that you confessed to me that you like her,” she threatened.

Amanda stared, unimpressed. “I mean, I wasn’t going to tell her, but if you put it like that I might just do it,” she threatened in return.

Barbara let out an indignant ‘hmph’ as she looked at Amanda. “Fine, whatever,” as far as Hannah didn’t find out about this she supposed it was fine. It wasn’t that bad anyways, but Hannah was the kind to never forget these kinds of things.

They stayed in silence for a while, Barbara slowly falling back into her lucubration. Then, she recalled something interesting. She and Lotte had been pretty excited about a certain event. They hadn’t bothered to tell anyone about it because, well, they would find out eventually and you had to be a Nightfall fan to care anyways.

But maybe…

She eyed Amanda stealthily. _Yeah, this could work,_ she thought with a smile.

 

Diana broom-jumped over a small line of trees that was about seven meters tall. Jumping two meters with a broom wasn’t that hard, but it required some practice. Practice Diana didn’t have. The Shooting Star’s belly crashed into the tops of the trees, but luckily it didn’t cause too much damage. To her right, she could see the daemon second-category ship. Akko had suggested she practice with first category simulations, because then she’d be practicing with the _best_ pilots, but that wasn’t exactly how things worked. Sure, First Categories were arguably better than seconds, but races were also about matchups. Different pilots flew differently, no matter if they were of the same race. Save maybe for shapeshifters.

Therefore, it would be useless for Diana to practice against First Categories. If the Shiny Rod really was creating perfect simulations of how these aliens would pilot, then all that would do was fill Diana with instincts and reflexes prepared to counteract pilots she was not against.

So, as she watched the daemon ship approaching, she prepared. She still recalled what had happened back in the last lap of the race, obviously. That attack, the shield it had released to keep everyone trapped… The shield wouldn’t be very useful in an open track like the jungle was, but the attack would also be way more effective. Like Diana’s nitro, but way more dangerous.

Diana did a few quick movements, flipping a small number of switches. The Shooting Star slowed down, but in turn, the magic not used for movement was redirected to the pilots. Their perception of time warped, making them feel like the world outside was slowing down. Right on cue, a barrage of attacks came, shot directly from the tip of the four sets of wings on the daemon’s ship. Red bolts of raw inferno – like electric shocks – appeared between them. Diana was ready to dodge by the time the barrage of shots left the black ship with the white stripe.

She was able to maneuver between the inferno projectiles, receiving minimum damage. Upon seeing it wasn’t making much of a difference, the attack stopped.

“How?!” Akko suddenly exclaimed. Diana was taken by surprise. She had kind of forgotten Akko was right behind her, and the sudden movement of one of the joysticks made the Shooting Star lean about thirty degrees to the left. “Oh, sorry,” Akko whispered as Diana made sure the sudden movement hadn’t taken her off path or left her open for attacks. “That was so… Amazing,” Akko said. “Do you always do that?”

Diana tried very hard not to glare backwards. She did _not_ like being bothered while flying. No one did, but Diana found herself wanting to throw Akko out of the cockpit right there and then. Akko was kind and all, but Diana had a harsh reminder of the fact that she was also loud and slightly annoying.

“Diana?” Akko insisted.

“Akko, please,” Diana said, voice coming angrier than she wanted. “Trying to focus.”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

The finish line was close. Diana could see the red stripe on the distance, but there were too many trees on the way for Nitro to be a viable option. Even with if her reaction time had been enhanced, breaking the sound barrier was not something worth the risk.

Or was it?

_I’m in a simulation,_ Diana thought. _Now’s the time to tell if It’s actually worth it or not. Now’s the moment to take risks._

So she did. She looked at the finish line, at all the trees and foliage in the middle, and pressed the rightmost pedal of the broom.

Nitro, with the current state of the Shooting Star, was _not_ as dangerous as the normal one. However, this meant that she was still going slower than she should have. Trees started to become a blur as she barely dodged them, and Hannah occasionally shot at whoever came too close.

The finish line kept getting closer and closer. Diana wasn’t sure if she was first, but she had the feeling she was. Just a little bit more…

Red. She hadn’t noticed that the daemons had fallen back, but as she saw the trail of red light pass right besides her, piercing through trees like if they were paper, she cursed internally.

The race ended, the simulation paused, and Diana sighed. A small leaderboard appeared in front of her.

Wait, third? When had the shapeshifter gotten ahead of her?

“So, now you gonna tell me?” Akko asked. Diana sighed.

“I wish this seat could just turn around. It’d be so much easier to talk that way,” Diana commented, annoyed by not being able to look Akko in the face. Akko let out a thoughtful hum before snapping her fingers.

“Ah, wait. Alcor, can you make the pilot seat turn around?” She said. Diana frowned. That seemed like a silly thing to say. Why would a broom-racer have such a feature?

She didn’t have her answer, but the seat turned around anyways. She yelped with surprise as the seat moved, and in a second she was staring at Akko, who was standing, head crouched, with a smile. Diana instantly started questioning what were the limits of the Shiny Rod. She was aware of the fact that it could change forms and transform, but she had always thought those were things built into it. Could it take any form? It had seemingly infinite energy, so why not infinite matter? Could it manipulate it at will? Could it…

“Diana, you fine?” Akko asked. They were really close together now. If not for the Shiny Rod somehow keeping the temperature in the cockpit stable, Diana would’ve sworn she was getting hot.

“I’m just impressed by the capabilities of this broom,” she stated. Akko nodded, understanding. Then, she stared at Diana expectantly. _Oh, right._ “To answer your question, no. What I just did is… an experimental feature. I’ve never used before because I haven’t really needed to,” she said. Speaking with Akko so close to her face made her regret what she had said earlier. She’d rather speak while facing the windshield. “It has been proven that great concentrations of magic can shift our perception of time. So, by taking a certain amount out of our broom’s engines and applying it to the cockpit and turret, the pilot and gunman can perceive time slower outside. It strengthens the normal reaction-enhancing properties broom-racers have, but it takes away power. In a race, becoming slower isn’t precisely good, but in places like Pan where there’s so many obstacles, it might just be worth it…” Diana trailed off. Akko was giving her a weird look.

“Sorry, I kind of lost track of what you were saying halfway through,” Akko chuckled, fidgeting with her fingers.

Diana sighed again. “It just makes me go slower but I can see things outside the ship better, so it’s a good fit for Pan but it’s not for most places.”

“Ooooh,” Akko understood. “Can the Shiny Rod do that?” Akko frowned. Diana shrugged. “It’s your turn, so you might as well test it.”

She and Akko shifted places – with the new position of the seat it was far easier – And Akko got ready to start.

“Hey,” Hannah suddenly said. “I’m still here, gimmie a second to change places with Amanda.”

“Actually,” Diana also said, “I would like to stretch my legs a little. Would you mind if I step out?”

Akko nodded, opening the windshield for her. Diana crawled outside of the ship and stood, watching as Barbara and Amanda approached. Hannah also came out of the ship.

“So, how’d it go?” Barbara asked.

Diana noticed she and Amanda were pointedly not looking at each other. It was not like they were the best of friends, but Diana didn’t think Barbara had much of a problem with Amanda, besides the basic dislike all three members of the blue team shared for the redhead.

“Badly,” Diana said. “I lost both simulated races.”

“It’s my fault,” Hannah instantly said, “I wasn’t good enough with my shots.”

Amanda suddenly perked up, staring dumbfounded at Hannah. “Wait a second, you _remember?”_ She stepped forward, looking at Hannah as if she was a ghost.

“Yeah,” Hannah said, voice shifting as she realized the strangeness of it. “Yeah, that’s weird. Why did that happen?”

“Maybe because it was a simulation of the Shooting Star?” Barbara suggested.

Diana nodded in agreement. It made sense. Still, it just opened up more questions. If the wiping of memory was optional, what was the reason Amanda’s had to be wiped? Was it something about how the Shiny Rod’s weapons worked?

“Fucking stupid broom,” Amanda grunted, walking towards the thing. “What’s your damn problem,” she punched it as she bended to crawl under it. Diana expected the alarm to go off, but it didn’t. “This is bullshit, I swear…” Amanda’s voice disappeared as she crawled into the turret.

“Sorry it took so long,” Hannah said to Barbara. They had been in there for about half an hour. Diana was already pretty tired, but she still planned to do at least two more attempts. She wondered if this is how people felt about playing videogames. She had never really dedicated much time to them.

“It’s fine,” Barbara shrugged. “I got to chat with Amanda, at least.”

Hannah raised an eyebrow. Diana was also interested, but Barbara didn’t give any more details. Instead, she smiled knowingly, hiding some kind of information. By the look she gave Hannah, she suspected it had something to do with her.

“Well, whatever. I’m tired now. Those simulations can be stressful, huh? They feel so real,” Hannah said. Diana agreed. A couple of times she had forgotten she was not in a real race.

“Do you wish to finish for today, then?” Diana asked. Hannah nodded, to Diana’s disappointment. “I see. Well then, I’ll wait for Akko to come out and tell her. Go on ahead.”

Hannah frowned. “No,” she grabbed Diana’s arm. “You also need some sleep, and Akko can figure out why you disappeared on her own, or even call you if she so wishes,” she started dragging her.

“W-wait,” Diana was surprised, “are you angry with me?” she asked with concern. Hannah kept pulling on her, Barbara following.

“No. Yes. Maybe,” she did not let go. “I’m just tired of ditching you.”

Ditching? Diana didn’t understand. “But I said that you-”

“Fuck what you said. You’re tired too, I can tell. Let’s just all go to sleep.”

Diana was still taken aback by the sudden attitude. She looked back at the Shiny Rod. She still wished to stay, tell Akko what she had done. She didn’t like leaving things unfinished. But Hannah’s grab on her wrist, her expression and the way her foot tapped the ground told her that she was not going to change her mind.

“I think she has a point,” Barbara added. “Come on, let’s go to sleep. You can keep practicing tomorrow.”

Diana looked down. “Fine,” she gave in. “Let us sleep for now. I’ll inform Akko through Amanda’s wand,” not the perfect choice, but… Well, something within her just didn’t want Akko to think she’d just up and ditched her. Probably because if she did, she feared Akko would get mad and not let her use the simulator anymore. That didn’t sound like Akko at all, but it was a nice rationalization for her reluctance to go.

Hannah’s expression softened, and she let go of Diana. “Wait, Diana, did you eat anything?”

“Yes, I have,” Diana had eaten on Magic Deck.

“Ah, perfect. Let’s just sleep, then, I’m beat.”

“You took like a two hours nap not that long ago,” Barbara teased. Hannah snorted, and they started discussing.

Diana looked at the cloth-covered Shiny Rod one last time before following her friends towards the elevators. The Shiny Rod was more than a box of mysteries. Every new thing they learned about it just created a hundred more questions for everyone involved. Well, except Akko. She seemed fine with asking the simple ones, but she didn’t wonder about the more complicated stuff.

That was fine, too. Not everyone was a scholar. Akko was Akko, after all.


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may just think "Why the fuck is this chapter so short?"  
> And the answer is: I didn't even realize it was while cutting them. Like I said, I kind of forgot how the separation in chapters worked.

Akko lost. Again and again. She had been practicing with the rules of a normal race, meaning ten opponents, and she just kept losing. She never managed to come in first. In fact, she had only managed to get in third at best. She kept trying new things: Being purely defensive, being purely aggressive, middle grounds, going fast, going slower, trying to use that special mode the Shooting Star had – the Shiny Rod could actually emulate it – but none of it worked. The shapeshifter kept getting ahead no matter what. The daemons used the Noir Rod way more effectively than she used the Shiny Rod. The plants knew the terrain better.

The simulation ended.

“You’re too afraid of going faster,” Ursula said. Akko had brought her into the cockpit the previous day after getting frustrated. She seemed very uncomfortable, and not because of the weird position she was in.

“I know, I know, ‘you fly like if you were still on Machina’ and all that. I’ve been trying to go faster, but…”

“It’s scary,” Ursula shook her head, “but you need to get over it _now_ that you’re in a simulator, Akko. You won’t be able to once you’re in the real deal.”

Akko nodded. She understood what Ursula was saying, but it was hard to get rid of the instincts she had developed in Machina, of the careful manipulation of speed she had been forced to learn to do in that race. And she was certain the gravity on Pan was different, too. Maybe not noticeably enough, but there had to be a reason she couldn’t get the hang of flying through the trees. Every race she hit one at least once. Diana had hit just a couple times. Akko had even asked Ursula to try it, but she had refused profusely, stating that her role was to teach, not to pilot.

“Let me give you a suggestion,” Ursula said. “Have you tried thinking about what you’re going to do before you do it?”

Akko looked up with a confused expression. “Ehm… Isn’t that everything I do?”

Ursula shook her head. “No. The Shiny Rod has a map feature doesn’t it? Try to use it. Plan an optimal path to the finish line, stick to it as close as possible, and then _flow.”_

Akko paused. “Flow?”

Ursula looked down. “It’s… Hard to explain. Akko, you have amazing instincts, but you lack the technical knowledge, so you can’t put them to use. So, instead of doing exactly what you think you _should_ do, which often leads to you crashing into trees, getting shot or makes you lose speed. Or all three of them at the same time,” Akko cringed a little recalling the simulation where that had happened. Wrong turn on her part. “You could try to fly with some more forethought. Instead of thinking ‘oh, there’s a tree, let’s dodge it’, try to think ‘I can see five trees, let’s think of the optimal way to dodge them all’, you get me?”

Akko nodded. She understood, but there was one problem. She didn’t even think about that first tree, usually. Like Ursula had said, she usually just followed her instincts. But she found that her instincts didn’t seem to be enough when she was trying to focus also on keeping tabs on the Rod’s systems. She had been tempted to go back to the automatic mode, but… No. Then she would never learn exactly how things worked.

“Ok, let’s do this. Alcor, start simulation,” Akko said, ready to keep going.

 

“It’s _not_ working,” Akko said after the third simulation in a row where she had absolutely failed to do what she had been instructed.

Ursula put a hand on her shoulder, patience showing in her face. “It’s ok. You’ll get used to it. Don’t let it bring you down.”

Akko shook her head. “I don’t have time for this,” she frowned, “What if I don’t get it right by the time the race starts?” She had tried to do that, but in trying it she had been too distracted. Multitasking wasn’t particularly compatible with her, but the worst part of it all was the fact that it seemed that by trying this she had just gotten worse. Ursula insisted she just needed practice, but she didn’t have time to practice, she needed to get used to her usual way of flying and making it work.

“Akko…” Ursula gave her a worried look, but Akko had already made up her mind, so she kept stubbornly looking forward. “Ok, if you’re so adamant about this, I suppose it can’t be helped,” she sighed. Then, she removed her glasses. Akko looked at her, and thought she recognized her. Well, of course she did, she knew her. But it was kind of different… Ah, whatever, she’d worry about that later. “First things first: Change to automatic mode.”

“What?!” Akko exclaimed.

“You can keep practicing with the manual settings later. For now, you’re not used to it. They’re distracting you,” Ursula explained. “Let the Shiny Rod handle itself, focus on piloting.”

“But…”

“Akko,” Ursula gave her a harsh look. “You want to win or not? Listen to me: If you can’t handle just trying to think a little bit ahead, you’re not going to be able to keep track of everything you need inside this cockpit. If you’re going to be stubborn about this, then I might as well just go to my room and sleep.”

Akko hesitated, then looked down. “Alcor, change to automatic mode…” She said without much energy.

The cockpit shifted, hiding all the controls, going back to the way it was before. It looked empty, now. “Don’t feel bad, Akko,” Ursula said. “Everyone has their strengths. Let the Shiny Rod handle the technical stuff for now. Your strength is in the fact that you have a good sense of how to fly, ok?”

Akko nodded. “Start,” she said.

“Remember, just pilot. Don’t think about anything else,” Ursula repeated. Akko nodded.

The race started.

 

“I think I need a break,” Akko stated once her test run ended. Ursula looked like she wanted to object, but she didn’t, instead nodding.

“You may be right. You’re fed up, we’ve been here for a couple hours now. Go relax with your friends,” Ursula said kindly. Akko opened the windshield and allowed Ursula to go out first. Once they were outside the Shiny Rod, Akko looked at her teacher.

“Uhm… Coach?” Akko asked.

“Yes?” Ursula said as she put her glasses back on. Akko hesitated for a second.

“Do you think Chariot had these kinds of problems?” She asked. They were walking back to the elevators, and Akko distracted herself looking at the many different rooms in the hangar. Big ones, small ones, long ones, wide ones. Some colorful, some a simple black or white. Akko was aware that many humans used them to drive around on alien planets, but she never got a chance to actually see that in action, since she was too focused on her own problems. She recalled the time she had managed to see Chariot’s race. Such a unique opportunity…

“What kind of problems do you mean?” Ursula asked, sounding a little nervous.

“Well, from the time she appeared to the time she disappeared, she never lost a race,” Akko said. “I can’t help but wonder if maybe I’m not cut out for this.”

Ursula hummed to herself. “Well, maybe she actually lost sometimes, but in the simulations.”

Akko’s eyes widened. “Oh, that makes a lot of sense,” she said. Yeah, Chariot certainly knew about the simulations. She just practiced a lot, didn’t she? She had been able to practice before the IPR started, but maybe Akko could still catch up to her. Maybe not to her perfect record, but if she managed to finish what she never did… “Think that if I manage to win the race Chariot will come out and praise me for it?”

Ursula chuckled, though there was something hidden behind it that Akko couldn’t quite catch. “Who knows…” she said.

Akko looked at her. She felt kind of bad: They always did their thing, and only really interacted with her with race-related stuff. Akko had been with her sometimes, but she probably felt lonely anyways. And, since they were going to take a break now, it would be a good chance to do spend some time together.

Akko suddenly had an idea. “Oh, can you contact Lotte and Sucy?”

“Ah, sure. The wand network is working, so… What do you want me to say to them?”

Akko thought for a while. Then, she came up with a great idea.

 

“No,” Sucy said while looking at the activity Akko had planned out.

“But-”

“ _No,”_ Sucy’s tone took on a menacing tone, which made Akko take a step back, just in case. She looked at Lotte and Ursula for backup. Ursula gave her an apologetic smile, but Lotte sighed and stepped forward, putting a hand on Sucy’s shoulder.

“Come on, Sucy. It’ll be fun.”

“I’m not five years old,” Sucy grunted.

Akko pouted. She didn’t like it when people called bumping cars a kid’s thing. They were fun! You got to ram your small car against people without a fear of really hurting them! There were no winner or losers either, just the pure joy of making small electric cars hit each other.

Plus, the people in this place were definitely enjoying themselves. Adults or children. It was natural, who didn’t enjoy things like these? “Come on, it’ll be fun!” Akko took the risk to step forward and push Sucy. The purple haired girl whipped her hand to her waist, but her wand wasn’t there. She was wearing a black dress under a black cloak. “Ha ha!” Akko laughed, triumphant, “You don’t have your wand! You can’t threaten me!” Sucy turned her head a little. The single red eye looking at Akko was enough to make Akko waver. “Please don’t murder me,” she said, but kept pushing the girl.

The line wasn’t too bad. A lot of people probably thought like Sucy; a lot of people were idiots.

The current round of people finally stopped. They got off their cars and allowed the ones in line to ride. Akko’s group was barely able to get one car each. The circuit they had built was big enough to allow twenty persons at once, more if you were in pairs. Akko didn’t need no pairs, she was going to turn everyone else into metaphorical mashed potatoes. These bumper cars ran on magic batteries. These generated electricity and made the car work and hover. In fact, now that Akko thought about it, these should probably be called bumper brooms. But they had the steering wheels of cars…

A loud horn sounded, and Akko stopped thinking. It was time for bumping. Akko accelerated her small, red

She had barely moved when someone rammed into her from the side. Sucy, with as stoic a face as always, made Akko spin a little. Akko. Looked at her through narrowed eyes. This meant _war._

“This is so stupid,” Sucy mumbled.

“Well, let’s see if _this_ is stupid!” Akko spun her steering wheel to Sucy’s direction, and her bumper car got released from Sucy’s grip. She spun, watching Sucy go, and started a persuit.

Someone tried to ram into her again, from the side. Not someone she knew. She slowed down a little, letting them pass by, and then went full on against Sucy again. Soon, Sucy reached the end of the circuit, and Akko smirked as she had no other choice but turn around.

She tried to dodge Akko, but Akko saw it coming, and took the chance. Sucy probably didn’t even realized what had hit her as Akko’s car took on hers in full force from the side. Akko could see her head bounce around while the seatbelt kept her in place. Ah, this was true jo-

Akko got hit from behind. It sent her in a spin that she took advantage of for a quick turnaround. Lotte had hit her. She was giggling. Akko accelerated, bumping into her, but she hadn’t accumulated enough momentum for it to be satisfying, so she turned the steering wheel as far as she could and started going in reverse.

She accidentally crashed into someone else. A couple of kids in a pairings car. If Akko recalled correctly, in those one had the control of the steering wheel while the other controlled the speed. They laughed as Akko hit them.

Akko had been smiling since the second the activity had started, and she was not about to stop.

Then, to Akko’s surprise, someone else rammed into her. This time it was Ursula, who had a strangely determined look on her face. She looked as determined as Akko felt.

The bumps and laughs continued. Akko saw that at one point Sucy was definitely enjoying herself, for she was smiling.

And, too soon, it was over. As Akko stepped out of her car, she considered asking everyone to get back in line again. She doubted she’d be able to get Sucy into it again, though. Platinum Deck wasn’t particularly crowded today. Then again, Platinum Deck was a deck not a high percentage of the ship’s passengers was able to afford.

“That was fun,” Lotte said as she checked the photos her little spirit had taken.

“I disagree,” Sucy retorted, to which Akko answered with a smirk. In fact, Lotte also smiled at her. She had probably seen Sucy enjoying herself too. She was just unwilling to admit it. Akko didn’t need such admission, anyways. She would always live knowing the truth, and that’s all that mattered.

“You were pretty intense back there, Coach,” Akko said. Ursula eyed her, shrugging and blushing ever so slightly.

“It’s been ages since I last rode one of those,” she explained. “I got excited.”

Akko nodded. She fully understood. Being in those, it just brought out the most competitive side of you. Hitting, bumping, crashing, ramming. Nothing like it, indeed.

“Ok. Can I go now?” Sucy asked.

“Sucy, come on,” Lotte said. “It’s been a while since we’ve hung out together.”

Sucy rolled her eyes. “I’d rather be on the room. Can we hang out there?”

Akko was about to refuse when, suddenly, Lotte received a message on her wand. She read it for a while, then she cocked her head. “I think you may just get your wish, Sucy,” she commented, and Akko got closer to her to see what she meant.

Lotte showed her the text. It was from Barbara.

Akko liked the idea.


	40. Chapter 40

“Did you really need to spend all that time in the bathroom?” Diana asked. “You could just have used the one in our room.”

Hannah shrugged. “I really needed to go, sorry,” she excused. Diana couldn’t help but wonder if she was actually fine. They had gotten out to get something to eat for Barbara, who apparently felt sick, but Hannah had really insisted on just using the place’s bathroom and had stayed there for an entire hour. Maybe she was also sick but didn’t want to admit it. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

“And you’re certain this is what she wanted to eat?” Diana asked. There was a giant cake in the bag Hannah was carrying. Diana wasn’t sure how it looked like, but the box was pretty telling. Why would Barbara, who was feeling sick, want to eat cake? Maybe she wanted to eat cake because she was sick. In such case, was it really wise to give the cake to her? Maybe she wasn’t thinking properly.

And why cake? Barbara was someone who really cared about her image. The calorie count on this would be through the roof, certainly…

“Ok, here we are!” Hannah exclaimed in an overly dramatic way. Diana decided not to comment on the strange behavior. She opened the door to their room and Diana was surprised by the light not turning on. Had it broken? It was supposed to be automatic.

Hannah waved for her to get in. Diana didn’t understand the need of courtesy here, but she took the offer nonetheless.

As soon as she stepped into the room, she realized something was off. Movement within it. In the blink of an eye she took her wand, flicking it, activating her lantern. She squinted her eyes, trying to tell what was going on.

“Man, what a way to ruin the surprise,” a voice came from within. Amanda?

“Shh, let’s do it anyways,” Akko’s voice also came. “Come on, three, two, one…”

Diana lowered her wand, guessing what was going on. The light suddenly turned on, and a group of seven girls and one woman stood within the small room, cramped. “Congratulations!” They shouted in unison. Diana gave them all a flat look, including Barbara, who was in the center of the room.

“I have the feeling this is not a mistaken birthday party,” Diana said. Barbara smiled meekly, stepping closer.

“We thought you deserved a small celebration for your win,” she explained. The other persons in the room looked kind of uncomfortable. If not for the ventilation system this place would probably be hot as hell. The green team in general didn’t look particularly excited. Lotte looked supportive, but not particularly into it. Akko was staring at Diana intensely, probably waiting for some kind of reaction, while Sucy had her usual I-don’t-care-I-wanna-leave expression. Ursula had a smile on her face.

Diana didn’t exactly know how to feel. She was flattered, but awkwardness started to take her over. Hannah put the big cake on the desk, and Diana noticed it was a four-level-high strawberry cake. Jasminka instantly lost interest in everything but that.

She wanted to say thank you, but on the other hand, she didn’t feel like she deserved such a thing. A nice dinner had felt like more than enough. She was not a fan of parties, especially those dedicated to her. “I… appreciate it,” she managed to say. “But I don’t think you should have bothered,” she said, keeping the awkwardness at bay.

Akko snorted. “Oh please. You ended up first! If that doesn’t deserve a celebration, what does?” She asked, eyeing the cake in the table as she spoke.

“Winning the entire race, maybe,” Diana said. She was also looking at the strawberry cake. It looked amazing.

Akko gave her a perplexed look, as if she didn’t believe what she was hearing. Before she was able to give her counterpoint, however, Hannah suddenly spoke up. “The hell are you doing?!”

“Just tasting,” Amanda said. The tip of her finger was white with the whipped cream that was decorating the cake. She licked her finger, to which Hannah answered with a really hostile expression. Amanda didn’t seem to care. “Holy shit this tastes like nothing, what the fuck?”

“It has little sugar. Diana isn’t a fan of sweet things,” Hannah simply said as she took out a knife from the desk’s drawer. When had they bought that? Carrying things like that around was strictly forbidden… Wait a second, that didn’t look like a knife. It was just a piece of metal with a slightly sharpened side. Diana wondered where _that_ had come from. “Here,” Hannah offered a piece of the cake to her. The cake had come with some plastic plates.

“I… Thank you,” she said, taking the plate. She also took the small plastic fork, and looked around. To let some space open, the green and red teams had sat on the beds. Ursula and Barbara stood, and as Hannah handed pieces of cake around, silence was made.

Barbara then brought out a couple of big cartons of juice. Amanda looked at the things and the plastic cups and rolled her eyes. She was probably used to drinking stuff with alcohol, if Diana wasn’t too wrong. It seemed like the kind of thing Amanda would drink. Diana often drank alcohol in high class parties, but she was not a fan of it, and her experience with it was limited to wine and champagne.

Once everyone had a piece of cake – save for Jasminka, who had eaten it almost in a single bite – and a cup of juice, Barbara stood in the middle of the room. Diana took a step back, knowing what was coming, not wanting to take part in it.

“Let’s toast in the name of our best pilot,” Barbara said. Amanda opened her mouth to complain, “and we all know it’s true, don’t even try to pretend it’s not, come on,” Barbara continued in a sententious manner while looking the redhead.

Amanda sighed, slowly rising her cup, and everyone toasted.

Then, conversations started again. Ursula approached Diana, still wearing her smile, her cup empty. “Uncomfortable?”

“Yes,” Diana admitted. It wasn’t like she would be able to hide it in the long run anyways.

Ursula chuckled. “I understand how you feel,” she said. Diana doubted she did, but she nodded. “Everyone seeing the work you’ve done, that you don’t think is particularly good, and praising it as the best… it’s pretty surreal, isn’t it?”

Diana found herself impressed by the accuracy of how she had described it. “Yes,” she agreed, speaking on a soft voice. The room was small, and despite the conversations, speaking loudly would let everyone hear what she was saying. “It’s just… There are still nine races to go. This feels like selling the bear’s fur before you’ve hunt it.”

Ursula looked at her with understanding. “You should probably just enjoy it,” she said. “Don’t think why they threw this small party, just enjoy it. I’d say you should sit down, but I have the feeling that won’t be possible,” as she chuckled, Akko stretched from the bed she was sitting in and tugged on her arm. As usual, Ursula was wearing her Luna Nova anti-g uniform, so there wasn’t much loose cloth to grab her from.

“Coach, when is your birthday?” Akko asked.

Ursula hesitated. Diana looked with interest as she ate some cake. It was tasty. “February twentieth,” she said. Akko stopped eating her cake. Diana understood why, even if she wouldn’t admit it out loud. The date Ursula had just given…

“It’s the same birthday as Chariot!” Akko exclaimed. She was so loud that every other conversation in the room stopped for a second. Ursula laughed nervously, putting a piece of cake in her mouth. She nodded. “Oh my god… Did you ever have a joint birthday party?”

“Oh, no, of course not,” Ursula waved her hand, dismissive. “We had our own circle of friends.”

Akko seemed disappointed about this, but she accepted it. “So… Wait, when are all of your birthdays?” Akko asked out loud. Everyone stopped their own conversations to quickly give theirs. Akko was surprised to find that a couple of them had gone by since the start of the school year. Actually, Constanze’s and Jasminka’s had passed during the trip, Jasminka’s just a couple days ago. Amanda was also surprised by this, apologizing for absolutely forgetting, but they obviously didn’t care.

Sucy refused to give hers, but Akko shrugged. She probably already knew, somehow. She then started speaking about how, then, they would totally throw a party on Christmas. At this point the holiday had little to no religious meaning left, but people still celebrated it. Diana didn’t mention that the race committee would be taking care of making a mega party for everyone, since she didn’t want to ruin Akko’s fantasy.

“This will be the first Christmas I spend away from my family, now that I think about it,” Akko mentioned, looking a little down. “Wonder how that feels.”

“It’s better than you seem to expect, no small cousins being a pain in the ass, no uncles claiming how your other cousins are better than you, no grumpy old farts complaining. It’s actually pretty neat!” Amanda commented. Diana directed to her a raised eyebrows look. Was it necessary for her to be so curt?

She didn’t seem to notice, sadly. Akko, on the other hand, sighed. “Well, it’ll be interesting, at least,” she said in a more cheerful tone. Diana smiled slightly. It was kind of impressive how Akko was able to just ignore troublesome thoughts and focus on the good part, most of the time.

“Speaking of parties,” Barbara said, “this is supposed to be one! Come on, who wants to play something?”

Everyone looked at her. She was now sitting on the bed next to Constanze, since Jasminka had stood and was now eating cake unapologetically. She had, however, separated at least one more piece for everyone. Diana had already finished hers, but she didn’t want more.

“Barbara,” Amanda said with a serious tone. “You do understand what the nature of party games usually is, right?” She spoke as if Barbara was a child who didn’t understand what she was doing. To be fair, Diana was indeed kind of lost. She hadn’t attended many parties like these.

“Amanda, please, Ursula’s here, what could we do?” Barbara pointed at the blue-haired teacher. Was it a magic mutation or did she dye it? Diana wouldn’t have been able to tell.

Nowadays, so much of society was imbued in magic that seeing people affected by it in one way or another wasn’t strange. In fact, she suspected at least six people on this room had some kind of magic mutation, not counting herself. Constanze and her navy blue hair, Akko and her strangely red eyes, Sucy’s mauve – at least, Diana thought that shade of purple was called that – hair and red eyes, Jasminka’s pink hair and strange ability to eat constantly without getting fat, Ursula’s blue hair and red eyes – while red eyes _were_ a common magic mutation, this seemed like a bit of an exaggeration – and Amanda’s strange hair pattern, in which the lower part of it seemed to be darker than the top – she could probably comb it back to make it look completely different. Maybe the incredible eyes she had were related to that, but that seemed like a stretch.

Counting herself and her Cavendish Hair™, that made seven out of ten people in this room that magic had affected somehow. It was impressive.

“Ok then, what do you want to play? I left my deck of UNO at home, sadly,” Amanda said. The mockery wasn’t acknowledged by Barbara, who just kept thinking.

“I mean, we could go for a simple truth or dare,” Hannah suggested. Diana said nothing, but in fact, she had never partaken in one of those games. The kinds of parties she attended to didn’t tend to have such childish diversions. The parties she had attended where those diversions might be more acceptable had, sadly, lacked it.

“Wouldn’t that take too long?” Akko asked. “We still need to practice,” she looked at Diana with hesitance, obviously leaving the decision up to her.

Diana found herself in a troublesome spot. Of course, she knew she needed to practice some more. She had left Akko to practice alone for a few hours, but she had been making some real progress. She now understood better how flying between trees worked. She could make a breakthrough in the safety of the simulator before starting with the real deal. She knew it.

But she _really_ wanted to try out this truth or dare thing.

“There is no need to rush it,” Diana said with faked calm. “We can probably do this for a while.”

Akko didn’t seem convinced. Was she really that eager to go back or had she learnt to read Diana? No, when Diana focused on hiding her emotions, no one could read them. She had developed her stone face to deal with politicians. Akko was too pure for her own good.

“Let’s just do it,” Amanda said. “I suppose dares can’t be anything sexual, though,” she looked Ursula from the corner of her eye.

Ursula shifted uncomfortably. “I’d prefer it like that, I believe,” she said, getting slightly red.

Diana had also blushed ever so slightly, but she quickly got it back under control. Yeah, of course this game would be used with such intentions.

“Ok, Diana, you start,” Hannah pointed at Diana. Diana was taken aback, not expecting to be thrown right into the beast’s maw. She… She didn’t exactly know how to play. But, well, she kind of knew what it was about…

“Uhm…” She hesitated. No, just knowing the concept didn’t help, but she didn’t want to admit she knew nothing about it.

“Just pick somebody, jeez,” Amanda complained. Hannah and Barbara threw her murderous looks, but Diana was actually thankful. _So I need to pick someone,_ she thought. Ok, that made sense. As she looked at every member of the room, she ended up thinking Ursula was probably a good person to experiment on.

“Uhm, miss Ursula,” Diana said. Ursula looked a little dismayed, obviously feeling out of place. She seemed to be waiting for something, but after a few seconds of silence, she sighed.

“Truth,” she reluctantly said.

Diana held back a smile. It hadn’t been so hard, after all. Now, if she recalled, she could ask basically anything and Ursula would answer truthfully. Diana didn’t want to take too long, so she decided to ask a silly thing. Something she had been curious about.

“Is your hair dyed or natural?” Diana asked.

Ursula’s eyes widened. For a second, she looked panicked, out of sorts. Diana frowned, stranged. However, after the first few seconds, she relaxed. Whatever had set her off apparently had gone away, and she was open for answering. “It’s… dyed,” she admitted. Diana was a little disappointed, though she wasn’t sure why.

“What’s its natural color, then?” Diana asked.

“Just one question per turn!” Ursula exclaimed, panicking again. Again, Diana was a little taken aback, but she didn’t know about that rule. “Amanda!” she cried, almost as if she was asking for help. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Amanda said without hesitation. She smirked. Oh, so that’s how turns went. The target of the previous person became the next in line. Made sense. Diana also suspected you couldn’t target the person who had targeted you, to avoid people firing at each other constantly.

Ursula hesitated for a while, probably thinking of a proper dare. Amanda had an expression that said she would handle anything thrown at her without problem. “Sit like a proper until your next turn,” Ursula said. Amanda’s expression slowly fell into a hateful frown. However, and to everyone’s surprise, she suddenly rose and gestured with her head for Hannah to get off the chair, since she couldn’t do it on the bed. Then, she sat with her back straight, legs crossed, head high and hands carefully placed on her lap.

“I hate you,” she said to Ursula. Ursula chuckled. “Akko, truth or dare!” She didn’t voice that as a question, but as an inevitability.

“Uhm… Truth,” Akko said carefully. Amanda smiled mischievously.

“Who is the person you dislike the most inside this room?” Amanda asked.

Diana suddenly didn’t like this game so much anymore. _Of course_ , she realized, _if people are bound by honor to answer honestly, you can also get this kind of information out of them._ Was this the ‘nature’ Amanda had been speaking about? Or was the nature of these the sexual implications she’d spoken about? In any case, Diana was now uncomfortable as she watched Akko cringe a lot.

“Come on, don’t be an asshole,” Barbara said.

“Shut it, I warned you,” Amanda said, unfazed. Akko sat, uncomfortable, looking around the room. When she looked at Diana for a few instants more than expected Diana felt her heart sink a little, but Akko’s eyes quickly moved on.

“I…” Akko put a piece of cake in her mouth – when had she gotten another piece? – and followed it with downing what she had on her cup. “I guess Hannah. Sorry,” Akko admitted. Diana felt an unusual relief, even though she didn’t really expect Akko to pick her. But, well, she couldn’t be one hundred percent certain. Akko didn’t look Hannah in the eyes, but the auburn-haired girl rolled her eyes.

“It’s ok,” she said, “I’d say the sentiment goes both ways, but Amanda’s in this room too,” she gave the primly-sat Amanda an angry look. Amanda had a satisfied smile on her face, though she had otherwise not moved an inch.

“Ok, my turn!” Akko exclaimed, awkwardness gone. “Jasminka, truth or dare?”

Jasminka turned from her place next to the cake. She had already managed to eat half of it basically alone. “Dare,” Jasminka said, slightly surprised by having been picked.

“Aw darn it, I wanted you to say truth,” Akko pouted. “Well, uhm… Eat the rest of the cake in less than two minutes!”

Jasminka’s eyes widened with excitement as she turned around and started eating. Ursula measured the time with the chronometer of her wand. Jasminka somehow took inhumanly large bites of the cake and managed to swallow them with barely any chewing. In the end, she finished with ten seconds to spare. The more impressive part was that she didn’t seem full or even satisfied by the crazy amount of cake she had just eaten.

She then proceeded to examine the room. “Lotte, truth or dare?” She said in her soft voice.

“T-truth,” Lotte said. Diana, meanwhile, thought of what _she_ should pick when she got picked again. Truth or dare? She would probably choose dare. She’d rather deal with some embarrassment than risk having to give a lot of details about her life.

“Do you like someone?” Jasminka asked.

Lotte blushed, to which Amanda laughed. “Ah, now shit’s getting serious!” she exclaimed joyously. Lotte looked down, but Jasminka stood there, watching with her kind smile, expectant.

“Y-yes,” Lotte admitted. Akko, besides her, jumped and hit her head on the bunk bed. Sucy chuckled at this, but even Diana was surprised. Lotte didn’t really look like the kind of girl to have someone she liked. Though, that was probably unfair of Diana. Falling for someone wasn’t limited to a stereotype.

“Really?! Who is it?!” Akko exclaimed. Lotte shook her head. That was not a question she was forced to answer. Maybe Jasminka should have phrased hers a little better.

“Uhm… Barbara,” Lotte picked, “truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Barbara said. Diana paid close attention. What kind of question would Lotte have for her?

“Uhm…” Lotte hesitated. “Who is the person you like the most in this room?” She asked.

Hannah perked up. Diana too. The answer, to both of them, would be obvious. It would be Hannah, of course. Amanda chuckled. “Man, that question is worse than mine,” she said.

“Shut up,” Hannah barked in the low. Amanda just kept smiling. She was getting a kick out of this, despite how uncomfortable she was in that position.

Barbara’s eyes bounced off Hannah and Lotte a couple times. She bit her lip, looking down. “I… Can’t really pick one…” She said in the low. Hannah frowned, brow furrowing and eyes narrowing. Diana found herself astonished too. Barbara was blushing.

“Between who?” Hannah asked. If Constanze wasn’t sitting between them, she would certainly attempted to go closer to Barbara.

“You gotta answer,” Amanda said. Everyone in the room looked at the dark haired girl with interest. Even Ursula seemed to get some amusement out of this.

“Argh, whatever. Hannah and Lotte, jeez,” Barbara answered quickly in an offended tone. Lotte blushed some more, but Hannah’s expression darkened. She glared at Lotte from across the room. “Now’s your turn, Hannah. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” she instantly replied. She was angry. Barbara paused to think.

“I’ll save your dare for later,” Barbara said. “So move on.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Akko said. Diana agreed. What if people decided to stop playing? You couldn’t dare them afterwards, could you?

Amanda shook her head. “Let her, though if she misses her chance it’s her fault. Come on, Hannah,” Amanda prompted. Hannah doubted, but after a while sighed.

“Ok, let’s see… Diana,” she pointed at Diana again, and she froze. Why her again? Constanze and Sucy hadn’t had a turn yet. “Truth or dare?”

Diana considered for a second, but she had already made her decision. “Dare,” she said. Hannah raised an eyebrow. She had probably not expected Diana to be so _daring._

 _Akko is a bad influence in me,_ she cringed at her own thoughts.

“Sing,” Hannah said with a smile. Diana went pale.

“W-what?”

“Sing something. For a minute at least,” Hannah insisted.

“Please, you wouldn’t…” Hannah raised an eyebrow. Right. Diana regretted accepting to play this game in full now. “What do I sing?”

“Have you heard All Star?” Hannah asked. Diana cocked her head. “Guess not. Then whatever you want, just make it a minute long.”

“Were you seriously just going to ask her to sing fucking All Star?” Amanda asked with disbelief. Hannah nodded. “That’s like a hundred years old meme, move on dude.”

“All Star _never_ gets old,” Hannah quickly defended, though she didn’t sound particularly annoyed. What were they talking about?

“Let me guess. You also like Russians Drink Fake Vodka memes, don’t you?” Amanda’s voice was mocking, but she didn’t seem to be malicious.

“That’s right unfair, those are just twenty years old,” Hannah said.

“Still older than you.”

“Could you stop discussing about this and let Diana sing?” Sucy said. She was looking at Diana with expectation. Cold expectation. Bad expectation. Diana felt a shiver. She was not going to record it, right? Why did Diana get the feeling she would?

Those two finally stopped arguing, and everyone stared at Diana. She hesitated. “Does it need to have lyrics?”

“I said, ‘sing’, not ‘hum’, of course it has to,” Hannah clarified, much to Diana’s disappointment and growing panic over the fact that she really didn’t want to do it. But, she was taking part on this game and so she would play by its rules.

She closed her eyes. She didn’t know many songs. Wait a second… “I don’t know any songs,” she realized. Hannah raised an eyebrow. Amanda looked at her with skepticism. Even Akko didn’t look like she believed her. “What? I’m sorry, I just… Haven’t dedicated much time to entertainment outside reading,” she looked down. It had been a while since the last time, but she wasn’t foreign to the feelings of inadequacy among peers.

“It’s ok,” Hannah quickly said, noticing Diana’s distress. “Then just hum something.”

Diana did. She hummed a piece she knew quite well, though she couldn’t quite recall its name. Her focus in life had always been piloting and some side reading, so despite what everyone seemed to think, she wasn’t actually well versed in art forms besides writing.

“Well that was boring,” Amanda said. Diana couldn’t really disagree. She had hummed a slow song that was often used for waltz on parties. While she liked it, it was certainly not exciting by any means.

“Then it is my turn again. Sucy,” she pointed at the creepy girl. “Truth or dare?” she had noticed everyone asking the question, so she assumed it was normal to do so. Sucy didn’t look pleased by Diana’s choice. In fact, she seemed offended by it, as if Diana had done something wrong. Maybe she didn’t want to participate? Diana was just trying to make sure everyone got a turn.

“… Dare,” she said. Seemed like she also wasn’t eager to make her secrets vulnerable.

Diana thought for a while. Then, she came up with something simple, but that she thought would be fun to see. “Smile,” she demanded. “Until your next turn.”

Sucy complied without saying anything, but her eyes communicated how she really felt about it. Diana almost decided she had had enough, for Sucy’s smile was only creeping her out more than her normal expression. It wasn’t a natural smile. It was an evil one, like she was plotting to conquer the world.

“Ursula,” Sucy called. “Truth or dare?” She spoke in an increasingly – and fake – kind voice, like she was trying to play the part with her smile.

“Dare,” Ursula instantly said. Lots of dares in a row. The teacher looked like a fish out of water. Diana found comfort on not being the only one.

“Let’s see… Oh, I know: Make an imitation of Akko.”

Ursula looked at Sucy confused. Diana was also confused. “Imitation how?” Ursula asked, unsure.

“Just pretend you’re Akko until you manage to make me laugh,” Sucy expanded. The teacher laughed nervously as she came up with an idea. Was truth or dare supposed to be about people doing embarrassing things? Maybe that was the nature of these games. Seriously though, what had Amanda meant by that?

“Uhm, I’m going to be like Chariot!” Ursula cried. “I’ll be better than everyone else!” she was trying to make her voice like Akko’s but she just managed to sound way too high pitch, “Oh, look, a food stand, let’s eat something!”

“Hey, I’m nothing like that!” Akko complained, face red.

Sucy chuckled, so she raised her hand to make Ursula stop. “Lotte, do you have that?” She asked. Diana felt a second of panic, remembering Lotte’s spirit. Had it…?

“No!” Lotte instantly said. “I’m not that ill mannered!”

Sucy scoffed at that, but she somehow managed to keep her smile up. Hopefully her next turn would come up soon. “Well,” Ursula said, looking around. “Uhm...” she looked at Amanda, who was looking at her with resentment. Then, she ignored her. “Constanze,” Ursula said. Diana felt a little rush of satisfaction. Constanze had been the only one without a turn yet, right? “Truth or dare?” Constanze raised one finger, signaling that she probably chose truth. “Oh, ok. Then… Tell me, did you illegally break into the _Dragon’s_ systems and tried to take control of them yesterday?”

Constanze’s eyes widened, and she paled. She wavered a little, but then, barely noticeably, she nodded. Ursula crossed her arms. “You do understand that could get you in a _lot_ of trouble, right?” Again, Constanze nodded, but she had a pleading look. She wasn’t a child, but she sure had the charm of one, and Diana wouldn’t have been able to say no to that face. Apparently, Ursula had a similar weakness. “I’m not going to tell anyone, but don’t do it again, ok?”

Constanze nodded for a third time. Diana didn’t think she actually regretted her actions, but maybe this at least would stop her from leaving them stranded in the middle of space. Constanze proceeded to point at Barbara.

“Uhm… Dare,” Barbara said. Constanze rose a hand to her chin, deep in thought. It took her a long while to decide what she would do, but by the time she picked, she was smiling and had already started moving. She left the room in a rush, coming back two minutes later with something in her hands. It was a small, black device. Diana took a while to recognize it was some kind of visor.

“You want me to wear this?” Barbara asked as Constanze extended it to her. Barbara looked around awkwardly. Diana had to admit, that little thing looked like it had been made out of scraps of metal. Not very trust inspiring. Constanze nodded energetically. Barabra hesitated, but she put it on anyways.

The tiny girl took out her wand and flicked it.

Barbara suddenly sat upright. “Oh god,” she said, “what is this?” Why did she look scared? “it’s like… The world is black, only outlined with green lines,” she turned around, and suddenly cringed, raising her hands to cover her eyes. “Is that… magic? The dragon’s fuel?” She then looked down, “And what the _hell_ is that?” she said turning around, “it was like looking at the sun!”

Constanze was writing everything Barbara said on her tablet. After a minute of this, she turned the device off again and tugged Barbara. She took it off, handing it over. She looked disturbed. “What did you see?” Hannah asked.

“It’s… Hard to describe,” she said. “It was as if the world was… made of magic, or something. Imagine infrared vision, just… well, with magic. You get it?”

Hannah nodded. Diana also thought she could imagine it. Maybe Constanze would let her test it later.

“Your turn,” Amanda said, looking at Barbara. She was giving her a really intense look.

“Want me to pick you?” Barbara asked with a really, really mean look. Ignoring the smirk and raised eyebrows, her eyes just said ‘you have no idea of what lies ahead’. “Ok then. Truth or dare?”

Amanda hesitated. However, she instantly broke her pose. “Dare,” she said, looking relieved to be able to sit in a completely improper manner again.

Barbara chuckled. A kind of chuckle Diana had heard very few times. The one she did when she and Hannah had been having an argument for a long time and she ended up being proven right. It wasn’t evil, or ill intentioned. It was just a chuckle of pure victory.

“So, let me show you the _true_ nature of these games,” Barbara said as she sat back down. “You see, these are more than for just laughs or finding spicy info on someone,” _She’s gloating? Why does she seem so triumphant?_ “These are games of war, Amanda. War against common sense, prejudices, and biases.”

“Can you get _on_ with it?” Amanda said, obviously unaffected by Barbara’s little speech.

“Pick someone in this room and kiss them. On the lips,” Barbara said.

 

Amanda felt her eye twitch. “Oh you piece of shit,” she said with narrowed eyes. Ursula gave her a disapproving look but she couldn’t care any less. Right now all of her grudge for the being forced to sit primly thing vanished, being replaced by a feeling of pure impotence. She had expected something like this to happen eventually, just not so soon and not to her.

“W-wait,” Lotte intervened, “We banned sexual things, remember?”

Barbara looked at her kindly, but then snorted. “Please, a peck on the lips doesn’t qualify as such,” she said.

“She’s right,” as much as it hurt her, Amanda had to say it. A peck on the lips was barely something important. In fact, she should probably just pick Barbara for the sake of it, but that would be too easy. Maybe Constanze or Jasminka, too. They surely wouldn’t care, but that was no fun. Maybe she should pick Sucy, just to see her reaction… Nah, she was too afraid of the girl injecting some kind of poison in her in her sleep.

Akko? When Amanda made eye contact with her, the girl acted as if Amanda was a serial murder, suddenly jumping back. Ok, maybe not her. She was too innocent. Diana? She almost burst out laughing by the mere thought. Not her. Ursula? No way. She was hot, sure, but she was also a teacher. Lotte? Well, she had just admitted to liking someone. Picking her would be too asshole-ish.

Hannah? It would certainly be fun to see how she reacted to it, if nothing else. Plus, she had nothing to lose. Even if Hannah didn’t _hate_ her anymore, she certainly didn’t enjoy Amanda’s company beyond a surface level. This wouldn’t make things particularly awkward between them. And maybe, just maybe, Amanda was kind of curious about how it would feel.

She had been staring at Hannah for a little longer than needed. The girl’s eyes widened and she instantly looked at Amanda with disgust. “Oh no you don’t,” she said.

That was enough for Amanda to decide. “Oh yes I do,” she smirked, standing. Hannah pushed herself back, until she hit the wall.

“I think this is a little too much,” Ursula said.

“Y-yeah!” Hannah said, “plus, you can’t dare someone to do something that affects someone else!”

Barbara smiled. Amanda paused. Wait, had she… “You’re right, now that I think about it. How lucky that I can dare you to accept the kiss,” Barbara replied.

 _She planned this?_ Amanda wondered. Still, she was not a pussy, so she would go on with her dare. Hannah was now less disgusted and more like scared. She was pressing herself against the wall, hands on her side, as if trying to phase through it. “Hey, you picked this game, remember?” Amanda said.

“I didn’t expect _this!_ Why me, anyways?” Hannah asked in a panicked voice, “You could’ve picked anyone else.”

Amanda put a hand on the mattress next to Hannah’s legs, head already in under the top bunk bed. Then, with her other hand, she pushed up, closing it to have more space.

“Because,” Amanda smiled, “no one else would be so against it,” she explained.

“You’re an ass!” Hannah cried through trembling lips.

“Well then, get ready to kiss ass,” Amanda kept getting closer. She could imagine the looks everyone else in the room would have. Akko, Diana and Lotte wondering if they should intervene, Ursula’s hesitance. Hannah cycled through a myriad of emotions. Anger, fear, acceptance, back to anger, more anger, rage, pleading… It was fun, though something did feel kind of wrong.

Hannah had turned her face so that Amanda couldn’t reach her lips easily, of course. But Amanda kept getting closer anyways. And once her face was close enough…

Amanda paused. _I’m taking it too far,_ she thought. It was a strange sensation. Kisses were a stupid thing, but Hannah obviously cared a lot about it. She pulled back, leaving the closed-eyed Hannah against the wall and sitting back on the desk’s chair.

Hannah opened one eye, peeking around, and relaxed visibly. Then she instantly tensed again with anger. “That was _not_ funny!”

Amanda chuckled, though it was faked. She hadn’t been aiming for funny, but… “I disagree,” she lied. She had never seen anyone reject a stupid kiss so badly. Then, she realized something. “Wait a second, you really haven’t kissed anyone?”

Hannah lips retracted in an almost animal rage, eyes so intense that if she had laser vision Amanda would surely be dead. “No! I haven’t ever kissed anyone!” she sounded beyond angry as she turned to Barbara, “and you know that too! The fuck was that?”

Barbara seemed a little taken aback by the outburst. “It was just a little prank, what’s so wrong about a kiss?”

“It’s my _first_ kiss!” Hannah claimed, standing up. Everyone else in the room was really uncomfortable with the situation, save for Sucy, who seemed to be very entertained. “I don’t want to give it to this… egocentric, low-life bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone else!”

“Hey!” Amanda jumped up, offended, “What did you say?” she loomed over the auburn haired girl.

She wasn’t intimidated. She placed a finger on Amanda’s chest, pushing her back, puffing her chest and speaking through her teeth. “I say that you’re an egocentric bitch. Admit it. You think you’re hot shit because you’re a good pilot and because you’re a ‘rebel’ or some shit. Let me tell you something: Breaking rules doesn’t make you special. Every teenager does it. _Grow up.”_

Amanda slapped the hand on her chest away. Hannah’s long nail dug into her skin, actually hurting. “ _I_ think I’m better? Have you ever looked yourself in a freaking mirror?” This girl was telling her that? Of all the people on this ship, _Hannah_ was trying to accuse her of such bullshit?

“Yes! At least I can admit when I’m wrong!”

“I do too! I’ve apologized, didn’t I?!”

“And yet you make fun of people for not being damn sluts who sleep with whoever happens to catch their eyes!”

Amanda didn’t punch Hannah right there and then because she still had some semblance of self control. “Well at least I am who I am and don’t have to pretend to be anyone else in front of whoever I happen to like!”

“ENOUGH!” Suddenly, Ursula stepped between the two of them. “I should have stopped this sooner,” she mumbled.  “That’s enough. Stop screaming, everyone in the _Dragon_ is going to hear you. Hannah, it was just a small prank. You don’t need to act so offended,” she threw a harsh look at Hannah. “Amanda, you could just have apologized. No need to make fun of her,” she then directed that same look at Amanda.

Amanda found herself intimidated. She was confident in her abilities, but in that moment, Ursula looked like a concrete wall. She had placed a hand on each girl’s shoulders, separating them by force, and while she wasn’t hurting them, Amanda could feel the rock hard grip she had on her.

She still had a very intense staring contest with Hannah. Ursula could probably feel the sparks between them, because she didn’t let go. And, after what was probably a whole minute of just staring, Amanda started feeling her anger leave. Hannah had just said that because she was freaking out, and… well, maybe she wasn’t wrong. Out of stubbornness she tried to keep her eyes on Hannah, but lacking the determination of the anger, she suddenly noticed how funny Hannah’s face looked. Her brow furrowed, her eyes narrowed, lips revealing teeth.

Amanda chuckled, essentially losing the inexistent contest.

“What’s so funny?!” Hannah barked.

“Your face,” Amanda said, trying to hold back, but her chuckle increased into a full blown laugh when Hannah’s frown pronounced further.

“Ok, that’s it, I’m leaving,” Hannah shook herself out of Ursula’s grip. Amanda realized her heart had started to beat like crazy during the discussion. The realization that both her and Hannah had gotten so heated over such a stupid game only increased the humor in the situation. Was she having a mental breakdown or what? She didn’t know, but as Hannah left the room, she wasn’t even able to try and stop her.

“Are you ok?” Akko asked, patting her back. Amanda tried to answer, but when she looked at the worried faces of everyone else in the room, she started wheezing from the laughter. “I think she’s dying,” Akko said.

“I’m… going to go after Hannah,” Barbara announced, leaving the room in a rush.

“Ok, ok”, Amanda managed to get herself under control again, though she still chuckled between words. “Ok, sorry. God, so much for not fighting every couple words.”

“I think you went a little too far,” Diana said, in her usual I’m-better-than-you voice.

“Hey, blame your friend, not me,” Amanda replied, too focused on holding back another burst of laughter to be annoyed at Diana. “She’s the one who dared me.”

Diana pressed her lips, obviously unsure of how to answer. Amanda had thought the same, of course, but she wouldn’t admit it do Diana in a million years.

“I’m surprised you two haven’t gotten in an actual fight yet,” Ursula said with a defeated voice, dropping onto the bed. “You really scared me right now.”

“Sorry,” Amanda said, “I got a little riled up.”

“A little?” Sucy asked from behind.

Amanda sighed. “Ok, maybe a lot. I mean, she didn’t need to insult me that much.”

“Are you going to apologize?” Akko asked.

Amanda looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Me? I just did as Barbara told me. If anything, she should apologize to Hannah. And then Hannah to me, because she’s the one who threw the first punch.” Akko didn’t seem convinced, but Amanda didn’t care. She looked at Diana. “Sorry for kind of ruining your party, though.”

Diana shook her head. “It’s quite alright. It was time to get back to practice anyways,” she looked at Akko and Ursula. “Should we?”

Amanda grimaced. She didn’t really want to go back to the Shiny Rod, but whatever.

“What about Hannah?” Akko asked.

“I’ll send her a message with my wand,” Diana said, “once Barbara manages to calm her down she will join us, probably.”

“Let’s go, then,” Ursula said. “Not that I didn’t enjoy this little thing, but…”

“We get it,” Amanda interrupted. “Let’s just go,” she was the first one to start walking. She waved Jasminka and Constanze goodbye, and so did Akko, adding Sucy and Lotte into the goodbyes as well.

She considered going to look for Hannah too. Maybe Barbara would appreciate the help, in such a big ship, but… Yeah, better wait for the fuming girl to calm down.

She tried to get the event out of her head as she walked. It had been a silly discussion, like the many others they’d had. But, besides the fact that she had been willing to kiss Hannah, one more thing stuck out from her memory.

Flustered Hannah was really cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another end of batch! I will admit, this was probably my favourite section up until now. Just had a lot of fun writing it, and I don't think I broke my daily quota even once during the past two weeks.  
> Anyways, don't forget to comment! If you see typos, me using words wrong, me mixing up terms or whatever, _please_ comment about it. Don't think that just because it may be small it won't matter. I care about those things and I try my best to fix them when they're pointed it out to me.  
> Side note: If you have a suggestion for a better summary than the shit that's up there currently, please suggest one. I think I should probably give a little more details in it but I suck at things like that.  
> Besides that, hope you enjoyed this!  
> Now back to writing. ~~Someone please end my suffering~~


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the new batch! Now, just this once, I want to try something different, because I am honestly growing a little tired of my normal way of posting. It's going to be fairly simple: I'm just going to post one chapter a day until the end of the batch. If you wanna wait until all are posted (I will say when that's it in endnotes as usual) then do so, it will only take 5 days. And, since of course I will keep writing, the wait until the next batch becomes smaller. Am I great or what?  
> Anyways, my words-per-day count probably went down this time. life happened and there were some days where I couldn't really meet my quota, but I still try my darn best to meet it every time.  
> But you're probably not here to read my rambling. Don't forget to leave a comment and lets go.

Hannah didn’t get far from the room before she stopped to try and get a hold of herself. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Amanda looking at her like that… She had almost cowered under a bed. She didn’t really think Amanda would hit her, but that glower had been something new.

Not that it was the thing she had been actually scared of. Amanda’s face leaning closer and closer to hers, threatening to steal a kiss from her… Her heart beat faster just with the memory of that, her chest tightened as if someone was trying to squeeze it. She had been terrified. Amanda and Barbara didn’t get how important it was for her. Hannah wasn’t sure what she would have done if Amanda had actually kissed her.

She suddenly felt her wand vibrating, but as she was about to check what it was, she heard steps from behind her. When she turned, she wasn’t surprised to see Barbara. She had only taken a couple of turns, it wouldn’t have been too hard to find her. “I’m sorry,” was the first thing her friend said.

Hannah crossed her arms. “You better be,” she said in a chastising tone. Barbara looked down, and Hannah instantly felt bad for saying it like that. “Why did you do it, anyways?”

“I just wanted to test something,” Barbara explained. “I… Didn’t expect you to flip out like that,”

Hannah sighed. She suddenly felt very tired. She didn’t stop looking angrily at Barbara, though. “Really? You try to force me into kissing a girl and you don’t expect me to get mad?”

“I… Well, I dunno,” she made a strange gesture with her hands, as if she was trying to explain something, but Hannah totally didn’t get it. “Anyways, I’m sorry. You should probably apologize to Amanda, though.”

“ _I_ should apologize to _her?_ ” Hannah asked in disbelief.

Barbara gave her a flat look. “You’re the one who insulted her despite the fact that she didn’t end up doing anything. She didn’t even touch you.”

Hannah thought back to the moment. It was true, Amanda hadn’t touched her. But, the way she had slowly gotten closer, the intense look in her eyes… “No way. She was trying to mess with me.”

“Yeah, of course she was,” Barbara rolled her eyes. “But she didn’t deserve what you said, and we both know I’m not her best friend.”

The comment brought back another thing that was bothering Hannah. “Yeah, maybe not her, but you sure seem to hold Lotte in high regard.”

Barbara paused, pressing her lips. She looked down, uncomfortable. “Well, I mean, uhm…” She looked up, “It’s not so simple,” she said. Hannah honestly didn’t understand, and the comment just made her think Barbara was avoiding the question.

“Seriously?” Hannah asked, “I’ve known you for most of our lives, yet you spend a few weeks hanging out with her because Diana and I are busy and suddenly she’s also your best frend?” Hannah’s voice cracked a little. “Hell, we spend most of our time together here on the ship…” Maybe Hannah was still emotionally unstable after what had just happened, but she felt like crying.

Barbara noticed this, looking up. She instantly stepped closer, grabbing Hannah’s hands. “Let me say this right now: _You_ are still my best friend, all right?” she hugged her. “Nothing’s ever going to change that.”

Hannah returned the hug. It felt good, comforting. “Then why?”

Barbara pulled back, though she still had her hands on Hannah’s shoulders. “Well…” she hesitated, but then her expression relaxed. “I guess I can tell you. Why don’t we sit?”

“Here?” Hannah asked, looking at the metallic corridor.

Barbara shrugged, sitting down. Hannah looked around. Was she crazy? What if people saw them? Sure, it was around the time where most western people had gone to sleep, but… Barbara looked at her with a raised eyebrow. _Whatever,_ Hannah thought as she sat down. The wall and floor were cold.

“So, you gonna answer me?” Hannah asked.

“I… like Lotte,” Barbara explained.

Hannah nodded. “Yeah, you made that clear. Doesn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t like her like I like you, you idiot,” Barbara said softly. “I… _like_ her.”

Hannah paused. “Oh,” was all she could muster. “I… thought you were straight,” she continued. She started to recall all the times Barbara had gushed over a guy with her. Was she faking, back there?

“I’m bi,” Barbara said. Well, that made more sense. “Though I did tend to lean more towards guys, most of the time.”

“Since… when have you known?” Hannah asked, carefully. She was having some trouble believing she would miss such an important detail of her best friend.

“Remember that Alex guy in fourth grade?”

“The one who had a perfect tan?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Yes. So?”

“Remember he had a girlfriend?”

“I mean, ‘girlfriend’ might be an overstatement, he was like nine years old,” Hannah recalled the guy. He had been one of her many silly childhood crushes.

“Well,” Barbara laughed nervously, “I actually liked his girlfriend more than him. We called her Tifa, short for Tiffany I guess.”

Hannah started. It had been a long time since then. Had she really never noticed? “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Barbara didn’t reply immediately. When she did, she sounded sorry. “I… Well, I didn’t think you’d really care. It’s not important, you know?”

Hannah turned, irritated. “Not important? Are you stupid?”

“Sorry…” Barbara smiled weakly. Hannah sighed, hugging her knees.

Then, a silly question popped into her head. She wondered how improper it would be to ask it. She figured everyone would ask it in a situation like this one, though that didn’t necessarily make it ok.

“This may be stupid to ask but… Have you ever, like… _liked_ me?” She asked, blushing slightly.

Barbara blushed too. “I guess I did, a few years ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hannah asked.

Barbara shrugged. “You’re straight. I knew that. I didn’t want to bother you, or make our relationship awkward, so I just moved on,” she explained. She looked and sounded extremely embarrassed. Hannah felt the same way. This was definitely awkward.

“Does Lotte know? Are you dating?”

Barbara chuckled. “Gods no. I… Don’t know if she likes me back.”

Hannah gave her a flat stare. “I’m no expert but with this new context I can assure you she does.”

“How are you so sure?”

Hannah raised an eyebrow. “ _‘Who is the person you like the most in this room?’_ ” she imitated Lotte’s voice. She thought she did a good job, but Barbara chuckled. “And she asked that right after admitting she liked someone.”

Barbara smiled. “She did, didn’t she? But that could have just been a coincidence…”

“My god, why is it so hard to think properly when you’re the one involved? Just go and confess.” Barbara nodded absently. “How did you come to like her?”

Barbara perked up. “Well, she’s kind,” she replied instantly. “She’s also really cute and, well, we have more in common than one would think. She has a beautiful voice and she’s smart too,” Barbara’s eyes lit up as she spoke, and Hannah realized she _really_ liked Lotte. It was a strange moment for her. “And when she talks about the things she likes she’s super intense, it’s kind of surprising, and…” Barbara realized what she was doing, “And I think you get the point.”

Hannah chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like that over a guy,” she commented.

“Yeah,” Barbara said. “I guess I didn’t really know what a crush was until now.”

Hannah recalled that she had received a message on her wand. As she took it out and flicked it so that a small holographic screen showed her what was up, Barbara looked at it too. It was Diana, saying they were going for practice.

“Amanda’s going to be there,” Hannah said with a hostile voice.

“Go and apologize.”

“She laughed to my face! About my face!”

“And you do look kinda funny when you’re angry. Come on, you don’t want to leave Diana without a gunman, right?”

Hannah hated when Barbara gave her good arguments about why she shouldn’t be stubborn. “I won’t apologize, though.”

Barbara rolled her eyes. “Just go.”

Hannah stood. Before leaving, she looked down. “Tell me how things went with Lotte later.”

Before Barbara had a chance to answer, Hannah left the corridor, directing herself towards the elevators. Hopefully they wouldn’t be in too much use right now.

 

 

 

Akko’s head dropped as she let out a big, drawn out and loud sigh-grunt that only made her throat hurt. They were going to land in barely two hours and Akko… Hadn’t really made much progress. She hit less trees, her time had gotten way better, but in every simulation someone beat her, and often by more than three seconds, which was a lot. She was starting to fall into despair. Ursula had tried her best, but she was now in a small briefing with some of the ship’s officers so she couldn’t exactly provide assistance right now.

“Maybe if you try to go faster on…” Diana started, trying to suggest something.

“I KNOW!” Akko instantly barked back. Diana cringed a little at the outburst, and Akko instantly regretted it. “Sorry, sorry, it’s not your fault,” Akko sat straight again, placing couple fingers on her right temple. “I’m just frustrated.”

“I know,” Diana spoke kindly, but Akko was barely listening. Why was it so hard? She no longer lost a lot of time, and she was going as fast as she knew she could before she started hitting way too many trees. She had no way of improving right now besides trying to go back to learning to do things manually, but Ursula had been right, she wasn’t good enough to try and keep up with them. “Come, your turn,” Akko moved to let Diana in the seat.

“I believe you need it more than me,” Diana said. Akko paused. Yeah, she really needed it. She dropped back into the seat again. Maybe if she tried to look for paths with less trees with the map… _Stop thinking about that,_ she chastised herself, _it’s like the fifth time you’ve come up with this idea! It doesn’t help!_

She grunted and sighed again. “Whatever, let’s begin,” Akko said. Upon command, the race started again. Ten racers, Akko included, all of them first categories. This time the place was a more desertic-like forest. Trees were more of a brownish green than the dark green they had been before. There wasn’t much more in the way of vegetation besides these trees except some really sickly looking plants on the sand. Akko suspected the big ones managed to stay hydrated by having roots so deep that they could still drink even in the harsh environment.

Whatever the reason, that was not Akko’s problem.

The trees here weren’t a lot, so this time she at least felt at ease. She didn’t have trouble dodging them as she flew, but she did find herself growing confused as some trees seemed to shift in the distance. “Wow, this place is really hot,” Diana commented in a low voice from behind. “The temperature is creating mirages in the distance.”

Akko didn’t care about that. Like Ursula had said, she found it really hard to focus on anything that wasn’t directly in front of her. Amanda started shooting. Akko no longer had the output meter to measure how much energy she was wasting, which should have helped, but she still worried. She had Amanda on a neutral state, where she said to her to stop them from being hut but to attack as much as possible. Why couldn’t they keep up shields and attack at the same time? Dumb Shiny Rod.

Still, she didn’t focus on other racers unless they were trying to attack her directly. The finish line, that was her only goal. _I’m not going to disappoint everyone again,_ Akko thought as she flew. Trees passed in a blur.

And then, the shapeshifter appeared. No matter how fast or well Akko flew, he would always just show up and mess everything. What was it? Why were shapeshifters so darn good? Akko ahdn’t really felt them to be dangerous in the previous race, but she understood now how that mobility would be a problem in the open spaces of Pan. They terrified her. No matter how much Amanda attacked they would dodge, no matter how fast Akko went they had such a superior mobility. Diana had also found them really troublesome. They were the ones that had won most of her simulations, even Diana’s. But Diana had actually managed to beat them a couple times. Was Diana that much better than Akko, or maybe the Shooting Star was better than the Shiny Rod?

No, the Shiny Rod was the best ship in the universe. And, speaking of Rods, the Noir Rod approached from behind. Despite being bigger, it moved so much more smoothly than the Shiny Rod. It avoided trees by mere millimeters. Sometimes Akko was sure the simulation had to be cheating, as she was sure the black ship should have hit something. However, slowly, she was beginning to understand that flying the Shiny Rod had a lot more nuances than she had once assumed. The way the Noir Rod moved… Was it because of something unique in it or could the Shiny Rod move in the same way if Akko trained enough?

It didn’t matter. Akko would _win_ this simulation! She _had_ to win one before they got off the _Dragon_ in the actual planet! Akko just needed to work harder and determination!

She would win!

She lost.

She came in third place, behind the shapeshifter and daemons. She started slowly banging her head against the now empty control panel. As it was now, it was just a really fancy counter. “I give up,” she said, feeling as her last ounce of optimism left her body. “Let’s just throw the race. We can’t win as long as I’m here,” Akko said, the defeat as obvious in her voice as it was in her posture.

“I… Think you can still do better,” Diana said.

“Yeah, it’s easy for you to say,” Akko grunted, face still planted on the not-control panel. “You’re so good…”

“Well, I wasn’t always good,” Diana explained. “I’ve also felt like you do now… Well, maybe without all the ‘inter-planetary race’ part,” Akko wasn’t sure if that had been a joke or a serious comment. This was Diana, so it could be either.

“I highly doubt you really understand,” Akko said. “You’re so talented, I’m jealous.”

Diana paused. “Akko, I assure you, every pilot goes through the same struggle at some point. You may have added pressure, but…”

Why was Diana insisting? She couldn’t understand. Was she trying to compare not being able to fly your mom’s broom to this? “Nevermind,” Akko said, “let’s just continue.” She made the seat turn around. Diana was looking at her with an unhappy expression, but Akko barely noticed.

“Change to Shooting Star mode,” she said as Diana sat down.

After everything changed, Amanda woke up. “You motherfucker, could you _stop_ doing that?” She cursed from the turret, “I’m always left in weird positions, for fuck’s sake, just wake me up.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Akko said, “I forgot.”

Amanda grunted as she exited the turret. Akko was curious to see how it changed, since the cockpit didn’t have that many differences. A while later, Hannah entered the ship. “She’s so annoying,” was the first thing she said.

“What did she do now?” Akko asked. Hannah was obviously referring to Amanda.

“She kicked me while we were crawling!”

Akko saw Diana raise an eyebrow as her seat turned. “I’m sure it was merely an accident,” she said, “I doubt she would actually kick you out of nowhere.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hannah was in a grumpy mood. She hadn’t quite gotten over what had happened the previous day. Akko kind of understood her, too. She wouldn’t want her first kiss to be stolen in a stupid game. She would only give her first kiss to the one person she fell in love with, and she would stay with that sole person forever. She would find a perfect partner or none, and that’s the decision she had made when she’d been a kid.

Akko started the simulation for Diana. When she flew, Akko made her best to learn. It was obvious by merely watching her that something _was_ different. Where Akko might have chosen to go right she went left, where Akko might have lowered her altitude she went high. True, her ship was different, so that may be a reason, but Akko wasn’t naïve enough to think that was it.

Diana didn’t fly wildly, like Akko did. She had obviously foresight and, maybe even if she didn’t think about it, her every movement seemed to tie into the next one seamlessly.

She also had better reflexes. Like it or not, half the itme Diana dodged things from angles Akko would have thought impossible, or she just straight up seemed to phase through things. Maybe she had used some kind of cheat code while Akko wasn’t paying attention. Would the Shiny Rod have cheat codes? Did teleporting count as a cheat?

Akko watched intently until the end of the race. When it had seemed like the shapeshifter was going to win, Hannah had shot a perfect laser. It had been just surprising enough to catch the dark flier off guard.

Diana didn’t miss the chance, shooting forward with a final burst of speed. She won. Not that Akko had doubted much.

“Do you want to try again?” Akko asked, not sure if she wanted to keep failing.

“I think my next step is to try the real thing,” Diana explained as she made the seat turn around. “Come, sit down.”

Akko let herself drop on the pilot’s seat, but she didn’t turn it around, instead looking at Diana’s slender figure. As every broom-racer aspirant – whether pilot or gunman – she had been forced to go through some training. Akko hadn’t trained a lot since the race started. In fact, she hadn’t trained at all. None of them had done. It was hard to focus on such things when you had so much to do. She made a silent vow to start training again as soon as they left this planet. Maybe she was doing so badly because of that.

Diana was so slim, Akko wondered if she was eating properly.

“I wish I was rich,” Akko commented as she turned around the seat. “Then maybe I could be as good as you…”

Akko felt Diana take a deep breath. “How so?” She asked. There was… an edge, to her voice. Something Akko couldn’t quite recognize.

“I mean, you had access to simulators and stuff since you were a kid, right? And your parents had brooms and stuff, I assume. I just wish I had those things too, you know? Since now I’m not even supposed to be here, I could probably use that kind of…”

“Akko,” Diana interrupted her. Her voice was… even. _Too_ even. Not normal-Diana levels of even. This was robot levels of even. Akko turned around to find Diana’s usual stone face. No, not her usual stone face. Her eyes were a little more closed, her lips a little too thin, “would you be so kind as to open the windshield? I think I need to use a bathroom.”

Akko cocked her head. Why… Why did she suddenly feel strange? Like if she had done something wrong? Well, when in presence of Diana it was hard not to feel like you were doing something wrong. And, well, she _was_ doing something wrong: Flying. But this was a little different.

“Uhm… Sure,” Akko said. “Alcor, open the windshield.”

As soon as the windshield opened, Diana left. She didn’t say goodbye, or mention how much time she would take. That was kind of strange.

“You’re an asshole,” Hannah said. By the distance of her voice, she was probably leaving the turret. Akko was about to wonder what did she mean when she heard the turret closing. Amanda hadn’t climbed in, though now that she thought about it, Akko wasn’t sure how she knew that. It took her another full minute to appear – minute which Akko used to change the simulation back to normal – but she didn’t say anything.

In the end, Akko was left wondering what exactly had just happened, but she decided not to think too hard about it as she kept practicing.

 

Akko stood, next to the door, waiting to see where they would land. At this point she was pretty familiar with the landscapes of Pan, but it was still exciting. Pan didn’t have breathable air, sadly. Too much oxygen. The plants could handle it, but humans… Yeah, unless you wanted to die from hyperoxia, you better wore a mask. That was right: A mask, not a helmet. Akko wasn’t sure if direct contact with excess in oxygen was dangerous – didn’t things, well, oxide because of it? – but they had been informed they would only be in this planet for about forty hours, so no need to worry. Though, some of the others had decided to use helmets anyways – mainly Sucy and Constanze, for some reason.

The only thing that was kind of ruining her mood was the unusual silence. Hannah and Amanda were kind of not talking to each other, despite Amanda seeming to be pretty chill about the situation, Hannah refused to acknowledge her existence. For some reason, Barbara seemed to be very careful not to be seen by Lotte, even if they were in a narrow corridor. Akko didn’t have anything much to say, but she had noticed that when she’d asked a few things to Diana, her answers had been terse and almost practiced. She often did lengthy explanations of things, but when Akko had asked about this planet’s atmosphere, she had just said ‘It has high concentrations of oxygen.’ Or, when she’d asked about the planet’s gravity, she had only said ‘It’s about half of that on Earth.’

Maybe she was tired. Why did Akko always assume people who seemed to be on a bad mood were tired?

Before the door opened – it had to be any second now – a group of people approached through the corridor. At first, Akko assumed they were just persons who had gotten mixed up with their exits – this was a special exit for the team and their friends – but as they approached, Akko noticed something that wasn’t quite right. They looked a little cartoonish. They were appali.

All of them were wearing anti-g suits. They weren’t as advanced as Earth’s – they looked like winter attires, a little too bulky for comfort – but they probably worked just as well. It was three men and two women. Diana nodded to them, as if she knew them.

“Hud, Shill, pleasure to see you again,” Diana said, her mask distorting her voice. None of the appali used masks or helmets. Did they have better resistance to things like these?

“You know them?” Akko asked, feeling lost.

“Yes,” Diana replied, not looking at her. Akko expected her to elaborate, but Diana didn’t.

“Hello,” the shortest of them all said. It was a too-round man with dark pink hair.

He was hit on the top of the head by a girl behind him. Her arms were long, too long, and her hair was dark and straight. She said something in her language… But it didn’t get translated.

“I’m no fraternizing, I’m just being polite,” she small guy said. He wasn’t as short as Constanze, but he was close. Akko realized they weren’t actually speaking the same language. The way the girl pronounced her words was a lot more nasal and her words flowed into each other in a way the guy’s didn’t. Akko had never thought about it, but it made sense. Translators only worked with the standard languages of every planet. If she spoke Japanese aliens wouldn’t be able to tell what she was saying. Her allies neither, but that was besides the point.

Then, the door started to open, and Akko jumped out of the ship, covering her eyes from the light. The sky was blue, as it had been on the simulations. As usual, they had landed in water. However, Akko could see shores on all directions. They had landed in a rather small ‘pond’, or however you called these mini oceans. They weren’t lakes, were they? Maybe they were.

“Ok, girls,” as everyone went down to the dock of the ship, Ursula called to them. “We’re going to be here for about forty two hours from now. The races will start in thirty six hours, and the rules for the races are still unknown, so train for standard rules. In the time we’re going to spend here it won’t become night, Pan has incredibly long night-day cycles. All not-racer girls, stick together, and that’s an order. Pan is not a touristic spot, got it?”

Everyone nodded. Akko noticed that the sun was just two palms above the horizon. She hadn’t known it had such long day-night cycles. How much did they last, exactly? Well, she supposed it didn’t matter.

“I’m going to practice right now,” Akko said, determined. She had been training until just half an hour ago. She hadn’t done much progress, but with a day and a half to go, she could still get way better. She walked further down the dock, to where she noticed the light getting slightly distorted. The magical field of the ship.

She stepped outside, and she instantly felt like she could fly. “This is really cool!” Akko shouted. She jumped, and she got plenty higher than she normally would. She laughed, but she decided not to lose much more time in that. The air seemed to tingle on the exposed skin of her face, but she didn’t pay it much mind as she summoned the Shiny Rod. “Come on, Amanda, let’s get going.”

Amanda rolled her eyes, but it was not like she had anything better to do.


	42. Chapter 42

Hannah waited patiently for Diana to start. It had taken half an hour to get the Shooting Star up to the shore – The fact that the Shiny Rod could just fly above water was so unfair – and now they’d been sitting still for about ten minutes while Diana looked at the trees ahead.

Diana was angry, Hannah knew it. Angry enough to not even want to fly. When Diana didn’t do anything, that meant she was thinking. Akko said one of the few things in this world Diana hated to hear: That she was good because of her money.

Hannah was sure that Akko hadn’t meant it that way, but it just spoke to a deeper problem. In the end, Akko still saw Diana as a rich girl. And, she knew far less than she presumed, though it wasn’t Hannah’s place to clarify that. Akko’s words had been unmeasured and hurtful. It was her job to realize it.

So, Hannah waited. Diana would sort out her feelings in time. Meanwhile, Hannah could focus on her own anger. Like, for example, the funny way Amanda had looked at her before the door opened. She had been mocking her, she knew. Sure, her face had been casual, and she would probably try to downplay it as just a mere casualty if Hannah called her out on it, but Hannah wouldn’t fall for such a stupid trick.

 _Argh,_ she was so frustrating. So childish.

“Hannah, keep an eye out for other ships. We know for a fact most other races have already arrived in Pan, so there’s a good chance someone besides us is practicing in the jungle.” Diana finally spoke.

“Got it,” Hannah replied, doing as asked.

And the broom started moving.

Hannah had expected Diana to take it easy, but she didn’t. She was used to flying on this planet thanks to the simulations, so she instantly started at full speed. Hannah quickly readjusted her expectations, and her thought process with it.

Diana flew perfectly, despite the fact that they lacked a clear goal. She sometimes made sharp turns as she saw parts of the deep jungle where a broom would certainly not be able to pass, but this particular biome of the planet was obviously more relaxed in terms of tree density. A good place for racing.

And, speaking of racing, Hannah noticed something. Fire? Yes, the fire of an engine, in the distance. It was just a glimpse, but she suspected it would be the appali, since they had been riding in the ship with them. Diana seemed to know two of them, somehow. She had been a little too angry to explain the situation, sadly. Maybe she’d explain later.

They kept flying, and besides sighting the Shiny Rod a couple times, they didn’t meet with any more ships. Maybe not everyone was practicing like them, maybe they were just practicing somewhere else. It was impossible to know. Hannah did know, however, that Diana was really focused on her piloting. She usually was, but with each turn, each twist, each dodged tree or speed burst, Hannah kept noticing a smoothness she had never felt before. Diana hadn’t said anything, either. It was almost scary. Her movements not only flowed into each other, Hannah felt as if they were going on rails. There could be no other way for such seamless change of directions. The broom leaned to one side or another constantly, but it always felt natural.

And then, the broom started to slow down. More and more. Until it hit the ground and came to a halt.

At first Hannah thought Diana might have wanted to take a break. That was until she realized they were out of fuel.

“I… miscalculated,” Diana said. Hannah was astonished. They had been flying for at least twenty minutes straight, and Diana had barely slowed down from a thousand kilometers per hour. She stopped hearing even Diana’s breathing as she probably changed frequencies to call for help. Hannah took the time to be amazed at just how well Diana had piloted. She still could feel some of the g force applied to her. Coming and going, particularly in sudden bursts of speed or tight turns.

Then she grew bored, so her mind wandered. Barbara had been pretty annoying to deal with since the party, mostly because she was still too self conscious. Hannah had threatened to tell Lotte herself, but of course, the threat went nowhere when Barbara counter-threatened by saying she’d tell Andrew how she felt about him.

She could really use some Andrew right now. Would he even get down to the planet? Didn’t look like the kind of place a fine dressed young man like him would particularly enjoy, but everyone had their adventurous side. She tried to imagine Andrew wearing some kind of explorer gear, but she couldn’t picture him with anything but a suit of some kind.

What she could picture was herself slapping Barbara to make her just go and confess. It couldn’t be that hard, and it was so obvious Lotte also liked her. There was literally no good reason for Barbara to hold back. She was getting really annoying real fast, but Hannah suspected that trying to push her to confess when she wasn’t ready would just make things more difficult.

What Hannah did want to push was Amanda. Why did her mind keep going back to that stupid party? In the end nothing had happened, but she was certain Amanda still mocked her for how scared she had been. Well, it wasn’t her fault that she valued her physical contact and first kiss.

She had always pictured her first kiss like something out of a romantic novel. She and her boyfriend looking at the horizon, an orange sunset slowly turning into twilight, a cold breeze blowing softly against them. Hannah would turn, her boyfriend would turn, and it would come naturally to them both. A perfect first kiss. Hannah understood her expectations were a tad too high, but she didn’t care.

When would she get a guy who she could see as her partner in that scene? As much as she liked Andrew, he still was so far and above her station that she couldn’t really see herself with him, at least for now.

She sighed. Maybe she’d get a chance at getting a boyfriend after graduating from Luna Nova or something. Or maybe she’d get lucky during this trip and actually manage to go out with Andrew, who she hadn’t seen since the play. Well, if humans won, she was surely going to become famous, so that was an extra motivator to do this.

Maybe that fame would be enough to make her be on the same status as Andrew…

 

Diana switched frequency, contacting Ursula. After a short talk, they decided Diana should contact Akko and ask her for help. Diana agreed.

But now, she found herself hesitating. _She said nothing new,_ Diana thought, taking a deep breath. _She didn’t even realize what she was implying. Don’t be angry at her._

Yet, emotions didn’t answer to logic. Akko’s view of her wasn’t that different from everyone’s views of her. She didn’t know why this bothered her so much, but it just did. She had taken Akko as someone who had admired her for her skill and not her money or status. That had crashed down with just two sentences that Akko had said while frustrated.

 _Still, I don’t want to get stranded here._ She changed frequencies again. “Akko,” she said in a monotone voice.

“Diana?!” Akko cried, and Diana heard a crash. “Ow…”

“Sorry. Did I startle you?” She asked, unable to hold some of the worry from slipping into her voice.

“Yes, but I’m fine. I was probably going to crash against that tree anyways. Do you need something?”

“I ran out of fuel”, Diana explained, cutting to the chase. “Would you be so kind to come and pick us up?”

“You ran out? How?” Akko asked.

Diana was not in the mood to answer or just continue speaking to her. “The Shiny Rod probably has some kind of tool that would be able to find us. We’ll wait for you here,” she said, changing frequencies again. Would Akko realize she was angry? Probably not. It didn’t matter, anyways. Diana didn’t have time to worry over such things. She was going to practice until she couldn’t stand, and then she would sleep, only to wake up and continue practicing.

The bad thing about races being on an open jungle was that you had no idea how the race track would look like. Would they make it circular or a straight line? A circuit would be nice, but after the last race, Diana really hoped she would just get a straightforward short race.

Well, whatever the reason, she just needed to wait. She thought about communicating with Hannah, but she was just not in the mood for any kind of chatting, so she remained on her unused frequency while she waited for Akko to arrive.

 _She wasn’t supposed to be here,_ was a thought that crossed her mind. In other instances, she might have shoved it away, she had gotten past that issue. But she was in a thoughtful state right now. _Me neither, but I got here in a  somewhat legal way._

It was a little unfair. If she lost, no one would bat an eye. It was expected of her, despite what Akko felt. Not understanding her pressure? Diana was certain that she not only understood but felt it with more force. She was a Cavendish, and she had somehow won her first race. She understood that now everyone expected of her to keep winning. She had been called a prodigy since she was ten years old. Now was her chance to prove it.

If she won, people would cheer, but they wouldn’t praise her more than they already did.

If she lost, she would get a lot of criticism.

What did Akko knew of pressure? She thought she had it bad, but the fact was, if Earth lost yet again, her image to the public wouldn’t change much. Diana’s, however, would. She would forever be referred as ‘the prodigy who went to the IPR at sixteen years old and failed’.  And what frustrated Diana more than anything was that she could do nothing about it. Even if she won every single race, even if she got a hundred points in the course of the ten races, it wouldn’t matter in the face of the First Category. Second Category was just a tie breaker, something to maybe even the odds a little. First Category was the important one. There was no way of changing that.

But, for the first time in the month since this whole ordeal had started, Diana felt like she should have been the First Category pilot and not Akko. If she was going to disappoint everyone, she might as well have done it while at least having the power over whether or not that happened.

Maybe, if Akko wasn’t here, they would have a higher chance of- _No._ That hadn’t been a thought, but a memory.

_Prove it._

Diana hesitated, her mind having gone silent. Akko had been the only one who hadn’t been intimidated by the Aos Sí. Akko had been the only one who had the determination to stood up to them even after the promise of infinite wealth. If it wasn’t for her, maybe they would have taken the offer. Maybe…

Diana started feeling guilty about the way she had thought just moments before. That way of thinking would lead her nowhere.

Then, she felt something. Something small had hit the Blue Star from behind. “Hannah?” Diana changed frequencies.

“Uh?” Hannah spoke. Had she been asleep? “What is it?”

“What was that?”

Hannah didn’t answer. She was probably trying to figure out what Diana meant. Then it happened again. A slight vibration. “Oh, that’s probably it,” Hannah said. “There’s a… tree throwing rocks at us.”

“A tree?” Diana asked.

“A small one. Must be a plant kid.”

Diana nodded. Kids will be kids. A couple rocks wasn’t real damage, but Diana still opened her windshield and looked outside. The plant was indeed small. It was different from the normal trees of the jungle. It had a very thin trunk but a whole lot of branches. Diana didn’t see any eyes, though she knew the kid must have some sort of perception, because as soon as she looked in its direction, the kid ran away. It moved its branches in a weird manner, so Diana suspected it must have been some kind of insult.

“Dumb kid,” Hannah commented. “Did he damage the ship?”

Diana did a quick checkup, but she didn’t really feel like it was necessary. “It’s just a couple rocks. At worse they may have scratched the paint,” Diana said as all the status report said everything was fine, save for the lack of fuel.

Suddenly, a bright flash of green light surprised Diana, making her jump. It didn’t take long until she recognized what it was, but it had still been kind of scary. Diana switched frequencies and cringed as she heard Akko’s loud voice.

“DIANA DO YOU HEAR ME?”

“Akko, you weren’t…” Diana sighed. Despite her thoughts earlier, she didn’t want to deal with Akko. “Yes, I hear you.”

“Ok, how do we do this?” Akko asked, “Do I take you back to the _Dragon_ or what?” She sounded impatient.

Diana shook her head, though it wasn’t as if Akko would see it. Did she need to speak so loudly? “Yes, take us back. We’ll use the Shiny Rod’s map to see the coordinates and send the crew to rescue the Blue Star,” Diana gave her simple instructions. Then, she stepped out of the broom. She had even gone and used up the emergency fuel without even noticing. Flying in a bad mood was not a great idea, in any circumstance. She had been careless.

They exited the ship. Diana wasn’t fearful anyone would try to steal it or do anything to it, but just in case, she put the whole thing in lockdown – the basic systems of the ship were electric and, when it ran out of fuel, could keep going on batteries for a while.

Akko opened her windshield and allowed Diana to climb into the broom, though Hannah hesitated.

“Do we really need to fly with them?” Hannah asked. Diana could kind of understand her hang-ups. After all, she wasn’t precisely stoked about having to ask Akko for a ride.

“You can stay if you want,” Amanda commented, her voice a little weak through the communicator.

Hannah snorted, instantly moving under the Shiny Rod. Diana shook her head. The anger she held towards Amanda was understandable, but Amanda had just been following the directions of Barbara, and she had been bound to follow them by honor.

When she finally reached the cockpit, she said nothing as she stood behind the pilot’s seat.

“Hey,” Akko said. She sounded annoyed.

“Hey,” Diana said, voice even.

“I’m having trouble flying,” Akko admitted. “It’s the same as in the simulations, but I think the knowledge of this being real is stressing me out,” she explained.

Diana felt a sudden need to give some advice, but in the end, wouldn’t her advice be taken as good because she was rich? Aware as she was that her bitterness was misdirected, she couldn’t help it. “You just need to get used to it,” she said instead. A rather generic comment, but it was true. Probably.

Akko didn’t seem so sure, but she still turned the Shiny Rod on. “Don’t turn on the turret, please. Don’t want my brain to get messed up like Amanda’s,” Hannah said.

“I’m right here, you know,” Amanda said. “Ouch! Hey, what was that for?”

Diana turned off the communicator. She didn’t want to deal with Hannah’s volatile personality either.

The Shiny Rod started flying slowly. “Aren’t you going to teleport?” Diana asked. The less time she spent in there, the better.

“Uhm…” Akko hesitated. “Since your broom is out of business right now, don’t you want to practice a little with the simulator? It could help me…”

“No, thanks for the offer,” Diana instantly said. She… didn’t feel good, replying to Akko like this. But she was trying very hard not to take her frustrations out on her either. She didn’t know how to fake familiarity or friendship. All she knew how to do was hide her emotions. She didn’t need herself or Akko out of sorts because of a fight. She would get over this, with time. All she needed to do now was focus on the race ahead.

Akko sighed. “Noctu Orfei Aude Freator,” she mumbled, and suddenly the Shiny Rod was back on the _Dragon’s_ hangar. Diana wondered how long it would take for someone to try and question Akko about it, particularly after the incident during the race in Machina. Well, probably not soon. Pan wasn’t a reporter friendly planet.

“You sure you don’t want to try…?” Akko asked. She sounded hopeful, and Diana was sure that if she looked into the girl’s eyes she would give in. So, she just didn’t look at her as she tapped the windshield.

“Please open,” she just said. “Thank you,” she finished once it had been opened, and she climbed outside of the ship.

Hannah came out from under it and she was rubbing some places in her body. Diana raised an eyebrow at her as she removed her helmet. “We… Kind of got into a pinching contest. She’s good,” Hannah said with a grimace while touching her side.

Diana turned, not really interested. Well, first things first, find Ursula and go get the Blue Star back. Until then, she would have to wait. She could have taken Akko’s offer to practice, but right as she actually stopped to consider it for a second, the Shiny Rod disappeared.

In a way, Diana was relieved to no longer have to make a choice.

 

Amanda woke up with a sudden rock of the ship and groaned. “Akko, maybe you should take a break,” she suggested. Akko had been flying way worse than in the simulations.

Through the communicator she heard Akko hitting something in frustration. “Dumb ship!” She shouted. “Why won’t you do what I want! I saw that tree, I know I dodged it!”

 _She’s not listening to me,_ Amanda thought with annoyance. She decided to just turn the volume down and wait until Akko stopped throwing a tantrum. Amanda felt strangely not angry, lately. After the whole debacle with Hannah, things had been actually fun. Hannah reacted to the most stupid of things, and in all honesty, Amanda enjoyed it. Like before leaving the ship, where she had casually stared at her for just one second and Hannah had suddenly put a face as if she had just discovered someone had stolen all of her money. Or when she had ‘accidentally’ touched her with her feet earlier under the Shiny Rod. Of course, they were casual things that anyone not on edge would take as coincidences, but the fact that Hannah reacted to everything made it fun to tease her.

In a way, Amanda was just giving her a taste of her own medicine, except for the fact that she wasn’t actively mean. Well, kinda mean, but not mean-mean. She wouldn’t apologize for playing a game Hannah had suggested, and she was only following Barbara’s dare, so it wasn’t her fault. Sure, she had chosen Hannah over everyone else, but Hannah was acting like a child. She often did. She was spoiled and had a short temper. Amanda had apologized for what she believed had been an actually bad thing to do, but this? Yeah, no, Hannah was the one who overreacted and insulted her. Amanda wasn’t mad about it, she could understand that Hannah probably didn’t actually mean what she had said… Or not fully, at least.

And, while Amanda pondered over if she should leave the Shiny Rod or not, she felt the ship start moving. If the turret wasn’t on, then Akko must have been taking a break. Maybe she had relaxed a little. “Akko?” She asked after turning her volume up.

“What?” Akko asked in a defeated tone.

“What are we doing now?”

“I don’t know, I don’t care,” Akko said. “Wanna go back to the dragon?”

Amanda was kind of shocked to hear Akko in such a bad mood. It wasn’t the same as when she had ended up in fifth place the previous race. This was the voice of someone who was just really, really angry.

“No,” Amanda said. “You really wanna give up?” She asked.

Akko paused. The Shiny Rod stopped moving. “Maybe,” Akko said after some time. Amanda could tell she didn’t really mean it, like a kid unwilling to admit he was in the wrong.

“Akko,” Amanda said, “it’s ok to be frustrated. Nobody’s perfect. Just keep working on it and you’ll figure it out.”

“But I’ve TRIED!” Akko snapped. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for days already! I know I’m not a professional, I know I’m new but I’m sick of this! I feel like I’m not making any kind of progress at all!” Amanda heard Akko punching something again.

“But you’ve made progress,” Amanda asserted.

“What do you know? You don’t even remember what it’s like when we’re flying!” Akko said. Amanda had to smile awkwardly, since Akko was right. She had just said that to try and cheer her up. “It’s… A pain in the ass! I wish this thing had a stupid auto-pilot and leave me alone,” she mumbled. It was obvious she wasn’t serious. She was just venting her frustrations. Amanda wanted to turn the volume down again, but she felt like she should listen to this. “If it could fly itself like if it was Chariot then we’d win this race without breaking a sweat!” Akko screamed.

 **Auto-pilot activated,** Alcor’s voice suddenly reverberated all over the ship.

Amanda lost consciousness.

 

The Shiny Rod sprung forward as if someone had jerked on it.

 **Chariot mode,** Alcor said after the ship moved, and Akko felt a sudden stab of panic. What was happening?

The mini-map appeared, showing Akko where the finish line was. It wasn’t far away. Wait, when had the other pilots appeared? Akko saw as Amanda shot towards the Noir rod. Was this a simulation? But Akko hadn’t seen the change, those ships hadn’t spawned like before.

The Shiny Rod flew perfectly.

Akko was astonished. Astounded. Flabbergasted. Wait, who actually used the word flabbergasted? Pretentious writers who wanted to pretend like they knew what they were doing, that’s who. In short, Akko could barely believe what she was seeing, what she was _living._

Akko could feel the difference in movements. Even beyond that which she had felt with Diana. This was not a better pilot on a different broom. This was a better pilot on the Shiny Rod. This was… Chariot. Chariot, or a simulation of her, or something like that. When the Noir Rod answered with its own attacks, Chariot made a sudden move and approached it. Despite this, the simple movement made the rival ship miss all of its shots, and in an eyeblink the Shiny Rod was answering in full strength. Since the Shiny Rod was also slightly higher than the Noir Rod, this one was pushed down by the barrage of fire, and Akko’s jaw dropped as the Noir Rod was forced under its lower hovering limit. This, like Akko knew happened to normal brooms, caused the Noir Rod to shut off in an emergency landing. Akko was able to turn and see it hit the ground as the Shiny Rod flew itself.

It had never occurred to her to do something like that.

The ship suddenly shifted speeds, going a little slower and allowing something to pass in front of it. A missile. Appali. The missile turned around having locked onto the Shiny Rod, but the ship handled itself expertly, and as the missile finished its U-turn and tried to follow it just hit a tree and exploded. The tree fell, and it also did so in such a position that it forced a couple of racers to slow down.

It quickly returned to a high speed – higher than Akko could’ve managed – as the shapeshifter suddenly made a motion and crossed paths with the Shiny Rod. As it did, an entire tree fell off, as if it had been cut. Stupid shapeshifters, that trick had ruined many a race for her.

But Chariot didn’t slow down. In fact, it sped up, making sure to always be ahead of the falling trees. With that strategy, the shapeshifter realized that stupid trick was only slowing them down, so it stopped doing it. At that moment, Amanda started attacking, her aim as good as always, but the shapeshifters kept dodging everything.

Until Chariot suddenly started moving too. With the sudden movements, which weren’t as graceful as the shapeshifter’s but did manage to somehow mimic them, Amanda actually got a hit in. With one came another, and another. Soon Akko saw as the black, smoky ship tried to counterattack with small bombs, but all of those got blown away by separate weapons of the Shiny rod while the attack kept going on full force.

It didn’t take long until the shapeshifter was forced to fly away and stop pestering them. Chariot had not slowed down a single bit during the entire time, and now she went so fast that Akko didn’t even have time to react to what was going on.

The race ended. Results popped up.

The humans had won. By a ten second advantage. Suddenly, the simulation – it had been one, after all – shut down. Akko was back where she had first started, and she was breathless.

What had just happened? Auto-pilot? It had been amazing!

Then, the Shiny Rod moved again. Another race started without Akko needing to ask Alcor. This time the Shiny rod moved on a different direction. But the results were the same. No matter who came to attack, who tried to overcome them, nothing could stop the human broom. It really was just like if Chariot was back. Maybe…

 _I could win with this!_ She thought. _I can… I…_ Her excitement died with a sudden realization. _I’m not doing anything._

_What do I do?_

Akko shut down the Shiny Rod before it had a chance to continue. “Akko what the fuck was that?”

“What do you mean?” Akko asked.

“I dunno, I can’t remember, I just feel like shit,” Amanda said. “Like… Super tired,” she explained.

Akko hesitated. Should she answer? It… It felt like she shouldn’t. “I… don’t know,” she lied. “That’s why I shut off the ship. I think it was a mistake or something,” it was a good thing they weren’t speaking face to face. Akko wasn’t a good liar.

Amanda seemed to accept the explanation. “Maybe we should take a real break,” Amanda said.

“Yeah,” Akko agreed. She turned on the Shiny Rod again, and to her relief, the auto-pilot was deactivated. She teleported back to the _Dragon._

She… She needed to think. She needed to talk to someone about this.

Well, there was one person she could tell, probably.

 

_All the greatest scientists have to make sacrifices for their research. That’s just how it is. We need to do this, Chariot…_

The voice trailed off in Ursula’s mind as she heard banging in her door. Confused and disoriented, she spent a couple seconds trying to figure out what was going on. She had just won a race and… No, the race was coming. She hadn’t piloted in ten years.

The banging at the door was most certainly Akko.

She stood and opened the door. Indeed, the brunette was waiting for her on the other side. Ursula had thought that now that the girl had gone to practice, and that Diana’s problem was being solved, she would be able to get some much needed sleep. She had thought wrong.

However, as irritated as she was, she couldn’t stay angry while looking at Akko. Not truly.

“Can we talk?” The girl asked. She looked troubled.

“Always,” Ursula said, suppressing a yawn. Akko entered the room distractedly. Taking a few seconds, Ursula washed her face and put on her glasses. Akko sat on the desk’s chair, and she was making a number of faces that ranged from ‘why would anyone make that face’ to ‘definitely troubled’. As Ursula finally sat on her bed, Akko looked up.

“You… You weren’t close to Chariot, were you?” Akko asked. Her earnestness were like a hammer striking Ursula’s guilt-filled egg.

“Not really,” Ursula said, trying to keep nervousness out of her voice.

“Did you… Speak to her, ever, after leaving Luna Nova?” Akko asked.

Ursula hesitated. The sensible thing to do would be to deny it. But she really looked like she could use some kind of help. Whatever had happened, Akko needed advice, and Ursula suspected the girl was looking up for the only real source she trusted in the piloting world: Chariot.

“Sometimes,” Ursula said. “At, like, meetings and stuff. We talked at those, sometimes…” That was believable enough, wasn’t it? Ursula sure hoped it.

“Did she… Did she ever mention that the Shiny Rod had an auto-pilot feature?”

Ursula raised an eyebrow. _Oh, so that’s what’s going on,_ she thought. She stopped herself from smiling. She could barely believe what Akko was telling her. She had only had the Shiny Rod for a month and she had already discovered that? It had taken Chariot a lot of time to discover that one. “She didn’t,” Ursula said. As much as she wanted to help, that would be too much of a stretch. Akko looked down, disappointed. “But one time… I think we discussed something like that.”

Akko’s head sprang back up, eyes attentive. “We…” Great, now what? “We were discussing what it would be like for AI’s to take part of the race. You know, spirits and stuff.”

“And what did she say?” Akko instantly replied. Ursula thought for a while. She couldn’t tell Akko the answer.

“Why do you need to know?” She asked, to stall for time.

“Well…” Akko looked down. Was she ashamed? “I discovered that the Shiny Rod has an auto pilot. The problem is, it flies so much better than me. It’s… Fast and aggressive but knows how to dodge and…” She sighed. “Maybe I should just let it run my races for me,” she sounded like she was hurting, somewhere.

“It’s certainly a though call,” Ursula said. “If you still want to know, Chariot believed – still believes, probably, wherever she is – that when spirits became advanced enough to be equal to humans, then they would be allowed to fly alongside us, or even represent us.”

“That… Doesn’t really help me,” Akko said. Ursula smiled kindly.

“Probably not,” she admitted. “But this must be your call, Akko,” Ursula put a hand on her arm, trying to comfort her. “Do what you feel is right, and you can’t go wrong.”

Akko paused. “Wait a second,” she looked up. “Didn’t Chariot say that?”

Ursula froze. “Sh-she did?” She asked, feeling her face tense up as she screamed internally. Had she really said that? It was the kind of corny stuff she used to- No, she _still_ liked to say. However, Akko seemed to completely ignore her question. Instead, she rose from the chair.

“You’re right!” Akko cried.

Ursula was now confused. “I am?”

“A believing heart is my magic!” Akko yelled from the top of her lungs.

“It is?”

“Thanks a lot, coach!” Akko waved goodbye, sprinting out of the room.

Ursula was left in the bed, hand still up where Akko’s arm had been, confused. Had she done something to help? It didn’t feel like it.

Great, now she was too worried to sleep. Maybe she should get some work done…

 

“Uhm, Diana?” Barbara asked. They were sitting in their room, waiting for the Blue Star to be refueled. It wouldn’t be long, now. “Diana,” Barbara insisted. Diana looked up. She wished she could be completely alone. She had thought about going to Magic Deck, but for some reason a lot of people went there when the _Dragon_ landed. The hallways would be pretty empty, as a bunch of people had already left the ship to go and camp near the race site, but pacing wasn’t her style.

“What is it?” Diana looked away from her wand, which she had been using to watch a video.

“Did you hear that?” Barbara looked confused. “Sounded like Akko.”

Diana had. Akko running and yelling something. “I don’t really care,” Diana admitted. Akko didn’t sound hurt. She just sounded… Well, Akko. There was no reason to worry

“I don’t either,” Hannah said. “She’s probably just realized she can dodge trees instead of ramming into them, huh?” She giggled at her own joke, and Barbara chuckled. Diana found herself surprisingly annoyed at it, but she lacked the motivation to do anything.

She kept watching the video.

It was one of a practice race between a Shapeshifter and Daemons. It was thirty years old at this point, but it was still an interesting piece of history. Any race between any of the four regulars was interesting on its own right. It was a straightforward one. The racing track was a sinuous path between mountains. It was on Sídhe, though Diana couldn’t tell thanks to the greenscale.

The shapeshifter ship was, as always, a triangle of smoking blackness. Meanwhile, the Daemon ship was shorter, wider and bulkier than their usual ships. This was not one they had used on an IPR, probably an experimental design. Back in the day it must have been quite interesting, but compared to the Noir Rod or their Second Category ship actually, it was slow and hard to handle. It still fared remarkably well against the shapeshifter.

Diana had always found it strange how, despite the similarities between all Shapeshifter ships, they always were relatively on pair with everyone else. No outer changes, but apparently a lot of inner ones.

As always, the daemons focused heavily on attack. They weren’t as aggressive as, say, appali, but they took every chance they got to try to hold back the shapeshifter. Diana found it interesting. This was a short race, so they didn’t need to take much care of their fuel, but it did remind her of her own struggle during the Machina race. It was interesting to see.

When the race ended, the daemon had won. A good hit on the shapeshifter’s ship on the last minute gave it the advantage it needed. Diana watched as a couple of daemons, with their red-pointed protuberances and black bodies exited the black ship and slowly walked towards the shapeshifter ship. The shapeshifter also exited its ship – it opened a hole on the top, making the ship look almost alive – and they met face to face. The daemons extended a hand and the shapeshifter took them both. The video lacked noise, but Diana was certain there would be a lot of noise and cheering going on.

She turned her wand off. Right now she wasn’t doing research; she just wanted to watch videos of old races. Was it that hard for her to believe it? It was unusual that she did something without a clear purpose, but everyone needed some procrastination once in a while. She also felt like reading a book, but those were in her bag, and she couldn’t gather the will to get down from her bed and fetch one of them.

Why did she feel so down? Because of Akko? Because of her mistake? Some other mix of things? She knew it wasn’t because of her ‘ruined’ party. She hadn’t really cared about it in the first place. Maybe it was pure unaltered tiredness. The dopamine she had generated while landing would be worn out by now, so she started feeling the full strength of her irregular sleeping schedule and her bad humor. Being angry really did take a lot of energy, for some reason. She had the feeling she should have known why that was – she had certainly studied it. Maybe it was a temporary forgotten thing.

She moved on to another video. She had basically all races from the last hundred years stored in her wand. Sure, the video quality wasn’t the best, but that wasn’t really important for what she wanted to do. This new video was an IPR race. She instantly recognized it as a fourth iteration, thanks to the human broom. It kind of looked like a pear, with a bulky back, a less bulky front and rounded features. In fact, this was the very race where…

Diana fast-forwarded the video until the five minutes mark. There, she let it run again. There were just three racers in camera: The Humans, the Armors and the Medusa. It was amazing, how many times humans had starred iconic moments of the Inter-Planetary Race, yet had won not a single one.

And, right as Diana thought about that, it started. During the race the humans had been persistently harassed by the other two, and they had gotten tired. So, in a moment that experts still debated on if it was a stroke of luck or pure genius, the ship started spinning. Like a damn beyblade. It was lucky to be running on the barren wastelands of Set. Something curious about that ship is that it had very weak long range weapons, exchanging them for something that was akin to a simple stream of pure magic that could cut through anything. It hadn’t been used again because the amount of magic it wasted was absurd and not worthy, but looking at what was happening on the holographic screen, one had to wonder if maybe they hadn’t been wrong.

For the ship spun, and with absurdly precise movements, it actually hit the other two racers, who hadn’t been expecting it. It had been strong enough and lucky enough to break through the armor’s defenses and ruin their ship, and to be able to hit the medusa in just the right way to stop the hit from being illegal. In about thirty seconds, and exactly sixty spins, the human broom had gotten rid of its two most annoying competitors during that race. Of course, it won.

Another video finished. Diana was amazed by the sheer stupidity that move was. It had depended on luck, she was certain. So many people still defended it, though. Were they bland? Did they seriously believe something like that would be useful in normal circumstances? It had been a gamble with the odds absurdly against the humans. It had paid off, but so many things could have gone wrong… It was kind of like how Chariot was. Nowadays she wasn’t respected, but that was because she was seen as a traitor, as the one pilot who could have brought glory to Earth but in the last second had given her back to them.

Now, everyone’s hopes laid on a couple of teenagers, one of which was there only on accident, the other one not even trusting herself.

Looking at past races got Diana in a weird mood. She had to live up to expectations, but… Were those previous pilots subject to similar expectations? Julius Burton, for example. He was considered one of the best human pilots to have graced the IPR. The father of the _Dragon’s_ captain. He had been a normal teenager until he started training to become a pilot. Not poor, not rich, not ugly, not handsome, not stern, not funny. He was one of the most average man you could ever known. Yet, he had been an amazing pilot. What did _he_ have to deal with?

What about Chariot? She had appeared out of nowhere. She had blown away everyone’s expectations about her. The Black Sheep of the Eleventh Iteration of the Inter-Planetary Race. During the latter half of the race, many races had allied to try and take her down, and yet they could do nothing against her. She had been an unstoppable force, and impossibly good pilot who had, along with her mysterious anonymous gunman, been the vessel of all of humanity’s hopes of victory. What if the pressure had gotten to her? No, impossible. With her nine straight wins, she had a good advantage. Even if she had ended up in fifth place she would have still won the overall IPR. Her disappearance had been so sudden… People who didn’t hate her still theorized she had been kidnapped or even killed. It was highly unlikely, pilots had little chips installed in their arms constantly checking their vitals. If someone hurt one of them badly, it would alert it. Yet, her chip had remained perfectly fine, according to reports. Not killed, and she hadn’t been under deep emotional stress either, so no kidnapping either. She had been nervous, but, well, who wouldn’t be after bailing on the most important sports event in the universe?

Diana had her videos saved, of course. She didn’t watch them.

Instead, she finally mustered the strength to stand. The Shooting Star shouldn’t take much longer to get ready.

“Hey, Diana?” Hannah asked. Diana looked at her with her ‘normal’ expression. “Maybe you should talk to Akko,” Hannah said.

“Like you talk to Amanda?” Diana raised an eyebrow.

Hannah gave her flat look, shaking her head. “Amanda did what she did on purpose. And, well, we kind of got over our differences before that,” she shrugged. “I just mean, you look kind of… intense.”

Diana considered this. Hannah was right, she was aware of that. She should talk to Akko, explain to her why what she had said had been hurtful and ask her to understand her. On the other hand, she… didn’t want to. She wasn’t sure why. Akko was such a kind, if stubborn, person. She would understand where Diana was coming from, probably. There was no reason not to do it, and yet…

“Maybe I’ll do it after the race,” Diana said. “Come on, let’s go see if the Blue Star is ready.”

Barbara and Hannah exchanged a look, but Diana ignored it, exiting the room. All she neded now was focus. Nothing else.

Nothing else.

 

Akko sat in the Shiny Rod. Amanda wasn’t onboard. She needed to do this alone.

She turned on the broom, waiting impatiently as everything turned on. “Alcor, simulation,” she said as soon as everything was ready. Akko was ready. She would do what she thought was right. No, what she _knew_ was right.

 **Auto-pilot: Chariot mode,** Alcor announced. It had activated automatically. Akko had suspected it would.

“No!” Akko cried. “Turn it off!” The simulation turned off on command. Akko sighed. “Not the simulation you dumb bird, the auto-pilot. Turn _that_ off.”

 **Impossible,** the green crow appeared in front of her.

The single word made Akko’s eyes widen. “What?!”

**Auto-pilot cannot be turned off without complete removal.**

Akko paused. That meant that if she accepted, she would never be able to activate it again? That would mean one less choice to win the race. She would never experience Chariot’s flying again. She would have to be enough. But, that was what she was anyways, wasn’t it? Enough. If she wasn’t enough, then they didn’t deserve to win this. If she was, then she didn’t need this dumb thing. If she wanted to win…

It wasn’t a hard choice. A tough one, maybe. But not a hard one.

“Do it,” she said.

…she would do it with her own flying.

 **Auto-pilot removed. You’re back in control, Akko,** Alcor said. Akko could swear he looked… proud.

And, to Akko’s surprise, the bird started to become fuzzy. Its light rearranged itself into Comic Sans letters.

“ _Phaidoari Afairynghor_ ,” Akko said the command. Maybe she was butchering the pronunciation, but… No. The Shiny Rod started to glow. Not the normal glow. No, lines of green magic started spreading from the weapon balls, connecting. And, in a quick change, suddenly the ship was wider. Its front had somehow extended, now being rounded. It had an edge. A _sharp_ edge.

Akko suddenly felt more confident about her flying.


	43. Chapter 43

There was no ceremony for the rules of the race this time. Every coach simply received the instructions of the race on a little envelope. _I am surprised, though. Didn’t expect someone as apparently in touch with technology to use something so… outdated,_ Diana thought as she prepared for the race. The area of the race had been marked, and it was a big expanse of forest.

She was tapping her finger.

“Seriously, what the fuck is up with those rules?” Hannah complained. “I’m basically useless during this race. I can’t risk shooting!”

Diana didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep her cool if she did. She shared Hannah’s frustration. The race had rules that nobody had expected. They had no precedent.

It would be a series races. A series of short races, where each time, the last racer would get kicked out. The other most important rule was the prohibition on touching or harming trees in any way. Any touch would get you instantly disqualified and earn you zero points, no matter your relative position. That meant no shooting, of course. The chances of hitting a tree were too high.

And the First Category race was even more nerve-wrecking.

Tap, tap, tap.

The Blue Star stood at the start line of the first race. Each race would only be ten seconds long. No finish line. The one who had traversed the least amount of distance in the short period of time would be the loser that round, until only one of them was left.

The race would start in exactly five minutes, according to the plant in front of them. It had a lot of flowers, each one of them with ten petals. Each second, a petal retracted, and right now thirty flowers remained with petals on them. “I should get off,” Hannah continued. “Maybe without my weight you’ll gain a little bit of speed or something,” she said. Diana understood how she felt. The fact that she wouldn’t be able to do anything at all during the race was like saying to her face that gunmen weren’t important. The sole focus on this race would be on flying ability.

“Stay,” Diana said. “You can run checkups on the ship, maybe shoot if things get too dangerous and you’re sure you will hit.” _And I feel more comfortable knowing I have a friend on board._

Tap, tap, tap.

Hannah didn’t answer, but since there was no advice on the turret opening, Diana assumed she would stay. She tried to think of nothing as the minutes passed. About two minutes before the race started, everyone started wishing her good luck. She couldn’t help but notice Akko hadn’t done it. She had discovered something new, and was now training, so she wouldn’t be watching this race.

Diana wasn’t sure if that hurt or relieved her.

One minute left.

In this race, ships with the lowest acceleration were at a big disadvantage. Armors, Appali and Octopus for sure. Diana wasn’t sure if cyborg acceleration was good or not. In the races she’d seen it wasn’t obvious, sadly. That didn’t mean she’d had it easy. The shapeshifter, medusa and daemons were way better than the Shooting Star in that regard. Each race would only last ten seconds and she needed to make it as far as possible without touching a single tree.

Thirty seconds.

She made a path in her head, looking at what was in front of her. Maybe the Cyborgs to her right would try to get in her way, or the shapeshifter on the left, but she was fairly certain no one would actually risk confrontation. Still, just in case, she also prepared alternate routes. If she got attacked, she wouldn’t try to counter it, she would focus on getting ahead and nothing else.

Fifteen seconds.

Diana was going to win this. Deserving or not, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. If she managed to do this maybe she could fix every problem she’d had.

Ten seconds.

Problems she’d had because of a rich and respected family.

Five seconds.

She was proud of her name. Why did people have to be so judgmental of it?

One second.

 _Not now._ She stopped tapping her finger.

Diana accelerated. The Blue Star shot through the trees. No one tried to stop her. One second. As expected, the shapeshifter managed to get further than her, but it didn’t seem to be bothering with annoyance. Two seconds. The cyborgs were quickly left behind, and as she flew, a sonorous whistle was heard in the distance. Someone had hit a tree. Five seconds. She saw the daemons and their edgy ship in the distance. It was hard to tell, but they were probably also ahead of her. Seven seconds. Diana saw a slightly diagonal path with very few trees. Yes, she could use it. Eight seconds. She pressed the rightmost pedal, and in a burst of speed, she went as far as she could. Nine seconds. She stopped the speed right on time to not hit a tree. No whistle heard, she hadn’t touched anything, luckily. Ten seconds.

The whistle from before sounded tree times to mark the end of the race. The Planetary Alliance cameras following the racers around stopped and went back to the starting line. Diana followed. Those ten seconds had been less intense than she had expected. Maybe it was because she was in the right frame of mind.

The starting line, with the audience behind it, had a big holographic screen that showed the results. The armors had come in last. Surprisingly, it had been the medusa who got disqualified. This would be a heavy hit on their score, meaning the First Category race for them would be really important.

Diana set herself back in the starting line. This time she was put in a completely different spot to stop her from learning the layout of the forest. One minute until the race started. There were only eight racers left. Seven races, assuming no one else got disqualified.

“Well done,” Hannah said. “How do you think the medusa managed to get itself disqualified?”

“It’s bubble is enormous. Not the best choice for a jungle,” Diana explained. “I’m assuming they didn’t think much of it at first, since they water can probably make things go through it, but the prohibition on touching the trees kind of destroyed them.”

“You’re probably right, as always,” Hannah said, nodding.

Fifteen seconds.

Diana wondered if Akko would even be on time for the race. She didn’t have a way of knowing exactly how long Diana’s would last, particularly if people got disqualified.

Five seconds.

Well, she’d probably make it. Teleporting was one handy thing.

One second.

Race two started and Diana had already seen ahead to mark a path. Right on the first tree, follow the animal trail for one second and go to the right. As she followed the animal trail she was able to see even beyond, and as she avoided one three, jumped over other and vertically squeezed through another two, she found that already seven seconds had passed. She was almost startled when she heard the Blue Star’s weapons firing, and behind her, a missile exploded. Appali. No whistle, however, so neither of them got disqualified. The race ended, again.

She went back to the starting line again. This time the reptilians had come in last. The screen didn’t show any other positions. Just the last one. It was kind of unnerving.

Another minute.

“This gets really old really fast, huh,” Hannah commented. She was bored, obviously. “But you’re doing great, Diana,” she said, making sure to be encouraging. Diana appreciated it.

“You also did great. Thanks for the save,” she complimented.

 _I’ve gotta win,_ Diana thought. This race was absolutely horrible for people with anxiety. Sure, every race you survived you technically won more points. But you also had another chance of screwing up, touching or harming a tree, and being left with absolutely zero points.

Thirty seconds.

Third short race. Diana had never imagined she’d be running a race with such weird rules. Above the screen she could see Croix floating, facing the audience. She was doing as the commentator, and the audience seemed to love her. This time, Diana was on the end of the line, with the Daemons directly to her right. Would they try to interfere with her flying? Maybe, though daemon thinking always was erratic, at least to a human. One could say that their thinking was a little too alien.

Diana sighed.

One second.

The third race started. Lean right, dodge left, pass under that branch, careful with the sprouts. How did the plants call these giant trees? Diana believed the translation was something like “Everywhere.” It made sense. They were everywhere.

Wait, what was she thinking about? Five seconds had passed and she had dodged almost on auto-pilot. The daemons were on par with her, though only because the shapeshifter seemed to be having a fun time annoying it. Both of them were risking getting disqualified thanks to their little dangerous dance, though not a single fire was shot.

Another end, another saved. Diana had seen who had come last without even needing to see it announced. The plants. Curious, but as usual, races on home planets didn’t seem to go well. Diana carefully went back to the starting line. In the distance she saw the Shiny Rod flying. Conflicting emotions rose. Amusement at the fact that Akko was taking things so seriously, worry that she was overexerting herself, annoyance at the fact that she wasn’t watching the race, relief that she wouldn’t be there to see if Diana messed up or not…

Silly emotions. She couldn’t focus on them now.

Diana ended up between the octopuses and the daemons. They hadn’t attacked yet, but then again, as the race came to a close, trying to get rid of the competition was not a bad idea. As the sentient flower kept making its petals retract, Diana tried to make her plan. She wasn’t far from that place she’d been in the first race. With some maneuvering maybe she could reach that little straight where she would be allowed to use nitro to gain speed…

One second.

She accelerated. She had been kind of unlucky, starting with a tree right in front of her, which made her unable to gain her full speed from the beginning. Right now, she was in last. But as she flew she started gaining speed. Three seconds. Wait, what were the daemons doing? Four seconds. Red sparks between their wings. Five seconds. Diana saw what was ahead of her. She needed to go faster, but… Five seconds. No, not faster. She slowed down as the daemons shot. Their Inferno projectile missed the Blue Star, going instead towards the octopus ship. Diana saw what was going to happen and accelerated again. The octopuses deflected the shot with their shields. They had redirected it towards the humans again, but thanks to Diana’s foresight, they aimed just a little behind them. Six seconds, a loud whistle sounded as the octopuses got disqualified, their deflected projectile hitting a tree. Diana had lost distance, but the daemons disappeared from her mind. She turned up another gear. Seven seconds. If she went faster she would risk hitting a tree. The daemons had actually fallen back with her to try and continue attacking. Eight seconds. _There!_ Diana thought, recognizing the spot from before. She pressed the nitro. Nine seconds. She went as far as she could, like before, before letting the Blue Star slow down to keep dodging like normal. Ten seconds. The three whistles marked the end of the race.

Diana quickly went back to the start. Was it her or those ten seconds had lasted for way longer than just ten seconds? With her heart on her throat, she looked at the holographic screen.

The daemons had come in last. The sigh of relief that came out of her was long and, ironically, it felt like taking a breath after almost drowning.

“That was great, Diana!” Hannah said. Diana wasn’t so sure, but the daemons’ little performance had caused their downfall and the octopuses’. Now only four racers remained. Cyborgs, Appali, the Shapeshifter and Humans. Two of the teams who she had thought were the least likely to get this far had, somehow, beaten the daemons. Surprises like that were a reason the IPR was so famous among viewers.

Again, Diana was on one end of the line, with the shapeshifter to her left. She was a little nervous. The appali could attack her with relative ease this time, or maybe even the cyborgs would.

“Hannah, make sure to keep an eye out for the appali,” Diana said.

“I already was,” Hannah said. Yes, of course she was. Hannah was a trustworthy gunman.

Each passing second, Diana felt the pressure more and more. She had gotten this far. She could win. She _would_ win. But what if she got disqualified? The Shapeshifters were still better than her, even if in the simulations she had gotten an idea on how to deal with them.

Diana closed her eyes. Focus. She would win. Everyone expected her to. Everyone hoped she would.

But was that because she was Earth’s pilot or because she was a Cavendish and a prodigy? Her family had been important even before the discovery of Magic Energy. When they got into the Magic industry their power grew exponentially. At least, until the previous generation.

 _Focus!_ She thought as she opened her eyes. Five seconds. Why was it so hard to just focus?

 _Win this race. Your aunt is watching. Earth is watching. Akko is-_ she grunted in frustration.

One second.

She accelerated. Her mind had gone blank, leaving only piloting in it. She took the optimal path, even if it would cross with the shapeshifter’s. Faster. Just four teams. She would not lose here. Her movement seemed to be somewhat slower, but she didn’t have time to worry as to why. She was probably imagining it. A whistle sounded. How many seconds had it been? It didn’t matter. She accelerated further. The shapeshifter still kept pace with her. So frustrating, how _did_ those ships even work? Focus.

Before she even realized it, three whistles sounded. Had she lost? Hopefully not. At the starting line, she was pleasantly surprised by the two losers of this round. The appali had lost, and the cyborgs had been disqualified.

That meant only one race was left. Against the shapeshifter. She got rid of every other distraction. She shoved away expectations, friendship and goals.

She could do this.

She _would_ do this.

 

Akko smiled as she came out of the Shiny Rod. The next race was in the bag. She couldn’t lose, not with her new ability. But, right now, she would try to cheer Diana on. She quickly climbed the stands to where the humans were, three whistles sounding as she reached the group.

“How’s it going?” She asked Lotte as she sat down. She couldn’t help but notice Barbara had sat on the other end of the group, which was weird because she and Lotte had been spending some time together. Maybe they’d had a fight.

“Look,” Lotte pointed at the starting line behind the giant holographic screen. Akko’s eyes widened with excitement. There were only two ships left: The Blue Star and the shapeshifter’s. “Diana’s been doing great,” she said, and then explained how some of the races had gone.

“She’s amazing,” Akko said, “though that shouldn’t come as a surprise anymore, huh?” She put on a self-effacing smile, really feeling like she had aimed too high when declaring _her_ as her rival.

“It’s about to begin,” Lotte said, pointing at a Plant with a ton of flowers on its body, though most of them had no petals. A couple did, but the petals were retracting one a second. A countdown. It was hard to see how many were left, but not many.

And, when all of them disappeared, the race started. Akko watched closely at the holographic screen as the two ships disappeared between the trees. Diana really was something else. The way she danced among trees was beautiful. What in other racers might have looked like a hard zigzag motion, she made look like a simple sinuous path. The way she leaned the Blue Star to fit between trees or to gain an edge felt natural. If you didn’t have an idea of how to pilot, what Diana was doing might look even like practice. There were no frantic motions. A dodge left, a jump there. All of it… flowed.

 _I see,_ Akko realized. But it was too late for understanding now. She had a better strategy than flow now anyways.

And then, the race ended. Ten seconds. Ten seconds of absolute perfection, and Akko had been so infatuated by the Blue Star’s flying that she hadn’t even paid attention to the race as a whole, to the point where she actually had to look at who the loser was.

The shapeshifter.

She instantly changed the frequency on her helmet to meet the one Diana and Hannah would be using.

“Diana that-” She began to say, but she paused as she heard Hannah yelling.

“GET OUT OF THE SHIP!”

Akko froze. What was going on?

“What is this?” Croix’s voice came through the many roombas – why the hell did she use roombas? – over the crowd. In the screen, The windshield opened, Diana coming out of the ship in a hurry. A second later, Hannah also came out of the emergency exit. They didn’t even bother to shut down the broom, they just jumped out and ran.

Something had gone wrong, but what? As Hannah and Diana ran away, Hannah managed to hide behind a tree, but Diana ran in the opposite direction and the nearest tree was further away.

Then, the Blue Star exploded.

 

The race ended. Hannah had been keeping a close eye on the shapeshifter. Diana had been amazing, like the day before when she’d been angry at Akko. It was like… Like she had entered the Zone or something.

And then, in her screen, something changed. She had been running constant checkups, as instructed, but nothing had gone wrong. Except now. Suddenly, a big notification popped up. **_Critical Error._** The map of the ship showed that something had somehow gotten into the Magic circuits.

“Diana, get off the ship,” Hannah said, feeling surreally calm. A problem with the Magic circuits was probably the worst that could happen.

“Hannah? What do you…?” Diana started, but Hannah didn’t have time to argue.

“GET OUT OF THE SHIP!” Hannah shouted imperatively. She had also heard another voice, but didn’t have the time to think about it as she punched up to open the emergency exit and climbed to run out of the broom. When she came out, she saw with relief that Diana had followed her advice. She jumped out of the ship and ran as if her life depended on it. Her life probably did depend on it.

And, as soon as she could, she jumped behind a tree. Not five seconds later, what she feared happened. An explosion, a scorching wind of hotness mitigated by the temperature-regulating nature of the anti-g suit. Debris from the ship flied around.

 _This atmosphere is rich in oxygen,_ Hannah thought. She carefully turned. The ground was on fire, fire that was spreading like crazy. Way faster than it would on Earth. Only one thought crossed her mind, a primal instinct: _Run._

 

Akko didn’t hesitate. She didn’t even think. She climbed the remaining stands and jumped to the ground, which was a good ten meters below. As she fell, she waved her wand. The Shiny Rod instantly appeared below her at its maximum floating height, windshield open, and she fell right on top of the pilot seat as if the broom had known exactly how she was going to fall. Akko heard Lotte freaking out by her sudden motion, but she didn’t care.

“Phaidoari Afairynghor!” Akko instantly commanded, and she didn’t even wait until the transformation ended to being moving. She rounded the stands and in a moment she was going at full speed towards the place of the explosion. There were a lot of trees in her way.

She cut through them all.

She arrived at the place so fast that she barely had time to process it. She Had seen where Diana had fallen but amidst the fire it was hard to see. However, when she saw the horribly marine green figure amidst all the yellow, orange and red, she couldn’t mistake it for a plant. Those were way darker in this planet. Finally some good had come out of the place.

Diana was in a spot of dirt, luckily, and her suit and helmet were completely impervious to fire. Even then, Akko saw something reflecting off Diana’s arm, and her eyes widened.

She hovered until she was next to Diana. She opened her windshield, jumped off, picked Diana and picked her up. Thanks to the lesser gravity of the planet she was able to get her back to the Cockpit without much trouble.

“Noctu orfei aude freator!” she cried. She didn’t have a second to lose. She appeared in front of the medical tent that had been set up for humans. As she picked Diana up again, she noticed a nasty cut on her arm. The reflective thing she had seen was fresh blood. A couple of nurses in front of the tent snapped out of their surprise at seeing the white broom suddenly appear before them and helped Akko bring Diana into the tent. They removed the blonde’s helmet and replaced it with a mask. Then they started removing the girl’s g-suit.

Akko was numb. She should be panicking, worried, maybe even on the brink of tears, but as she looked at Diana’s unconscious body all she could think about was that her underwear didn’t match. Top white, bottom black. A nurse stood in front of her, but Akko didn’t hear what she was saying. The nurse started to push her. Akko let herself be carried out of the tent. And there she stood waiting. Her friends arrived soon, Ursula instantly going into the tent. Barbara started to shake her.

She was saying something, but again, Akko didn’t hear.

 

“Akko, please, Hannah’s still out there!” Barbara said. Amanda saw the look in Akko’s eyes and understood she was probably too shocked to do anything else. She had acted out of pure instinct before. Everyone was panicking. People on the stands had risen and instantly started to cry out in rage, claiming cheating, though it probably had nothing to do with cheating. Who the hell would cheat after the race was over? That kind of stuff is usually done beforehand. It had been a weird explosion, but…

Amanda couldn’t pretend not to care. She was restless, pacing around. Even if she didn’t show it much, she was worried. Hannah had shielded herself from the explosion, but the fire was spreading like… well, not, _faster_ than wildfire. Her suit would protect her, but she wouldn’t survive if a tree or something fell on top of her.

And then, Amanda got the stupidest of ideas. She changed the frequency on her helmet. “Hannah?” As an answer she heard panting. Relief washed over her. She was at least alive. “Hannah, dude, you fine?”

Barbara turned upon hearing Amanda. She was wearing a mask, so she couldn’t contact Hannah like that.

“Amanda?” Hannah’s voice came from the other side. She sounded equally surprised and disgusted. Yeah, she was fine. “Yes, I’m fine, though I’m surrounded by fire and trying to stay in one place.”

“Firefighter squads should be about to reach the place,” Amanda said. “Stay put.”

And with that, they didn’t exchange more words. Amanda didn’t really need to know more. Hopefully nothing bad would happen to Hannah, but she couldn’t do more right now. It would take too long to get there now, and while she could pilot the Rod, Alcor still didn’t listen to her, so she couldn’t teleport or do… whatever Akko had done just now. Why hadn’t she told her? She had mentioned she wanted to keep it a secret but… Well it was not like Amanda could actually tell what was going on when she was inside anyways.

“Hey,” Hannah spoke right before Amanda switched back to her normal frequency, “Diana is still out there, and she’s not answering. Is…?”

“Akko saved her,” Amanda replied instantly. “Well, assuming she makes it out alive, who knows what happened to her.”

“ _Akko_ saved her?” Hannah asked in shock. “Holy shit she finally did something useful.”

Amanda frowned. “Do you _really_ need to insult her like that now?”

Hannah didn’t answer. Amanda sighed. She decided to stay on the frequency, should Hannah try to say something else, though she should probably switch to the general one to also put herself in contact with Ursula. Though, for some reason, Amanda didn’t feel compelled to suggest that.

And then, she heard weeping from the other side.

“I could have died,” Hannah suddenly said. “Oh god, I could have _died_.”

Amanda stopped pacing. Hannah was definitely crying. “Hey, hey,” she tried to sound comforting. “You sure you’re fine? Have the firefighters arrived yet?”

“What do you care,” Hannah said. Her voice was still watery, even if she tried to sound angry. “You’re just going to end up making fun of us for this, won’t you? Fuck off,” she said. Amanda shook her head, not offended by the comment.

She then realized she was obviously not the person Hannah should be talking to. She approached Barbara, who looked like she was going to pass out at any minute. “Gimme the mask,” she said. Barbara looked at her confused. “I’ll give you the helmet so that you can talk to Hannah.”

“See? You don’t even wanna talk with me,” Hannah said from the other side. Amanda didn’t reply. Hannah was obviously not in a state of mind where she would listen to reason anyways.

Amanda and Barbara quickly made the change, holding their breaths, and in a second Barbara was already talking and comforting Hannah. Amanda took the chance to slowly walk away from the medical tents. For being so outraged, only a small group of humans had actually approached the place to see how their Second Category pilot was doing. They looked at Amanda with curious eyes, so she shrugged at them. They didn’t really know how Diana was. She probably wouldn’t die, but…

As she went back to the stands, she looked at the holographic screen. The win counted, of course, so at least not all was bad. Diana had piloted like a madwoman during that last race. The shapeshifter had barely been able to keep up, it was crazy. Though Amanda was sure she could do just as well, if not better.

“Sudden, huh,” A voice came from behind Amanda, and she jumped, exalted by the sudden appearance of Croix behind her. “You think you’ll be fine for the First Category race?”

Amanda looked at croix up and down. The woman was floating half a meter above the ground in her flying roomba that worked on inferno. “Me? Yes,” Amanda didn’t doubt she’d be ready whether she was worried or not. The Shiny Rod didn’t care about her feelings, probably. “The problem is Akko.”

Croix nodded. She looked towards the medical tents between the trees with interest. “That was one epic rescue, don’t you think?”

Amanda narrowed her eyes. Something felt… off. Croix didn’t sound worried. No, she didn’t even pretend to be. She was obviously preoccupied with something that wasn’t Diana. “Yeah…” Amanda said, tentatively. Truth was, Akko’s rescue had been pretty badass. Akko had reacted before any of them, ran off, jumped and disappeared. Next thing they saw was the Shiny Rod, transformed into some kind of giant axe, cutting through trees as if they were grass blades.

“Guess we’ll have to move the place of the race. Thanks to her now there’s a long corridor without trees…” Croix sighed, “But hey, I’m glad miss Cavendish is ok. Give her my good wishes,” and with that, the lavender-haired, absurdly-dressed woman rose into the air and gave the announcement that the First Category race would be delayed due to the accident.

Amanda sat down against a tree, feeling strangely drained. As people got off the stands, the IPR staff started to dismantle them. The race would resume in about two hours in a different location. Amanda felt like she should go check on Akko and such, but something stopped her.

Then, Jasminka dropped besides her, followed by Constanze.

“Nervous?” Jasminka asked. She wasn’t eating, mostly because she couldn’t eat while on the outside, but it was a weird sight. Amanda shrugged. Jasminka patted her back, and Amanda suspected she would be smiling, though it wasn’t visible behind the mask. “Don’t worry, Hannah’s going to be ok.”

Amanda paused. She already knew Hannah was ok. That wasn’t why she felt like she did. But then again, _why_ did she feel like that? The scare of the explosion, probably. She might not be best friends with Diana or Hannah but she wouldn’t want them dead. “Wonder what the hell happened,” Amanda said, sighing. “It’s weird for a broom to suddenly blow up with no explanation.”

Constanze nudged her. Amanda looked down. She was, as always, holding a tablet-like device. There, she had… “Wait,” Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Is that the Blue Star’s data?” She asked. Constanze nodded energetically, showing something. It was slowly updating, and it was obviously not in real time, or the data would already be gone. But it was impressive nonetheless. The Shooting Star, like most high-end racing brooms, had a lot of anti-hacking systems. For both physical and cybernetic hacking. The fact that Constanze was somehow receiving data on the now blown up broom just went to proof how much of a genius she truly was.

And, as it kept updating, Amanda understood. “Oh, I see! You will be able to tell exactly how things went wrong?” Constanze nodded again. “That’s cool! How far behind is that data?” The tiny girl raised three fingers. Three minutes was obviously too fast, so Amanda went for the next best guess. “Half an hour?” With another nod from her teammate, Amanda smiled. They’d be able to tell what went wrong before the next race started, even. That was reassuring.

And, at that moment, a bunch of red vehicles appeared. They had many different designs, as things like firefighters were not bound by any races. And Amanda was happy to see an auburn-haired girl sitting behind the obviously human red broom. Her g-suit was black in some places, but she was probably ok.

Now, all that was left was to wait.


	44. Chapter 44

When Diana woke up, she noticed she was inside a magical field that recreated Earth’s conditions. Her mind was as if in a thick fog. She could barely recall anything, but she understood she was in an alien planet where gravity was supposed to be half of Earth’s. But she felt normal, and she wasn’t wearing a helmet or mask. And, in fact, she saw a couple of the rods used to create such environments. What had happened?

She knew this sensation of barely being able to think. She was drugged. She looked at herself. One of her arms was heavily bandaged, and one of her legs was in as sling. She didn’t feel any kind of pain, but that was because she couldn’t feel at all. A machine was connected to her unharmed arm, checking her vitals and managing an IV bag. She had lost some blood, apparently.

“Diana?” Ursula’s voice sounded distant, but when she paid attention, she saw the teacher on a chair not far from her bed. “Thanks lord you’re ok,” she said with a relieved voice.

Diana tried to say something, but her tongue felt too big for her mouth, and her eyelids were heavy. “Wha…?” was all she could say before losing strength. Ursula quickly stood and approached, putting a hand on Diana’s forehead.

“Stay put, save energy. Your wound was infected. It was good Akko was so quick to react, nothing mayor happened.”

Diana barely understood a word of what she said. What had happened? She couldn’t recall. She had been… Racing. Piloting. Yeah, short races. Something… Had she won? Her mind was too fuzzy. She didn’t know. In all honesty, she didn’t care. All she wanted to do was sleep…

 

Ursula watched as Diana fell unconscious again. She had been heavily anesthetized. Her leg was broken, she had lost a decent amount of blood and the sheer force of the explosion had caused her to black out. It was kind of a miracle that she had woken up so soon after the accident, in fact. Relaxed as Diana went back to her peaceful rest, Ursula went back to her chair, feeling like a failure. How could this happen to one of her students? Forget what her superiors would say, she felt responsible.

“Ursula,” suddenly, someone entered the tent. Amanda. “Coach,” she had wide eyes and her expression was a mixture of shock and anger. “You _need_ to see this,” She entered the magic field and took out her mask, handing Ursula one of the devices Constanze always carried around.

Amanda was obviously being serious, so Ursula didn’t ask any questions and looked at the screen. She instantly recognized a status report screen from the Blue Star. She had already been witness of Constanze’s amazing hand for machines and technology in general, but she would seriously have to tell her later about how hacking into things like this was illegal. She had the feeling it wouldn’t work.

Numbers on the top right corner showed the time. It was impressive, not even the mechanics of the Shooting Star had a system like this, but that was because it was forbidden. Still, five minutes before the event everything was in order on the ship.

Ursula watched as slowly the time approached. And then, a critical error notification popped up, a failure with the magic circuits. Not a minute later the data disappeared. Ursula looked at Amanda, confused, not understanding what she needed to see. Every system on the ship had been working properly. She looked up at Amanda, who then touched a button, made the data go back to five minutes before the explosion again and then opened a separate data window.

It showed a 3D blueprint of the Blue Star. Ursula instantly recognized what was wrong: Exactly four minutes before the explosion, something started spreading from the back of the ship. Something that looked a lot like… “Roots?” Ursula asked, frowning. How in hell…?

“Plants!” Amanda exclaimed in a low but highly hostile voice. “Motherfuckers tried to kill us with their plant powers!”

Ursula looked at the girl, who was red with anger, and shook her head. “Plants don’t have powers like that. It’d be like assuming humans have power over flesh and bones,” she thought hard about it.

“But those roots carefully avoided detection until they slipped into the magic circuits!” Amanda insisted, “That wasn’t automatic! Someone had to be controlling them!” She had her hands clenched into fists.

It was strange. Ursula didn’t know a lot about plants. She knew the basics, of course, but this kind of thing… It was suspicious, sure, but they wouldn’t try to kill them, would they?

 _What_ is _the prize of this race?_ She thought, looking at the roots spreading through the ship. It was true. They carefully avoided interacting with anything that would have set up any kind of alarm. Controlled or not, they were obviously somehow aware of what they were doing. It wasn’t something Ursula could defend so easily. She liked to give others the befit of the doubt, but this looked like something calculated.

“Don’t tell Akko about this,” Ursula decided.

Amanda, who had been looking at Diana, snapped her head towards Ursula. “What?! We need to tell her, what if they’ve done the same to the Shiny…”

“Even if it was intentional, which we don’t know yet,” Ursula interrupted, “we can’t let Akko worry about this when the next race is about to start. The Shiny Rod is immune to any kind of trickery. She needs to focus.”

Amanda gritted her teeth. “That’s going to be hard, after what happened to Diana.”

Ursula nodded. Akko was an emotional girl. Diana was going to be fine, but the shock of what had happened wasn’t light. Amanda kept looking at the blonde, but it was as if she wasn’t really looking at her. Ursula checked the screen again. Those were definitely roots of some kind, spawning out of a little seed on the back of the ship.

“Wait here until the nurses come back in the ambulance to take Diana to the _Dragon,_ ok?”

Amanda nodded. Ursula took the little screen and walked out of the tent through the back, so that the girls wouldn’t stop her. There was one person who was sure to know what the thing in the screen was, and luckily for Ursula, she wasn’t in a place where she could hide.

 

“Croix!” Ursula spotted the lavender haired woman floating above the ground, lazily checking the preparations for the new place of the race. Annoyed and angry spectators, both human and alien, walked around them. Some of them looked at Croix with distaste, but they didn’t say anything. Ursula’s translator device picked up a few conversations about how Croix was favoring the humans because she was of the same race.

If only they could have known Croix they would have seen they were horribly wrong.

Croix turned around. She beamed, white teeth showing, as if seeing Ursula was the best thing that could happen to her. “My, Coach Ursula, it’s been what, about a week since we last saw each other?”

“We need to talk,” Ursula said, not bothering to hide her hostility.

“My, my,” Croix said in her usual nonchalant voice, “We’re breaking up already? We only got back together!”

“Croix…” Ursula made sure to slip as much menace into her voice as she could. It didn’t seem to have an effect. Croix turned to look at the construction of the stands.

“Sorry, Cha- I mean, Ursula. I am, as you can probably guess, a busy woman,” she said with fake sadness. “I am sorry but I can’t-”

Ursula held up the screen, the data paused on a frame where the roots were clearly visible. “I have proof of possible cheating. Talk to me now or I’ll go talk to the press,” she threatened.

Croix’s expression shifted from a faked sad one to a genuine curious one. “Well, if there’s cheating involved, guess I can’t ignore it, now can I?” She rose into the air, looking down on the workers. “Keep up the good work! I want this done in the next fifteen minutes!” When she came back, she stepped out of her roomba. She took out a small device that looked like a really old smartphone, pressed something and the roomba suddenly rose and started to casually float over Croix’s shoulder. “I suppose you want to make this a little more private?” she asked.

Ursula nodded. Croix led her away from the stands. They walked for a little while before a big red tent appeared between the trees. No, it hadn’t been blocked from sight before. It just popped up, as if it had been invisible before. Ursula narrowed her eyes at it. Croix had some strange technology, probably developed thanks to the knowledge she had gathered from the many different races of aliens, something she could only do with her position as the head of the Inter-Planetary Race.

The inside of the tent was dark. Darker than it should have been.

“Ok, close your eyes, put these on,” Croix said in the darkness. She handed something to Ursula, which she finally recognized, via touch, as earplugs. Hesitant, she put them on, and did as asked.

And something felt… Strange. Like an out of body experience, she suddenly felt light and empty. She had felt like this before, back when she first looked for Croix on Machina. It lasted just an instant, but that instant was enough to convince Ursula something strange _was_ going on.

That, and the fact that for some reason now Croix was really close to her. They were in a really small space. Croix struggled, rubbing her body on Ursula’s, which the teacher couldn’t help but enjoy, despite all of her unsolved problems with the woman. As they moved, Ursula took off her earplugs, wondering why she’d have to wear them in the first place.

“Darn thing’s not made for two people, I tell you,” Croix said. She finally managed to open a door, and when they came out, they were in… a lab.

No, not _a_ lab. _Croix’s_ lab.

“How?” Ursula instantly asked, looking warily at her old partner. Croix ignored her as she took off her cape and the many belts on her waist. Ursula reluctantly followed, and Croix kept undressing, completely uncaring of the fact that Ursula was there, watching. It wasn’t as if this would be the first time Ursula had seen Croix in her underwear, but it bothered her how casual she could be despite everything.

She put on an utilitarian suit.

“Well, now we’re here,” She took Constanze’s device and examined it closely. “Huh, interesting. Girl was able to hack into the Shooting Star’s systems? You have to present her to me later. She could be the next me!” She looked up, as if expecting Ursula to laugh, but huffed when she got no reaction, “Man, when did you become such a Party Pooper?”

“Just look at the screen,” Ursula said, keeping her voice even.

“Oh, yeah, this is totally cheating. Parasite seeds. Semi-sentient plants that are ‘programmed’ to do one task. Fairly useful, huh?” She handed the tablet back to Ursula, who was speechless. “What? Don’t look at me like that, you expected it, didn’t you?”

Ursula shook her head. “I… And what are you going to do about this?”

“Nothing,” Croix shrugged.

Ursula had no patience for this right now. She instantly got on Croix’s face with narrowed eyes and a menacing demeanor. “Excuse me?”

Croix didn’t feel threatened, obviously. “I can’t do anything. Yes, it’s cheating, but natural Parasite Seeds are fairly common. They will tell you one just happened to fall on the Blue Star amidst practice flights, and that they just happened to naturally do what caused the explosion,” Croix shrugged.

Ursula clenched her fist trying very hard to hold back and not punch her right there and then. “So you’re just going to leave things as they are?”

“Well, I mean, I can speak to the plant’s coach and make sure to tell them you know what they did, but without actual proof – proof that was vaporized in the explosion, as you may guess – my hands are tied.”

She looked like she didn’t care… No. She _didn’t_ care. Ursula turned around, eyes closed. Yes. This was one of the many reasons they’d had that discussion so many years ago.

“I don’t know why I even tried,” she finally said. She opened her eyes. Yes, it was the exact same lab as before. Only lit by monitors, the dichotomy of the working desks being a mess but the rest of the lab being spotless, the exact same machinery as before, some of it looking slightly more worked on than last time… “Teleportation? How?”

Croix walked from behind Ursula and sat in front of the only desk without any project on top of it. “Long story. Complicated. It’s not even teleportation, actually. I repeat, complicated.”

For Croix, ‘complicated’ meant ‘I don’t want to tell,’ so Ursula couldn’t do much. Well, she could try to beat the shit out of her to try and get the information, but it was probably not that important. “We should head back,” Ursula said. “I still need to-”

“Eh, yeah, no,” Croix interrupted. “I listened to you, now it’s your turn to answer some of my questions.”

Ursula turned, not hiding her suspicious look. What was Croix planning now?

“Come on, relax. I just want to ask you if you’ve noticed how quickly that girl, Atsuko Kagari, is developing,” Croix said.

“Stay away from her,” Ursula instantly replied.

“That’s not an answer.”

Ursula sighed. “Yes, she is.”

Croix crossed her arms, nodding. “Yes, yes indeed. She’s had the Shiny Rod for barely over a month and she already knows two of the words. Impressive. How long did it take us? About half a year each, right?” She turned around. A roomba suddenly appeared from somewhere in the lab and projected a screen. Ursula frowned at seeing what looked like recordings of Akko inside her room in the _Dragon_. “What’s more impressive is that she doesn’t seem to be as determined as you. What is she going for? What drives her? She does have the kind of genki demeanor you used to have, though.” Ursula refrained from saying anything. “Though, I do notice that she’s not unlocking them in the same order as we did. Wonder how that works…” The holographic screen she was using wasn’t like normal magic holograms. It must have been made of more than just inferno, or the effect would have been a screen only in a redscale.

Ursula couldn’t take it anymore. “How did you get those recordings?”

Croix chuckled. “I thought it was my turn to ask questions,” she said with a sly smile. However, she shrugged. “These aren’t recordings. They’re just recreations of scenes based on a number of factors you probably wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me,” Ursula insisted.

“Do you know anything about quantum physics?” Croix raised eyebrow. Ursula hesitated. “Thought so, you were never good at physics. Well, you can think of it as actually recording an alternate universe, in short.”

Croix had been right: Ursula didn’t get it at all.

She didn’t care. “Stop recording my students. It’s an invasion of their privacy,” Ursula said in a low pitched voice.

“Could you stop trying to intimidate me? We both know it’s not going to work,” Croix said with a sigh. “Listen, whatever plans I have? You can’t stop me. You probably know what I’m planning anyways. Whether you agree with it or not, it’s no longer within your power to decide if I can do it or not. Can’t we just have a normal conversation? We didn’t see each other in ten years. Don’t you want to catch up?”

Ursula’s expression grew harsh. She took a deep breath. She didn’t know where she was, but she could tell it wasn’t Pan anymore. How had Croix developed a way of teleporting?

Had she managed to implement it in the Noir Rod?

“Just take me back to Pan, please,” she said.

Croix appeared to be genuinely disappointed, but she still rose and pointed at the dark, small room they had appeared in. “There’s no one in your room, right?”

“There shouldn’t be.”

“Perfect, then I can probably send you there. Stand in there.”

Ursula did as asked. Her movements looked stiff, almost robot-like. She was really reluctant to follow Croix’s instructions, even if it was needed to get her back to where she needed to be. Once inside, Croix stood, looking at her for some time, eyes hidden in the shadows. What was she thinking? Would she be planning on how she could use Ursula? Maybe she wanted to do an experiment with her and not send her where Ursula wanted to be.

Could she, maybe, be considering saying something else? Something both of them wanted to hear?

Whatever it was, the door of the room closed, and Ursula felt as light as a feather.

 

Akko looked at the inside of the Shiny Rod. There were drops of Diana’s blood inside of the cockpit. She pressed her lips. She hadn’t cried. She was just worried. Really worried. The nurses had said Diana would be fine, and she had been taken to the _Dragon_. Still, it was impossible not to think how things could have gone wrong. What if Akko hadn’t acted on instinct? What if the debris from the Blue Star broke Diana’s helmet? Akko had taken about thirty seconds to get her to safety, she could have died in that time.

 _But she didn’t,_ Akko had to remind herself. _She’s going to be fine._

Ursula had instructed her to not think about it, but it was like trying not to think about zebras. You just ended up thinking about it, whether you wanted or not.

“Amanda?”

“What?” She sounded weird. Akko wasn’t sure of what had happened but she had been really… Touchy, for the last hour.

“Let’s win this,” Akko said. Even with all that was going on, there was one feeling that rose above them all.

Determination. The rules for this race were strange, but they were still in her favor. It was similar to the Second Category race, but it would just be one two-minutes ‘long’ race – at least, in comparison to the previous ones. The racer who got the furthest would win. And, they were allowed to touch trees. Akko had no doubt about what she’d do. She’d turn the Shiny Rod into what she had decided to call Axe-mode and she would raze with everything on her path.

The worrying thing, however, was that only first place would get points. And only half as much as usual, that being ten. Everyone else would get the amazing quantity of zero.

“Yes,” Amanda said, voice low. Akko had the feeling she was seething. Held back anger didn’t look like Amanda’s style, but it was possible Akko was wrong and Amanda was just tired or- _Why the hell do I keep thinking that?!_ She face-palmed, grunt of frustration leaving her mouth as she sat down. She should clean Diana’s blood, but she decided to leave the red dots there as a reminder. Plus, she still hoped the Shiny Rod would clean itself up. After all, it seemed to be able to do maintenance work alone.

Akko moved up to the starting line of the race. Due to the different start pattern, order had been thrown out the window. To one side she had the cyborgs, to the other the medusa. She technically couldn’t transform the Shiny Rod before the race started, since it would count as a different ship from the one in the official records, but once it started she wouldn’t lose any time. “Amanda? You fine?”

“Me?” Amanda asked in shock. “Yeah, I’m fine, just angry,” she admitted. “You’re the one I’m worried about.”

“I’m fine. I’m going to win this, for Diana,” Akko said with determination.

“And Hannah,” Amanda added. Akko found the addition curious, but didn’t mention it. Hannah hadn’t suffered badly. Well, not physically, at least. She had been shaken, but Barbara was soothing her. Akko decided she didn’t need to try to put herself in Hannah’s shoes. She had enough by thinking about what Diana must have felt. A piece of the ship flying by and slicing your arm, another one hitting and shattering your leg… _Stop,_ she ordered herself.

The flower-plant thing that counted seconds still had like… a ton of petals to go. Akko couldn’t be bothered to try and count them all. Instead, she tried to get everything off her head. Her strategy was simple and unbeatable. She had already proven it worked by going to rescue Diana. Everything was in her favor.

She had failed on Machina, but she would redeem herself here.

With Diana’s points they had managed to stay up. If on top of that Akko managed to get them another ten points, then they would have an amazing advantage over second place. She tried not to smile as she imagined the faces on everyone as she came out victorious.

Just one more minute until the race started.

 

Hannah sat in the stands, watching the race that was about to begin, but not _seeing_ anything. Barbara was hugging her, but for some reason, Hannah still felt incredibly cold. She was shivering, her body reacting as if she really was cold, despite the humid and hot ambience of Pan and the fact that her g-suit protected from such things.

She had cried, a lot. It had been so close. If she had been more distracted by the win, or if she had tried to figure out what had gone wrong before jumping out of the ship… She wept, trying very hard not to let others see her weakness. On top of that she also felt awful for what she had done to Diana. Or, rather, for what she hadn’t done. She had run, not even stopping to think about one of her best friends until she was far from the real danger.

It was crushing. To know that in a moment of real danger she would run away to save herself hurt. Hannah felt like a worthless piece of garbage. Tears didn’t flow anymore, she was too tired to keep crying, but she suspected this wouldn’t be the last time she would cry over that. Forget almost dying. She had almost let Diana die too. And it had been _Akko_ of all people who saved her.

Barbara didn’t know any of this. No one would know. She didn’t want everyone to know how much of a coward she was. They would hate her for it. Surely if Barbara had been in her situation she would have gone running to help Diana. Hell, the roles had been reversed, Diana wouldn’t hesitate to help Hannah, she was sure of it.

Hannah was hugging herself, on top of Barbara’s hug. She didn’t really know how to take this new revelation. It was said that a woman never knew herself until she was face to face with death. Hannah could understand that, now. She cringed every time she thought about the explosion. She… Just wanted to go home. Not to the _Dragon._ Home. Right now she longed for nothing more than for her room and a warm meal from her maid.

The race started at last. Hannah tried to distract herself with it. The Shiny Rod started slowly, and as it moved, it shifted and changed. It’s front became wider, with its border changing colors slightly, giving the impression of a sharpened blade, it’s back becoming thinner in the process along with the engines. The cockpit moved to be more centered and in just a couple seconds the whole thing had changed forms.

Then, the ship burst with sudden speed. Hannah cringed at first, expecting a crash and a sudden stop, but the Shiny Rod cut through trees as if they were nothing but sticks. It was impressive.

But stupid. Hannah slowly felt the shock leave her body as she grew angry at Akko. No way she’d… No, this was exactly like her. Hannah looked to the side, where Ursula’s eyes were slowly growing wider and wider. Yes, she hadn’t been the only one to notice. “Coach, aren’t you going to say anything?”

Ursula hesitated, though Hannah didn’t understand why. “I…” She swallowed. “I have to do it, don’t I?”

As she rose her hand to her helmet, the effects of what Akko was doing started. The other racers, desperate at seeing a single ship overtake them all so easily, started doing what anyone in their right mind would do: Get behind the Shiny Rod and the path it was creating. “She’s a fucking idiot,” Hannah mumbled.

Barbara looked at the race with doubt too. She was probably conflicted. Hannah should have been too: Akko had saved Diana, it was hard to be mad at her.

But how could she not be mad at her sheer level of idiocy?

“Akko,” Ursula said, “Go back to normal, raise your shields. You’re far ahead, keep it that way and-” She paused, interrupted. “No, Akko, listen to me, it’s important, this is no-” She paused again, “Akko!” Then she remained silent.

Hannah gave the teacher a flat look. “Hung up on you?”

“Changed frequencies,” Ursula confirmed. She made a movement as if to pinch her nose, but she couldn’t while wearing the helmet.

Hannah kept looking at the race. Now four different ships were trailing behind the Shiny Rod, taking advantage of the open path. Curiously enough, the daemons and their Noir Rod were there. So their ship probably couldn’t do the same as Akko’s. It would have been interesting to know if Hannah wasn’t trying to figure out what the best way of killing Akko as soon as she stepped out of that cockpit would be. The other ones following Akko were the cyborgs, appali and armor. The medusa seemed to be having a way easier time now that it was able to touch trees, and the shapeshifter flew agile and precise, like always.

“Amanda?” Ursula suddenly asked. “No, you’re in the middle of a race. It’s… probably because the Shiny Rod changed forms… Or something?” Hannah frowned. Was Amanda awake? Well, was she even asleep when flying? It was hard to tell. Hannah had only experienced what Amanda did almost every day for a few seconds. “No, Akko is… Being Akko, I guess. You’ll see when you come out.”

From context, Hannah supposed Amanda had asked what was going on. Hannah recalled, there was nothing inside the white box that was the turret normally, at least not until it changed to mimic the Shooting Star’s. Maybe Amanda really didn’t have a way of perceiving the outside. What if she was only some kind of energy source? And it knocked her out, which would mean her having no memory of anything. Maybe all the shooting was done via AI. After all, the aim of the ship was sometimes a little _too_ perfect…

The racers who weren’t following Akko, besides the shapeshifter or medusa – plants, reptilians and octopuses – had been too far away to be able to use that strategy. But the difference was obvious. The Shiny Rod and the other racers had gained a full thirty seconds advantage. They wouldn’t win in a million years.

At the one minute mark, Akko still hadn’t dropped her ‘strategy’. “I’m going to kill her,” Hannah said. “I’m done with her. I’ll dropkick her out of existence,” her voice wasn’t angry. In fact, she couldn’t be angry anymore. She was on the verge of laughing. This had to be a prank. Yes, a really elaborate prank. At any moment now Akko would just stop the entire race, start laughing and the whole thing would be restarted.

It didn’t happen. Instead, Akko’s stupidity finally caught up to her. The race was already more than halfway through. It was time for everyone to get serious. For that, they needed to do one simple thing.

Get rid of the person with the overwhelming advantage.

Almost as if they had planned it, the daemons and armor attacked at the same time. One of the giant stone balls surrounding the armor ship shot forward, followed by an Inferno laser shot from the spheres of the Noir Rod. It was worth noting that the Noir Rod used more than one sphere for this, meeting two different lasers and fusing them into a single more powerful one.

Both attacks hit. Of course they did, the stupid Akko was going in a straight line. The Shiny Rod was thrown off balance. The laser didn’t do a lot, but after it hit, the stone ball hit on almost the same spot- the side of the blade thing. Hannah hoped the Shiny Rod would be able to cut the stone, but to no avail. The broom hit a tree from the side, which in turn made it bounce and hit another one. At that moment, a missile hit the side of the ship, tilting it and making it cut a couple trees on a forty-five degree angle.

“Amanda, keep calm, you can’t get hurt inside the Shiny Rod, ok?” Ursula said, obviously reacting to the shouts even Hannah could hear from Ursula’s helmet. Hannah felt a little worried. With all those movements, nothing even resembling a seatbelt, Amanda could actually get hurt… Or according to Ursula, not? How did she know that? “I can’t do anything, sorry,” she continued.

The Shiny Rod was damaged. The missile was _not_ magic, and while brooms could withstand a fair amount of damage, there were some attacks more effective than others. The white broom was leaking pale green smoke from the side. Hannah cocked her head. “Well that’s strange,” Barbara was the first one to comment on it. Through the smoke, it was perfectly visible that the Shiny Rod had… nothing. It was just another white layer of metal that didn’t look damaged. Why was it leaking magic?

Well, whatever it was, it obviously caused an effect. Slowly, way slower than when it had first transformed, it went back to its usual form. The damage wasn’t repaired, of course, and the ship was definitely going slower. The other racers quickly overtook the humans, and surprisingly enough, it was the appali who had taken the initiative. They started attacking everyone in sight like crazy. They must have used every weapon in their arsenal. Of course they were doing that, they had done horribly in the first race, this was their chance to make a comeback.

Hannah sighed, looking away from the screen. The result was obvious. With only fifteen seconds to go, Akko wouldn’t recover.

“She was probably distressed for what happened to Diana…” Lotte commented from the row of seats above them. Hannah was about to make a snarky remark, but then she remembered what Barbara had said. She kept the remark for herself. If Barbara liked her, then she would have to come to at least be able to stand her, despite how unremarkable she was.

The race ended. To everyone’s surprise, the appali managed to win. Thanks to Akko, most of the race had been a straight line for them. Even if the medusa and shapeshifter had had an advantage, in the end humans helped one of their worst rivals to win. Well, officially, humans wouldn’t admit to being rivals with the Appal people, but everyone wanted to prove they were better than the alien race that looked the most than them. They didn’t seem to have this problem with Cyborgs, though. Well, society worked in mysterious – not to say stupid – ways.

The new leaderboard popped on the giant holographic screen. Curiously enough, thanks to the strange way the pointing system worked this time, Humans shared the first spot with shapeshifters at thirty-two points. Next came the daemons with twenty-nine, followed by the medusas with twenty-six. They had done well enough in the first race to stay on a good position even if they hadn’t earned a single point in this round. Following that, the Appali had made quite a comeback by doing fairly well on their Second Category race and by winning the First Category race, which left them with twenty-five points.

The last five places were armor, octopuses, reptilians, plants and cyborgs. The octopuses and cyborgs hadn’t earned a single point this round either. The cyborgs would probably be unable to recover from this. They score was too low.

Hannah rose. She slowly walked down the stands, with Barbara trailing behind, asking her to be careful and if she was fine. No, she wasn’t fine. But she could use this anger to fuel her for a while. She waited patiently for the Shiny Rod to come back.

It didn’t.

“She ran again?” Sucy asked. “Well, this time I can’t help,” she said in her usual monotonous voice. Hannah sometimes wondered if it was all just a façade, like with Diana, but Sucy didn’t give that impression. Plus, she wasn’t inexpressive all the time. When someone spoke of gross, creepy things she smiled and enjoyed it.

“It seems like it,” Ursula said with a sigh. “I… Should have seen this coming. I realized she had unlocked that new form, but I didn’t expect her to change strategies so suddenly.”

Hannah was about to comment that Akko had done the exact same thing back on Machina. She had discovered something and had completely changed strategies last minute, ignoring all of her training in favor of what she perceived as a dominant strategy, oblivious to all the implications doing that had. With a shake of her head, Hannah turned around. “Let’s just go back to the _Dragon_ ,” she said. “I wanna check on Diana.”

Ursula kept looking at the forest for a few seconds, worried expression on her face. “Amanda?” She asked. She bit her lip as she obviously got no answer. “Wherever they are, they’re out of reach.”

Hannah hesitated for a second. Akko had probably teleported away, like last time. What a childish girl.

“She’ll come back,” Sucy said. “She needs to eat.”

Hannah smiled at the joke. Yes, that seemed like something Akko would do. Then she stopped, chastising herself for almost laughing at a joke from the creep.

Ursula sighed again. “Let’s hope she comes back soon…” she sounded worried. “Ok, girls, let’s go to the _Dragon._ ”

Hannah nodded. However, as she walked, the anger she felt at Akko started slipping away, since it had nowhere to go. And, as it did, her previous mood started to set back into place.

She needed to apologize to Diana for what she had – or rather, hadn’t – done. She wouldn’t be able to be at ease until she did that.


	45. Chapter 45

Amanda kicked the door, finally prompting the Shiny Rod to let her go. She crawled from under the ship and looked around, angry. What the hell had…?

This was _not_ Pan. It took her a few moments to realize it, but… _Oh fuck,_ she thought. She instantly jumped on the Shiny Rod and knocked on the cockpit, where Akko was just gripping the joysticks that were the controls and looking straight ahead. She had the thousand year stare. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Akko open this shit!” Amanda cried, removing her helmet. As she had guessed, she could breathe perfectly. They were back on Earth. She felt heavier thanks to the increased gravity, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. “AKKO!”

Akko looked up for a few seconds before looking straight ahead again. Amanda punched the glass, hurting her hand. Great, now her only means of going back were gone.

She took in her surroundings. It was a shore. It was small, and the sky was gloomy, with light-grey clouds that augured a storm. Surrounding the sand were relatively tall rocks, leaving this section of the place completely isolated. The air wasn’t chilling cold, but it wasn’t hot either. Were they in some part of Japan? It was the first thing that occurred to Amanda, given the fact that Akko had obviously teleported away without thinking. With her inner clock absolutely destroyed, Amanda had no way of telling which time it should have been in her time zone. She didn’t even know what day it was most of the time.

She started to get anxious. What if people found them here? Going to the beach on a rainy day might not be the standard but it certainly wasn’t all that weird either. Particularly in a spot like this one, where teenagers and probably not only they would most certainly come to fuck at some point or another.

“Akko!” she kicked at the windshield. “Come on! You brought us back to earth! If you don’t come back to your senses I’m just going to get the fuck out of here and go back home!” The mere idea of going back home disgusted her, but she needed to get Akko to move. Her threat washed off Akko without any effect. “Fine, do whatever you want, look if I care,” she finally said, getting down from the ship. She checked the side where it had been damaged. It still leaked magic. However, she was amazed by what she saw. The metal – was it even metal? – was repairing itself. As the magic leaked out, the hole created by what Amanda could only assume was a missile from appali slowly closed.

The Shiny Rod could regenerate.

Well, that explained how it never needed any kind of maintenance, and how Akko had been able to be constantly bashing it against buildings back in Machina without it ending up as a pile of scraps. “Hey, Akko, this thing can heal itself, how cool is that?!” she shouted in an admittedly not very good attempt to maybe get Akko to react and get out of the cockpit.

She sighed, kicking at the sand below her. Surprisingly enough, her first thoughts after how to get back to Pan were dedicated to wondering if Diana and Hannah were ok. Particularly Hannah. Diana looked like the kind of girl who would be able to deal with this kind of trauma without much issue, but Hannah was an emotional mess of anger and sass.

Well, she had Barbara by her side. She was probably fine. Amanda decided to just rest for a while, trying not to think about how much she wished to burn all forests in the world right now. At worst, Akko would forget about her and she’d have an excuse to travel around the world. She could sell her g-suit and helmet for money at the start. Just that would probably give her enough to live for a month, two if she was sparing.

She distracted herself looking at the ‘wound’ on the side of the Shiny Rod closing. It was hard to think of it as mere damage to a ship. Amanda was starting to consider the Shiny Rod as something alive, and the fact that it could heal itself was, as one may guess, not helping to dispel that notion.

The sky above was boring to look at. The clouds were plain and simple. There was a cool breeze on the shore, and Amanda closed her eyes. The race had been quite the experience. She had woken up at one point, as if the turret had been turned off, and she had started bouncing around in it like crazy. She hadn’t been hurt, but it was still annoying as hell.

So the turret wasn’t available when the Shiny Rod transformed? Ursula had implied something like that. Why, though? Maybe the transformations took up a lot of magic or something. Had Akko known that? Well, she certainly did now. Amanda moved around a little to help the sand adapt to her body shape, her hands behind her head. Maybe she should take off the g-suit and dive into the sea. It looked like it’d be an enjoyable experience.

 _Why not?_ Amanda thought, raising from the sand. She removed her g-suit, remaining in her underwear – sports underwear, which was the only kind of underwear she used whenever she wore a g-suit – which wasn’t all that different from a swimsuit anyways. She started to feel more the mild weather now. Not cold, not hot. Maybe a little hotter would have been nicer for a dive on the ocean, but oh well.

Hopefully there wouldn’t be any sharks nearby.

 

Akko’s knuckles were white. Her tight grip on the joysticks was all that kept her from just falling apart right there and then. She had teleported away without thinking. She didn’t even know where they were. Ocean? Was this even Pan anymore? There were no trees in sight, just rocks, sand and water. She felt like she hadn’t blinked in minutes. She didn’t want to. Amanda had said something to her. She had ignored it. Now Amanda was swimming. How could she be so relaxed?

“Alcor, can the Shiny Rod turn back time?” she asked.

**Unknown command.**

_Well, it was worth a try,_ she thought, trying to cheer herself up.

It backfired. She blinked. She lost strength on her fingers. Slowly, she brought her hands up and pressed their heels against her eyes, squeezing them shut. _There’s still eight races. You can make up for this. You can…_ “Ah!” She cried, snapping her head up and punching the side of the cockpit. “You… STUPID SHIP!” She bellowed, her hands trembling. “Why did we lose? Why can’t I just do it?” Each sentence was punctuated by another hit. She pushed the windshield open, eyes watery. “I’m done with this!” she said, voice breaking down as she jumped out of the ship and stepped into the sand, throwing her helmet away. She tried to run, but tripped and fell on her hands and knees.

Why? She… She had the transformation! She was faster than everyone! They had teamed up against her just because she was winning! It was so… unfair! She should have listened to Ursula, she… “Fuck you!” She yelled. Tears had started falling at some point, and they wet the sand below her like drops of rain. “Fuck, fuck, fuck all of you!” she had in mind every single racer when she cried about this. No exception. They were just jealous of the Shiny Rod. They were afraid of it. They… “Argh!” she punched the sand, frustrated. Amanda had stopped swimming to look at her, but she didn’t approach.

Akko screamed, shouted, and yelled through her watery eyes. She didn’t care if anybody listened or saw them. She punched and kicked. She was basically throwing a tantrum. Two races in a row she had messed up. She had only won the first one by accident. She was not meant for racing. She had only managed to get as far as she had thanks to the Shiny Rod. But even the best ship in the universe was worthless with someone like Akko piloting it.

A flash of Diana’s unconscious body as she carried it crossed her mind. Her face, dirty from the ground, her arm bleeding. She had also failed her. She had promised not to let the team down. In truth, she had meant she wouldn’t let Diana down. Her crying became less noisy, but more intense for her. Her eyes seemed to never run out of tears. She had her fists clenched, her teeth gritted.

And, as her energy ran out, all she could do was lie with her face on the sand, still crying and weeping. Her chest hurt. She was done. She wouldn’t go back. She’d take the Shiny Rod and go home. They wouldn’t win the race anyways, so nothing would be lost. Let them have whatever stupid thing was the prize for this race. She’d never see Ursula or anyone else again, but she’d rather do that than face a disappointed Diana.

A cold hand suddenly touched Akko’s nape, making her jump up, wiping her face. Amanda looked at her with a serious expression. “Done crying?” She asked. Akko didn’t answer. Amanda’s body was slim and athletic. She didn’t have any defined muscles, but Akko suspected she wouldn’t have much trouble getting them if she went to the gym for a few weeks. “Come on, we already lost the race. No use crying over spoiled milk. Let’s go back, they’re probably looking for us.” Her wet hair made it look straight. It was longer than it appeared to be, probably because she always had it spread out in her tomboyish hairstyle.

“Fuck off,” Akko said, hugging her knees and burying her head between her arms. “Take the Shiny Rod and go back, I don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore,” she said handing over the key-wand.

Amanda took it. The Shiny Rod didn’t run away, but Akko knew what she was asking was stupid. Amanda could pilot it, but she couldn’t command anything. She wouldn’t be able to teleport back to Pan even if she wanted to.

“You know, if you’re going to be like that every time you lose a race you’re going to have a harsh time becoming a pro and being the new Chariot,” Amanda commented. She had sat down and had obviously no intention of leaving.

“I don’t care.”

Amanda sighed. She looked down, then up again. “Listen, Akko: You’re a bad pilot,” she said.

Akko looked up with a flat look. “Really cheering me up here,” she said.

Amanda chuckled. “No, listen to me: You’re a bad pilot. You suck. Not only you don’t belong in the IPR, I’m wondering how the hell you managed to get fifth place on the previous race,” she said in a serious voice. “You don’t think ahead and do whatever you want, disregarding Ursula’s advice half of the time.”

“If you’re going to insult me just say ‘bitch’ and call it a day,” Akko said.

“And you know the best part? I don’t get to experience any of your shitty flying,” she continued. Akko decided to ignore her. “I mean, I only know how bad you do thanks to videos. Imagine. But, you know, you’re also someone who’s been piloting for less than two months,” she put a hand on Akko’s shoulders. “And, as much as you suck, you’re still doing way better than most people do when they just begin. It may be thanks to the Shiny Rod, but you have your own good instincts.”

Akko looked down. Her eyes were probably red, her throat was dry and she still wanted to go home and say hi to her parents. “It’s just the Shiny Rod. I’m way worse if I try to pilot it like a normal person,” she said, recalling how she couldn’t keep up with the many controls of the ship on her own.

“Akko, I’m not a psychiatrist, but if you keep thinking like that you’re just going to feel worse. Come on, get the fuck up and let’s go back. Don’t you want to check on Hannah and Diana?”

“And face them?” Akko imagined the look of disappointment Diana would have, feeling like she was going to cry again. “No thank you.”

“So you’d rather let everyone down because you ran away than give your all in trying to fix your mistakes, got it,” Amanda stood. “Well then, guess I’ll be taking the Shiny Rod back home. Care to open the map for me? I have no idea where we are. We _are_ on earth, right?”

Akko looked up, frowning. “You really think inverse psychology is going to work?”

“Yes,” Amanda said with a smirk.

Akko resisted for a few seconds, but with a sigh, she stood. She walked to the sea, where she washed her face with some salty water. The feeling of the cold water on her face made her feel surprisingly better. She turned around, where Amanda was climbing on the cockpit.

“Are you going to go like that?” Akko asked, pointing at Amanda, who was still wearing her sports undergarments. She didn’t seem the slightest bit uncomfortable.

“I’m wet and full of sand. Don’t want to get that shit on my g-suit.”

Akko accepted the explanation, climbing on the cockpit. “Why are you riding up here?”

“Don’t want to get sand on the turret either.”

“So it’s fine to leave it here?”

“Hey, it’s not you who has to lay down whenever she climbs here. Doing that with sand would be… Shit, is that Diana’s blood?” Amanda pointed at the dark spots behind the seat. Akko nodded, cringing again when she recalled the moment and pressing her lips into a thin line. “Man, she really was hurt, huh? You know, even if you lost the race, the way you saved her was pretty neat.” While she had started sounding relaxed, with each word her expression grew a little darker.

“Uhm, are you ok?” Akko asked. She was in no position to say that as she barely had the energy to remember what the command for teleporting was but the shift had been a little too sudden.

Amanda sighed. “They cheated, Akko.”

Akko cocked her head. “Huh?”

“The explosion of the Blue Star. It was set up by plants. They tried to kill Hannah and Diana, probably because they saw them as a higher threat than you,” Amanda sat with her back against the side of the cockpit. She had to sit with her legs pulled close, but it didn’t look too uncomfortable.

“How… do you know?” Akko asked, wary. She slowly felt her heart beating faster, the implications of what Amanda had said not helping with her anxiety.

Amanda didn’t look up as she spoke. She was now in the same mood she had been before the race. Well, at least it wasn’t tiredness. “Constanze bugged the Blue Star. It was keeping tabs on everything about the ship and we saw roots interfering with the Blue Star. That’s what caused the explosion.”

Akko felt a chill. “They tried to kill them?” She asked disturbed.

“No, they just wanted to show her a really cool trick,” Amanda said with a smile that quickly turned sour again. “Isn’t it great?”

Akko gulped. “This… is serious, isn’t it?” She asked, suddenly feeling like running away might be the best choice after all. “Diana said it, didn’t she? That it would be more likely for others to cheat from now on…” she recalled the scene at the skyscraper. Of course, she hadn’t given the statement the importance it deserved. “How did it happen?”

Amanda looked up. “Don’t know. A plant suddenly started growing in the back of the ship and it pierced into it. Maybe a seed or something,” Amanda suggested.

“Didn’t they run a check before the race?”

“Obviously. They must have missed whatever it was. Dunno, maybe it was like really small and imperceptible,” she didn’t sound convinced. “Maybe they planted it mid-race… No, no, I don’t think the plants ever got close to Diana or shot anything at her...”

Akko didn’t have enough details about this. She’d ask Constanze about it as soon as she came back. Which she was going to do right now, because something felt wrong and she needed to figure out what it was. With a sigh, Akko looked down at Amanda one last time. “You sure you’re fine wearing that? The rooms aren’t that close to the hangar, you know.”

Amanda shrugged. “What’s going to happen? A bunch of people I don’t know seeing me and probably thinking I’m going swimming or something? Let’s just go.”

Akko nodded. If Amanda was ok with it, then she didn’t have any objections. She hesitated for a moment, thinking about what Diana might say once she woke up and saw what Akko had done in the race. But, somehow, the prospect of never seeing her again because of that seemed even worse.

Plus, she was worried, and if she was going to keep crying, she’d rather do it on top of a comfy bed.

“Noctu orfei aude freator,” she said, and the Shiny Rod teleported away.


	46. Chapter 46

Diana woke up again, this time feeling a lot less drugged.

The first thing she saw was Hannah and Barbara, waiting patiently next to her bed. She found it hard to smile, but she did her best, coming up with a sloppy approximation of what it should look like.

“Hello,” she said, turning around. Her movements felt slow, as if she was moving through a thick substance. She was inside one of the _Dragon’s_ infirmaries. The biggest one, probably, because she had a really small room all to herself. It was barely big enough to fit the bed she was resting in and the medical equipment needed for her. Hannah and Barbara were standing, cramped, on the side of the bed nurses would use to check on Diana. If for some reason there was a need to move her, the entire wall where the door stood could retract to allow for it.

“Diana…” Hannah looked like she was about to cry. Barbara wasn’t too far from that either. “How do you feel? Are you ok?”

“How about you?” Diana asked in return. “Did you manage to avoid harm?”

Hannah nodded, then pressed her lips. “You worry about me even though you’re the one who got hurt,” she said in a meek voice. “I’m not worthy of your friendship.”

Diana raised an eyebrow. Barbara, however, nudged Hannah and gave her an annoyed look. “Just stop being so melodramatic and say what you want to say,” she said in a tired voice. How long had Diana been out?

Hannah sighed, looked at Diana with some doubt, waited a few seconds, took a deep breath, fidgeted with her fingers, looked at Diana again and then she finally took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for running away,” she managed to say. “I should’ve gone back to save you, but I-”

Diana didn’t really recall what had happened, but given the context clues, she could imagine how it had happened. She shook her head. “You probably wouldn’t have been able to outrun the fire. Plus, it was better to leave me wherever I was,” well, now that she thought about it, she recalled the explosion. The sudden burst of power, something slicing her arm, something hitting her leg… “That way rescue crews would have found me more easily.”

Hannah suddenly leaned forward, carefully hugging Diana. Diana didn’t feel much, but she felt a slight stab of pain from her arm. It must have showed in her face, because Barbara put a hand on Hannah’s shoulder and pushed her back. “Come on, you’re hurting her,” she said, pulling her back.

“Sorry,” Hannah instantly said.

Diana smiled, for real this time. She was too tired to put on her mask right now, and Hannah and Barbara were her best friends. “It’s fine,” she said. She actually wished the hug lasted a little longer, but Barbara was probably right, she could reopen her wound accidentally. She moved a little in bed. Her leg was in a sling, a cast encapsulating it. She was surprised it hadn’t been a compound fracture. She was lucky it hadn’t been one. Whatever had hit her had probably done so after bouncing off the ground, losing speed and making it weaker. If not, her leg would have probably been absolutely destroyed.

The door opened – an automatic door – and a nurse… No, a medic peeked in. An old lady in her golden years, but despite her age, she had a keen look to her. “Ah, Miss Cavendish, you’re finally awake,” the doctor said. “Sorry, girls, can you give me a few moments with the blondie? You can gossip all you want later.”

Hannah and Barbara nodded, exiting the room and allowing the old lady to come in. “I’m Greta, but a lot of people end up calling me granny, so just use whatever you want,” she said, looking at a board in her hand which probably held Diana’s medical info.

Diana’s first question was more instinctive than thought out. “Can I still pilot?” she asked, nervous. She doubted a leg and arm injury were enough to make her have to retire or something, but she was still doubtful.

“Of course you can,” Greta instantly dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “You’ll be back on your feet in two weeks. Before you ask, you are going to miss two races. I can’t give you the schedule, so don’t ask for it.” She flipped a page or two. “Ok, let’s begin by basic questions. Do you remember who you are?”

“Yes,” Diana said. “Diana Cavendish.”

“Do you remember where you are?”

“Inside the _Dragon,_ which is landed on Pan… Unless it has already taken off, I’m not sure how much time I was unconscious.”

“It’s still on Pan, don’t worry. Do you remember who those friends who just came to see you were?”

“Hannah England and Barbara Parker, my best friends and teammates,” Diana answered all of these questions seriously. They were simple things to make sure nothing went too wrong.

“Do you recall what happened before you fell unconscious?”

Diana paused. “It’s fuzzy, but I recall an explosion. The Blue Star failed.”

Greta nodded, making some annotations. “Can you spell ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’?”

Diana blinked. She recognized the word, of course. “Let’s see… S, U, P, E-”

The old woman chuckled. “It’s fine, it’s fine. It was just a little joke. You don’t mind the bright lights or the ring of my voice?” Diana shook her head. “You don’t feel any pains in your head?” Again, Diana shook her head. Finally, Greta nodded. “Ok, young miss. I don’t think you hit your head too badly, so you should be fine. With magic treatment you’ll be repaired in no time. Unless it kills you,” she winked at her.

“Thanks a lot,” Diana said. “Sorry for the trouble.”

Greta laughed. “Please, kid, I get paid for this, it’s my job. Plus, you’re a great pilot, wouldn’t want you to retire so soon, huh? Keep it up,” she said before turning and walking away. As she crossed the door, she spoke to those outside. “Go before the next dose of anesthesia kicks in and she falls asleep again.”

Barbara and Hannah entered again. Through the door, Lotte also peeked in, waving and smiling before disappearing again. “Everyone’s worried,” Hannah said, her tone sounding as if she didn’t believe it.

Diana wondered if Akko was outside. However, as she thought about Akko, her expression slowly steeled itself. Hannah noticed it, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Akko’s not here. She ran away after losing the race, hasn’t come back yet. She took Amanda with her, too.”

But, as she thought, she realized something. “She… lost?”

Hannah and Barbara nodded. They brought up a little tablet – one of Constanze’s – and showed her a recording of the race. Diana watched it patiently. When it finished, she thought for a while. She didn’t know how to feel. During her first race she had lost, but it was easy to see that she had tried. This time, however, it was as if she wasn’t even thinking. She had found a new tool and she had insisted on using it despite not knowing how to. She had basically shot herself in the foot.

Diana hummed. “It’s…” She doubted.

“Idiotic?” Hannah suggested. Diana shook her head, but she understood. Idiotic could be a way to describe it, even if it was too mean for her taste.

“Oblivious,” Diana finished. “Akko was completely oblivious of her surroundings. She lost because she was too confident in that new form of the Shiny Rod.”

Hannah shrugged. To her it was the same. Barbara, on the other hand, nodded. “I mean, she had some right to…” She trailed off as someone entered the room.

Ursula. “Hey Diana,” she said with her usual warm smile. She was cramped in the back of the room, but there wasn’t much space to move. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” Diana admitted. “Other than that, nothing hurts too much.”

Ursula nodded, sighing in relief. “Great. I’m not sure if you’re allowed to eat anything, but I got an apple for you. You’re probably hungry,” she said, handing a shining red apple to Barbara, who then passed it to Diana. Diana examined it. It looked perfect, and it felt perfect. She assumed it had been washed. She bit it.

“Don’t you want it peeled and-” Barbara started to offer.

Diana shook her head as she chewed. It was juicy and crunchy. It _was_ a perfect apple. “It’s wonderful. Thanks, miss Ursula,” Diana said after swallowing, instantly taking another bite. She really was hungry. As she bit, Barbara and Hannah’s expressions relaxed a little. Appetite was a good sign in these cases.

As she ate, Diana couldn’t help but think of the race. If Diana was right, Akko had discovered that new form not long before the race, but her memory might have been a little jumbled because of what had happened. Still, she should have talked to them about it. It was pretty much like Akko to act on her own without thinking ahead, and Diana didn’t think she had hidden it on purpose or anything, but… _maybe when you see something you don’t recognize on a tree you should think better than to just climb it._

Akko had climbed the tree without thinking again. She had slipped and fallen. Truth be told, the kind of race First Category had suffered was a harsh one. Akko hadn’t really understood it, had she? Diana should have been more direct. When she came back, she’d explain to her what she had done wrong and…

She finished her apple. When thinking about speaking with Akko, she had started tapping her finger. _If I give her advice, would she think I’m just looking down on her?_ She thought. Amanda probably would, but Akko wasn’t like that, right?

She had thought the same before and had been disappointed. In the end, people perceived Diana as they did for a reason. What use would it be talking to Akko now? If she was perceived as nothing but a rich girl, then she’d just live with it. She had done so all of her life, anyways.

“Diana, you fine?” Barbara asked.

“I’m rather tired,” Diana said. It wasn’t a lie, even if that wasn’t the reason Barbara was asking. “I think I’m going to go back to sleep now.”

Her friends nodded as Diana closed her eyes. She heard the door opening and closing. She opened her eyes again. No one was left in the room. For now, at least, she preferred it like that.

 

As Hannah turned the corner next to the infirmary with everyone behind her and Barbara, she bumped into someone, and both of them bounced back. Hannah tripped, but the person she had bumped into caught her by the arm and helped her gain stability again. Hannah looked to see who it had been.

The couple of emerald green eyes that looked down towards her surprised her more than they should have. Was that Amanda? Had her hair grown? No, it was just humid. “Hey, watch where you’re-” She stopped as she noticed that Amanda wasn’t wearing anything besides sports underwear. She blushed. “The hell are you wearing?”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “There’s no time. Ursula,” Amanda looked up at the teacher who had been behind the group. “We need to talk. With everyone.”

Hannah, still bothered by Amanda’s indecency, turned towards Ursula, who had a hesitant look. She knew what Amanda was talking about, obviously, and wasn’t too excited about the idea. Still, she nodded. Hannah frowned. “Aren’t you going to ask about Diana?” She asked, annoyed.

“You’re not crying or anything so I suppose she’s mostly fine,” Amanda said. “Come on.”

“Wait,” Ursula said. “Where do you plan on talking?” she asked.

“In our rooms, duh.”

Ursula bit her lip. Then, she shook her head. “I… Don’t think that’s a great idea. We should talk somewhere we’re sure no one is spying on us,” she said, looking around. Hannah raised an eyebrow.

“You think there’s someone spying on _us?_ ” She asked, a little bewildered by the idea. Ursula nodded.

“It’s not a stretch, given what they’ve already done… Oh, I have an idea,” Amanda said, sly smile appearing on her face. “Let’s go to a place where no one would ever be able to spy on us.”

Ursula looked at Amanda with some mistrust. After all, you didn’t always hear a teenager in her humid underwear say she knew a secret spot that no one else knew. _Well that sounds a lot worse when phrased that way,_ Hannah thought, blushing slightly.

However, no one seemed to have an objection, so they decided to follow Amanda.

 

Hannah came out of the Shiny Rod and looked around the beach. The sky was grey with clouds, a storm probably in the making, but it was day still. Hard to tell which hour due to the even lighting. The gravity of this planet was normal. She saw Amanda – who had finally put on some clothes before leaving – without a helmet on, so she took hers off too.

“Good to be back home, eh?” Amanda said. Lotte and Sucy were also walking around the beach, while Barbara cautiously glanced at the redhead with glasses. From the cockpit, Ursula came out. The Shiny Rod disappeared again as the teacher dropped on the sand. Constanze and Jasminka were still missing.

Back home? Was this Earth? Just how many surprises did the Shiny Rod have…?

Hannah huffed, not giving Amanda the satisfaction of an answer. She had been shocked before, but she hadn’t forgotten that she was mad at her. Amanda’s hair had gone back to normal by this point. Hannah couldn’t help but wonder if she was still wearing that humid underwear. Probably not.

Akko came back not long after, and once everyone was together they sat down in a circle in the sand. Hannah was wearing her g-suit, luckily, so she didn’t mind the sand. Wait, why had Amanda sat down next to her? And she was too close. Hannah moved away from her and closer to Barbara. Amanda didn’t move, but she had done that just to mess with her. Hannah knew she wasn’t paranoid.

Well, maybe just a little.

“Ok,” Amanda started. “Let’s get straight to the point. Akko, get the fuck over here,” Amanda said to Akko, who was standing a few meters away from the circle. Akko approached slowly, not looking anyone in the eye. She sat down next to Lotte, who softly patted Akko’s back. Hannah no longer felt super mad at Akko, but she made sure to show her annoyance through a look.

“Akko,” Ursula said. “Don’t be ashamed. You messed up. You can make up for it,” well, at least coach Ursula wasn’t sugarcoating it. Or maybe she had done so. ‘Messing up’ was an understatement. Akko had royally fucked up. She had basically thrown an entire race away for no reason.

But, well, at least she seemed to regret it. Did she understand why she had failed? Probably not, but it was Ursula’s job to point that out.

Once Akko sat down, Amanda took out one of Constanze’s tablets. “Ok, here’s the deal: The Plants cheated. The reason the Blue Star went kaboom was because of this,” she connected her wand to the tablet, creating a 3d holographic blueprint mid-air, not unlike the one they had first seen back on Earth… Wait, they were on Earth now, weren’t they? It was a strange notion.

“What is that?” Hannah instantly asked, noticing something out of place. A small dot on the back. Amanda, instead of replying, just pressed something. The dot slowly grew and spread like roots, and Hannah was aware of how perfectly it was avoiding touching anywhere the alarms might have gone off. It went directly for the magic circuits. “What? A kamikaze plant? Those bastards…” Hannah felt her chest start to burn as she thought back to the explosion. _Don’t cry here. Not in front of Amanda. She already heard you, don’t give her more ammo._

“Parasite Plant,” Ursula answered. “They’re… Like animals, you could say. Not completely sentient, but can follow instructions if trained. Problem is, there is no way of proving if that one had been trained,” she explained. Amanda looked at her with some surprise.

“Well, whatever it is, look at this,” Amanda made the engine section bigger. The roots retracted and went back to being a now particularly noticeable dot. “According to this, that thing had been there for hours, or more.”

Akko pointed. “Oh, that’s what had been bugging me!” she exclaimed. “That was planted way before the race, after all! But why didn’t the mechanics deal with it?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was going to point out,” Amanda said. “Highly doubt that thing was invisible. So… Why?”

Hannah thought for a while. Maybe they had missed it, but it was a little big to miss, and it was in one of the places that should have been inspected more thoroughly: The engine zone. In fact, the weirdest part about all of this was how the hell had that thing survived with the heat coming out of the magic engine.

“They could just have dismissed it as a rock, or something,” Lotte suggested.

 _A rock,_ Hannah thought, suddenly remembering something. “Hey, that kid!” Hannah said, “That piece of shit was the one who planted the thing on us!” Everyone turned at Hannah’s sudden outburst. “Sorry, It’s just- While practicing, after we ran out of fuel yesterday, a little plant I’d assumed to be a kid threw something at us. I thought they were a couple rocks, but…”

Amanda snapped her fingers. “Ha! Do you have a video? We can use it and-” Hannah gave her a look. “Oh, of course not. Hmm…” Amanda thought for a while. Then she threw some sand behind her with a grunt of frustration. “We really have no proof, then.”

“Are you _sure_ this isn’t some paranoia of yours? Parasite Plants can grow in the wild,” Sucy said. Hannah raised an eyebrow, surprised Sucy knew details about an alien plant. “It might all just be a horrible coincidence,” she pointed at Hannah, “the kid could have been just throwing rocks, the Blue Star could have just casually got a parasite stuck on it, and the crew might just have missed it,” she said seriously.

“Do you really believe that?” Ursula asked, a little surprised.

“Just because something is unlikely it doesn’t make it impossible. The easiest explanation is that they cheated – and statistically, the simpler answers tend to be the correct ones – but someone has to be skeptic here. This is all circumstantial evidence.”

“Sucy, don’t be mean,” Lotte nudged her. Hannah wasn’t sure mean was the right word, but well…

“They’re reasonable doubts, Lotte. Dunno about other planets, but here on Earth I’m fairly certain we have the concept of innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.”

Hannah frowned. “She’s right,” she admitted, not without some reluctance. “This could be a big coincidence.”

Amanda stared daggers at her. _Hey, I was the one almost caught in the explosion,_ Hannah thought, but decided not to derail the entire conversation for a discussion with Amanda. “Ok, whatever, even if they didn’t cheat, do you people honestly believe the mechanics wouldn’t have been able to see that thing?”

The Parasite seed was about half as big as a normal fist. It wasn’t precisely subtle. Hannah had to agree with Amanda in that statement, even if she wasn’t particularly eager to admit it.

“It is strange,” Ursula admitted.

Constanze stood from where she was and walked towards Amanda, pointing out something in the tablet.

“Oh, and this,” the redhead pointed at the holographic clock on top of the hologram. “It started hatching mid-race,” she said. “It’s really strange, if you think about it. How did it survive? Not only the amount of magic, the heat too.”

Amanda looked at Ursula and Sucy for an explanation. Ursula shook her head, she didn’t know much about these plants it seemed. Sucy, on the other hand, sighed. “Parasite Plants aren’t that different from Earth’s plants, just a little more… resilient, maybe. No, they couldn’t survive those conditions normally. That is sketchy,” she admitted.

“Ha!”

“It’s still no proof,” Ursula interrupted Amanda before she claimed victory. “They can probably come up with an explanation. And, just for the record, this hologram you’re using to show us all the evidence is actually illegal, so even if it was accepted as evidence you’d probably give Constanze serious trouble.”

Amanda frowned, looking at her short teammate. Why didn’t she ever talk, anyways? Hannah didn’t think she was mute, but maybe she had some kind of condition she wasn’t aware of. Maybe it was related to her unusually short height, too. “Maybe there’s proof of it in the recordings…” Amanda said, opening something else in the tablet. The 3D model of the Blue Star disappeared, replaced by a video of the final moments of the race before the explosion. Amanda zoomed the camera. Yes, the ‘rock’ was visible, but none of its roots were. As far as anyone would be able to tell, it was a simple rock.

“They certainly thought this out,” Jasminka commented. She had a strange ring to her voice. The usually peaceful girl sounded way less cheerful than normal, her kind smile replaced by a poker face. Hannah didn’t fail to notice she had stopped eating from the bag of snacks she had brought with her. It was weird enough to hear her talk, but seeing her actually angry was really something else.

“Maybe the mechanics ignored it on purpose,” Barbara suddenly said after staying silent for a while. Hannah looked at her with some surprise. Everyone turned to her. “What? It’s possible. Remember that Grand Prize thing? Who says they didn’t just buy some of our crew to betray us?” She explained, “the faeries were willing to offer you absurd amounts of money, why not the plants? This planet- I mean, Pan surely has gold and stuff like that.”

“Pan actually ships out most of its precious metals,” Ursula said. “Gold is common there. More common than iron is on earth…” She paused for a second. “It’s not a stretch to imagine they could just give an exorbitant amount of it to some of the workers to let a mere ‘rock’ sit on the ship.”

Hannah, who had slowly grown more and more frustrated with the situation, growled. “So you’re saying we can’t even trust our engineers? The fucking crew that’s supposed to take care of our ships?” She said in annoyance. Ursula smiled awkwardly, she obviously didn’t have an answer to Hannah’s question.

“Yes,” Amanda said instead, “yes, it makes sense.”

“I never trusted them anyways,” Akko said.

“They never touched your ship,” Sucy said, deadpanning Akko.

“Yes but I see how they look at it! They want the Shiny Rod, I tell you,” she asserted. “I have no proof, but also no doubts.”

Hannah shook her head. “Take this seriously, you idiot,” she couldn’t help but insult her. “If we can’t trust our crew we might as well just drop out. Anyone could do anything to our ships – well, our _ship_ , since we have only one now – and we’d have no way of knowing if our engineers are actually doing their job.”

Amanda laughed and smirked. “Allow me to disagree, Hannah,” she said smirking. “We have here a little prodigy,” she pointed at Constanze. “Our pal here is an expert of mechanic and engineering, aren’t you?” Amanda put her arm over Constanze’s shoulders. The girl seemed annoyed at the contact, but she was obviously used to it.

“She’s not allowed to touch the ships,” Ursula said.

“That didn’t stop her from doing this,” Amanda pointed at the tablet.

“This is different. She wouldn’t be allowed near one of our brooms before a race,” Ursula continued. Amanda frowned, refusing to accept defeat.

“Can’t we get her a special permit?” Akko asked before Amanda could continue arguing. “I mean, we have permits to pilot even though we’re minors.”

“Your cases are special.”

“Well,” Sucy said, “we have reasonable proof that our mechanics might be corrupt. It might be a good enough excuse to get someone we trust into their ranks.”

Amanda looked at Sucy with annoyance. “Hey, which side are you on? Do you think they cheated or not?”

Sucy shook her head. “This isn’t about sides, you hot-headed prick,” she said. The casual way she insulted her made Hannah annoyed. Why did she have it so easy? “I have a reasonable doubt that the plants might have no cheated. We also have a reasonable doubt about our crew and it’s fine if we want to get it checked. Being precautious is one thing, being judgmental is another.”

“I mean,” Lotte said, “we could always look for more proof before jumping to conclusions? I believe crews are always being recorded when checking ships to make sure they don’t mess with the ships,” she extended her finger, “if we look for those recordings we can see exactly what went down.”

“Those are stored under heavy security, though,” Barbara said. “To make sure no aliens get a hold of videos of our ships getting dismantled.”

Amanda’s eyes lit up at the mention of ‘heavy security’. She smiled. “No biggie. Just tell me where they are and I will-”

“Do nothing,” Ursula interrupted. “ _You_ are going to be practicing on the Shiny Rod’s simulator.”

Amanda’s expression became bitter. “Akko doesn’t need me anyways,” Amanda said, “an AI would probably do as good as me,” she explained. That reminded Hannah of her theory. She might have been right, after all.

Ursula shook her head. “You’re not going to be in the turret this time,” she said. Hannah frowned. Amanda did too. She couldn’t be implying that… “You’re Diana’s substitute for the next two races, Amanda.”

Amanda’s jaw dropped. Akko’s too. Akko stood, pointing. “Wait! Then I won’t be able to turn on the turret!”

Ursula looked at Akko with a strange expression. Hannah couldn’t quite read it. Pained, maybe? Doubtful? “Jasminka will be your substitute gunman.”

Akko looked at Jasminka, who seemed as surprised as everyone else. “You’re a gunman?”

Jasminka nodded weakly. “Why me?” she asked.

Ursula smiled. “Because we have no one else, to do it. I know how well you performed back home before starting at Luna Nova. You’re a good choice, I know it.”

Jasminka seemed baffled. However, it dawned on Hannah just what this meant. “Wait a second, that means I have to become _Amanda’s_ gunman?” Ursula nodded. “I refuse!”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to drop out of the race,” Ursula simply said. Hannah started, knowing she didn’t really have a good reply to that. It was true, I a pilot didn’t appear for a race, they would be disqualified, which was why substitutes were admitted in cases of injury.

“But wait, Amanda is a gunman, she can’t pil-”

“I’ve already checked,” Ursula said. Was she smiling? She was totally smiling. She had expected this discussion, didn’t she? “there are no rules about a gunman becoming a pilot for another category, as long as you have a substitute gunman for the category they left.”

Hannah pressed her lips, looking at Amanda, who hadn’t recovered yet. However, Amanda’s expression slowly turned from shock to a cocky smile. She looked absurdly overconfident. “Ha ha! Allow me to show you how a real pilot does it!” she cried, pointing at Hannah. “You’ll never want to be Diana’s gunman again after meeting with me!”

Hannah huffed. “You wish!” she couldn’t let this go by, “You’re just going to get a taste of defeat and will have to accept Diana’s skill!”

Amanda laughed. “Get ready for some next level piloting, pretty girl!” She said. There was something new in her eyes. More than humor or her usual mischievous spark. No, this time there was confidence. Pure, unaltered confidence. She wasn’t bluffing. She believed every word of what she said.

Hannah found this incredibly irritating. Her face had gone red with anger at the insult towards Diana. It was definitely not because she had been called pretty by the girl she knew to be homosexual. Was it wrong to consider someone’s compliment – if it could be considered a compliment in this context anyways – differently because of their sexuality?

Whatever, Hannah wasn’t in the mood for political correctness. And she was angry about the insult, not flustered about the compliment!

“We’ll see about that,” was all Hannah could come up with. Why did she find it so hard to retort to the redhead? It was probably because she knew few things would actually get under her skin, while Amanda seemed to know how to push her buttons. “Ok, we should get going, I’m hungry and tired.”

“Wait, we didn’t finish discussing…” Amanda started.

“Yes we did. We have no real proof. We’ll just have to be extra careful from now on,” Hannah was certainly never going to let another plant approach her, “And Ursula will try to get Constanze a special permit to work with our mechanics. Do we really need more than that?”

Amanda moved her jaw from one side to the other while thinking. In the end, she sighed. “Well, guess you’re right. It’s going to rain soon anyways.”

Barbara stood, brushing the sand off her clothes. “How do you know that?” she asked.

“Look,” Amanda pointed the horizon. It had become kind of blurry. “That’s the rain approaching.”

It was close. “Ok, I claim first ride,” Hannah instantly said.

“Girls, let’s not fight. Akko,” Akko had already risen. She was next to the Shiny Rod when Ursula called to her. “You and I need to talk later.”

Akko nodded. Hannah walked up to the rod and climbed into the cockpit. She hadn’t ever been inside it, had she? Akko looked nervous, probably expecting Hannah to say something. Hannah decided not to be mean, at least not right now. She’d criticize Akko when she wasn’t at risk of being stranded somewhere she didn’t know, even if it was on her home planet.

After two girls climbed on the turret – Jasminka and Constanze – Akko spoke the magic words and the Shiny Rod lurched a little as it teleported.


	47. Chapter 47

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written a little differently than normal, as you may notice. Please leave your thoughts on how it came out!

“Akko, I’m your friend, so I respect your decisions,” Amanda was saying while patting Akko’s back. She was paralyzed in front of the door to Diana’s room in the infirmary. Hannah and Barbara had been talking to her for a while, since the moment she had woken up. Akko had used them as a good excuse not to bother Diana for the time, but after they exited… “If you feel like you’re not ready, then I will support you.”

“Really?” Akko looked at Amanda, hopeful. They were already in space after everyone had gone to sleep. With this trip taking about two more days at this point, Akko figured she’d have plenty of times to talk with Diana... However, the pats in the back suddenly became a little stronger. Amanda opened the door.

“Yeah, I’ll support you by making sure you don’t do anything stupid like not actually talking to Diana. Go,” Amanda pushed her inside.

Akko turned, but the door was already closed, and Diana had seen her. Diana’s expression was neutral, as usual. Well, not as usual. She looked tired, and, well, she was spread on the bed, wearing nothing but a patient’s shift. Her hair was a mess, but even then she was still pretty. It was unfair. “H-hello.”

“Hello,” Diana replied. Was her voice a little too cold, maybe? Akko approached the bed, wishing there was something to sit on, but all she could do was look down into Diana’s blue eyes, like pools of water…

“Did you need something?” Diana asked, noticing how intensely Akko was watching her. Diana’s body was stiff, tense, and it wasn’t because of the meds. She didn’t really have an escape route here. She would be forced to talk to Akko, at least for a while. She wasn’t sure why that made her so anxious, but she wanted to be done with it quickly.

The question took Akko by surprise. “I… Just wanted to check if you’re ok,” Akko lied. Well, not fully, she did want to check if she was ok, but she could have done that by asking someone else to come.

“I am quite allright, thank you,” Diana said. It kind of sounded like a dismissal. Was she angry? She was definitely tired, and this wasn’t because of Akko’s absurd assumptions about anyone who was grumpy. But… No, this didn’t seem like normal grumpiness.

“I also wanted to congratulate you on winning the race,” Akko said. Diana’s expression darkened a little. Yep, she was definitely mad.

“A shame I can’t say the same about you,” Diana said. The comment had been harsh, even for her, but she kind of wanted Akko to go. Maybe if she offended her a little she’d do it. Why did she feel so bad about it, anyways? Akko had also offended her and she hadn’t said sorry.

Akko looked down. No, Diana had all the right to say what she had said. It stung a little, but she wasn’t wrong.

“I… Well…” Akko desperately tried to search for a way to not end the conversation. “I’m sorry.”

Diana’s expression softened a little. “For what?” She asked.

“For not keeping my promise. I let the team down, after all,” Akko said. Surprisingly enough, Diana’s expression darkened even further than before.

Diana looked at Akko through narrowed eyes. She had been a fool for expecting Akko to apologize for something she didn’t even know she had done. She was too clueless to realize what was going on. Of course she wouldn’t apologize for what she had said. Why did Diana feel her chest growing heavier?

“I see. Well, this was a nice chat, but if you excuse me, I would like to get some sleep,” Diana said, all willingness to talk to Akko gone. Akko opened her mouth, but Diana’s expression said that she really didn’t want to continue talking. With a defeated expression, Akko turned around to leave.

However, she hesitated. Maybe she should just ask. She didn’t have much to lose, after all. She turned once again. “Are you mad at me?”

Diana was caught off guard by the question. She had made her anger too obvious. Her eyes widened a little. Should she tell the truth? Akko’s expression was one of worry and earnestness. She was genuinely preoccupied by how Diana felt, and realizing that, Diana couldn’t lie. “Yes.”

Akko’s little hope was lost. “Oh. I… I should have guessed it. I screwed up that race pretty bad, huh?” she said, laughing nervously.

Diana sighed. “That’s not why I’m angry, Akko. It’s ok, just leave, please.”

Akko looked at her, this time with confusion. What had she said? “Wait, you aren’t mad because I lost? Then why?”

Diana shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Just-”

Akko frowned. She had come here expecting to get chastised because of a bad race, but instead she found out that Diana was actually mad at her for some completely unrelated reason? She had been acting kind of strange before the race, now that Akko thought about it. “It does matter,” she interrupted. “Aren’t we friends? If you’re mad I wanna know why,” she said, stubbornly.

Diana, instead of getting more emotional, put on her neutral face. Akko got visibly annoyed at that. “I would rather not talk about it,” she said. She wasn’t in the mood for explaining. What good would it do, anyways? Akko would keep being Akko, knowing why Diana acted the way she did wouldn’t make a difference. Or, at least, not a big one.

“Why not?”

Diana paused. “Because I…” she looked for an explanation. Or rather, an excuse. “Because I’m tired. It’d be a pain to explain it to you, so I would appreciate it if you came back later and-”

“No.” Akko could see what Diana was doing. She might not be as smart as the blonde, but she wasn’t stupid. She would talk to Diana even if she grew even angrier at her.

“What?”

Akko sat on the floor. She was cramped, but she would do. “I’m not moving until you tell me.”

“I could always call the nurses to take you away, you know?” Diana said, threatening to press a button on the side of her bed. Akko crossed her arms.

“Hmpf. You won’t,” she said, closing her eyes and raising her chin.

“How do you know that?”

“Because you’re not that kind of person,” Akko said. She had already decided, and she was sure what she was saying was true. Diana wouldn’t call the nurses just because she didn’t want to talk with Akko. As Akko made sure to stay stubbornly in place, Diana seemed to hesitate as to what to do.

Diana looked at Akko, not believing what she had said. ‘Not that kind of person’? Whatever did she mean by that? What kind of person did Akko think she was? What… No. She… But, well, if she didn’t…

She gave up. “Fine, just… please, stand. I can’t take you seriously like that.”

Akko thought about it. Instead, she decided to kneel. This way she was closer to being at eye level with Diana. She didn’t’ seem satisfied but she didn’t complain either. “So, what is it?” Akko asked.

“I…” Diana closed her eyes. “What do you think of me, Akko?” She sounded even… Scared, when asking that. Akko cocked her head. That wasn’t the answer she wanted, but she could tell Diana was being serious, so she decided to go along with it, at least for now.

“What I think?” Akko thought about it for a while. “I think you’re a good person and an amazing pilot. Ehm… You’re pretty and kind of harsh, sometimes, but it never comes off as ill intended. Uhm… You’re a hard worker, I guess, and you obviously take great pride in your name- Wait, that’s just a fact, not what I think of you. I… well, that’s about it, I guess?” Akko had grown a little red when saying she was pretty, and she had instinctively counteracted it by pointing out something negative about her. Why had she done that? Diana was pretty and harsh, but there was no need to pair those up.

Diana opened her eyes. _She does think I'm a hard worker?_ She thought. “And what about money? Don’t you think I’m just a rich girl?” She asked, this time with a little more… Intensity.

Akko cocked her head. “I mean, aren’t you? I don’t know, I guess,” Akko shrugged.

“No guesses,” Diana said with a serious tone. “Please be honest.”

Akko felt like this was important. She pondered over it. Well, Diana was rich, wasn’t she? There wasn’t that much to think about. But why did she seem hung up on that? Akko tried to… “Oh, that’s why you’re mad,” she realized, suddenly feeling stupid. “You… Didn’t like it when I said I wanted to be rich like you, back before we landed on Pan.”

Diana seemed surprised Akko was able to make the leap to realize that because of her question. She flushed. “I know it sounds silly,” she instantly got defensive. “I just…”

Akko tried to recall exactly how the conversation had gone. It had been such a simple comment, she hadn’t even considered it might have been offensive to Diana. But, as she put herself in Diana’s shoes, she could kind of imagine why she had seen it that way. “It’s not silly”, Akko said. “But… Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Diana hesitated again. She hadn’t done it because she didn’t feel like it. She hadn’t done it because she wanted Akko to figure it out on her own. She hadn’t done it because she was a lot less mature than she liked to make herself believe. She hadn’t done it because… “I’m… not sure,” she said meekly, accepting the truth. “I just… Was afraid of what you’d answer, I guess,” she admitted. She wasn’t sure she would have been able to look Akko in the eyes again if it turned out that she perceived her like everyone else in the world. She wasn’t sure why it was so important for her, but it was.

Akko nodded. “I’m sorry for that. I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just frustrated,” she apologized. “I never meant to imply you’re only good because of your money, you know? I know how hard you work.” Diana nodded, flustered at the compliments. She was kinda cute. “But, I don’t think I would have figured it out if you hadn’t told me,” Akko continued. “We’re friends. It’s ok to tell your friends when something they do bothers you.”

Diana understood what Akko was saying. It was a really old concept, but she wasn’t very experienced in close relationships. Yet, she could see it was true. A weight had been lifted off her chest, and now she could finally talk to Akko normally again. She hadn’t realized just how much she wanted to just talk to the brunette. Akko was a fun person, in general. “I was being childish. I should apologize-”

Akko jumped forward, putting her hand on Diana’s mouth. She had noticed the change on the blonde, the way she now spoke more naturally. Basically, save for the fact that she was on a hospital bed, she seemed like the normal blonde Akko knew. “Don’t. You weren’t childish. I…” Akko gulped. “I was just careless, saying just what came to mind. I have a ship all the money on Earth couldn’t buy,” it was true. In the years following the last IPR, people had invested millions in trying to discover similar tech. It didn’t bear any fruits. “You don’t have to feel bad for, ehm, well, feeling bad.”

Diana pushed Akko’s hand away lightly. “Thank you,” she said. “I really should have spoken about this sooner.” She looked at the brunette. Why had she thought not talking to her was a good choice? “I judged you based on something you said on a moment of frustration,” she said, looking down. “Guess I’m no different from everyone else.”

Akko cocked her head. Everyone else? _Everyone sees her as a rich girl and they probably think she’s this good because of her family and money,_ she thought. So what Akko had said hadn’t been just offensive… It had been way more hurtful than she had at first assumed. Diana must have been so tired of that, it really made sense she would get so upset. She looked Diana in the eyes. She was glad to no longer find that hostility from before. “Hey, if it makes you feel better,” Akko said, smiling. “Most people act the same, some are just better at hiding it than others.” That’s what Akko’s parents had told her long ago when Akko had complained about how high and mighty one of her classmates acted.

Diana smiled back. She wasn’t sure why, but the comment Akko had made did make her feel better. At least it was obvious that Akko didn’t hold against her how stupid she had been acting.

And, then, there was a beep. More meds were going to get injected into her body, along with some magic to fasten her healing. It had to be done in very small doses, lest she suffer from magic poisoning, but it was incredible what a Healing Spell – the machine Diana was connected to right now – could do. She’d soon fall unconscious again.

“Akko, may I ask something of you?” Diana said. It had to be now, since she didn’t really know how much time she’d be unconscious and she didn’t expect Akko to be there when she woke up.

She wouldn’t mind if she did, though.

“Uhm, sure,” Akko doubted. Diana waited for a few moments before voicing her question. It was strange for her to ever open up about these things, particularly to anyone besides Hannah and Barbara, but after the way she had been treating Akko for the past days she had to.

She stared Akko in the eyes. Big, red eyes. Somehow, Diana didn’t think she’d ever seen someone who could take red eyes like those and make them cute like her. “Please excuse me if sometimes I act a little too coldly. I promise it’s not because I don’t enjoy your company,” in the past it might have been the case, but Akko had proven herself to be someone who Diana could find enjoyment with.

Akko nodded. “I promise,” she said. Then, she looked down. “Though, I suppose my promises might not be worth much after the last race.”

Even if Diana didn’t seem to be mad anymore, she could still be disappointed. Akko sure was with herself. After the first emotional outburst she had slowly come to realize exactly how failed her mentality had been going into that race. The worst part was that it had nothing to do with Diana’s situation. She had had that mentality from before. The absolute single-mindedness of it might have come from the emotional distress, but then again, the idea originated way before anything went wrong.

Diana patted Akko’s arm, which was resting on the bed. “It’s fine,” she sounded a little sloppier, “next time we talk, let’s go over that race. And don’t forget to talk with Ursula about it. She’s our coach, after all.”

Akko nodded. Diana looked extremely relaxed now, and Akko guessed what was going on. “Ok,” she said. Diana nodded weakly, and a few seconds after, she had closed her eyes and gone to sleep. Her hand was still on top of Akko’s arm. Akko found herself kind of reluctant as she kindly moved the hand and stood, Diana was peaceful as she slept. Akko hesitated before leaving the room.

“Sleep well, you’ll get better soon” she said, feeling like leaving without saying anything was wrong.

Somehow, even if their exchange hadn’t been particularly long, Akko felt like it had lasted hours.

She wouldn’t have minded it if it had actually been hours, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of batch! You may notice that I posted two (2) chapters today. That's because I ended up splitting what was going to be a single chapter into two, mostly to make it more cohesive.  
> Anyways, hope you're enjoying these. Please leave a comment. See you next time.


	48. Chapter 48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey.  
> Today is International Fanworks day.  
> I had no fucking idea this was a thing, but I like the concept of a day dedicated to celebrating fanworks.  
> So how about I drop a chapter?

Amanda, Jasminka, Barbara and Hannah had been waiting patiently next to the Shiny Rod. Akko wouldn’t take much longer. Amanda hoped she’d be here soon, since the situation was pretty Awkward for everyone right now, if only because Hannah kept glaring at Amanda. Amanda would have liked to tease her, but with Barbara present, she couldn’t do much more tan sometimes return the stare.

When Akko finally appeared, Amanda couldn’t hide her excitement. The Shiny Rod was left without a cloth this time, but it was in turn carried all the way to the back of the hangar, where all the bigger brooms normally were. This place was arguably the safest place on the place, even if it wasn’t much better than the normal positions.

“Come on, Akko, let’s do this,” Amanda said, climbing up to the cockpit. Hannah shook her head. Akko looked… relaxed, now. Amanda suspected that she had probably solved the issue with Diana. Now that that was out of the way, they could focus on the really important stuff.

“You’re going first?” Akko asked.

“Of-fucking-course,” Amanda said. “I’m tired of that goddamn turret. Come on Hannah climb into it and let the party begin!”

Hannah looked at her with annoyance, but truth was, both of them needed to grow used to working with the other in a really short amount of time. They had about two more days of travel and then who knew how much time they’d spend on the next planet. Not much, probably.

As Amanda climbed in the cockpit, sitting on the pilot’s seat, she recalled the little thing they had done in Sídhe and Machina, where they had teleported up to the highest place they knew of and stared down on the world for a while. But Pan didn’t have a place to do that, and it didn’t turn to night while they were there, sadly. So this little tradition would have to wait for a while – and it wasn’t as if Diana could accompany them now, anyways. Amanda doubted Akko would want to do it without her.

“Alcor, simulate the Shooting Star,” Akko said as she entered the cockpit and closed the windshield. The entire thing changed, becoming thinner, lots of different controls appearing on the little counter-thing that was empty before. Amanda smiled. She recognized what most of them were for.

“Wait, where are we going next?” Amanda asked.

Akko opened her mouth to say something, then recalled she didn’t know, and looked at the controls. “Alcor, tell me where we’re headed towards.”

A 3D map of the _Dragon_ suddenly appeared. It slowly panned out until it was nothing but a dot. Different things passed through the borders of what Amanda guessed were the limits of the map. The ship took a minute or two to reach its potential destination. It was a planet that had another not far away. Not a moon, a planet. And, further down the line, two more planets were also in sight.

Amanda instantly recognized the place. Everyone with a little knowledge of IPR culture, or just aliens, had heard of this place.

“Trashcan,” The garbage planet. She smiled, as she had always found it to be a really curious place that she had wanted to visit.

“Trashcan?” Hannah said from the turret. “Oh hell, I knew this day would come but I didn’t want it to,” she sounded repulsed. Amanda shook her head. Of course Hannah would think like that. People like her didn’t understand how cool that place was. A planet that for centuries had been the space dumpster of three other planets, all of them inhabited by octopuses. In official records the four planets usually stood as equals, but Trashcan was the real main character in this situation. Somehow, some octopus had managed to get to Trashcan and get stranded there. After who knows how much time, they had evolved beyond their cousins in other planets, becoming way smarter and with a higher technology. When people thought about octopus, the image they formed in their heads was usually that of the ones in Trashcan, not its nearby planets. Octopuses considered themselves the smartest races on the universe, and Amanda, having seen some of their inventions, had to agree. They could turn trash into basically anything they needed. Though they often did complain about lack of some resources that were scarce in normal trash. Trashcan, sadly, didn’t have much in terms of local resources.

Amanda didn’t know nearly as much about any other planets in the IPR, but she couldn’t _not_ find a race that had built itself from the ground up with fucking _trash_ cool.

“Ok, Alcor, simulate a race in Trashcan,” Akko said. The racing circuit in Trashcan usually required to traverse a long plain that was officially named as ‘The biggest dumpster in the universe.’ That could apply to the entirety of Trashcan, of course, but that area was considered wilderness on the planet.

Slowly, the landscape shifted. It was daytime, and all that surrounded Amanda were big piles of trash and garbage. A lot of it had strange, alien forms that Amanda didn’t recognize. Was that thing on her right supposed to be some kind of rotten fruit? It was as big as her chest but it looked organic. It was black, though Amanda wasn’t sure if that was its natural color or if it was like that because of being in the middle of decomposing.

Not that the trash was the most impressive. Being trash you couldn’t really focus much on it. If you didn’t look closely it wasn’t that different from human trash.

Now, the _sky,_ that was interesting. A deep crimson red. It was midday, and gosh darn was it beautiful. The sun, a very light blue, was about double the size of earth, at least in perception. Trashcan didn’t have breathable air for humans, but its temperature was normal, despite what one might expect.

“Wow, this place really is a dumpster, huh?” Akko said as she looked around. “What’s that?” She pointed at a piece of metal shaped a little like a five-pointed star, but one if the points was double the length of the others.

“I have no idea,” Amanda admitted. The place they were in had a particularly wide gap between the heaps of garbage. It was the starting place for the race.

To the sides of the ship, simulations of all Second Category pilots started appearing. It was amazing. “You wanna start like this?” Akko asked. “You’re not used to flying, are-”

“Akko,” Amanda said in an even voice.

“Huh?”

“Do _not_ put in question my piloting abilities. Let me show you what a real master can do,” Amanda said. She knew she was cocky and self absorbed, particularly when it came to flying. But there was a good reason for that, and she would show it to them.

“Yeah, a master of bullshittery,” Hannah said.

Amanda scoffed at the comment. “Just try to keep up, pretty,” she had seen the effect calling her pretty had had back on the beach. She had spat that out as a kind of insult she’d used in the past, but she had never expected Hannah to actually get flustered over it.

She wouldn’t ever let it go.

She started preparing the Shooting Star for the race. As Amanda checked the control panel, she made sure to modify a few things about the default state of the ship. The sensibility of the Shooting Star was near perfect – any movement of your hand would instantly get transmitted to the ship. This, however, Amanda wasn’t used to. So she decreased the sensibility. Then, she set the neutral flying height – the height any broom would maintain when not pushed to go up or down – at exactly three meters. Diana had had it on automatic, but that was bullshit. Amanda wanted to always know exactly how her movements performed. Maybe automatic was more convenient, but in her opinion, it was worse in the long run. She made some other minor modifications, making sure to get the ship to work as she wanted it to.

“Ok,” Amanda said. Akko commanded for the race to start and a giant three appeared in front of the Shiny-Rod-Simulating-Shooting-Star.

Three. Two. One.

_Go,_ Amanda thought with confidence.

It was instantly obvious to her that she wasn’t going to be as great as she claimed.

She was going to be _better._

The Shiny R- Shooting Star responded _exactly_ as she wanted it to, delay included. With shapeshifter to one side and daemons to the other, she was against rivals who would be perfect for measuring her ability. The race was a long, straight line, at least the simulation version. That was fine, as it was only for getting used to it.

Amanda accelerated. She still needed to get used to the feeling of piloting again, but better to learn on the fly than to think too much about it. The wide gap between the mountains of trash closed, and the real race started. She Everyone had been more or less even during this first segment, but as soon as they had to split, quick decision making was key. The Shooting Star wouldn’t be able to fly above the mountains of trash. Amanda wasn’t sure of how the hovering system for these ships worked – she didn’t care about that particular technicality – but inconsistent terrains such as water and giant heaps of trash didn’t really mix well with it.

Amanda went to the right. She wasn’t sure why, she was just following her instincts. She trusted her instincts, especially when flying. Another four ships took the same path, including daemons and shapeshifter, so it was certainly promising. _Time to test a little something,_ Amanda thought.

As giant as these piles of trash were, they didn’t last long with the incredibly high speeds that Amanda was reaching. Before she knew it, she found herself alone in a labyrinth of trash. She needed someone to perform her little experiment though.

And, as soon as she re-encountered with another racer – the armors, who had somehow gotten ahead of her – Amanda smiled. “Hannah, attack,” Amanda simply said. She didn’t care how she attacked, she just wanted her to do it.

Hannah snorted, but did so anyways. She started rapid-firing at the armor. Not very effective, but enough for Amanda’s little experiment.

As she attacked, she accelerated. The armors’ giant ball instantly tried to repel her, but Amanda could see the movement coming from miles away. She dodged nonchalantly and kept getting closer. Of course, as the boulder came back, it tried to hit her again, but without much trouble Amanda dodged again. Another fork ahead. Amanda smiled. She was where she wanted, and thanks to Hannah’s distraction, it seemed like the armor hadn’t realized what it was.

The slipstream.

Slipstreaming or drafting – using someone’s else’s air resistance to shield you from it – was not usually used on races of this nature. It was too easy to get shot or crash, and a lot of ships didn’t create a good slipstream anyways. The Armor ship, though, did.

Amanda could feel the decreased resistance, and she didn’t hesitate to slingshot forward as soon as they reached the fork, separating from the armor. She soon came into contact with a shapeshifter. “Hannah, don’t attack, only defend,” Amanda ordered. Hannah grunted as an answer that Amanda took as a yes.

The shapeshifter, sadly, seemed to catch wind of what she was doing quickly. It started to move in erratic ways Amanda couldn’t predict.

Well, that was one idea down the gutter. She wouldn’t be the one to discover how to use slipstreams on broom racing, sadly.

“Akko, stop the race,” Amanda said, letting go of the controller.

“Huh?” Akko looked confused. The Shiny Rod, however, seemed to notice that Amanda had let go, and the simulation paused automatically.

“What are you doing?” Hannah asked.

“I was trying something out, but it didn’t really work,” Amanda explained. “So, instead of going on with a lost race, I’m just going to restart and take things a little more seriously.”

Hannah didn’t answer. Amanda wondered what her expression would be. Well, not that it mattered for the moment. With a hand, Amanda gestured for Akko to start again, so she did. A big three appeared in front of the Shooting Star again and, as it went down, Amanda tried to think of some other cool thing to do.

Oh, maybe she could…

The race started.

This time, she didn’t accelerate instantly. She waited five seconds. “Amanda, I think you forgot to mo-” Right as Hannah started reproaching Amanda for her decision Amanda accelerated and pressed nitro. Her high speed was dangerous, but she recalled the route she had done previously, so she was fine. Even having lost five seconds, it took barely ten to catch up to the last in line. This time, to Amanda’s surprise, it was the daemons. Extremely weird, but well, simulations worked the way they did for a reason. This wasn’t an impossibility. “Hannah, keep an eye out for attacks from the back,” Amanda said, accelerating again. She was keeping track of her fuel, and knew she was being wasteful, but this particular simulation would let her do what she wanted. She’d probably have to try out some other setups later to make sure what she was trying to do was doable.

For now, she would focus on the current race.

She was trying to get past the daemons, but with so many curves and the constant change of directions she wasn’t having any luck. She needed to take risks if she wanted to get ahead. That was fine with her.

She pushed forward, coming dangerously close to the daemons. They seemed to notice what she was planning to do, so they didn’t attack. Amanda smiled, this was exciting. She pushed even more, the nose of her ship now almost touching the back of theirs. It was convenient that they didn’t have any visible engines; no fires to bother her view. She was now riding a slipstream, which wasn’t what she intended but was wonderful. The daemons didn’t dare move too much and give her a chance to slingshot herself forward.

Too bad this track was full of alternate routes… Or not, because Amanda didn’t go for the easy route. She remained behind the daemons for longer than needed, careful to never crash with them. Brooms were resilient, but she didn’t want to lose balance. As expected, they soon were along with the main racers again. Daemons weren’t one of the four strongest teams on the race for nothing.

But Amanda was better than them.

As soon as they caught up, an Armor tried attacking. Daemons dodged upwards, Amanda did downwards and pressed nitro. She was boosted thanks to the drafting, and in a single second she had overtaken both daemons, armor and even reptilians that were in the same short stretch of trash. The path seemed to steer a little to the left here, but Amanda saw that the trash wall guiding them that way was a rather short… Or, to better put it, short enough to jump.

It was a risk. She couldn’t know what was on the other side. But, again, she trusted her instincts. She couldn’t go wrong. She jumped-

No, she was wrong. It happened to be a particularly strange stretch of trash, like a small sea of it. It had probably been cleared away for the race, which had created the ‘wall’ Amanda had tried to exploit.

“Stop!” Amanda let go of the controls again.

“Again?” Hannah asked in annoyance.

“Yes,” Amanda said, slowly rubbing her chin. “Hmm, I’m really not feeling it…” Slipstreams weren’t a reliable tool, jumping over piles of trash didn’t work either. The Shooting Star didn’t have a map feature as reliable as the Shiny Rod’s, so she couldn’t use that as a substitute.

“Oh, I guess you’re not as good as you claim, huh?” Hannah said. Amanda could hear her smile, and she narrowed her eyes.

“I’d rather fix my mistakes before making any more,” she defended.

“You can’t just pause a real race, you know” Hannah insisted.

Amanda rolled her eyes, though Hannah wouldn’t be able to see that. “Which is why I should take this chance, don’t you think? If I have crazy outlandish ideas then I better try them out on a simulator and if they don’t work then reset it and move on.”

“If you get used to pausing and being able to fix your mistakes with something like a Control Z you’ll mess up in the real race and won’t know how to react.”

Amanda pressed her lips. Hannah had a point. “Fuck, you’re right,” she admitted.

“Ok, then can we start practicing for real?” Hannah sounded triumphant.

“Not quite,” Amanda said. “It just means I don’t have to grow used to making mistakes so that I don’t feel compelled to pausing and resetting,” she explained.

She kept on her chin rubbing. She never did that to think but it seemed fitting for her current situation. She could feel incipient hair there. She needed to shave at least once a week, though she wouldn’t have minded wearing a beard if it wasn’t so damn inconvenient.

“So… Are we going to start or what?” Hannah said, “Your flying is a little more shaky than Diana’s, I need to grow used to that if we’re going to be working together.”

Amanda didn’t answer. She was focused on her own mind. She needed to visualize what she was going t do. The piles of trash surrounding her, the red sky, the blue sun. She needed to develop instincts as sharp as she had back on Earth. In Sídhe she’d done good, but she needed to get rid of that and get used to the new environment. She needed to explore this planet a little more, see how the terrain was laid out. A forest and a city were tracks anyone could get used to. A dumpster? Now that was a real challenge.

“Akko,” Amanda said. “Call off the race. Just let me explore the planet.”

“Really?” Hannah asked with disgust.

“Uhm, sure,” Akko said. She was distracted. Amanda found this annoying, didn’t she want to see how crazy good Amanda was? She was probably thinking about Diana. Amanda wondered if she had developed a crush. Seemed unlikely for Akko to have a crush on anybody, but that was the kind of unpredictable thing she often did. Though, if Amanda had predicted it, then it shouldn’t be… Ah, whatever, she didn’t like to think this hard about stupid things. She only thought hard when stealing something or pulling a prank was involved. Or when she wanted to seduce a pretty girl.

Akko did as asked and Amanda started to roam about the dumpster. She tried to perceive patterns in how the trash was handled, in why it was set up the way it was. Was it random? A lot of it came from space in giant containers that now laid incinerated and in pieces around the place. Amanda could recognize some of them from videos in school where a teacher had explained why throwing your trash into space was not a common practice for most races.

And, she did notice some patterns. No pile trash was higher than twenty five meters. In fact, some ended in flat tops, which implied that there was some kind of regulation. Also, every pile had about three to five meters of separation between them, save for some scattered trash on the ground. Was it because this was a racing area? Likely but interesting to know. That meant the little sea of trash she had seen previously was an irregularity and probably a planned one. Why would that be? A lot of racers would be able to go over it. The Shiny Rod would too, so Amanda doubted it to be some kind of trap set up only for humans or something. Wait, did aliens knew that the Shiny Rod didn’t follow normal broom rules? They probably did. If not, they weren’t earning their salaries.

“Oh, look at that,” Akko pointed at what looked like the carcass of some really old vehicle. It was cylindrical and rusted. Rust meant the atmosphere of the planet had oxygen, right? Amanda wasn’t precisely a scientist, but this made her wonder if there was a lot or too little, and what made it non-breathable.

“There doesn’t seem to be a pattern as to what trash gets thrown in here,” Amanda pointed out. “There are organics, things that look like plastic – Did this planet or one of its cousins have dinosaurs? – metals, glass, small trash, big trash… This is some kind of general dumpster. I heard the planet had specific places where different kinds of garbage were thrown, but maybe this is where things that for some reason fail to meet all other requirements end up.

“I’m surprised you know so much about this planet,” Hannah said.

“Why, because I’m not Diana?” Amanda asked sarcastically. “Sorry, I guess my taste is trash,” she joked. She chuckled at her stupid pun. Akko did too. Hannah grunted.

Amanda continued her exploring. Why was this the race area? Surely there were more convenient places to race, easier places to set up than a place where everything is so inconsistent. This was nothing but Amanda’s guess, though, so she didn’t entertain that idea too much. It didn’t matter why it wasn’t elsewhere. She needed to focus on this terrain and what advantages it could provide. The Home-Race Curse was a staple of the IPR. No one had broken it yet in a hundred and twenty years of race. So, why didn’t more planets attempt to change their terrain for races to one advantageous to their ships? Tradition? Likely for some races, but not all of them, though Amanda new next to nothing about other planet’s social dynamics.

It would be nothing if she hadn’t already been to two planets. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen how Plant society was like since the racing area was so far away from their cities. Did they even have cities? She guessed it didn’t matter, at this point. She would never set foot on Pan again.

She also started to notice a pattern on how the mountains of trash were set up. They were set in lines, but not obvious ones. More like sinuous lines, but it was definitely a pattern, because as she moved, she could clearly recognize the difference in lines. If she could look at the place from above she would probably see it. Did it help her somehow? Of course if she could read the pattern then she would be able to basically fly with her eyes closed. Few things were more effective when flying than being able to see the path before you had to traverse it, which was a thing Akko didn’t understand, sadly.

Amanda would have tried to explain it, but she was too lazy for that.

“Akko, can you give me an aerial look of the area?” Amanda asked. Akko, who had been looking at the trash distractedly, ignored her. “Akko.”

“Huh?” Akko suddenly snapped. Was she smiling? “Oh, yeah. Alcor, can you make us fly for a while?”

Instantly, the Shooting Star rose above the ground. Then, it disappeared. Even the seat disappeared, leaving Amanda hanging mid air. Her eyes widened. She could feel a soft breeze that she shouldn’t have been able to feel, since she would probably die if she breathed it, but...

For a second, she forgot why she had asked for this. _I’m flying,_ was all that crossed her mind. However, quick it came and quick it went, since Hannah suddenly let out a high pitched cry and started panicking.

“What’s going on?!” She said.

“Hannah, dude, it’s just a simulation,” Amanda said. She tried moving, but she couldn’t control her movement. Well, that was sad. She wondered if Akko might have been able to pull it off, since the Shiny Rod answered to her fully.

Hannah didn’t show signs of relaxing. She was slightly below Amanda and Akko, in the relative position of where the turret was. Amanda sighed. She couldn’t have a distressed gunman, sadly. She looked down. Yes, that was a pattern allright. The mountains of trash were set in a strange sinuous way. Like depictions of the sea in paintings. They had been crossing the land cutting through the pattern. But, in that direction there was a pattern too, that somehow turned into a constant, strange V-shape, if a little broken.

She saw why the simulator would have placed her on that direction. It had a less obvious way of flying effectively. Going in diagonal would allow you to gain speed but get you away from the goal – which, at least during the simulation, hadn’t been big. A lot of races often did that, wide tracks with a small finish line. If you missed it you _had_ to go back and cross it from the correct side. A little asshole-ish but Amanda would have done the same to make things interesting.

She examined the landscape closely. This pattern was broken in a few places. Small – relatively – areas where trash seemed to cover things without rules. To these there was definitely no pattern. Amanda wondered how those came to appear. The octopus race, particularly the ones living in Trashcan, obviously were people who liked order. Maybe these were places where trash had collapsed for a reason or another and they just didn’t have the means to go back and clean it. Amanda did notice that there, trash seemed to not quite reach twenty meters as with almost all other places in sight, though it was hard to tell from up above.

However, that was the only truly random element on the landscape. She examined the pattern for long enough to memorize it, and then nodded softly. Hannah had already relaxed, but she didn’t look comfortable. “Ok, we can go back down now,” she said to Akko, who was amazed by the view. It was beautiful. The landscape being bathed in the blue light of the sun made even a dumpster look like a place taken straight out of a fairly tail.

They went back down, were the Shiny Rod again turned into the Shooting Star.

“Can we start a race now?” Hannah asked, annoyed.

Amanda nodded as an answer. Then she realized she was stupid. “Yeah,” she said. “This time I’m going to ask you to try to keep anyone from following me.”

“Try to keep others from _following_ you?” Hannah asked in disbelief. “I can try to keep them away but I don’t know how I would do that.”

“You’ll come up with something,” Amanda shrugged. “Akko, let us begin.”

Akko commanded another race as Hannah mumbled something about knowing that working with Amanda was going to be a pain in the ass. Amanda paid no mind to that as the Shiny Rod spawned the other ships and the big three appeared on screen. The race started on the same place as before, though Amanda had to wonder if it would be like that on the actual race. Even if the Shiny Rod had some kind of system that allowed it to predict where races would be held, Croix had stated that rules for races would be completely random and therefore where they were ran would surely also be affected by that.

But worrying about that wouldn’t do her much good, would it? She’d just have to try to cover all her angles. Or, in this case, all of her directions.

The race started, and she accelerated. She tried to get the mental map of the place in her head. Almost as if she was seeing it drawn, she imagined a red line travelling through the trash. She could almost see it and herself erasing it as she moved through it, all of her surroundings a blur of colors, with black and maroon being the dominant colors. Blue light usually made red appear black, though of course it wasn’t purely blue light, and the rust wasn’t only red, so it had a somewhat watered down effect.

It was pretty edgy looking. Amanda liked it.

She was going nose to nose with the daemons, but the reptilians had somehow gotten ahead of her. However, in the next divergence, they took the wrong path. Amanda smiled as she started following what she had deduced to be the least resistance path to the finish line. After two more divergences the daemons kept taking the same path as her. She growled. Had they figured it out too? Or had the Shiny Rod cheated and given them that knowledge? How did those AI even work?

Hannah started to do her job. She attacked the daemons, who tried to retaliate. Amanda was more of a pure-racer type, she wasn’t exactly a fan of fighting, preferring tests of speed. But she could appreciate the awesomeness of a laser fight – even if Magic and Inferno were more like plasma than actual lasers.

Amanda rose into the air, tilting, then leaning, then completely turning as she jumped – upside down – over the daemons. She heard Hannah yelp. It had been a risky move, but rather than dodging her intention had been to get on the other side of the daemons, with her goal being that of turning in that direction. “Hannah!” she cried, trying to get Hannah to understand that she needed to go all out _now._

Hannah, to her surprise, understood. She instantly shifted to single-shot while Amanda tried to dodge the barrage of shots from the daemons – but not fully succeeding, resulting in a few smoking dents on the frame of the broom. The single shots came out quickly, more powerful and precise than the rapid-fire mode but in lesser cadence.

It worked. The daemons decided to disengage the combat, going the other way. _Now,_ Amanda thought, pressing nitro.

The acceleration and g-force was something she could handle, even if noticeable. Akko didn’t seem to notice it at all, though. Why not? She wasn’t even wearing a g-suit. Did the Shiny Rod ignore her with the simulated effects? When she sat down would she feel as if she _was_ wearing one? She thought of this as she flew, following the pattern she had discovered. She didn’t do perfectly – she could feel the broom scraping through trash and hitting things from time to time – but for her first time she certainly did better than she expected.

It was strange. Despite not having piloted in a lot of time, not counting her little ride of the Blue Star back on Sídhe, she felt as if she hadn’t ever actually stopped. Yet, last time she had done it was before starting the school year in Luna Nova. Back when she piloted the Blue Star she hadn’t noticed – and she had been a little too focused on trying to win against Diana to – but now that she was going at preposterous speeds, she didn’t just feel as if it was muscle memory. She understood the ship she was piloting despite having piloted it just once before.

She stopped using nitro, as she needed to save some fuel. She kept flying in her pattern – two heaps left, one heap right, one heap left, two heaps right – without breaking her concentration too much. She was surprised to someone see other ships close as she peeked through the different mounds. It was annoying, but she was certain she wasn’t the only one who had figured out the pattern and others were also using it to their advantage. Maybe others had seen her using nitro and decided to use their own equivalents of it to keep up.

In any case, she had already proven her strategy should work. What she hadn’t quite proven yet was if she could win the race or not with it. The daemons appeared behind her, and soon the cyborgs also did. Their bronze, jet-like big ship followed rather nicely. It was big but it could maneuver surprisingly well, even among all of this trash. Amanda was a little surprised it wasn’t bigger, actually, giving the fact that cyborgs were basically giants to human standards. It was as if the Shiny Rod was only as tall as Amanda’s sitting posture and just three meters long. Amanda wondered if they could connect themselves to their ship through their robotic limbs. That seemed like a cool concept with absolutely zero ways of backfiring.

Amanda kept on her way. Left, left, right, left- left. A wall rose in front of them. Amanda already knew what these were, so she had to steer in the wrong direction whether she wanted to or not. She rounded the thing she had decided to call Trash Plateau. It kinda made sense, in her mind. Didn’t know if the others would use it but it was too late for her now.

As soon as she noticed the trash plateau end, she made sure to go in a diagonal line up to the place where she knew her optimal path was… well, optimal. The end of the race approached. A minute at best. This meant a lot of different racers converged. Amanda had the daemons up in her tail, but the others were behind them. The shapeshifter, curiously enough, seemed to have some kind of trouble piloting through this area. Amanda wondered why. She wouldn’t say it was easier than moving through trees, but it didn’t seem that difficult. In fact, it was strange. It was almost as if the shapeshifter was just afraid of touching anything related to trash. Did they find it so disgusting that they wouldn’t touch it? Well, their ship was half alive, so…

For a second she forgot to steer, which ended up in her wing colliding with a mountain of trash and a sudden lost of speed. The daemons didn’t lose a second, getting ahead of her. She gritted her teeth, accelerating. _Oh no you don’t!_ She thought with anger. The daemons weren’t about to let her get ahead again, though.

Hannah was busy making sure no one got to close from behind. However, Amanda saw a chance. Armors. Right behind them. She started carefully riding the daemon’s slipstream again. They had definitely figured out the perfect path like Amanda had, for they did exactly as Amanda would, which also made them predictable.

And, again, the armor attacked. Maybe they didn’t notice what Amanda was doing, maybe they didn’t care. Amanda appreciated the move anyways. She subtly dodged the ball – barely tilting the Shooting Star so that it didn’t break her wing – and allowed it to move towards the daemons. They caught on, and of course, they had to dodge.

Amanda dodged in the opposite direction. She shot forward. She didn’t have much fuel left, but she pressed nitro anyways. Now or never.

She regained her advantage. With how little race was left, the daemons weren’t able to recover.

The race ended, and as Hannah started to complain about how rough her flying was, and about how she was having a hard time adapting to her sudden and apparently random moves, Amanda could only think about one thing.

_How do I know the shapeshifter’s ship is organic?_

She hadn’t ever heard that. She hadn’t ever seen it in a report, or on random comments on the internet, or anywhere. She hadn’t seen the theory thrown around either, though she was sure someone else must have figured it out. The problem wasn’t if it was true or not. She was one hundred percent sure it _was._ But how? When? She couldn’t be this sure if it hadn’t come from a reliable source, and she was sure she hadn’t known that before starting the IPR.

It wasn’t hard to sum one plus one. She hadn’t heard it before the IPR. She hadn’t heard it during her downtime. There was only one place that information could have come from. Amanda looked at her surroundings. The Shiny Rod was a strange ship. It didn’t look made of metal, not really. The white was too white. It didn’t look painted, but there were no metals that were _this_ white naturally. There were no bolts or screws on sight, nor any kind of welding had been done on any visible surface.

That, plus the regeneration thing, apparently infinite energy save for a limit on how much it could use at any given time, and all of its other strange attributes – built-in simulator, wiping of memories, the ability to just straight up change forms – painted a picture Amanda was starting to see as something way less trivial than a mere broom.

Were, maybe, the shapeshifter ships something akin to the Shiny Rod? Was that how Amanda was able to recognize it? Or was it something else?

Why could Amanda apparently recall that one detail from her time as a gunman in this ship but not anything else?

Or maybe she hadn’t been paying enough attention at her own thoughts. What did she really know? She hadn’t ever questioned her memories before. It wasn’t like her. She usually took things at face value. If she recalled something she didn’t know ever learning, then maybe she just hadn’t been searching for memories long enough, or hard enough.

“Amanda?” Akko snapped her out of her mind, softly touching her shoulder. “You look strange.”

“Maybe she’s dizzy from her crazy flying,” Hannah said. “I know I am.”

“Sorry,” Amanda closed her eyes. She had to practice, so she shouldn’t lose focus, but she wouldn’t be able to focus unless she tried to sort things out. But what was there to sort out? If she tried to recall, nothing came to her. The shapeshifter detail had come so naturally to her, as if she had just known about it for a long time. Was the Shiny Rod messing with her memories beyond deleting them? Was it inserting knowledge in her she didn’t want or need? Why would it? Maybe she actually needed it for firing at people. Maybe it had failed on one of the memory wipes and had left that tiny bit in there.

“Did… You just apologize?” Hannah asked with a confused voice. “Are you fine?”

Amanda hummed as an answer. She needed to focus on her flying. She had won the race at basically her first attempt. This wasn’t just easy, this was a piece of cake. Though, of course, she didn’t trust the simulator to be completely accurate to real life. She wondered if Akko’s mind had some kind of effect on how it worked. Like, maybe, because she was happy, the simulator was running on easy mode or something. Didn’t seem like something practical and logical to do but Akko wasn’t a logical being either.

“Let’s do another race,” Amanda simply said. Maybe flying some more would help her figure it out.

The race started, and she went basically on auto pilot, trying not to think too much. This time the shapeshifters did a lot better, being an actual menace to her piloting. They attacked a lot more than before, though Hannah wasn’t having much luck with the ‘don’t allow others to follow’ instructions. Amanda knew she had asked something kind of outrageous so she didn’t get too annoyed at that.

The second race ended up with her in second place. She was too distracted by this sudden revelation. She just couldn’t focus. “Akko, your turn,” Amanda said, thinking that some free time to think would help.

“Uhm…” Akko hesitated. “Sure…” She looked at Amanda with doubt. Was she aware of Amanda’s weird attitude? Probably. Amanda wasn’t sure if Akko had good emotional intelligence or not. She seemed to realize when people acted weird but act uncertain about it anyways.

“This is going to be hell,” Hannah commented as she exited the cockpit. Now it was Jasminka’s turn. Maybe, with another person suffering from the same things as her, Amanda would be able to figure out her own thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this. Please leave a comment and yadayadayada, see you next time.


	49. Chapter 49

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, new batch! Due to this thing called 'real life' or whatever I couldn't update this as fast as I wanted sadly. In any case, I thing I'll repeat what I did last time - daily updates until the end of the batch (In about 5/6 days to those who want to wait until the end. Will say in endnotes as always). It seemed like it made things easier to swallow to those following the story on an update-to-update basis.  
> But, hey, you're not here to read my rantings, are you?  
> Let's get on with the chapter, don't forget to leave any and all opinions on the comments.

Akko didn’t find Ursula in her room. Using Lotte’s wand, she managed to locate her, finding that she had been in a reunion with her superiors. Since Ursula was hungry, they had agreed to meet up on Bronze Deck and eat on a food stand and then walk around. Now Akko waited impatiently next to the food stand they had agreed on. She had performed horribly in her simulation earlier, which had led her to just give up on that for the moment.

“I mean, it’s been ten minutes already,” Akko was saying. “Maybe something went wrong and she had to stay. Or maybe she’s so angry at me she ditched me… Nah, that’s not like Ursula. Wait, is it?”

The poor man next to her was nodding and smiling, trying very hard not to appear engaged on the conversation to not scare off clients. It wasn’t working.

“I mean, I get it if she did it,” Akko said, feeling a stab of guilt. “I ignored her big time during the race. Everyone’s probably angry at me anyways,” she was sitting on the edge of the stage in the middle of the deck, her legs bouncing with slight anxiety. “Are you angry at me, Hotdog man?”

“I’m Carlos,” the hotdog seller said, “And not really. You did pretty good in my opinion, miss pilot,” He said with respect. That didn’t stop him from looking like he wanted Akko to leave him alone, though.

“Thank you, hotdog man,” Akko said with a sigh. She knew he probably didn’t understand why she had failed so miserably, but at least not everyone was angry. Diana wasn’t any longer. Akko smiled slightly while thinking about it. She’d go to talk to Diana after talking to Ursula… Well, assuming Diana was awake. And assuming Hannah and Barbara let her.

“Akko,” suddenly, a voice made Akko perk up. Ursula stood there, uncharacteristically wearing something that wasn’t a g-suit. However, she was still wearing something that was probably an uniform. It was a purple ceremonial robe, looking like a witch’s attire. Down to her ankles, relatively wide sleeves, a belt and an oversized hat that was a little too cartoony, but it looked nice on her.

“Hello, coach. What’s up with the outfit?” Akko asked.

“I had a meeting with the headmistress of Luna Nova today. I wanted to be at my best and dress for the occasion,” Ursula explained.

“With the headmistress? Don’t you talk with presidents and stuff sometimes?” Akko could swear Ursula had mentioned it somewhere.

Ursula smiled. “Well, yes. But to me, Headmistress Holbrooke is much more important than any president could ever be,” she said. “But let’s ignore that, wanna eat?”

Akko nodded. Both of them grabbed a hotdog, and Akko waved the hotdog man goodbye as they walked away. They ate in peace, with Akko asking how had the meeting gone, and with Ursula simply stating that it had been not different from usual. Of course, Akko didn’t know what ‘usual’ was so she decided to leave it at that.

Well, not quite.

“Guess you could say it went as _ursulal_ ,” Akko said, dumb smile on her face as she tried to get Ursula to laugh. Ursula gave her a flat look, but her expression quickly shifted to a smile and she began to chuckle.

“Please don’t ever make that joke again,” Ursula said as she finished. Akko couldn’t help but keep smiling.

When they were done with the food, Ursula sat down on one of the benches nearby the windows that showed space as if in a giant cinema screen. Akko stood there, hearing the teacher taking a deep breath. She knew what was coming, even though neither of them wished to have this conversation, probably.

“Come on, sit down,” Ursula patted the bench. Akko did so, steeling her heart for what was to come.

Ursula put a hand on her shoulder, staring kindly. Akko looked at her with some confusion.

“You made a mistake,” Ursula said. “And I know you realized that. But I need to ask you, do you know what your mistake was?”

Akko thought for a while. She didn’t want to appear stupid. “I… didn’t pay attention to my surroundings?” She hadn’t, after all. If she did, she may have noticed that half the racers were following her.

Ursula nodded, but then shook her head. “That’s part of it, but you did something unforgivable by racing standards,” she said. “You drew attention to yourself.”

Akko cocked her head. “Huh?”

Ursula was looking at her in the eyes. She had beautiful red eyes, eyes that Akko felt weird at when looking. She felt as if she’d known them for a long time. Maybe it was Ursula’s motherly aura playing tricks on her mind. After all, she was the only figure of authority they’d had in quite a while.

“Tell me, Akko, what do animals do when they feel threatened?”

“Run away?” Akko answered uncertainly.

Ursula nodded. “Then, what do they do when they feel cornered?”

“Attack,” that was an easy one. Again, Ursula nodded, and Akko was failing to see the point of the conversation. What did animals have to do with all of this?

“Tell me. How do you think everyone else felt when they saw you do what you did?” Ursula asked.

“You mean, transforming the Shiny Rod?” Akko asked. Ursula nodded. “Well…” She thought back to the situation, but her memory of the race was foggy. She had been rather distressed because of the Diana situation, and while she didn’t believe that was the fault of her faulty behavior, she was currently having trouble piecing together why had she acted the way she did. It just made so much sense, back during the race. Now everything was turned upside down. “They… were jealous?” Akko supposed. “They saw that...” She trailed off, eyes widening. “They felt cornered. They saw me with an incredible advantage and attacked all at once to throw me off.”

“Correct,” Ursula smiled. “See? You’re smart. You should have been able to figure it out by yourself,” she put her arm around Akko’s shoulders to give her a small hug.

“I drew attention to myself,” Akko was still thinking. “And I got careless, thinking Amanda would protect me, but…”

“When transformed, the Shiny Rod lacks weaponry and shields,” Ursula said. Akko nodded.

Then she frowned. “Wait, how do you know that?”

Ursula paused, suddenly releasing Akko from her light hug. “I, well,” she looked away, smiling nervously, “it- it was obvious, I mean, whenever Chariot transformed the Shiny Rod back then, she never used weapons or stuff like that, right?” Ursula said. Her voice had gone a pitch higher, and she was obviously uncomfortable with the topic.

What she said made sense, though. “I…” Akko thought about it. “I never noticed,” she admitted. She felt weird. Had she really never noticed something that seemed like such an important detail about her idol?

“Well, that’s not important,” Ursula was quick to dismiss the topic. “What’s important is that now that you know it, you can work with it.”

“You’re not mad?” Akko asked, not without some fear. It seemed impossible that after she had done so badly, Ursula would still treat her with such normalcy.

Ursula giggled. “Of course not,” the kind smile she gave Akko was so warm it kind of burned. “You were emotionally distressed. I can forgive that,” then her expression grew a little colder. “But until next race, Akko, you are _not_ allowed to do anything but practice. And you _will_ listen to what I have to say.”

Akko felt a chill run down her spine. She hadn’t planned to do anything else, but she would now definitely not do that. “And also going to the gym. Everyone in the team is going to start doing at least one hour a day,” Ursula also said. Akko opened her mouth, not to complain, but to ask why, but Ursula still shut her up with a stare. The answer was obvious, anyways. Everyone should have been going to the gym on a regular basis, but with everything going on, it was hard to find the motivation to do so.

“O-ok,” Akko said, feeling slightly threatened.

Ursula stood. “Ok now. Let’s go find Hannah, Amanda and Jasminka and go do some exercise.”

“Right now?” Akko asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Ursula said. “After a session of exercise your mind will be in a better mood for piloting,” Ursula asserted. Akko doubted that was the case for most people, but what could she do? As Ursula walked away, Akko followed.

She stared at her teacher’s back, feeling a strange sense of joy. She had expected something much worse to come her way, but instead, Ursula had been as kind and understanding as ever. Save for the slightly menacing end to the conversation, but that was warranted.

 _She’s such a great person,_ Akko thought with a smile. She considered hugging Ursula, but she was afraid she’d ruin the fancy outfit she wore, so she’d leave it for some other occasion.

 

Hannah didn’t hate doing exercise, but she wasn’t a fan of it either. She didn’t like being sweaty, or the feeling of her tits bouncing around as she ran, even with sports underwear. Plus, for some reason, she seemed to be the person who had the worst shape in the room. Even Jasminka was doing better than her. She probably had a lot of muscle under her fat. Did she exercise regularly or was she just naturally athletic? She wanted to ask, but that would be prying into something she probably shouldn’t.

What did surprise her were Akko, Amanda and Ursula. Amanda, well, she had the aspect of an athletic girl, but she could really hold up. She had barely broken a sweat while they were warming up by doing some light running, but she could also do a fair amount of pushups and the ten minutes of yoga they had done showed just how amazingly flexible she was.

Akko, on the other hand, was maybe less aesthetically athletic, but she surely had energy. Sweat or not she didn’t seem to grow tired at all. She had determination in her eyes as she did whatever Ursula instructed her to do, be it running, climbing, pushups, crunches or even some lifting.

And, of course, there was Ursula. She was on a whole another level. She had been instructing them, sure, but she had also taken part on the training and she looked as fresh as if she had just taken a shower. She had subtly toned muscles, far from a herculean body but also above your average pilot. She was clear in her explanations and didn’t push them too far. It seemed like this first round of exercise was about finding where everyone’s limits were more than about the actual exercise, and she’d then think about how to work with each of them individually.

Hannah wondered if this new mindset from Ursula had come thanks to the accident on Pan. It was likely. Hannah tried to keep it out of her mind, but she had realized she was kind of afraid of fire and loud noises now. Not panic-attack levels of afraid, but she did grow kind of nervous and anxious.

She thought she was lucky the explosion had gone off after the race. If it had happened mid race, or when she was focusing on the turret, she might have associated those two unrelated things with one another, which might have impeded her from being in her best while acting as a gunman. In the end, the things she had ended up relating to the explosion were… Well, things everyone related to them. Fire and loud sounds.

“Hannah, its ok if you can’t do more, don’t push yourself,” Ursula said as Hannah struggled with her twentieth pushup. Hannah let out a relieved sigh and stood. Her arms and legs were tired. “And we’re about to be done anyways,” Ursula looked around the gym, where everyone was doing something different. Save for two random persons, the place was mostly empty. “Ok girls, come here.”

Everyone approached. Hannah and Jasminka were the more tired, followed by Akko, then Amanda. Ursula was a fit monster, for she wasn’t agitated at all.

“How do you feel?” Ursula asked.

“Fine,” Amanda said, cleaning the sweat from her face with a towel.

“Hungry,” Jasminka said.

“I can keep going,” Akko said.

Hannah shrugged. “I’m tired, but fine,” she lied. She was tired, and not fine. She just wanted to go check on Diana, since she had woken up not long ago, as Barbara had said to her through their wands.

“Perfect,” Ursula said. “Now, let’s go back to the Shiny Rod and practice.”

“What?” Hannah asked, soul falling down to her feet. “But I want to talk with Diana…” she explained. Akko perked up at the mention of Diana being awake. So she did make up with her. Hannah was slightly disappointed by this, since having Diana be more harsh to Akko would do everyone some good.

Ursula smiled faintly. “I get that, but Diana’s not going anywhere. We should take all of our chances to practice,” Ursula explained. “Everyone else is playing with the advantage of experience.” Ursula pointed out. “So I’m going to make sure you make the most of our own advantage.”

Hannah wasn’t happy, but she couldn’t argue. Ursula had a point. Akko was also kind of disappointed, but she still looked determined. Amanda, on the other hand, looked kind of troubled. Something had happened during that first race, Hannah had noticed. The way she had almost crashed against that pile of trash was very unlike her.

Not that Hannah was interested. She had probably gotten high on the excitement of flying and it had just worn off.

Ursula told them to stretch before leaving. Everyone was wearing casual clothing, so she also told them to go dress up in their g-suits. As they exited the gym – located relatively far from the elevators, but close to a staircase that did leave them close to their rooms during this trip – Amanda paused a second, looking at Ursula, who was behind. Whatever she was thinking, however, she cast away with a shake of the head and moved on.

Somehow, Jasminka had gotten her hands on a snack’s bag. Hannah wondered if she had some kind of pocket dimension where she hid those. It seemed like whenever she turned her eyes away for a millisecond, the pink haired girl had a new bag of something to eat in her hands. She wasn’t even carrying any bags, and she hadn’t brought that before entering the gym. How?

“If you want to shower, do so quickly and with hot water,” Ursula said. Hannah was planning to; she didn’t need Ursula’s advice for that.

After going about fifteen meters up – just some more exercise, Hannah had to tell herself – they got to their new floor, not far above Magic Deck. The small corridor was similar to the one they had first stayed in, with three doors, one for each team. Ursula’s was a little further down the corridor, after the crossroads.

Hannah entered her room. It was the same as last time, which was kind of a disappointment. She had been kind of excited about what new upgrade they’d receive this time, but there was none. Unless you counted automatic doors as an upgrade, though she could honestly not recall if it had been last time or the previous where they’d had manual ones. It didn’t make much of a difference either way.

She took a quick shower and put on her g-suit. She sent a message to Barbara explaining why she wouldn’t be able to go see Diana this time. Then, she exited her room.

Jasminka was outside, already showered. Hannah assumed Amanda would be doing so now. Akko was either already gone or was taking her sweet time. “Hey,” Hannah said. She didn’t have any particular feelings towards Jasminka. She was a nice girl, that’s all she knew.

“Hey,” Jasminka said in her usual kind voice. “Want some?” She offered Hannah some… biscuits, were they? Hannah nodded, taking one and putting it in her mouth. They weren’t as dry as she had expected.

“So, you also lost your memory of the time flying with Akko?” Hannah asked, trying to start some kind of conversation.

Jasminka nodded, but said nothing more. She was a girl of few words. While Hannah could respect that, it didn’t really make her approachable. She seemed content with the situation, though. Hannah wouldn’t lie, Jasminka’s sheer aura was calming. She was that kind of girl. Hannah wondered if someone ever got mad at her. Probably not. It would be like being mad at a teddy bear. Utterly impossible.

After a while, Akko finally came out of the room. She… didn’t look showered. “What were you doing?”

Akko pointed at her g-suit. “I noticed it was stained, so I washed it quickly,” Akko explained. Hannah was about to chastise Akko for even letting it get stained, but then she realize what Akko must have meant with stained. It was probably Diana’s blood. She decided to instead not be so insensitive.

“You know there’s a special place reserved for pilots in the ship’s laundry, right?”

“Yeah,” Akko said, “But I hadn’t noticed the stain beforehand.”

“What about your other g-suit?”

“In the laundry.”

Hannah gave Akko a flat look. Akko smiled as if she was proud of herself. Hannah decided not to get too close to her. She wasn’t curious about how her sweat smelled.

Lastly, Amanda came out of her room. She had chosen to wear Luna Nova’s g-suit instead of Earth’s. Hannah couldn’t blame her. She often tried to forget how horrid hers looked. Most of the time she succeeded. Not now, though.

No one said anything as they walked, meeting up with Ursula in their way. That was fine with Hannah. Luckily, this time Ursula would be there to give some advice. Maybe she would be able to tell Amanda to stop being so reckless. Their steps resounded in the metallic corridors of the _Dragon,_ mixed with those from so many other passengers. As they walked, they crossed a couple families, an old dude and a really, really tall black man who had to walk crouched, for his head reached the ceiling of the place with ease.

Once in the hangar, Ursula said that Akko and Jasminka would be first. She needed to instruct Akko. She had already been filled out on what their new destination was – Hannah grimaced every time she recalled it. Why did it have to be a literal garbage planet? Why? – and had already planned a strategy for Akko to use.

This, however left Hannah alone with Amanda. She made sure to keep her distance.

While waiting, Amanda started pacing. At first Hannah didn’t think much of it, but it didn’t take long for her to realize Amanda was going in circles with her in the center. This wasn’t technically any kind of impediment, since Hannah was standing still, thinking about her stuff – mostly Diana and her status.

It still somehow bugged her.

“Could you stop?” Hannah asked.

“Huh?” Amanda acted as if she hadn’t heard, stopping her walk.

“God, you’re so childish,” Hannah said, putting her hands on her hips. “If you’re going to annoy me, at least do it directly, don’t be a coward.”

Amanda stared at her for a few seconds. Then she chuckled. “I mean, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she lied. She had to be lying, “but if you want me to annoy you directly I could always just start to sing in your ear.”

Hannah snorted and looked away. Amanda walked closer, which made Hannah turn. When she did, Amanda was almost in her face. Hannah yelped and walked back. Amanda cleared her throat, as if preparing to sing.

“So tell me, do you prefer Irish or Texan songs?” Amanda asked.

“What?” Hannah couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I suppose you’d prefer Irish,” Amanda said, nodding. Then, taking a deep breath, she started yelling at the top of her lungs. “OH, DANNY BOY, THE PIPES, THE PIPES ARE CALLING, FROM GLEN TO GLEN, AND DOWN THE MOUNTAIN SIDE.”

Hannah backed away, but Amanda followed her with her horrible singing. “Hey, fuck off!” Hannah said, looking around, thinking that someone might be down here and might hear Amanda doing the ridicule. Amanda, however, didn’t seem to care, and kept going.

“THE SUMMER'S GONE, AND ALL THE ROSES FALLING, IT'S YOU, IT'S YOU MUST GO AND I MUST BIDE,” whatever she was singing lacked a melody, whether it had one originally or not was up to debate in Hannah’s mind. With how Amanda was shouting it was hard to even understand her. Hannah was blushing, imagining what others might think.

“Please stop!” Hannah begge, “You’re fucking nuts!”

“BUT COME YE BACK WH-” Suddenly, she stopped, looked at Hannah, and smiled. “Ok, now, _that_ was me trying to annoy you,” she said.

Hannah narrowed her eyes. “Do you really have no other way of entertainment than teasing me?” She asked with disgust. Amanda raised an eyebrow in inquiry. Hannah didn’t understand what was up with the expression, until, of course, she tried to think like the redhead. “Oh, you think I’m a hypocrite?”

“I mean, yes,” Amanda admitted, shrugging, “but the main problem here is that I’m not really teasing you, I’m _annoying_ you, completely different things. I thought a bully would understand,” she said with a self confident smile. Her breathing was kind of funny, and Hannah suspected she was trying to hold back from laughing.

“Just for your information, what _I_ do and what _you_ do are completely different things,” Hannah said. “You’re just doing to get a reaction out of me.”

“And you just do it because you want to feel better than others,” Amanda replied without hesitation, “at least I’m just doing it for fun.”

Hannah glowered at Amanda, but it wasn’t effective. “I never tease people anyways, I just point out their flaws, what’s wrong with saying the truth?” she defended herself.

“There are ways and there are ways,” Amanda said. “You know, it’s not that hard. I can joke with Jasminka and tell her that she’s fat, but if you mocked her for that I would knock you out,” she explained, punching the palm of her hand. Hannah didn’t feel too threatened by that. She wouldn’t make fun of Jasminka anyways, she was probably the nicest person she knew.

“I’m not _that_ bad,” Hannah said. Amanda just gave her a flat look. “Fine, I may be, but it’s not like I actually harm anyone,” she was starting to feel uncomfortable with the conversation. “If they get moody it’s not my fault. They should grow a thicker skin.”

Amanda chuckled. “Yeah, like that one time I called you an idiot and you got all mopey? Really thick skin right there.”

Hannah crossed her arms. “We both know that’s not really how it went,” she defended. “I was down because of disappointment, not your words,” she made sure to point it out so that Amanda couldn’t deny it.

“I don’t even know why you got like that,” Amanda said, walking over to the Shiny Rod and sitting there. “You’ve got no chance with Andrew anyways. He’s like, rich, powerful and famous. You’re rich and… Well, that’s about it,” she pointed at Hannah, looking unimpressed. “Hell, probably I have a better chance with him than you, and I hate him.”

Hannah pursed her lips, frowning. “Well…” She looked for a retort, “He still let me go with him to that play!”

“Play in which he barely paid any attention to you? Yeah, really impressive,” Amanda was quick to dismiss her argument. Truth was, even Hannah could feel how feeble it had been. “And he probably hasn’t contacted you ever since. I dunno, maybe you’re not as hot as you think you are.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong. Hannah had gotten her hopes up only to be severely disappointed. Maybe Hannah really wasn’t as hot as she believed. Maybe she really-

“Ah, see that expression?” Amanda interrupted her thoughts. “Now, that’s the expression of someone who needs to grow a thicker skin. Why do you suddenly look sad? I just pointed out truths, you shouldn’t get moody.”

Hannah looked up. Amanda had a neutral expression, save for a slight curvature in the corner of her lips.

“Fuck you,” she barked.

“Thanks, Hannah Banana,” Amanda replied, bowing. “But I will have to reject your offer. You see, I only fuck girls with thick skins,” she said, trying – and failing – to hold back a smile.

“Banana?” Hannah laughed, “What are you, five years old?” she said, trying to sound condescending. It really was a stupid name.

“Yes,” Amanda said. “Though the fact that I’m outwitting you probably means you’re even younger, at least mentally.”

Hannah huffed. Why did she have such a hard time dealing with Amanda? Stupid redhead. “At least I don’t suddenly call people fucking Bananas just because it happens to rhyme with their names,” Hannah said. She sounded petty. She felt petty. Stupid Amanda.

“Oh, that? Yeah, you probably prefer me calling you pretty, huh?” Amanda winked at her. Hannah paused, growing slightly red. Why did that stupid thing have such an effect? True, she wasn’t used to interacting with boys, and she hadn’t gotten called pretty by people who could see her as a romantic partner very often, but it was obvious Amanda was just doing it to annoy her.

Well, she had called her pretty before. Maybe that was why Hannah couldn’t help but think there was some truth behind that, even if Amanda was obviously mocking her.

“Just shut up,” was all Hannah could reply. And she would be forced to protect her during races? Maybe she should just let them all lose. Amanda wouldn’t be able to fend off enemies by herself. Stupid accident. Hannah could have been speaking with Diana, but no, she had to stay here and deal with Amanda’s bullshit. All because she had to train and yada yada yada.

Amanda laughed, though this time it felt a little more heartfelt. “Now, _that_ was teasing,” Amanda said. “See? The difference is that teasing is more fun.”

Hannah gritted her teeth, trying hard not to just straight up punch Amanda. She really looked like she was enjoying the conversation. Well, Hannah supposed this banter was better than the hot discussions they’d had in the past, but the problem was that Hannah couldn’t come up with something to try and answer back. She wasn’t used to discussions like these. She was more of a poke-fun-at-the-right-moment type of teaser.

“Whatever,” was all she could say. She looked at the cockpit of the Rod, hoping Akko would be done so that this could be over. She’d get back at Amanda later when she messed up in the simulation.

Amanda went quiet for a blissful minute. She looked rather pensive. Maybe she was coming up with new ways to annoy Hannah. Or tease her. Or whatever. There was no one around, luckily. Hannah couldn’t get out of her head the idea of someone recording Amanda screaming that song in Hannah’s face. How would people react if they saw that their team was screaming in the face of each other instead of acting amiable?

Speaking of which, Hannah had a realization. Press. She hadn’t seen reporters after the incident with Diana. No one had come to interview them in any way, neither for winning nor for the explosion. Why was that? Hannah clearly recalled seeing people rush towards Chariot in recordings. Were they not interesting at all? Was it because they were minors? It might be. But, no, some press had approached them. Not that Hannah _wanted_ to get interviewed, but she wouldn’t have minded…

“Hey,” Amanda interrupted her thinking. “How important do you think memories are?” she asked, not looking at her. She looked serious.

Hannah stood there, stupefied by the sudden change in mood the girl had gone through. “Huh?” She asked, wary of another strategy for teasing.

Amanda took a few seconds to ask again. She didn’t look like she was trying to make fun of Hannah anymore. “I mean, if memories are what makes us ‘ourselves’, then what if something changed in them?” She said.

Hannah was caught so off guard by the question that even if it was a tease of some kind she wouldn’t have been able to tell. “Well, I’ve heard stories of people with amnesia who have completely changed personalities. Though, there’s also stories of people who are just basically the same. I suppose it depends on your surroundings more than the memories itself,” Hannah offered. “What brought this on?”

Amanda hesitated. Weird. “I think I remember something,” she said. Hannah raised an eyebrow. “From my time being a gunman. I’m not sure, but…”

“So you work so hard to convince me that you remember nothing and now suddenly you actually remember something?” Hannah asked with instant distrust. It had to be a joke. Or maybe not, because no one could make this shit up.

Amanda opened her mouth, but then suddenly fell on her back, sighing. “I guess you’re right. Nevermind me,” she said. For some reason, Hannah felt a little guilty. Why should she, though?

“Oh no, now you continue,” she said anyways. “You can’t start with that and not finish.”

Amanda remained quiet for a while. Right as Hannah decided Amanda had opted for ignoring her, however, she spoke up again. “The shapeshifter ship is organic.”

Hannah frowned. “What?”

“It’s organic. And kind of intelligent. Not sentient, but… Like an animal,” Amanda said. She sounded completely serious.

“How do you know that?” Hannah asked. She couldn’t be blamed for being suspicious. What Amanda was saying was just outrageous, it would have been proven by others a long time ago. Sure, the ship looked like a shapeshifter, but most people just assumed it had something to do with Darkworld.

“I don’t know,” Amanda said. “I don’t recall ever hearing, seeing or reading anything about it. Like… It just popped into my head,” she explained. “Which is why I think the Shiny Rod might have fed me that info, somehow.”

“How would the Shiny Rod know?” Hannah asked.

“It can create real-time maps of space from across several _light years_ of distance. Do you really think it wouldn’t be able to analyze other ships? It somehow makes perfect copies of them in simulations too, even if they’re completely new, unseen ships,” Amanda said. “That’s not the problem here.”

“You’re wondering why you retained the info, assuming it really came from the broom and not some random internet forum where someone posted a stupid theory, right?” Hannah asked.

“Hey, random theories on the internet have a lot more merit than you’re giving them credit for,” Amanda said. “Anonymous geniuses are an unexploited resource in the world.”

“Hey, I think the same thing,” Hannah quickly clarified, “but let’s be honests, for every good theory there are a hundred dumb ones.”

Amanda nodded. She had to give in to that point, as it was more of a fact than anything. Actually, Hannah would have probably pushed it further down the scale. For every good one, there were probably a thousand dumb ones. Or more. But that was besides the point.

“I’m just worried,” Amanda said. “If I start remembering stuff out of nowhere, what if it changes how I see things? What if I’m suddenly terrified?”

Hannah didn’t know how to answer. She wasn’t really in a position to give much advice. Instead, she went through another route. “Why ask me?”

Amanda sighed, as if she had expected the question. “Because I know you probably will tell me what you think whether good or bad. Constanze and Jasminka are my friends, but Constanze would probably want to run an analyzes on my brain and Jasminka would just tell me everything will be all right,” she paused. “I guess I just want the opinion of someone who has no reason to want to make me feel better.”

Hannah could understand this, even if she didn’t really agree. As far as Amanda knew, she might be trying to make her feel bad. Particularly after the spectacle from earlier. But it didn’t really felt as trust. It felt more like… understanding. Amanda, for some reason, seemed to understand Hannah, even if the understanding didn’t go both ways. Hannah wondered why she had such a hard time figuring out Amanda when the redhead seemed to understand her so well.

“I mean, worst case scenario, you might be a little scared. Doubt it’d change much from you. Plus, you don’t even remember most of what goes on, so I don’t see why you would suddenly start to recall all of those things. Maybe it’s something that you internalized because it was important or something and managed to take it out with you,” Hannah offered an explanation. “Not saying this is it, but I don’t think the memory of shooting things up will change you much anyways.”

Amanda didn’t answer. Hannah sighed. She walked over to the shiny rod, and despite the awkward side angle, she sat on it. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it was better than standing up. She made sure to stay out of the way of the glass spheres, though. Better safe than sorry.

The silence became awkward, at least for Hannah. She felt like something should be said, but she couldn’t think of anything. Amanda didn’t seem particularly angry at her, but Hannah felt angry at her. Why was that, again? Oh, right, the kiss. Maybe it was because of the mood, but thinking back to it, she may have overreacted. And, in the end, Amanda didn’t do it.

“Would you have kissed me if I hadn’t lost my shit, back at the party?” Hannah asked carefully. Amanda, who had her eyes closed, cracked one open, giving Hannah a lazy look.

“Probably,” she admitted. “Kisses aren’t a big deal for me.”

Hannah frowned. “Why not? They’re a show of affection. You should reserve them for the one you love, don’t you think?”

Amanda closed her eye again. She chuckled. “Love is a stupid thing. Haven’t felt it before. I’ve liked girls, sure, but the concept of love is alien to me. Why would I want to be tied down to a single girl when there are so many hotties out there?” Her tone reflected her views. She spoke as if the concept was ridiculous. “What about you?”

Love. Did Hannah _love_ someone? Sure, she liked Andrew, and she would be totally up for coming to know him more, but… “I don’t think so,” Hannah said.

“What about Andrew?” Amanda asked.

“Well, I mean, he’s an option, but I’m not sure if I _love_ him. I barely know him,” Hannah explained. Seemed like Amanda had thought similarly to her. She nodded, not opening her eyes. How much longer was Akko going to take? It had already been like ten minutes, right? Maybe more. Hadn’t they heard Amanda screaming? Probably not. The interior of the ship was really well isolated from everything, including sound.

“You’re placing too much importance in kisses, anyways. It’s just touching your lips with someone, maybe your tongues too. It feels nice,” she explained.

“You’re probably just used to it,” Hannah said. “When did you have your first time?”

“You mean kiss, right?” Amanda asked. Hannah grunted, since Amanda wasn’t seeing her. Amanda smirked. “Yeah, I guess you are. I was… what? Ten? This real cute girl sat next to me in class. Back then I didn’t have many friends, and this girl was kind of a bully. She often tried to make fun of me, but I just shrugged it off. My life was pretty filled with shit, adding her didn’t change much. Then, during a school assembly, I sneaked off. Bitch was in the hallway right as I exited the gym, and I was fully aware that she was also a teacher’s pet. She instantly tried to snitch on me, so I did what I had just seen done in a movie: I pinned her against a wall and kissed her,” she chuckled as she remembered. “Man, that was so satisfying. You should have seen her face. She blushed, fell to her knees, and stared off into space. Fairly certain she developed a crush on me, but I changed schools that same year, so I never got to find out.”

Hannah had pressed her lips into a thin line. “That was… not what I expected,” she admitted. “You kind of assaulted her, don’t you think?”

Amanda shrugged. “Bitch had been bullying me for the entire year, so fuck her,” she said. Hannah couldn’t really argue against that. She wasn’t sure what bullying meant, exactly, but if even Amanda found it annoying then it probably was serious. Hannah didn’t really feel like asking.

“And do you think so lightly of… Well, doing more too?”

“Sex?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, sex, jeez,” Hannah blushed.

“Seriously, get over it. It’s just a word describing something most people do at one point or another. Anyways, I actually did that when I was thirteen, I think. Rather young, huh?” Amanda opened her eyes. Hannah cocked her head. Just thirteen? It felt like way too young. “I think I had had my first period like just four months before or something like that. It was a pretty hormonal time of my life,” she said that with disgust. “Anyways, there was this huge family meet up. Everyone in the family I knew and everyone I didn’t know showed up. Cousins of cousins, distant cousins, people who just happened to be Irish and weren’t probably directly related but since they were Irish they were probably family in some way or another. Well, we were at this party and I had this cousin – I say cousin but I have honestly no idea what she was. She could have been an aunt, a nephew or even a family friend that happened to be a redhead, dunno – and she was sixteen. I had long hair back then, and she said my hair was pretty. I had already awoken to my sexuality back then, and I thought she was pretty hot. After some flirting we made our way to a distant room and she taught me the beauty of sexual intercourse,” Amanda spoke casually about it, but Hannah could barely believe what she was saying.

“Your first time was with a _cousin?”_ Hannah asked, expecting Amanda to laugh and say it was a joke.

She didn’t. “I mean, maybe. Probably. Potentially. Irish families are weird,” Amanda shrugged. “Not that it matters. I mean, in homosexuality I think everything goes, you know? The reason people tend to be so against incest has a lot to do with genetics, but fuck that, I can’t have a kid with another woman – at least not by natural means.”

“Dude, she was like three years older than you, too. Wasn’t it a bit creepy?”

“Despite what people seem to believe, I was fully conscious of what I was doing, Hannah,” Amanda rolled her eyes. “Teenagers aren’t retarded. Most know perfectly what sex is and what it means. I know I did. I already masturbated constantly before my cousin… Uhm… I don’t even remember her name, came. Never saw her again, too.”

“You seem to have a history with never seeing people again,” Hannah commented.

Amanda smiled. “Well, yeah. That may have something to do with my views in this, I suppose,” she looked at Hannah. “Where do you get yours, though? Romantic novels? Movies?”

Hannah looked away awkwardly. “I… suppose,” she said, feeling lame.

“Eh, I found that a lot of girls are like that,” Amanda closed her eyes again. “Just be aware, real life usually doesn’t turn up as in stories. You’re going to get disappointed if you expect your first kiss to be like something out of a romantic novel. First kisses rarely happen during the sunset of perfect days,” she said, and then, she went silent.

Hannah was blushing. That… was exactly what she expected. Had Amanda read her mind? Obviously not, but she couldn’t be _that_ predictable, could she? “And how do you think my first kiss is going to be?”

Amanda shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe you’ll kiss Andrew after a date on space, or maybe you’ll kiss someone back on Earth at a party after getting too drunk,” Amanda said. She didn’t sound too interested. “Hey, who knows, maybe I’ll actually get to steal it one of these days!”

Hannah punched Amanda’s shoulder. Amanda grunted, but didn’t react otherwise. Why was Amanda so overly sexual? She said Hannah should get over her apprehension, but in her experience, most people preferred to be subtle about these themes. It was about propriety and basic social cues. A lot of people didn’t feel comfortable talking about sex, and that was it. Hannah didn’t mind it _too_ much, but she did was a little shocked by the fact that Amanda could just speak about it like if it was the most common thing in the world. Maybe it was, for her. Like a wall, a wall she had gotten over but Hannah hadn’t.

Hannah looked at Amanda. “Were you like this? Before having sex?” She asked. They were already on the topic, so she might as well go all the way.

“Depends on the time frame. Not as a child, obviously, but it started around the time I turned ten. Recall that bully? I didn’t really _like_ her, but she was real nice looking. Then I turned eleven and I learned about masturbation. The first time my parents caught me they tried to tell me some bullshit about how I should be careful about how and when I do it and all that really uncomfortable chat,” she sounded grossed out.

“That sounds like something pretty normal,” Hannah commented. She had also had a similar chat with her parents after her first period.

“Yeah, no, my parents tried to hold me down, basically. It’s not as simple as I make it sound. In any case, it didn’t work. I did it frequently. By the time I turned twelve I was experienced at it, though I had moved on from that bully, of course. By the time I turned thirteen I did it whenever I saw a chance. I was caught by a maid a couple times. Really uncomfortable… Though I did shlick to fantasies involving that scenario,” she smiled and let a breath out through her teeth, finding it funny.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl doing it so frequently, though,” Hannah asked with some skepticism. Maybe Amanda was just blowing things out of proportion to fuck with her. Didn’t sound like a stretch. Hannah was a little uncomfortable hearing that. She imagined a maid of her finding her in the middle of doing _that._ She would never be able to see her and probably anyone else in the face ever again.

“Honestly, I think I just did it because of what my parents told me…”

“Wait a second,” Hannah interrupted. Amanda stopped, not opening her eyes. “You said _maid_? You have a _maid?_ ”

Amanda grimaced. “I didn’t like her much, though. Well, save for those fantasies, but that’s another ordeal, hormonal teenagers can like anyone as long as they can imagine themselves having sex with them.”

“That’s not the point,” Hannah tried to get the idea of Amanda trying to seduce an old lady from her head. She wasn’t succeeding. “When you speak about her, you speak as if she was a… full time maid?”

With a sigh, Amanda opened her eyes. “Yeah.”

Hannah waited for more, but it didn’t come. “Amanda, are you rich?” She asked, failing to read Amanda’s expression. Expression that darkened a little.

“Won’t be for much longer. I’m doing everything in my power to get disinherited,” Amanda stated. “Well, everything short of killing one of my siblings.”

Hannah frowned. Amanda was speaking seriously? It was hard to believe, but she didn’t have a hint of humor in her voice. Though, that wasn’t bothering her as much as the confession that she was actually rich. “But, don’t you hate rich people?” Hannah asked.

Amanda nodded. “Why do you think I do? It’s because I know them. I’ve been to their parties, I’ve talked to them, I’ve been one of them. I technically still am. Money changes people. They start to see themselves above others,” She opened one eye to look at Hannah. The implication was obvious. She then closed it again. “My parents aren’t different. My siblings aren’t different. I used to try to get my parents to make my little brother the heir, but my family is kind of a matriarchy, so I have to be it,” she growled for a moment. “I just hate people who try to impose their ideals in me.”

This whole ramble wasn’t something Hannah could directly relate to. Her family had gotten rich not long ago, and her life had been nothing but bliss since. Or, at least, that’s how she perceived it. “Do you hate your parents?” Hannah asked carefully.

“Kinda. Though, I suppose they’re not really to blame,” Amanda said, eyes on the ceiling. She didn’t appear to be focused on anything. She was just lazily looking into space. “I guess my problem is-”

She was interrupted by a sound. The Cockpit suddenly opened. Hannah looked towards it, annoyed. As she saw Ursula waving, however, she started. Why was she annoyed? She had just been talking to Amanda. But… It was a nice conversation. Maybe more than nice. It was strange.

Why had Amanda suddenly opened up like that? Hannah wondered if Amanda was going to continue, but the redhead had already stood and was dropping on the cockpit. Akko was coming out of it too. “Wait, who’s going to command the Shiny Rod if not you?” Amanda asked.

“Ursula made me realize I could just order Alcor to follow your instructions too.”

Hannah deadpanned the brunette. Had she really not thought of that before? It seemed like such an obvious thing. “Well, let’s begin,” Amanda said, eagerly dropping inside the cockpit and closing the windshield, not before shooting a strange glance at Hannah.

Hannah reluctantly crawled under the ever-floating Rod and climbed in the turret, crossing paths with Jasminka in the way there. She was still surprised by the fact that it looked _exactly_ like the Shooting Star’s. It was uncanny.

“You ready, Hannah?”

“Yeah,” Hannah said, already in position.

“Great, make sure to keep in mind that thing about not following, let’s begin!”

And so, the simulation started. Hannah had actually forgotten about the no-following thing. As she recalled it, she began to forget about the nice conversation. Amanda was a crazy pilot, and right now, she needed to be an equally crazy gunman.

Hopefully she’d be up to the test.


	50. Chapter 50

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 50 chapters already.  
> And this chapter also brings us up to 250k words.  
> I don't know if I should be proud or hit myself with a hammer to stop this madness.

Diana had been awake for no longer than an hour, yet she already felt like going back to sleep. She didn’t, though. She didn’t feel any sort of pain, luckily, but she was still basically tied down in place unable to move. Barbara had been talking to her for a while, but Diana had insisted she go do something else for a while. She had wanted to think.

Think about what this meant for her. She’d lose two races, maybe three, depending a little on her post-recovery treatment. She had already been put through some test to make sure she didn’t have any kind of PTSD, but the fact that she didn’t remember the explosion remained as the ultimate protector of her brain. On the other hand, she had heard that Hannah was having a little trouble with fire and loud noises, which made Diana worry. Well, at least it wasn’t too bad. She had been surrounded by fire for a good time, scared. She had been talking to Barbara, though, so that probably helped.

Amanda was her replacement. She wasn’t sure how to feel about this. I would be Amanda’s chance to prove if she really was better than Diana. Would she win? Would she fail? Whatever the results, she finally had her chance. Her big moment. And her attitude towards Diana was bound to change after it. If she lost, would she have more respect or resent her more? If she won, would she become even more cocky? Would she try to get Diana into another race?

Not that she could, anyways. The original Shooting Star was still fully functional after they repaired its wing, but the Blue Star was impossible to recover. The engine had been destroyed in a way that made it impossible to put back together. Not that the rest of the ship was. There was a spare engine, but even then, it would basically mean just building the entire thing from zero.

The engineers had said that maybe they could do it with enough time, but they didn’t have the right tools for it in the _Dragon._ Even if they tried, it would be faster to go back to Earth and make them do it there.

Meaning, they had to pray nothing happened to the only Shooting Star they had left. If something bad happened, they wouldn’t be able to fix it before the next big race. That would basically put humans out of the IPR.

Akko hadn’t won a single point this round, either. To be fair, all First Category pilots hadn’t earned them, save for the Appali. This had allowed Humans to be first in the leaderboards. That was, however, another problem. It made them a target. After studying Akko’s most recent race, Diana had come to the conclusion that Akko had to be emotionally distressed to commit such a massive mistake. Not even her would be that clueless. Hopefully Ursula would be able to tell her what she had done wrong and fix it.

Akko wasn’t stupid. She was a novice, and on top of that an easily distracted person. To make her race under the conditions of the previous days was asking for her to lose. Maybe that was the poin.

Diana suspected someone had made the Blue Star explode. But when she had mentioned it to Barbara not an hour ago she had suspiciously changed topics. Diana had gotten the clue, not pushing Barbara to answer, but she and hopefully everyone else had probably already noticed.

Diana shifted positions as much as she could. She didn’t like touching the inclination of the bed too much, but sometimes a change in angle could be refreshing. She was patient, but she wished she could stand up and go practice. Apparently their next destination would be Trashcan. Diana was really disappointed. It was an interesting planet with rich culture and incredible technology born out of the most creative minds in the Planetary Alliance.

But she couldn’t complaint much, either. She was alive, which was more than enough for her. That explosion had blown the Blue Star to smithereens. It had been a miracle of probability that nothing had pierced her body. Not a bolt, screw or piece of metal. Well, save for the one that hit her arm. And the one that had hit her leg hadn’t really penetrated as much as it had impacted.

The fact was, Diana was as ok with this situation as she could be. Even if she wanted to pilot and walk and go to the bathroom like a normal person, she had to be thankful nothing major had happened to her. And she was luckily a pilot. Magic treatment was expensive. Really expensive. She probably wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise – and her aunt sure as hell wouldn’t have done it. What would be around two weeks of recovery would have turned into who knew how many months.

This trip still had about a day and a half before landing. If Diana’s intuition was right, they would probably spend three to four days on Trashcan. The next destination would be a complete mystery until they set out for it, but Diana hoped it’d be a long trip. There was always a weeklong trip at around the midpoint of the race. If it happened now, Diana might be able to get out of the infirmary before the fourth race started, and while she probably wouldn’t be able to pilot for another few days, she would still have time to practice for the fifth one.

Then the sixth, where a big ball was supposed to be held. It was always scheduled for before the race, as a celebration of the start of the second half of the race. It was also a place where every important person of every race would be. The random party Croix had thrown at Machina would be nothing compared to it. That ball was a dangerous place, always targeted for its concentration of highly assassinable people.

Diana would be one of them, technically. Akko, Hannah and Amanda too. This realization was a little surreal.

Diana sighed. She didn’t want to sleep, but on the other hand, the more she slept, the quicker this whole ordeal would get a move on. Maybe she shouldn’t have sent Barbara away.

Right as she thought she’d like to talk to someone, there was a soft knock on her door. “Come in,” Diana said in her neutral voice. She half expected the newcomer to be Barbara. So, she was greatly surprised when a tall guy with perfect brown hair and green eyes entered the room wearing a suit.

“Greetings, Diana,” Andrew said, uncomfortably standing next to the door. The room really was little, and he hesitated before slowly approaching to stand besides Diana.

Diana looked him up and down, her surprise slowly turning into apathy. “Why are you here?” She just asked.

Andrew stood with his hands behind his back, looking absolutely proper. He wasn’t unlike Diana in that regard, always trying to appear as a gentleman. “Well, I have obviously heard about your accident. I thought it’d be appropriate to drop by and give you my good wishes,” he explained.

Diana nodded. It was kind of strange Paul hadn’t made his way over here yet. Maybe that’s why he had sent Andrew – because, yes, Diana had no doubt Paul had sent him. There was no way Andrew would have chosen to drop by on his own. “Thanks for passing. As you can see I am mostly fine. I will be back on my feet in two weeks at worst.”

Andrew examined her broken leg and bandaged arm. “It must hurt,” he commented.

“Thanks to drugs and Magic I barely feel anything,” Diana explained. Andrew’s lip twitched at the mention of Magic. He and his father weren’t big fans of it. They thought it wasn’t different from petroleum, in a way. Or that’s what Diana understood. When the topic of Magic came up, their arguments didn’t always end well.

“My father told me to give you this,” he said after a moment of silence. It was a small device Diana didn’t outright recognize.

“Wait,” Diana said, slowly looking at it. It was really small, and it kind of looked like a tamagochi. “Is this…?”

“An Entangled Communicator,” Andrew said. Diana touched one of the buttons on its side. This had been the answer to the Crystal Balls from non-magic tech developers. A communicator that could send messages even across light years in an instant, like a Crystal Ball allowed, but somehow using Quantum Entanglement. It had taken a lot of time and development, particularly because up until a couple decades ago, it wasn’t believed that quantum entanglement could be efficiently be used for communication.

A short message appeared on screen. _Get well. Good luck: Daryl ;)._

“It doesn’t allow for long messages, does it?” Diana asked.

“And it only works if no one is looking at it when the message is sent or received. And it only works with its pair. Its… complicated,” Andrew admitted. Quantum physics usually were.

“It is really impressive,” she said. Andrew nodded. _Though she could have used the Crystal Ball we have at home to contact Ursula,_ Diana thought. She decided not to say it, since she didn’t want to start an argument with Andrew over this.

Diana handed back the Entangled Communicator. Andrew put it in his pants’ pocket and stood there, silently looking around the room. Diana waited for him to say something else, but he just remained quiet.

“Was there something else you needed?” Diana asked, kind of annoyed. Sure, she had wanted someone else to talk, but Andrew wasn’t really on the list of persons she enjoyed talking to. Even Amanda was higher on that list.

“Not really,” Andrew said, sighing. “I don’t know if your friends are aware, but there’s a couple reporters staking out the room from a distance. Fairly certain they take notes of who enters and exits, and how much time they spend in here.”

Diana frowned. She knew a thing or two about nasty reporters. “What do you think they want?”

Andrew looked at the door, then back at Diana. “Probably this,” he said.

Diana understood almost instantly. He was referring to him entering her room. It was kind of a known fact that she and him had known each other for a long time. While no one had ever made an official piece about it, or mentioned it directly, Diana had often times been asked if she had ‘any boy she liked’ or if she knew of any ‘girl who might like Andrew Hanbridge.’ It was annoying at best.

“Then why aren’t you leaving?” Diana asked. The more time he spent in here, the more the reporters’ imaginations would get creative.

“If I go so quickly, they will think we’re not on good terms,” Andrew explained. Diana pressed her lips. They were _not_ in good terms, but that had never been made public. Mostly because Diana’s aunt was always kissing Paul’s shoes. In the public eye, their families had an amiable if kind of distant relationship. Of course, that didn’t have to stand for every member of the family, but neither Diana nor Andrew wanted to deal with the possible storm that would follow if it was found out that they all but outright hated each other.

Diana sighed.

“So, how are things going with the race preparations,” Diana asked, if only to make conversation.

Andrew didn’t look at her. “Fine. It’s a lot of work, though now we’re in one of the downtimes for activity on the race. Races three and four are usually the least important for the audience.”

Diana knew about this, of course. The Sixth and Seventh races were usually down times too. Maybe Eight, too, if things weren’t particularly interesting. Diana didn’t really press for more details. She wasn’t particularly interested on what was going on in Andrew’s life, and he was obviously not willing to make the effort to keep the conversation going himself.

Five minutes passed of silence. Not uncomfortable or awkward silence, just silence. Neither of them felt the need of saying anything, and Diana was perfectly fine with that. And at one point, Andrew just raised his hand and looked at the clock on his wrist – it was way more than a simple clock, probably being also basically his computer, not unlike a Witch’s wand – and nodded. “I suppose it is time for me to go,” he said. “Get well, Diana. Good luck.”

“Good bye,” Diana waved weakly as Andrew exited the room without pausing to look at her. The short exchange had left her somewhat annoyed, though she should have been used to things like that. Well, she had gotten to see an interesting piece of technology – that her aunt probably also had but had chosen to hid it. Magic just made things simpler, though.

She closed her eyes. She longed to a talk with Hannah or Barbara. Maybe one with Akko, too, though the thought of that made her a little nervous. She wasn’t in a state to really be able to handle the hyperactive brunette. Still, she was surprised that she wished for such things.

Diana had grown up essentially friendless. Focusing in her studies. She had kind of accepted she’d probably be alone forever at one point. Even after meeting Hannah and Barbara she still had preferred to be alone most of the time. It wasn’t until recently that she’d started opening up a little more to them. And then there was Akko, who had kind of steamrolled her barriers and had gotten Diana to consider her a friend in under two months.

Diana didn’t consider herself socially inept. In fact, she usually managed pretty well at social events, particularly with adults. But between the adoration and the hate, it was really hard for her to recall ever having someone she could call a true friend.

Why was she thinking about this, anyways? Friends. She had the feeling she often avoided thinking about what friendship really meant because it made her uncomfortable. Diana wasn’t willing to admit to herself that maybe she wasn’t a very good friend. She was cold and distant. The only reason Hannah and Barbara stayed with her was probably because they were in the same team and had eventually just gotten used to her.

But what about Akko? Their relationship was weird. Even if Akko considered her a friend, and if Diana considered Akko to be one, she couldn’t really say she knew her. They had interacted little, in the big scheme of things. And a lot of that time had been relatively hostile.

Maybe Diana should ask Akko more about her life… But that would probably bring questions about Diana’s life into the mix, too. She didn’t want to answer any questions related to her life, so she probably shouldn’t pry into Akko’s either. Akko seemed like the kind of person who wouldn’t find it fair to answer questions and then not get her chance. And she had proven to be really, really stubborn when she had outright seated herself next to Diana and just forced a confession out of her.

Though, that had also helped Diana get over her silly hang up.

She smiled. That scene was funny, now, even if it had been annoying back then.

And slowly, she drifted into the land of dreams.

 

Andrew was sick and tired. Of being trapped in this damn ship, of the IPR, and of being the center of attention. Wherever he went, wherever he looked, someone always seemed to recognize him. How did Diana handle it? She probably didn’t and just lived with it. But Andrew had one major disadvantage during this particular trip.

He wasn’t a pilot, or a part of Earth’s team at all, other than being the son of the person who was technically in charge of them all. That meant, the non-spoken rule of not bothering the team during their daily lives didn’t seem to apply to him.

After taking a couple weird turns to disorient the reporters that were following him, he made his way to the nearest staircase. He had a meeting soon. Well, his father had one, technically, but he nowadays insisted of bringing him to all of them. Irreplaceable experience, according to him. He was technically right, Inter-Planetary Races only occurred once a decade.

That didn’t make those meetings any more interesting for him. While at first he had been curious, he had soon realized these meetings just consisted of subtly making bets and trying to predict who would win, all under the guise of discussing things like budgets and such. Andrew understood that chat was complete inane babbler. The IPR made more money in three months than some countries made in entire years. Depending on the country, maybe decade. And very little of that went to the actual race.

Budget was not a problem. Then, what was the actual reason for these discussions? His father had asked him to figure it out on his own. At this point, he wasn’t sure yet.

Something was going on. Something big. Paul had said something was different about this race. These discussions included something grander. ‘Grand Prize’ had been thrown around a couple times, but each time it was mentioned everyone just trailed off and quickly changed topics. There wasn’t any ‘Grand Prize’ for the IPR, save for fame and honor. Winning didn’t even give one any kind of political power, as other sports did on earth. Given that winning was considered for an entire planet, no politic could make use of it. And pilots were _Earth’s_ pilots, not any nation’s, no matter where they came from.

As Andrew finally reached the top of the staircase and made sure no one was following, he went to a nearby elevator – one that was technically to be used only by the _Dragon’s_ crew. Andrew cared little about this. He had access to all elevators on the ship, though of course he never dared use the emergency ones.

He reached one of the top floors of the ship. His room was nearby, but that wasn’t where he was going. Slowly, he made his way towards a particular room differentiated from others only by the fact that its number was framed by gold. He didn’t hesitate before knocking. The reunion shouldn’t have started yet.

The door opened, and his father stood on the other side, with his grey hair. He was wearing his reading glasses. He looked as serious as he ever did, but something was off. The room was dark, and nine glowing, holographic figures stood around a large square table. One for each planet.

“You’re late,” Paul said.

Andrew didn’t pause as he pointed at his clock. “In fact, father, I am seven minutes early,” he said. “Though I can see you have already started.”

His father nodded. “I must have given you the wrong time,” he said. Then, he sighed. “Not that it matters. I’ll explain later, but for now, you should stay outside. Maybe have a class with your tutors, or just have fun, I don’t care right now. See you later.”

The door closed automatically in front of Andrew, and he was left a little confused, concerned and annoyed. However, he wouldn’t argue with his father in front of the other representatives. He calmly turned and walked towards his room. It was on the same floor, four hallways and two turns away. He couldn’t help but wish he got treated like the official team. Maybe changing rooms every trip would add some life to the incredibly dull routine.

There was supposedly some kind of small event today, though it wasn’t something he cared about. In fact, he suspected very few people cared about it. It would be a light show of some kind on bronze deck. Well, maybe not few people, just few of those above the tier. For Bronze tiers, it would be one of few spectacles they would experience for ‘free’.

He wondered if someone from the team would be there. The pilots and gunmen probably not, but maybe the other five would be there. What were their names, again? He kind of recalled the name Barbara, but he could not for his life recall anything but some characteristics from the rest. The meek redhead girl, the short mechanic girl, the fat girl and the creepy purple girl. And then that Barbara was probably Hannah’s friend. She had been really unremarkable, in his eyes.

He entered his room. It was spacious and luxurious. He had a king sized bed for himself, a couch, a TV and gaming consoles, not to mention a large collection of games and movies. He barely touched those, but he liked the small library. There were libraries and bookstores on the _Dragon,_ but he didn’t like reading in public, and didn’t enjoy going to the third deck, since it was a really concurred area where he got recognized easily.

Andrew sat on his bed, realizing his father hadn’t asked after his Entangled Communicator, or after Diana for that matter. Whatever he had been discussing inside that room had him really distracted.

His mind quickly went back to his normal thinking, however. He wondered why he was as recognized as Diana seemed to be, or even more, given the fact that right now Diana was one of the more famous persons on earth. Sure, Paul was a public figure as known as important presidents, but most people would be hard pressed to identify a president’s kid at random on the streets. Well, he was called a prodigy of the fields he studied – even if he actually didn’t study much. He just knew how to pay attention, and most stuff just stuck with him. His friends often hated him for that.

His friends. Andrew sighed. Save for the little outing he’d had to that play with Hannah England, he hadn’t done anything else he considered ‘fun’. Even the day they had gone to the pool had only been to speak to some of Paul’s friends.

However, he had found Hannah incredibly boring. She wasn’t different from all other girls, just… worshipping him. He knew he was kind of a douche, but could others really blame him? He had to put up with so much shit in his life – having the girls who liked him only do so because of his outward appearance was not something he liked thinking about.

Well, here were a couple girls who didn’t worship him. Diana, of course, but she didn’t really count. And then there was Atsuko Kagari, Akko. She was a funny girl, but a little too energetic for Andrew. In honesty, he actually used to like Diana. He had given up on that years ago, and now was kind of aimless in regards to love.

Probably for the better. With how busy his life was, he probably wouldn’t be able to keep a relationship stable for long. Maybe he should just go into Bronze Deck’s stage and ask people – particularly young girls – to stop bothering him.

He considered that a little more seriously than he should have.

He took a book. It was related to economy, one he used with his tutor. Where would his tutors be now? Some of them had come in the trip. Andrew felt like he should force them to teach him some more, to pay for the free vacations they were taking, but it wasn’t their fault his father liked to drag him around and show him the ways of Earth’s head of the racing Committee.

He couldn’t concentrate in his book. Not only did he already knew its contents, he was still wondering why his father hadn’t let him into the meeting. Only one thing occurred to him, and that was that they were discussing some big secret. But even then, his father wasn’t usually secretive with anything, at least not to Andrew.

Maybe the discussion would be related to the results of the last race. It had been a shock for everyone. Humans in first place despite not earning a single point in first category, and more importantly, the amazing recovery of the appali. Andrew was aware that almost every racer somehow learned what their next destination would be, despite that being technically against rules. Daemons had Inferno technology that allowed them to predict trajectories, Shapeshifters had an incredible sense of orientation in space, which usually allowed them to just know what the next stop was by instinct, Reptilians probably got their information leaked from one of their higher ups, and so on.

But Appali were an exception. They actually played by the rules. They hadn’t had that information. They weren’t considered particularly threatening racers. Yet their incredible performance this time put that into question. Andrew wondered if that was the nature of this discussion? And for humans too, probably. Diana had piloted like she already knew the terrain and was used to it. And Atsuko… Well, she had kind of ignored what the point of a race on Pan was.

Of course, Andrew was aware of the fact that the brunette didn’t really belong in this place. He made sure not to ever point it out, for appearance’s sake. Same with the redhead, Amanda.

Both of them performed rather well. Amanda seemed to be a great deal better of a gunman as Andrew had expected, but Akko’s performance wasn’t far off what Andrew expected. Well, save for the fact that she didn’t end up in last place, maybe.

He closed his book. He was obviously not going to be learning anything from it. He stood, stretching. He considered changing into more comfortable clothes and sleeping, but he wasn’t particularly tired. Maybe he’d go to the fifth deck. Or maybe he should go eat something.

He could probably do both.


	51. Chapter 51

Akko felt good.

She stood in her room, Lotte and Sucy watching her as she dressed up. Lotte had some plans to go out with Constanze, while Sucy was remaining in their room to do… whatever Sucy liked to do when she was alone. Probably experiments. Experiments she’d sooner or later try to test on Akko.

“You look cheerful today,” Sucy said. Akko had slept for like ten hours straight, of course she felt good. Though that wasn’t really the main reason.

“I’ve been doing great in the simulations,” Akko said with a smile. “Ursula is really smart! She figured there’s a pattern to flying in Trashcan. She’s also been teaching me how to better handle manual controls, though we only practiced a little of that.”

It was true. Sure, she wasn’t doing as great as Amanda was apparently doing, but she had won at least half of the races she had simulated. Jasminka was as good a gunman as Amanda had been – maybe better, though Akko wasn’t sure, since both were absurdly precise.

Sucy seemed extremely bored by Akko’s talk, though Sucy looked at her with proud eyes. As Akko watched the redhead, however, she recalled something. “Lotte, you said you were going shopping with Constanze?” Lotte nodded at her question. “What about Barbara?”

Lotte looked down at the mention of Barbara. “I tried, but she’s too worried about Diana,” Lotte explained. Akko hesitated, but it made sense. Akko would probably be the same if something happened to Lotte or Sucy. She wanted to do the same for Diana, but she understood Diana would probably hate her if she neglected her training just for her.

“Sure, worried about Diana, let’s go with that,” Sucy said, turning and facing the desk. Lotte turned to her with a raised eyebrow, but Sucy didn’t see it.

After a moment, Lotte sighed with annoyance. “Whatever. Akko, here, eat something,” Lotte said, giving Akko a croissant and a cup of coffee. They had asked for it to room service before Akko had woken up, so the coffee was cold. Akko didn’t even like coffee, and her parents had actually completely banned from her house. It made weird things to her normally hyperactive attitude.

But she was not at home, and no parents were around. She ate the croissant in almost a single bite and then gulped down the coffee without hesitation. She swallowed quickly. Too bitter. She would have added a lot more of sugar to that, but whatever. She needed to get to the hangar. They would be landing in about twelve hours. She wanted to get her win ratio a lot higher before they landed. Hopefully she could show off in front of everyone once they were in the actual planet.

“Well guys, I’m leaving,” Akko said after she grabbed the last croissant in the small tray on the desk, walking out of the room and eating it in almost a single bite again as she walked. She did so quickly, looking for a sign that someone was around, but no luck. She had hoped to find Jasminka or someone on her way, but they were probably already there.

However, as she turned a corner, she found something curious. A small red disk on the ground, that soon proved to be a roomba. One of Croix’s, to be precise. Akko cocked her head while looking at it, wondering what the hell was it doing all alone in the middle of the corridor with no one around. It seemed deactivated. Akko crouched and poked it, but nothing happened.

Hesitant, she picked it up. As she did she must have pressed something, because the thing suddenly turned on. It flew out of Akko’s fingers, pointed Akko with a laser and spent about five seconds hovering before turning and slowly flying away. Akko looked at it go, half tempted to follow. Well, half-tempted was an understatement. She was fully tempted. In fact, every fiber in her body wanted to go after it.

But she had training and she wouldn’t-

Oh well what harm could a little detour do?

She started to walk behind the little roomba. The thing was faster than she anticipated, but following it wasn’t much trouble.

The thing went up. And up, and up. Akko had expected it to go to the main bridge of the ship, which was located near the center of it, but it instead started going towards the back. Well, Croix wasn’t the captain of the _Dragon,_ so Akko’s expectations were set up for disappointment anyways.

After climbing some floors up – there weren’t that many left from the one Akko and company were currently using – they reached the top floor. This place was for rich people. Or important people. Shouldn’t pilots be allowed to be here too? They were technically the most important of them all!

Corridors here were a little wider and taller. The separation between rooms was bigger, and all doors required keycards and some even fingerprints. She suspected those were for things like presidents or whatever. Were there presidents on this trip? Akko wondered how responsible would be for one to leave his post for about three months. Not much, probably.

The roomba started moving slower, which Akko thanked. She was wearing comfortable clothing, but she didn’t want to be all sweaty when she went to practice.

Finally, the roomba stopped in front of a door. It hovered up to the electronic lock and within a couple of seconds the door opened. Akko hesitated. Should she?

The obvious answer was ‘no’.

The interesting one was ‘fuck yes’.

She slipped behind the roomba right as the door closed again, almost catching her shirt on it. She imagined what walking around shirtless would feel like. Embarrassing, probably, though Amanda hadn’t cared when she’d do it the other day. Well, everyone had their way of looking at their body.

The room was dark. As Akko moved, she expected it to light up, but that didn’t happen. The roomba glowed as it hovered in the center of it. It was a small room, not like the others on this floor at all. And as Akko’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and thanks to the red Inferno glow of the roomba, she soon saw that it was an empty room. No bed, no desk, no bathroom. Just an empty closet-like room. Was it for storage? Why was the roomba in it, though? It just hovered there, as if waiting for something.

Akko stood there, waiting for a while, but nothing happened. She quickly grew bored. Whatever this roomba was doing, it was definitely not interesting. She sighed, exiting the room – luckily, a keycard wasn’t necessary for exiting. Now that would have been uncomfortable. Would the Shiny Rod fit in the room? The answer was no, and Akko didn’t want to find out anyways.

She walked out of the room, and with a sigh, she set off towards the elevators. What a waste of time. She’d say she had just taken a really long time in the bathroom – that seemed to be a good enough excuse.

Man, what a disappointing adventure.

 

Amanda was doing incredibly. It was surprising, even to her. It was as if all of her time not piloting anything didn’t exist. She was now as accustomed to the Shooting Star as anyone could be. Maybe more.

She could, now, actually fly in basically auto pilot. As she noticed some sparks starting to form inside the medusa’s bubble, she didn’t hesitate to dodge and roll right as a ray hit a bunch of trash and set it on fire. The fire died rather quickly, though. What was this atmosphere made of? Amanda had no idea – and in all honesty, she didn’t care.

Dodging had been easy lately. She felt as if she already knew how every racer operated. He knew as if she knew the signs of imminent attacks. It was surreal, but even when she failed to recognize one, Hannah was there to protect her. She had finally figured out a way to stop others from following her, assuming they had enough of an advantage over them: If she shot a trash heap in just the right way, everything would topple down. Their magic shots seemed to go from a soft lime green to an intense forest green thanks to the blue light of the sun, and Amanda was really liking the effect. It made her feel more badass. Maybe that added to her motivation.

Hannah shot at the medusa, hitting it but not breaking any rules. She really was a really good gunman. She had already kind of adapted to Amanda’s flying, even if she still complained about it. Amanda was grateful for that. She had worried Hannah wouldn’t be able to adapt, since Diana’s flying was definitely way less dependent on instinct.

Amanda wasn’t sure, but she had the feeling she was doing better than she should have. She was also at a point where she could just fly and ponder about things like it was no big deal.

It was kind of strange. She had only been practicing for a day. She wasn’t complaining, of course, but if she could she would have totally tried to check out her flying in other ships. Maybe she’d run a simulation on the Shiny Rod later. Now that the thing listened to her – to a limited extent, at least – she could activate and deactivate the simulations at will and most importantly, she could change parameters. So she made sure to practice both during daytime and nighttime. The dumpster was harder to fly across at night, due to the lack of light. Trashcan didn’t have a moon, and starlight was barely enough not to be shredded by trash in absolute darkness.

Hannah shot down another trash mountain, almost making it fall on top of the medusa, but the giant jellyfish stopped and got cut off. “Well done,” Amanda said with a smirk.

“That could backfire,” Ursula reminded her for the hundredth time. “Be careful when doing it.”

“I know, I know,” Amanda said. God, so annoying. She understood Ursula only wanted to protect her or whatever, but she honestly couldn’t care less. She trusted Hannah. It was rather surprising, but she did. Hannah was skilled, and Amanda wouldn’t be performing half as good as she was without her. Of course, even half of her actual performance was enough to completely obliterate the competition, but… Well, some extra help always worked.

“I promise not to let that happen,” Hannah said as she aimed for another approaching racer. The reptilians, with their weird ring-like ship. She shot a couple times, but the ring ship was particularly good at rolling around and spinning, somehow never deviating, making it hard to hit.

Amanda didn’t focus too hard. She was aware that the ring was really hard, and it made for a good weapon. If they decided they wanted to crash against Amanda the Shooting Star would probably lose. They also had some physical ranged weapons as well as something else Amanda wasn’t quite certain what it was. Maybe it was because they hadn’t used it before, as far as she could think. In fact, she was having trouble recalling if the reptilians had attacked anyone during the race at any time. She had never paid much attention to them. Still, the ship wasn’t the most dangerous around, as the armors showed up from the other side of the heap Amanda had been rounding.

“Amanda, stay stable for a while,” Hannah said. Amanda didn’t like being ordered, but she listened. Hannah probably had an idea.

Amanda flew with a little more self restraint for the entirety of thirty seconds. In those thirty seconds, Hannah managed to not only hit the reptilians, but also doing so in a way where they cut off the armors. Then she created another garbage avalanche and blocked the path. As soon as Amanda saw that the things menacing her were gone, she didn’t hesitate to go back to her rougher style. Sharper turns and movements, very unlike Diana’s elegance. The race had about one minute more, in which Amanda just thought about how cool it had been for Hannah to do as she had done. She didn’t recall what she did inside the Rod’s turret, but she sure as hell would try to remember that for next time.

It took a whole ten seconds for someone else to appear. Daemons. Amanda took a deep breath, these were a real pain in the ass. They knew what they were doing and weren’t easy to lose. Plus…

As Amanda thought about that, the daemon ship started glowing and spinning like crazy. Yes, that was it. That movement they had done in Machina. It had cost them the race back then, but here…

Amanda had no choice but to move out of the way. The daemons shot forward, completely piercing through two trash mountains, a straight line that gave them an incredible advantage. Amanda accelerated. The length of that strange burst only allowed them to get about two mountains ahead, which Amanda could work with… But it was a pain in the ass.

She was now in nitro, the pattern in which she needed to fly so engraved in her brain that she no longer needed to _react_ to things. Good thing the octopuses were so neat and every trash heap was so perfect, or she would have crashed and destroyed her virtual ship.

Amanda wasn’t sure why the daemons didn’t use that technique as a final burst – a thing to cross the finish line more easily. She suspected it might have something to do with their way of looking at competitions, making sure their rivals could prove their worth. Maybe Diana would have a better insight on the whole thing, but Amanda didn’t know enough about them to know if what she suspected was plausible.

Still, the chance to fight back existed, and Amanda of course took it. Now, as she and the daemons followed the same path in flying, they were less than thirty seconds away from the finish line. Amanda couldn’t get close, but the daemons couldn’t get away either.

“Got it,” Hannah said. Amanda hadn’t said anything, but she understood why Hannah had spoken. She aimed at the daemons.

However, the daemon ship started to glow. Again? No, they couldn’t do it twice in a row. In fact, Amanda was sure it left the ship in a state of emergency. So if they were using something else, it had to be something separate from normal functions.

When Amanda realized what it would be, she pressed nitro. But it was too late. Suddenly, a screen of red Inferno appeared. Solid energy. A shield that was dropped in the spot. Amanda ran into it at full speed, and the simulation ended in that instant.

She sighed. “Hey, didn’t know our goal was to make Shooting Star pancakes today. Well done!” Hannah said, mocking her.

“Didn’t expect that,” Amanda explained. “They haven’t used it before during simulations, have they?”

“Maybe they have,” Hannah said, “but did it to others. Some racers disappeared after being left behind daemons. I don’t know what is the reason they decide to do what they do, but that’s the thing with this simulator. It’s so realistic, we’re basically living alternate versions of reality.”

“Dude, chill,” Amanda said, grimacing, “I just asked, no need to get philosophical.”

Hannah clicked her tongue, obviously disapproving. “You’re too simple minded. Diana would agree with me. I mean, it’s so close to reality! Imagine the possibilities! We’re using it for racing, but with something like this we could create the ultimate VR game and become rich!”

“We’re already rich,” Amanda reminded her.

Hannah sighed. “Yeah, I guess,” she sounded a little disappointing. “But we could become famous!”

“We’re already famous too. Only four people each ten years become part of Earth’s official racing team, remember?”

Hannah didn’t reply to this. Amanda shrugged. “Ok,” Ursula interrupted the exchange. Amanda had kind of forgotten she was there, again. “Akko should be here by now. Let’s take a break. Amanda, next time you see the daemons doing something like that, think better than to accelerate and just destroy your ship.”

“I miscalculated, jeez,” Amanda rolled her eyes. She didn’t like being scolded for things she knew she had done wrong. Well, no one liked having their failures remarked by others, she supposed.

“Yes, but you had a chance to just take another route. Even if not optimal you still would have had an advantage.”

Amanda frowned, unhappy. Ursula wasn’t wrong, though. She hadn’t taken that turn because it would have made her lose time – the failure was a pain in the ass, however. She would think twice about things next time.

With a sigh, she rose. Everyone exited the Shiny Rod. As soon as they were on the floor, Ursula stretched a little. The position behind the pilot seat wasn’t comfortable, and particularly for someone taller than a teenage girl. Hannah grumbled something about having to crawl, and Jasminka looked at all of them with her usual smile and eating snacks.

“Akko’s not here?” Amanda asked, looking around.

Jasminka begun to shake her head, but speak of the devil, Akko suddenly showed up. She was a little flustered, as if she’d been in a hurry, but otherwise was fine. “Sorry,” she said. “I had… Bathroom troubles,” she said. Amanda raised an eyebrow, but well, one didn’t question someone when they said they had bathroom problems. Amanda would know, having been on her period until a couple days ago.

“Akko, do you recall what I said to you?” Ursula asked in a harsh tone. Akko hesitated for a second before nodding with energy. What were they talking about? Whatever it was, they didn’t explain it to Amanda or the others. After some quiet chatter, they both started climbing the ship. Jasminka crawled under the ship and entered the turret.

This left Amanda and Hannah alone again. Seemed like they’d get a _lot_ of alone time until Diana recovered. Maybe this realization had been what had driven Amanda to open up yesterday. Or maybe not. Truth was, she didn’t really dislike Hannah anymore. She wasn’t sure if she’d say she considered her a friend, but neutral feelings were better than nothing. Plus, teasing her was just fun. Before she had done so out of genuine disgust, but, well, she now enjoyed seeing Hannah flustered. Was it bullying? Well, not that Hannah didn’t deserve it anyways.

“You need to calm down,” Hannah said after everyone disappeared. “Half the times I’m about to shoot at someone you make a sudden zigzag motion as if we were being attacked or something.”

“It’s to be more unpredictable,” Amanda explained. “They can’t know what we’re doing if _we_ don’t know what we’re doing,” she explained. Hannah gave her a flat look.

“That’s horrible logic,” she said. “In the end they’ll just end up figuring out why you do what you do, aim _after_ you do a zigzag and take you down.”

Amanda considered this. “You’re right,” she admitted. She rubbed her chin, thinking. “Guess I need to start doing _double_ zigzags, that’ll disorient them further!”

“You’re insufferable,” Hannah said. Amanda smirked, moving to sit on the Rod. Hannah looked at her. “Isn’t it kind of uncomfortable?”

“You sat here yesterday, you tell me,” Amanda said.

“I mean, you butt is all inclined and whatever,” Hannah explained. It was true, the Shiny Rod, when looking from up front, had a kind of rhombus shape, with some curvatures on the sides. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing ever.

“Eh, better than standing,” Amanda shrugged. She didn’t really care. She also felt strangely comfortable when touching the rod. Maybe it was Stockholm syndrome or something. She thought back to the time she’d been alone in the turret, the Shiny Rod turned off. She hadn’t gotten a lot out of the experience, but she felt strangely inclined to repeat it.

“I suppose,” Hannah said, sitting relatively next to her. “I would suggest sitting on the ground, but I don’t want to ruin my clothes,” she said. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt and a couple of white shorts. None of it looked too fancy, but it probably was.

Amanda moved to lie on her back, staring up. “It’s kinda hot,” she said thoughtlessly.

Hannah suddenly turned, flustered. She looked Amanda up and down, as if looking for something. “What is?” She said in a suspicious voice.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “The temperature. The rest of the ship is neutral, but the hangar is hotter than the rest of the ship. What did you think I was speaking about?” She asked. Hannah flushed, turning her face away from the redhead. “Wait, you thought I was speaking about your clothes?”

“No, of course not, I just-” Hannah went on the defensive.

“Because, I mean, they kind of are,” Amanda smiled. “You showing a lot of leg and arm there. That nape below your ponytail is cute too,” she teased.

Hannah stood with a huff. “You know? I’d rather sit on the ground.”

Amanda chuckled. She looked as Hannah looked at the ground in disgust, obviously not really wanting to do it. “You shouldn’t act so flustered,” Amanda said. Why was she saying it? It was just a way of ruining her fun, but… “It only makes it easier to tease you,” she explained. “One would think you’d realize it, being a bully yourself.”

“I’ve never been on the receiving end before,” Hannah explained. She turned, her blush gone, but her face still distrusting. “I’ve always been held in high regards by my peers,” she said. “I had never had to deal with someone like… Well, _you,_ before Luna Nova.”

Amanda nodded. “Well, of course, I’m unique,” she said with full confidence. Hannah narrowed her eyes. “But maybe you should keep what I tell you in mind. After all, why do you think I try to never react to your comments? If I don’t react, you’ll eventually grow tired.”

“You’re rather talkative lately, aren’t you?” Hannah pointed out.

Amanda nodded. “I think I’d rather build a kind of relationship with you were we can talk to each other instead of being constantly bickering. I mean, yeah, I tease you, but you know it’s just to annoy you and nothing more, right?” Hannah grimaced, but reluctantly nodded. “Well, that. If we’re going to be a team for the next two to three races, then we better be on relatively good terms.”

“Your flying style is going to scar me for life, though,” Hannah said. “Do you really need to be so… acrobatic?” She looked genuine.

Amanda considered this. “I don’t know,” she explained. “Flying is… Kind of second nature to me. Diana has her practice and mind, Akko has sheer determination and relatively good instincts. Well, I was born to do it. I’ve known it from the moment I first saw a broom race.”

Hannah approached the Rod, cautiously sitting again. “I seem to recall you had the dream of flying,” Hannah said.

Amanda was taken off guard by the comment. Her eyes widened a little. “You remember that, huh?” Amanda had kind of just spat that in the moment. Being so high had been inspiring. “Yeah. I though about doing things like gliding or mounting one of those giant fans, or even some of the more normal brooms that allow you to fly pretty high without a roof and such. But…” She paused, trying to find the words for it.

“It’s not the same kind of thrill,” Hannah said. “Broom-racers are special. They’re fast, made for speed rather than flying.”

“Yeah,” Amanda nodded. “I suppose that’s it,” she tried to imagine herself flying. Maybe being high wasn’t the point. It was more about the thrill. The speed of racing fulfilled her. “That’s probably why I’m in such a good mood,” she said.

“So you’re only being nice because you get to pilot?” Hannah asked.

Amanda shrugged. “Maybe,” she admitted. “I’m just… Fulfilled, when I pilot. Speaking of which, you already believe I’m better than Diana?” Amanda asked.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself. You’re doing good, sure, but Diana would probably do just as good,” Hannah got defensive. Amanda sighed. Hannah wouldn’t admit Amanda to be better even if their lives were being threatened. She would have liked to race Diana again, but without a second ship, they wouldn’t get very far.

“What do I need to do to prove that I’m better?” Amanda asked, “Other than a currently impossible race.”

Hannah hesitated. “Nothing,” she admitted. “Unless you beat her at a race I don’t think I’ll ever accept it – and even then, I’ll probably just say Diana had a bad day, bad luck or something else. You’d have to beat her consistently and completely.”

Amanda was surprised by the honesty. “Then I guess we’ve nothing to discuss in this regard,” she said, sighing. “What a shame.”

Hannah hesitated. She had something in her mind. “Why do you care, anyways?” Hannah said. “Do you really need to prove you’re better than her so badly?”

Amanda sat up, trying to search for the right answer. “No,” she said. “Or maybe yes. I just…” How to word it? “I just want her to get off her high horse.”

Hannah frowned, as she always did whenever someone badmouthed Diana. “Why do you think Diana is so bad? Seriously, she’s never done anything to you.”

Amanda didn’t want to turn this into another hostile discussion, but she still wanted to say something. “It’s not about doing something to me. It’s her demeanor, the way she looks at everything with judging eyes. It’s hard not to think she’s an egotistical queen when she always has this face of… unimpressed, whenever she speaks of something.”

“She’s just not comfortable showing her emotions to everybody,” Hannah explained. “She doesn’t look down on people.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, she surely doesn’t look down on Akko and thinks she can do better, huh?”

“Aren’t you the same?” Hannah instantly retorted.

Amanda nodded. “Yeah, but at least I still interact with Akko as if we were on the same level.”

“Diana never interacts with Akko as if she was on another level!” Hannah said. “She always speaks to her kindly and tries to explain things to her when she does them wrong and-”

“And talks as if she were superior while Akko is below her?” Amanda interrupted. “Dunno, Hannah, what you tell me sounds a lot like talking down to people.”

“Context matters,” Hannah instantly said. “Akko doesn’t feel like she’s being looked down on, is she?”

“Well, she probably doesn’t realize,” Amanda said.

Hannah shook her head. “Back at Luna Nova whenever we made fun of her she’d get worked up and call us out. She’s not a quiet, timid girl who we bullied because she didn’t fight back or something,” Hannah said. “She’s not an… Well, she is, but not _that much_ of an idiot.”

If Amanda were to be honest she didn’t really remember that far back. She started rubbing her chin again. She didn’t usually do that, but she liked to look like she was thinking hard in front of others. Maybe that way Hannah would think she was considering things way more deeply than she really was. Not that Amanda didn’t consider this enough, but impressions were like half the points in social interaction. “Then, if Diana is such a good person, why didn’t she ever call you out on your bullshit?” Amanda said.

Hannah paused. “Because…” She looked away. “Because she’s our friend, probably.”

“Wouldn’t you call out your friend if she was doing stupid bullshit?”

“Listen,” Hannah looked at Amanda again, clearly annoyed, hands on her hips. “Diana isn’t a perfect human being, yet you’re judging her as if you expected her to be. Wasn’t that the entire point of you hating her? That she isn’t perfect?”

“Yeah,” Amanda said, shrugging. “So she should stop acting as if she were.”

Hannah closed her eyes. “You know, every time I think you may not be as bad as I thought, you say something like this and I can’t help but believe I was right. Diana isn’t a very social girl. Why don’t you try talking to her instead of judging her, like you so much hate her for doing with others?”

Amanda opened her mouth, but shut it. “You got me there,” she admitted. If she thought about it, she hadn’t ever really talked to Diana one on one, save for that one time in Machina. Man, that chat seemed to be so far away, even though it had been less than two weeks ago.

Hannah sighed. “I don’t understand why it’s so hard for people to not judge Diana.”

“Well, she’s rich and famous, of course people are going to judge her,” Amanda said. Hannah stared daggers at her. “What? It’s true, I’m not saying she _should_ be judged, but that’s just the way of the world,” Amanda shrugged.

The auburn hair of Hannah danced as she turned to go away. “I think I’m just going to go speak with her,” she said. “Akko’s probably going to be there for a while.”

“Is she awake?” Amanda asked, dropping from the Rod and following Hannah.

Hannah gave her a look over her shoulder. “Yeah, she woke up a while ago, Barb’s there,” Hannah said. Amanda nodded. Hannah kept looking at her. “Are you going to follow me?”

“Hey, I just said I should give Diana a chance, didn’t I?” Amanda smiled.

Hannah sighed. She didn’t react as Amanda expected. Damn, maybe she shouldn’t have said that after all. “Fine, you can come.”

 _I shouldn’t,_ Amanda thought. _But I will,_ “Jeez, Hannah, at least invite me to dinner first,” Amanda said. It was such a stupid joke, but she was chuckling to herself.

Hannah started, not getting the joke at first. Then she went beet red and huffed, stomping away. “You’re truly insufferable!” She yelled as she got away. Amanda had to run to catch her before the elevator doors closed.


	52. Chapter 52

“Well done,” Ursula said behind Akko. “You made the right choice,” she patted Akko’s back, which Akko took with a smile.

She had been flying in the pattern Ursula had taught her, but at one point she had been overtaken by both armor and plants, somehow. So, instead of going behind them and risking getting attacked, she took a little detour and accelerated to make up for lost time. She was also flying with manual controls right now, which she was trying hard not to think about. She would fly as she always did, and if she felt like she needed to change something, then she’d worry about it. As of now, the ship worked just fine.

In the end, Akko had managed to win another race, though it had been by a shadow’s width. The data showing on the screen showed it had been a centimeter, and she was tied with armor. The armors seemed to have an advantage in this terrain, and that was that they could use their giant stone balls to throw mountains of trash on the competition. Apparently Amanda had a similar strategy, though Akko didn’t feel good with that. Plus, she wasn’t sure Jasminka would be able to pull it off – mostly because she wasn’t sure to which extent the gunmen on the Shiny Rod understood what she was saying.

“Ok, another one,” Ursula said. “This time, however, don’t fly so close to the ground. You’re limiting yourself. The higher you go, the more space you’ll have for flying. The Shiny Rod is small, but that’s exactly why you should make yourself a harder target.”

Akko nodded. She felt none of the frustration she had felt back on Pan when flying, or even Machina. She was doing fine, she felt confident. Would Diana see her flying as good? How would Diana fly in this situation? Akko had seen some of Amanda’s flying, and it had been pretty different from Diana’s. When Akko came to be as good as them, would she have a distinctive style too? Would people be able to guess what type of person she was by her piloting? It was easy to infer from looking at Amanda or Diana.

“Prepare another race, Alcor,” Akko said.

The familiar did as told, as always, and the race restarted, everyone getting transported back to the starting line.

“Wait,” Ursula said. “You want to keep practicing with manual controls?” Ursula asked. Akko nodded. “Fine, let’s leave it at that,” she sounded happy. Akko wasn’t too used to it, but she was starting to get a grasp on it, and maybe if she kept up she could use it before the race started. She would still use automatic, though. Not necessity to risk making mistakes just because she had learned something new.

Like her two previous races.

“Alcor, start.”

Akko closed her eyes for the three seconds that the starting of the race took. Then, she accelerated. She had been set next to the Noir Rod and the armors. Akko, curiously enough, didn’t feel particularly compelled to prove her worth over the Noir Rod. IT was strange, but she had just kind of accepted she wasn’t as good a pilot as everyone else. She’d just have to use the Shiny Rod and use it as best as she could. It was a handicap. She wasn’t as good as the others – so she’d gotten an advantage. Maybe it was destiny.

Well, she wouldn’t have been here if she hadn’t found the Rod in the first place, so…

Suddenly, the daemons attacked. The shields protected her, but Akko was a little surprised by how quickly they had attacked. As soon as they stopped, Jasminka retaliated, but the Noir Rod had its own shields to protect it. And, at the first heap of trash, they took different paths, Akko going left and the daemons going right.

The armors followed her, though. Their three constantly moving rings sometimes scraped the trash, but they didn’t seem to care. Their ship was made for things like crashing, though Akko didn’t recall them being very physical in their contact. It was strange, if one thought carefully about it. Well, maybe they didn’t want to deal with the trouble of having to fix their ship if it was damaged, though Akko wasn’t sure there was much to damage in the first place. Their ship was some kind of rock, couldn’t they just get a new rock? It was probably not that simple, but still.

Akko started to fly in the right pattern. Right, right, left, right, right.

She dodged an attack from the armors. She was getting a better hang of dodging, too. She hadn’t been attacked much during her previous races, and when she had… Well, everyone saw what happened during the previous race. On Sídhe she had been on that tunnel and she had been basically impossible to hit. On Machina she had fallen behind and barely saw any of the other racers. It was strange, given how much trouble Diana had had.

Jasminka tried a few attacks, but the armors were ready for it. However, Jasminka’s attacks did cause them to miss a good turn, so they ended up going on a different direction than what Akko wanted. This race felt strangely non intense, despite the attacks towards her. Maybe Akko was actually getting the hang of it. She was no longer caught completely off guard by these things.

However, what did catch her off guard was that from the other side of the trash heap, just ahead of her, the giant ball suddenly appeared. Right, they could do that. Akko made a sudden movement, which wasn’t the wisest choice, since she ended up half burying one side of the Shiny Rod on rash. She managed to pull off by accelerating, but the speed was lost, and as she continued flying, the armor had definitely gotten ahead of her. This wasn’t the first time armors had done that to her, but she was always surprised by the move. It was hard to predict, since they didn’t always do it. Akko wasn’t sure what the trigger was for it. What differentiated this trash from all the other garbage? How did they aim so well? It probably involved a bunch of mathematics.

“You need to stop getting surprised by that,” Ursula said, “you can’t make these mistakes on a real race.”

“I know, sorry,” Akko said. She focused, flying in the pattern she had learned. All she had to do was grow used to it, be able to perform it thoughtlessly and then she’d be able to focus on other things like attacking, dodging and defending. Become an automatic machine of flying and an active machine of… other stuff. Still, Akko was encouraged by knowing she was getting better by the race.

Soon, they encountered the double-ring ship of the reptilians. Akko wondered why the rings had to be constantly spinning in opposite directions, but she suspected she wouldn’t get an answer even if she asked nicely.

Though, that was just her assumption. Who knew, maybe the reptilians were really nice people and they would explain it. She didn’t really count on that, though.

This place wasn’t a labyrinth, but it sometimes felt like one. Encountering random ships constantly was annoying, since…

“Wait,” Akko said. “Alcor, stop.”

“Akko?” Ursula asked, obviously surprised by the sudden shift in Akko’s mood.

“Alcor, activate the map. Can you track every racer in the area?” She was sure Alcor could, but… Yep, as expected, a map of the dumpster appeared. It wasn’t colored but it worked. Then, nine dots besides the Shiny Rod’s appeared, representing the other racers. Akko hummed to herself. Closer, but not what she wanted exactly. “Alcor, can you assign a different letter to every racer?” Ursula watched with interest as every dot morphed into a comic sans letter. H for humans, D for daemons, M for medusa, S for shapeshifter, A for armor, P for plants, R for reptilians, O for octopuses, Ap for appali and C for cyborgs.

“Hey,” Ursula put a hand on Akko’s shoulder. “That was really smart,” she praised, but she didn’t sound happy. “Yet, are you sure you need another distraction? You’re more the kind to tackle problems as they come. I would totally encourage Diana and maybe Amanda to do this, but…”

Akko considered this. She was making progress with the manual controls, but… “Alcor, return the controls back to normal.” The control panels flipped, and Akko was now in a seemingly empty cockpit, save for the control joysticks and the pedals.

Ursula nodded. “It’s not a bad option,” Ursula said. “This way you’ll at least know what to expect,” Ursula said.

Akko smiled slightly. She felt strangely proud at her idea. It had been simple, yet now, as she saw every other racer, she could imagine what would have gone down. If she kept going on her route she would have most certainly ran into the shapeshifter, and that would have been a pain in the ass. They were hard to hit and to lose, and while shields could protect them, one of those smoky bombs they used thrown in the right angle could blind Akko for an instant. In this race, being blinded by an instant was enough to make you end up under two tons of trash.

“Ok, let’s redo this,” Akko said.

She restarted the race. She wondered if this was how Croix would make them run, anyways. The rules for the race on Pan had been so weird and unfair. Who knew? Maybe this time they’d be forced to fly in a straight line and humans would be screwed or something. Well, Akko wasn’t sure if the Shiny Rod could hover over trash or not. Ursula had said brooms normally couldn’t but brooms couldn’t normally go over water and yet the Rod could.

Maybe she should try it, but later. She didn’t get the feeling it would work, anyways. The simulated race started, and Akko stopped thinking about that.

 

“Well that was unfortunate,” Amanda said.

Hannah sighed. She turned around, annoyed, trying to throw an apologetic smile at Barbara. “That’s the third time you’ve said that,” Hannah said. When they reached the room, Diana was in the middle of some checkups, so they couldn’t enter. Not because they were particularly dangerous, but because the room was so small the nurse had told them to fuck off and leave her space to work.

“And I plan to keep saying it until you answer,” Amanda smirked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Hannah wouldn’t admit it, but she had listened to Amanda’s advice. Maybe if she reacted in less entertaining ways Amanda would stop trying to piss her off. She wasn’t doing a great job, but baby steps.

“We should go back, anyways,” Amanda commented. “We’ve been gone for about half an hour, Akko’s probably done or going to be done soon.”

Hannah sighed. “Yeah, I guess,” she looked at Barbara.

“Hey, it’s fine,” Barbara smiled. “I can just go to the room and read or something.”

Hannah narrowed her eyes. She looked at Amanda from the corner of her eye. “Why don’t you hang out with Lotte?”

Barbara blushed. “I… Ehm…”

“She went shopping, didn’t she?” Hannah had heard her saying something like that at some point the previous day. Barbara nodded meekly.

“You know, Barbara,” Amanda interrupted. “While by doing this you’re making it fairly obvious to everyone you like Lotte – Well, you did back at the party, but that’s besides the point – Lotte will probably just think you’re avoiding her because of some other reason.”

Hannah gave Amanda a harsh stare. Barbara didn’t seem particularly surprised by the fact that Amanda knew – Well, she had made it obvious, in retrospect. Amanda shrugged. “What? You should just confess.”

“I already told her,” Hannah explained in an annoyed voice.

“Then why is she doing exactly the opposite of what you told her?”

Hannah closed her mouth, looking at Barbara now. Barbara didn’t look her in the eye. “I… Feel weird, when I’m with her, ok? Plus, we never really get a chance to be alone. She’s always with Sucy or if not there’s someone else and-”

Amanda groaned, rolling her eyes. “If you like someone just go and confess and get it over with!” She said. “If she rejects you then you can start the process of moving on, if she accepts you then you’re happy! You’ve got nothing to lose but maybe some tears, for fuck’s sake.”

Hannah didn’t like the tone Amanda was using, but… Well, she didn’t disagree. Barbara Had confessed the truth to her days ago and she had only gotten more and more distant with Lotte since. As if coming out to someone had only made her more self conscious. Being self conscious wasn’t really like Barbara, either. She was usually confident and determined.

“But… Well, we made fun of her in Luna Nova,” Barbara explained, looking at Hannah. “What if she resents me for it?”

“Then apologize,” Hannah said. “Don’t think you need to, anyways, since she’s obviously into you and doesn’t give a fuck, but if _that’s_ what’s stopping you I’m seriously going to just knock you out, tie you to a chair and force you to confess.”

Barbara smiled meekly. “I don’t…”

“Or I’ll just tell Lotte myself,” Hannah smiled. “And this time I’m being serious. You have until I get back from training.”

Barbara’s eyes widened in panic. “W-what? But I don’t even know where she is!”

“Somewhere in Gold Deck,” Amanda instantly replied. “She was going shopping with Connie. They’re probably at a bookstore or a place that sells electronic parts.”

Hannah nodded. Then she wondered why were there even bookstores or electronic shops in the _Dragon._ They didn’t seem like things people would buy a lot of during trips. But, well, to each their own. Hannah sighed. Maybe she should go eat something before going back to training. On the other hand, she could probably wait until the next round, and she had just told Barbara to go and do her business.

“Go,” as they reached the elevators and waited for one to come, Barbara stood there, waiting. She looked around at the many doors waiting to be opened.

“B-but…”

“You’ve been warned,” Hannah made sure to remind her. Barbara pressed her lips, noticing how serious Hannah was. Amanda nodded at Hannah’s resolution with a satisfied look. At least they could agree on this account.

“Ok, whatever, but if I do it you’ll owe me one,” Barbara said.

“What? Why? It’s for your sake, I gain nothing,” Hannah was baffled by how Barbara was suddenly going in the defensive.

“Because you’re basically forcing me to do it. If you’re going to threaten me then at least be fair and give me a reward.”

Hannah was failing to see the logic in that statement, and she suspected Barbara was only saying that to make her go back on her previous threat. But she couldn’t possibly- The elevator arrived. Hannah looked at it, at Barbara, and grunted. “Fine, whatever,” she said, stepping in next to Amanda. “But I will _not_ kiss anyone, got it?”

Barbara nodded, but Hannah saw a sly grin grow on her face as the elevator doors closed.

“You just made a horrible deal,” Amanda pointed out as the elevator went down.

Hannah grimaced. “Yeah, I did,” she realized. She sighed. Well, she would stay true to her word. _But hell if I’m going to let Barbara let me do anything like at that party._

When the examination finished, Diana was told that in about twenty four hours she would probably be allowed to stand and walk around for a few hours a day. She would still have to spend most of the time in the infirmary, though, because she still needed the magic treatment to recover quickly. She sighed. She wondered if that regenerative liquid being worked on at Earth would be better than magic. It had proven to work great on rats, bringing them back from near death in just a few days. Of course, as always, it was nothing but experimental, and it would probably be a couple decades until it became available to the public.

She sighed. Thinking of faster ways of regenerating would get her nowhere. She’d probably refuse to go walking most of the time. She’d rather heal faster than lose those two hours… though she should probably get some sort of exercise. What an annoying situation.

Diana looked around the room. The Medical Magic Unit beeped while working. Of course, it wasn’t permanently using magic on Diana’s body. The hours she’d get to walk around would probably be times she also wouldn’t have magic inside her body. She was starting to think irrationally because of the cooping up she was going through. She supposed she’d rather have this small room than a big one where she might have gotten the urge to move around, though.

Yeah, forget her previous thoughts, she definitely needed to go walk. But, would that make it worse? Like an drug-addict that said ‘just a little’ and then ended up wishing for more? She shook her head, those things weren’t comparable. She was getting tired of thinking – something she’d never thought she’d suffer from.

She hoped the nurse hadn’t driven the other girls along. Greta was rather grumpy, particularly when performing exams on Diana. She was good but harsh. Not that this bothered Diana a lot, but she was now carving for some interactions, and she was definitely not tired. She’d even take Andrew, though she highly doubted that would be happening again.

Curiously enough, she found herself wanting to see Akko. Sure, Hannah and Barbara were fine, but she could use some of that natural energy Akko seemed to have. Her simple way of thinking was also refreshing, in some aspects. In a way, it challenged Diana, even if it wasn’t so much at an intellectual level as it was on an emotional one. While Diana was a firm believer that feelings had little place on a serious discussion, she also couldn’t deny how her emotions had taken a hold of her previously.

But Akko would be practicing now. For what Barbara had told her, she was apparently doing better, which Diana was happy for. If Akko finally got a high score on a race she could be more relaxed about the whole situation. Right now they were on top thanks to her wins, but if Akko managed to do better – even if she wasn’t first – they might just be able to keep up the first place until Diana was able to race again.

Akko seemed to be a lot on her mind recently. Well, it was bound to happen, due to her being a fellow pilot and the time they spent together, but Diana often found herself thinking about her beyond just piloting settings. She wasn’t sure why that was. Maybe it was because of the strange relationship she had with the girl. She had started as nothing but a troublesome student in Diana’s mind, which then evolved into a really troublesome individual after she illegally signed up for the race. And then they had become friends, and Diana no longer saw those troublesome aspects of Akko as a bad thing necessarily. Sure, she could work on them, try to make them disappear, but they were also a part of her. Without them, Akko wouldn’t be Akko.

She felt like she had thought something like that multiple times, but not in such a good way.

Diana sighed. A book would be nice. Any kind of book, as a distraction was all she wanted right now. Something to take her mind off the absolute nothingness that was her life right now. Diana wondered if the girls would come back at some point. She was aware that at least Barbara had connected her wand to the MMU to keep track of when Diana was awake and when not, which Diana was glad for. She almost always got to see at least Barbara whenever she woke up, and if Hannah wasn’t training she’d probably drop by too. Amanda had also showed up for a few seconds today, though that had been during Greta’s exams and it hadn’t ended well for any of them.

Lotte and Constanze had also interrupted the exam session, dropping a small basket with fruit and some snacks for Diana to eat. They had gone back to shopping after that, though. Or maybe not shopping but just hanging out. There was blasted little to do in these rooms, after all. Diana didn’t even have a TV, though she suspected she would be given one should she ask. She didn’t want one but that was not the point.

At least she would probably be up for the big event before the sixth race. She would maybe be ready for the fifth, too, but it was hard to tell right now. Greta had said she had been recovering at a good pace, but that was debatable.

Diana shifted a little in bed, grabbing a banana and starting to peel it. She was so bored…

 

Lotte and Constanze sat on a bench at the edge of Shopping Town. The park was behind them, the small shopping district of the third deck in front of them. They were eating ice-creams while taking a short rest. After taking fruit to Diana they had gone back to their shopping – though in truth, it was Constanze’s shopping more than Lotte’s. Lotte had already gotten what she wanted – a book on Plants. After learning about their cheating, she had felt so powerless… She just wanted to help somehow. And they had agreed not to tell Diana for now, as she had enough to worry about. She wasn’t sure learning about plants was going to do much good, but she could hope.

Constanze, while eating her ice-cream, was also checking something on her tablet. It looked like a map of the _Dragon,_ and she was monitoring the hangar. There was a really bright light over there, though Lotte didn’t know what it represented, she suspected it had something to do with the Shiny Rod.

“What is that?” she asked, leaning a little over the screen. Constanze made a few signs, and Lotte nodded. Internally, however, she cringed. She wasn’t understanding what Constanze’s signs meant. She didn’t exactly speak sign language – she had her own way of communicating. Not that Lotte knew sign language, but learning to speak with Constanze was a matter of trial and error. Sometimes what she meant was intuitive – most times, though, it took some concentration.

“Uhm…” Lotte hesitated. “You look a little concerned.” When Constanze explained why, Lotte half understood. She was saying something about making sure no one touched the Shiny Rod. Right, they had reached the conclusion that the mechanics of their team may be against them. Lotte wondered if Ursula would get that permit for Constanze to become an official mechanic. It wasn’t likely, but it would help them. “It’s fine, no one can touch the Shiny Rod anyways.”

Constanze shook her head. She pointed again at the screen, but Lotte wasn’t really understanding. Constanze zoomed in on broom. Then more. Then it showed a small point inside it. Lotte smiled hesitantly and slowly moved her head as if trying to find another angle. Constanze rolled her eyes and pressed a button, at which the screen turned to white. Then she wrote something with her finger. ‘ _Bug.’_

Lotte took a few moments to understand it, and she realized her ice-cream was melting as a drop of it touched her hand. She made sure to lick it all over and get it back to a decent state before making a mess of herself as if she was five years old.

“Oh,” she suddenly realized, “you… put a bug on it? Why…” Lotte made a little ‘O’ with her mouth as the implications hit her. “Wait, so you _can_ cheat the Shiny Rod somehow! Constanze, you need to show this to everyone!”

Constanze, who had already finished her ice-cream, put her free hand on Lotte’s mouth and looked around. Lotte blushed, realizing she had exclaimed that in a loud voice in the middle of a super public place. She doubted many people would recognize them but they were still with the group of the arguably most important passengers in the _Dragon._

“Still,” Lotte said in a lower voice as Constanze released her, “this is incredible. You really should become the new mechanic for the team, you’re a prodigy!”

Constanze shrugged. Lotte had the feeling she’d do what she could whether she got official recognition or not. Good or not, Lotte couldn’t really blame her. If they were dealing with cheaters, then she would probably never get that special permit anyways. Who knew, it could even be dangerous.

Well, that was for another time. Lotte managed to finish her ice-cream while Constanze checked her tablet, and once she was done, she stood and took her book and one of Constanze’s bags. The tiny girl followed carrying her own bag. Sadly, Lotte wasn’t as strong or Amanda, so they couldn’t bring as much as Constanze had wished, but she had settled for this since Lotte had been willing to accompany her with no real need to do so. Lotte was happy to help, of course. Constanze was a good girl, even if a little weird.

When they were about to reach the elevators, however, Lotte saw something… weird. It may have just been her imagination, but when she had looked back for a second, she could have sworn she had seen Barbara.

She took out her wand, and with a swift movement activated one of the spirits in her bag. It was a small, black spirit meant to be a spy camera. She hadn’t wanted it, but her parents had insisted on her taking it to make sure no one tried to assassinate Akko at night. It was good because it also directly connected to her wand, giving her live-footage of whatever was being recorded.

She _sang_ to it. Most of her spirits had passwords, voice passwords that required the exact intonation she used, along with her voice. It was a very useful security method that her grandparents had implemented in the spirit industry.

The spy-cam unlocked and she was able to fully guide it and activate it with her wand. Lotte sent it at the corner where she thought she had seen Barbara and, indeed, the girl was there, looking incredibly nervous and flustered as she hesitated about looking around the corner again or not.

Lotte felt strange. For one, she was confused. Second, she was also happy. Sure, what Barbara was doing was kind of creepy, but this probably meant she wasn’t as much avoiding her as… No, wait, she was definitely avoiding her. But not in a bad way?

“Uhm, Constanze, can you wait here for a second?” Lotte asked. Constanze nodded and didn’t hesitate to just put all the bags down and sit in the middle of the wooden street. Well, she looked enough like a child, most people wouldn’t complain too much.

Lotte left her own bags with Constanze and decided to round the building keeping an eye on Barbara, who had failed to see the camera.

After Lotte rounded the ‘square’ of buildings, she entered the small alleyway Barbara was using for hiding from the opposite side. Barbara was now looking confused around the corner, probably wondering where Lotte was. Lotte wasn’t normally a mischievous girl, but she couldn’t help get the urge to scare the girl.

Carefully, she walked over to Barbara and, in a loud but not annoyingly so voice, she cried ‘boo!’

Barbara turned around in surprise, tripped on her feet, and fell on her butt. She looked at Lotte as if she was a ghost. Then, as she came to her senses, she blushed and looked down, staying on the ground. Lotte felt her heart race a little. She had never seen such a reaction from Barbara. It was extremely cute.

Lotte offered a hand to help Barbara up. Barbara hesitated, but took it. She didn’t look Lotte in the eyes, and to be honest with herself, Lotte was a little glad for that. “Hey,” she said.

“Y-you saw me…” Barbara pointed out, red.

“Yeah,” Lotte said, blushing softly. “Why didn’t you just come hang out with us?”

Barbara shook her head as only response, but slowly looked up. She hadn’t let go of the hand Lotte had offered. Lotte didn’t want her to. When they met eyes, Lotte’s heart skipped a beat. Barbara looked incredibly nervous, but that was cute too. “Can… I tell you something?” Barbara asked.

“Sure,” Lotte said. She felt Barbara squeezing her hand. It was nice.

Barbara was nice. Maybe she should tell her that. Maybe…

“I-” She hesitated, took a deep breath and tried again “I like you,” she said, eyes closed shut, almost as if she was struggling.

Lotte’s eyes widened. Her hand and Barbara’s remained together, as if they had been shaking hands for a while. Not precisely romantic. Slowly, Barbara cracked open one eye to look at Lotte’s reaction. Lotte was dumbfounded. Had she really heard what she had heard?

“Lotte?” Barbara asked with an anxious voice. Lotte shook her head, looking at Barbara’s teal eyes and wondering if maybe this wasn’t a dream.

“Pinch me,” Lotte asked. Barbara cocked her head, so Lotte repeated. Gently, Barbara pinched Lotte’s cheek. She seemed to be doing it with extreme endearment. “It hurts.”

“It should,” Barbara said, finally understanding why Lotte had asked her to do such a thing.

“I…” Lotte was left speechless. The relatively dark alley became everything in the world. The bustle of the people walking, talking, shouting and laughing in the street became nothing but white noise as Lotte slowly let go of Barbara’s hand and stared at her in shock. “I’ve never been confessed to before,” she stated.

“I hope I did it well,” Barbara looked down.

Then, Lotte grinned from ear to ear. “You did!” she said, grabbing both of Barbara’s hands into her own. “I mean, you were so cute and determined and… Well, yeah, the stalking was kind of creepy but I guess you were super nervous!” she praised Barbara. “Oh, this would be a great moment to replicate for a fanfic…” Lotte paused for a second to make a mental note.

Barbara smiled too. “Lotte, I’m glad you liked my confession, but… do you like _me?”_ she asked not without some nervousness.

Lotte started, realizing she had failed to answer. “Of course!” She asserted. “I… I thought I had made it pretty obvious, back at the party,” she hesitated. “I thought that was why you were avoiding me.”

Barbara opened her mouth, but instead of speaking, she laughed. “Seems like we both felt the same!” she exclaimed, looking at her and smiling.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. It eventually became kind of awkward. Lotte coughed. “Uhm… Should we, like… Kiss or something?” She asked to Barbara, who was back to blushing.

“I mean,” she looked around, “I’d rather not have my first kiss be on an alleyway. Maybe we should go back to my room and-” As she was saying that, she realized that her room would be empty, probably. Lotte blushed even before Barbara finished. “B-but don’t think anything of it! We can do it wherever you want, I…” She seemed to choke on her own tongue for a minute, “I mean kissing, of course! We can kiss wherever you want!”

Lotte looked as Barbara shut up and tried to hide her face, but since Lotte held her hands tightly, she couldn’t. Even while flushed, Lotte chuckled at the display. “This is always a lot simpler in the romantic subplots of Nightfall,” Barbara complained.

Lotte nodded. Then she looked at the end of the alleyway. “We… Should probably get going. Constanze is waiting for me.”

Barbara looked at the hands Lotte was still holding, and in a nervous voice said, “Sure, but… can you let me go?”

Lotte let go, laughing nervously. Walking rather stiffly over to where Constanze was still on her tablet, she picked up a couple bags. Barbara picked the others, and in the meantime, Lotte called back her spy-cam spirit and put it on her bag. Barbara looked at it with some surprise.

“Hey, wait a second…” She said, frowning.

“Welp, let’s go!” Lotte exclaimed in an exaggerated manner, walking towards the elevators.

She had an ear-to-ear grin on her face.


	53. Chapter 53

Akko was waiting for Amanda and Hannah to come out of the Rod. Jasminka stood at her side, having somehow managed to get a small bag of chips. Akko had a few, but she was saving appetite for going eating later. Now that she thought about it, they could ask for room service, but who would being able to access like a ton of restaurants in here?

Akko sighed. She was hungry, she wanted meat or something. It had already been like five hours since she’d woken up, and she’d been basically practicing half that time, the other half spent waiting outside the broom doing nothing. She wished she could at least see what Amanda was up to, but she guessed Ursula staying with her was the best for all of them. This didn’t make her any less bored, though. They had agreed they’d go all eat together after Amanda and Hannah finished this session, since Amanda wanted to try something, but Akko was growing tired of waiting.

“Do you think they’ll mind too much if we go without them?” Akko asked Jasminka. The girl shrugged. Akko took that as an approval of her ideals, so she started walking among the different brooms on the hangar. However, as she moved, she heard something weird. Like a… heavy breathing?

Jasminka, who had followed, also stopped. Akko put a finger to her lips – kind of useless, since Jasminka rarely spoke anyways – and tried to listen harder.

Yeah, there was a soft… rustling, and panting. Someone was agitated and moving nearby. Akko followed the sound with caution, wondering if maybe something was wrong, and rounded a nearby broom – a big bus for tourism.

The sounds got stronger, and when Akko finally peered over the corner, she was faced with a couple of figures on top of each other, kissing passionately. Akko instantly recognized them as the appal pilots. Neither of them saw her, so she slowly backed off, red on the cheeks.

Jasminka raised an eyebrow.

Akko hurried for her to follow. Once Akko was sure they were out of earshot of the couple, she finally allowed herself to blush in full force. “I think I saw something I wasn’t supposed to,” she explained, covering her face. She hadn’t ever had a relationship – hell, she had never liked anyone. Except maybe Chariot, but even she failed to understand exactly how her feelings of admiration worked in that regard.

In short, she wasn’t used to seeing that kind of thing. Sure, she had seen movies, but she wasn’t a fan of spicy things. She knew what sex was, and she had seen porn videos and such – everyone has, after all – but to see it in real life was very different.

“I didn’t know appali had the same customs as us,” Akko tried to concentrate on something other than the act itself. She imagined this would be how Diana would react to the situation.

“Well, we are really similar,” Jasminka commented.

Akko nodded, but she couldn’t really get into an analyst’s mindset. Why weren’t they in their rooms? She shook her head. _Stop thinking about it!_

It wasn’t that easy.

As they got on the elevators, Akko couldn’t help but wonder a lot of things she probably would never get an answer to. How had they gotten together? When? Was it casualty that they were both pilots or they were together because of that? Why did she care, anyways? They were the enemy! They were probably plotting against them or something.

But seriously, why were they doing that in the hangar? Hopefully they wouldn’t go past kissing, but that seemed like pretty intense.

“Akko,” Jasminka snapped Akko out of her thoughts. She had already exited the elevator and was waiting for Akko, who just stood there looking at nothing. Akko walked out of it, and realized this wasn’t any of the decks.

“Why are we here?” Akko asked. Then she paused. For a second, something crossed her mind. Some kind of… joke. But she couldn’t remember it, so she let it go.

“I thought you’d like to see Diana,” Jasminka mentioned. Her ever kind smile warmed Akko’s heart. She had stopped in her way towards getting food to let Akko speak with Diana? She was way too good.

“If you want to go ahead, go,” Akko said. She was starving, but Jasminka was right, this would be a good chance at speaking with Diana, assuming she was awake. She had been not long ago. Akko wasn’t sure how long the blonde could remain awake, but hopefully it was enough. Jasminka stood there and, with a nod, she got back into the elevator. “We’ll meet at the Rod later,” Akko said as the elevator closed. Jasminka waved goodbye.

Akko took a deep breath. The prospect of seeing Diana overpowered the thing she had just seen, taking away the awkwardness and replacing it with… other kind of awkwardness. A nicer one, probably.

She walked through the metallic corridors of the _Dragon_ and towards the infirmary. Why did all corridors look the same? They could add some decorations, or something. Maybe some visual cues to tell passengers in which floor they were or something. Maybe it was to discourage exploration or something like that.

The infirmary, of course, wasn’t far from the elevators, even if it had its own private one. Akko knocked on the door, waiting with a held breath, hoping Diana would answer. When she heard a ‘come in’ she sighed in relief.

“Hello,” Akko said cheerfully as she stepped into the room. Diana, for a second, put on a neutral face. However, she soon let loose and smiled.

Akko stepped closer to the bed. Such a cramped room. Akko would die in a place like this. “Hello Akko, how was your practice?” Diana asked.

“I’ve been doing great! I think,” Akko hesitated a little. “I mean, I don’t win all of my simulations, but I think I just developed a good method to keep better tabs on what’s going on,” she explained. Diana’s expression faltered a little. “Oh, but don’t worry! It’s not something crazy! And Ursula agreed to it too!” She quickly clarified.

Diana smiled again, looking relieved. “I see,” she said, nodding. She looked so weak, in bed like that. Her big cut would definitely leave a scar, though it shouldn’t be too noticeable, since it had essentially been a clean cut. It would be just a line. She was wearing just her patient wear. It looked really light. Well, it was. But, somehow, Akko thought it suit her. At least, the color did. It was a light blue that went well with her eyes. “You’re kind of red. Are you feeling well?” She asked, looking up. Akko wondered if her blue eyes perceived things differently from hers. They probably did.

“Oh, yeah,” she was still blushing? “Must be because of those two…” Akko mumbled. Diana raised an eyebrow. Akko wasn’t sure if she should answer, but she figured the pilots wouldn’t appreciate it. “Oh, it’s nothing, I just saw a couple making out on the hangar,” she said. That wasn’t too explicit.

Diana looked a little shocked. “In the hangar?” She shook her head. “Some people get off in the most bizarre of ways…”

Akko laughed, somewhat awkwardly. In truth, she wasn’t sure what was going on, but she’d rather stop thinking about it. Once and for all. _Please, brain._

“And how about you?” Akko asked, tapping her foot. It was kind of uncomfortable, standing like this. “Feeling better?”

Diana nodded. “My dose of drugs has gone down, I think. I don’t feel so tired all day, though I suppose my leg seems to be palpitating more often than not, now,” she explained.

Akko looked at the leg, cringing a little at the memory of Diana in the middle of the fire. “I’m glad you’re getting better, though.”

“Yes, and I’ve been told I will be allowed to take some walks outside the infirmary starting tomorrow,” Diana said. Akko smiled at that. “It’ll be nice to get some fresh air,” Diana said. Of course, that was an expression. The ventilation system of the _Dragon_ allowed fresh air everywhere.

“That’s great! If you need any help with it, ask away!” Akko said with excitement. Knowing that Diana would be up on her foot – not feet, because she would only be using one – in such a short time was wonderful.

Diana cocked her head. “Of course. Barbara will probably be there to accompany me,” she said. Akko hesitated for a second. Of course, Barbara would be the one to help Diana around.

“And while you walk,” Akko said, “I’ll make sure to get way better with my flying!”

“I look forward to your next race,” Diana said. Then she paused. “But please, don’t feel pressured. Just do your best, ok?”

Akko cocked her head. Was Diana telling her it didn’t matter if she won? Well, she was probably just telling her that because she didn’t want Akko to be too nervous. Still, Akko couldn’t feel like she was being looked down on. Of course, that was just her perception. She already knew Diana probably held no intention by that… “Of course,” she said with a smile.

And, even if Diana was looking down on her, it was probably not on purpose anyways. After all, they were in completely different leagues in terms of ability. Akko had no right to get upset over…

“You look uncomfortable,” Diana said. Akko had been fidgety, cramped up as she was. “Want to sit down?” Diana patted softly the bed.

Akko sighed in relief and didn’t hesitate to let herself drop. Diana cringed a little at the sudden movement. “Did I hurt you?” Akko asked, raising her hands as if to catch something that wasn’t falling. Diana shook her head, showing she was ok. “Sorry, it’s just a little frustrating to stand like that,” she explained.

Diana chuckled. “You looked like you were about to burst,” she said. Akko thought she was cute. Diana smiling wasn’t something she got to see usually, and she chuckling something she got to see even less. Her hair, better than the day she had been brought in, but still not perfect, still fit her wonderfully.

While she looked at Diana, something suddenly sprang to mind. “Hey, if you can walk, then maybe we can go do what we did back on Sídhe and Machina when we’re on Trashcan!” She said.

Diana took a few seconds to think about it, until she understood what Akko meant. “Oh, you mean… I’m not sure,” she said with a sad smile. “I don’t think I’ll be able to ride the Shiny Rod, you see,” she explained.

Akko pouted, unhappy with the answer. “I can carry you, no problem,” she flexed her muscles. They weren’t particularly toned but it wasn’t really to show them. Diana shook her head slowly, finding what Akko had said funny.

“And, how did it go in Pan?”

“We didn’t do it,” Akko said. “We were worried about you, and even then, we’re not going to do it unless every one of us is present, got it?” She looked at Diana with determination.

Diana seemed bewildered. “Ok?”

Akko nodded with energy. “So when you get better we’ll all go and have a nice time. Maybe we should bring Jasminka too, since she’s technically part of the team now too,” Akko said, thinking about how hard Jasminka was working too.

For a second, it looked like Diana would oppose to the idea, with her face becoming extremely unexpressive, but she quickly regained her smile and nodded. “Yes, of course. Though… I’m not sure we’ll all fit.”

Akko opened her mouth, but she had nothing to say. Diana was right. They barely fit inside… “Maybe…” She thought for a while. “Maybe I can make the turret of the Rod bigger to allow us in or something.”

Diana seemed to find the idea amusing. “How much do you think the Shiny Rod can transform?” Diana asked. “Have you tried testing its limits?”

Akko shook her head, but stopped. “Well, I did learn that I can teleport at apparently any point on the universe,” she recalled. Diana raised an eyebrow. “When I was distressed after the race I teleported back to Earth,” she explained.

Diana’s smile widened. “My, how amazing!” She exclaimed. Akko could see, through her eyes, the gears of her mind working. “Akko, this teleporting technology… It can be what we need for finally taking the final step on space exploration!” She said. “With such technology, even exploring Darkworld wouldn’t be impossible!” Akko cocked her head. She was aware of the troubles to explore the harsh Darkworld, but she was having a little trouble making the leap to see how being able to get there with the Shiny Rod would help anyone. “It will be incredible! Maybe scientists and engineers can also find out what is the Rod’s source of energy and-”

Akko’s eyes widened. “Wait, scientists and engineers?”

Diana looked up, as if taken out of a daze. “Oh,” her smile dropped. “Right. I guess you aren’t particularly inclined to giving up the Shiny Rod,” she said.

Akko nodded, feeling a little defensive. “Not until I find Chariot and ask her. It’s her ship, after all,” Akko said. “But she obviously didn’t want it to get investigated, so I will respect her wishes.”

Diana pressed her lips. She was obviously troubled by Akko’s mindset. Akko could see where Diana was coming from, human advancement was something to get excited about. But… “If Chariot didn’t let others touch the Shiny Rod, it must have been for a reason.”

Diana sighed. “You’re not wrong,” she admitted. “I guess I got a little too excited,” she said. Her expression slowly fell back to her neutral one.

“Don’t feel bad,” Akko instantly said. “I _will_ find Chariot and I’m sure she’ll give me permission,” Akko reassured. She didn’t want Diana to use her neutral face again. Not with her, at least, now that she seemed to have opened up somewhat.

“It’s fine,” Diana said. “It’s your ship. You’ll probably need it to become the greatest Witch out there, after all. Letting others dismantle it wouldn’t be too smart, now would it?” She smiled again, though this smile seemed faked. Akko wasn’t sure of what to do. Diana was an inherently scientific person, while Akko was more about what felt right and didn’t. Diana was surely having a hard time understanding Akko’s reasoning, but there wasn’t much Akko could do about that.

There was some awkward silence for a while. Akko wasn’t sure on how to carry out the conversation, but Diana didn’t look angry or ask her to leave or acted like she was sleepy or anything, so Akko assumed she wasn’t mad. “Uhm,” Akko said, trying to break the silence. “Would you like me to bring you something to eat or something?”

Diana gave Akko a warm smile, but shook her head. “I shouldn’t eat anything outside of what they bring me and some fruit,” she pointed at the basket of fruits that laid in the little nightstand next to her. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

Akko frowned. “Why not? It must be horrible…” Akko was reminded of the life of pure potatoes back at Luna Nova. Please never again.

“It’s because of the MMU,” she pointed at the machine she was connected to. “If I eat something that disrupts me too much, it could affect the effectiveness of the Magic entering my body, maybe even make it go crazy. I need to take things slowly.”

“So… no cheeseburgers, I assume,” Akko said. Diana gave her a deadpan look. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Speaking of food, do you want anything,” she offered Akko a fruit. Akko looked at the basket, thought for a while, and then picked up an apple. “Should I ask for a kni-” as Diana spoke, Akko bit into the apple without hesitation. Diana looked at Akko as if she had just killed a baby or something.

“What?” Akko said mid-bite.

“I… You didn’t even peel it,” Diana said, looking distressed.

“Uhm… Yeah? I always eat them like this,” Akko said. “This is a good apple, juicy and crunchy. You should try one.”

Diana seemed a little perturbed by the sight. Akko finished swallowing and took another bite. Diana cringed. “Have you never seen someone eating apples like this?”

“No,” she admitted. “People usually at least peel them before eating them, and most cut them into pieces.”

Akko shrugged, taking another bite. “I don’t like eating like that. Takes too much time,” Akko explained. Diana really seemed uncomfortable. Akko offered the apple, as it seemed to be the only one in the basket. “Why don’t you try?”

Diana looked at the Apple with hesitance. “I’d rather not,” she said after a while of watching. Akko rolled her eyes, insisting and bringing it closer.

“Just try a bite. You can take one from one of the places I’ve already bitten to make it easier,” Akko suggested.

Diana looked up at Akko, then down at the apple, and then up again. Then, very slowly, she picked up the apple. With a face of absolute uncertainty, she bit into it. Akko couldn’t help but notice how… Nice, her lips looked, as they moved on the apple. It had been but a second, but Akko somehow wished she could have captured the moment.

Diana chewed with a grim expression, but she slowly came around to a normal one and, eventually smiled. “Huh,” she said. “it’s not so bad,” she handed the apple back to Akko.

 _This has Diana’s saliva in it,_ Akko couldn’t help but think. Why did she care, anyways? She shared drinks with Lotte or Su- No, not with Sucy, but with Lotte all the time. This was no different. She had just shared an apple. It wasn’t awkward in any way, why was she even debating this?

She made sure to take her next bite out of the same place Diana’s had taken hers. It didn’t taste much different, but it did feel so.

“Told’ya,” Akko said. As she spoke a little bit of apple flew out of her mouth and fell on Diana’s clothing. Akko quickly swallowed and gave her an apologetic smile.

“This is why we don’t speak while eating,” Diana stated, picking up the little bit of apple. She looked at it for a few seconds, and Akko had a moment of thinking Diana would eat it. Of course, she didn’t, that’d be gross, so she put it on the little bag for trash next to her bed. There was a banana peel in it, along with some medical stuff Akko didn’t know.

“Sorry,” Akko said after swallowing.

Diana seemed a lot less disgusted by Akko’s grossness than Akko expected. She didn’t seem fine with it either, though. Akko made sure to finish her apple quickly to stop herself from doing such a thing for longer.

“Man, I really am hungry,” Akko said, mostly to herself. However, Diana listened, and instantly got a serious face.

“Have you eaten anything today?”

Akko thought back. “Uhm… I think I had some breakfast…” Did she? She could barely remember. All that passed through her mind right now were piles upon piles of trash and garbage.

Diana sighed. “Then you should go eat something. You’ll need the energy.”

Akko looked at Diana for a few seconds. “You sure? I don’t mind staying for a little longer…”

Diana reached, struggling a little, and grabbed a little bag with grapes from the basket. “I’ll just eat these, then, while you’re there hungry,” Diana said, popping one into her mouth.

Akko stared, and slowly but surely she started wishing she had something else to eat, too. Inside the fruit’s basket there were still some bananas, a tomato and a peach.

“You’re evil,” Akko said while looking as Diana put another grape in her mouth. She chewed slowly, as if to tease Akko.

“You just need to go and eat,” Diana said with a poker face. Akko really couldn’t read anything. That was a troublesome talent, wasn’t it. She couldn’t tell if Diana was hesitant about it or not. But, without being able to tell, Akko had no option but resignation.

She stood. “Fine. But if you get bored don’t blame me,” Akko said, turning and leaving. However, as the door closed behind her, she opened it again and put her head inside the room. “Also, how do I do that thing to know if you’re awake or not?”

Diana rolled her eyes. “You can only do it with a normal wand. I don’t think the Shiny Rod’s key-wand will let you do it.”

Akko pouted. “Oh, well,” she said with disappointment. “I’ll still try to visit you as much as I can.”

“Don’t force yourself. And go eat, please, you look silly,” Diana insisted. Akko’s head was horizontal, and her hair fell down half covering her face.

“Get well,” Akko said before straightening up. The door closed again, and she parted from Diana. She wasn’t sure why, but her thoughts kept circling back to the apple they had shared. It was a silly thing, it wasn’t unusual for friends to share things. But to her, somehow, it didn’t feel so silly.

She should bring some fruit to Diana next time she visited.

 

Hannah stood after coming out of the Shiny Rod. Amanda was there, looking around, while Ursula was coming down. “I suppose we couldn’t really hold Jasminka down,” Amanda commented. “Akko must’ve gone with her.”

“Well, let’s go eat and come back,” Hannah said. She was starving and cared little about what Akko or Jasminka did.

“Hum…” Ursula hummed to herself, looking around. “Well, this is troublesome.”

“Why?” Amanda asked.

“I have a meeting in an hour, so I was going to suggest you take a little break from practicing after eating,” she took out her wand and with a couple of movements brought out her contact list. She pressed Jasminka’s and sent her a short message. Not long passed until she got a reply, and she hummed again. “You girls go ahead. I’ll stay here in case Akko comes back. She went to see Diana so Jasminka doesn’t know where she’s at.”

Hannah frowned. Why had Akko gone to see Diana instead of eating? Was she stupid? She wasn’t sure if she was annoyed that Akko was wasting time or jealous that the girl had gone to see Diana without her or Barbara’s consent, but she was angry nonetheless. And, that was right, Barbara better had confessed by now or she’d be in big trouble.

“We need to get used to carrying our helmets around. Akko’s lack of wand is a pain in the ass,” Amanda commented. “Don’t they sell them in the ship?”

Ursula sighed, shaking her head. “All wands are checked before entering the ship, and no one is allowed to trade or sell them outside of earth. It was hard enough to get wand technicians into the _Dragon._ The Planetary Committee back on earth doesn’t like the idea of too much of humanity’s tech escaping their grasp, even though the Earth Representatives Committee wishes it could be done,” she explained. The ERC a separate entity from the PC, focusing more on public image than managing deals, kind of like an PR department for earth.

“If we see her we’ll tell her and message you,” Hannah said. She pitied Ursula, having to be responsible and all. “And if she misses all of us it’s her fault for being stupid,” she shrugged.

Amanda shrugged and started walking away. “In any case she’s eventually going to realize what’s going on. Maybe she’ll practice alone or something” she said uncaringly. Hannah gave Ursula a last look and waved goodbye before walking off and catching up to Amanda.

They walked for a while before Amanda stopped. She cocked her head… no, she raised one of her ears, and put a hand to it, as if trying to hear something. Then, she smiled. “God, I imagined it would happen, but this is hilarious,” she stated.

Hannah didn’t quite get, until she started paying attention. There were sounds coming from a few rows behind them, where a big broom-bus was parked. Messy breathing, bumps, and other stuff Hannah couldn’t quite make out, but they all pointed to something obvious.

Amanda chuckled as she continued walking. Hannah, a little shocked, followed her. “Shouldn’t we do something?” Hannah asked, looking back, but she couldn’t catch a glimpse of who were the degenerates who would do such a thing down here.

“Nah,” Amanda said. “Let them do whatever they want, they’re not harming anyone. Plus, almost no one comes around here. Maybe they want to be away from their families or something.”

Hannah considered this. She still believed they should call the guards or something. Committing such indecent acts in the middle of a public place was probably illegal. But, on the other hand, it was true that they weren’t harming anyone, and it wasn’t like children or even much people came down here at all. Most enjoyed the many luxuries of the _Dragon_ without worrying much about their brooms.

“Whatever,” she said, not wanting to worry about it. They’d probably be gone by the time anyone came back, anyways.

When they entered an elevator, Amanda hesitated. “You wanna go eat or are you going to shower first or what?”

“Are you implying I smell bad?” Hannah asked with a flat look.

“I mean, you smell like you put deodorant earlier but being cramped up in a closed space a lot of time kind of penetrated it. I wouldn’t say it smells _bad,_ but…”

“Ok, ok,” Hannah blushed a little. “I’ll go take a shower,” Hannah said. She subtly sniffed around, but she couldn’t catch her own smell. Or Amanda’s, for that matter. She seemed as fresh as a flower. “Next time just tell me if I smell bad, no need to beat around the bush.”

Amanda smiled. “I mean, I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t consider it a _bad_ smell,” she stated. Hannah took a step away from her, though there wasn’t much space in the elevator.

“I think I’m just going to go report you for sexual harassment,” Hannah said, feeling uneasy. Amanda chuckled, and Hannah was reminded of their chat earlier. She had gone and reacted that way again. “Really though, that sounded really perverted.”

Amanda nodded. “That was the point. Though, you’d be surprised at what people can find nice about the person they like,” she said. “I’ve seen more than one person thinking their beloved’s sweat smelled like flowers,” she explained.

Hannah made a face of disgust. “That sounds awful, I wouldn’t want the person I like to tell me my _sweat_ smells nice,” she thought that was more creepy than anything else. It sounded like some kind of weird fetish.

“I mean, the sweat smell probably has something to do with hormones, don’t you think?”

“I’m fairly certain it actually has to do with bacteria, not hormones... and I think you meant pheromones,” Hannah said. Amanda looked at her with some doubt, but in the end she shrugged.

“Dunno, it’s not something particularly gross for me. Everybody sweats,” she said.

“Everybody shits, and you don’t see people going around and sniffing each other’s asses like dogs,” Hannah said.

Amanda laughed at the stupid joke, but Hannah couldn’t contain herself. She just found the idea that people liked to smell each other’s sweat rather weird. There were a lot of things to like about others, why would you place body odor among those? Seriously.

The elevator doors finally opened. Amanda and Hannah both exited it. Hannah looked at Amanda. “You’re not going to go eat?”

Amanda hesitated. “Oh, yeah, I was thinking…” She paused, pressed her lips, then turned around. “Nevermind, then. Go take a shower, see you later.”

Hannah saw her go. However, as the elevator went away, she started feeling strange. Guilty, maybe? Nah, why would she?

Eh, whatever. She turned around to go to her room, not thinking more about Amanda. Instead, when she reached it and opened the door, she was surprised at a sudden movement inside the room. Barbara had just basically jumped from bed, hit her side on the desk, and was now cringing and groaning softly.

On the bed was Lotte. Hannah couldn’t help but smile at the scene. Neither Lotte nor Barbara had disheveled clothing, so they probably hadn’t gone too far, but both were growing beet red as they saw Hannah. “Oh, uhm, hey…” Lotte said, not looking her in the eye.

“I see you confessed,” Hannah said, looking at Barbara. The black haired girl nodded, but didn’t answer in her pain. “Sorry for that. I’ll start knocking from now on. Wouldn’t want to surprise you girls in… Less favorable situations, huh?” She teased. Maybe Amanda had rubbed off the wrong way in her.

Barbara looked at her with a little surprise, then annoyance, and then embarrassment. “Jeez,” she said, sighing. “yes, of course I confessed. But, just for the record, I _will_ make you pay up for what you did,” she smirked.

“Stating this right now: I will _not_ do anything weird,” Hannah said.

Barbara shook her head. “Wearing a dress and going to a party is too weird for you?” Barbara asked. Hannah cocked her head. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m serious.”

“You just want me to go to a party? When’s it gonna be?”

Barbara giggled. “For now, that’s a secret,” she said. “Wouldn’t want to distract you from practice.”

“How are things going with Amanda?” Lotte asked.

Hannah shrugged. “Fine, I guess. She’s not bad,” she was lying, of course. ‘Not bad’ was a sever understatement. Even if she preferred Diana, it was an undeniable fact that Amanda was a great pilot. Better than Diana? No way, but great.

“Uuuh, she’s ‘not bad’? What kind of things does she do?” Barbara asked. Hannah paused, about to answer about her acrobatic maneuvers, but then she saw something else in Barbara’s eyes. The same kind of glimmer Amanda usually had in her eyes whenever she was teasing.

“Wait a second,” Hannah looked back at Lotte, who looked away, obviously trying to hold back a smile. “Oh you… This is how you repay me getting you two together?” Hannah said in annoyance.

Barbara laughed. “Come on, we didn’t say anything weird. You took it the wrong way. You have one dirty mind, don’t you?” she asked.

Hannah huffed, grabbing some clothes from her bag and storming into the shower. Why did she even tease her like that? Everyone knew Hannah was straight. She liked Andrew and all! She understood it was simple teasing but with Amanda’s constant sexual innuendos and now this she was going to go mad. She’d probably start seeing such things where there were none.

She shook her head as she undressed. She could hear Barbara giggling in the other room, and she frowned. The bathroom was small, so it was hard to move in it, but she managed to get rid of her clothes and step onto the tiny shower. The water was hot, as she liked it. No, even hotter, as she was in a bad mood.

For some reason, she kept regretting not just going with Amanda to eat. Lotte and Barbara had probably already eaten, so that meant Hannah would have to do it alone. Maybe her past self had felt like she had because of this realization.

Five minutes later, she exited the shower. She had done it way faster than normal, which was weird. She came out of the bathroom with her hair still humid and her dirty clothes in a bundle, and she threw them inside her laundry bag.

“Come on,” Barbara said, “it was just a little joke, no need to get worked up about it.”

“Well,” Hannah snapped back, “I don’t find the joke funny. In fact I’m starting to get sick of it,” she said.

Barbara crossed her arms. “Girl, you need to relax a little,” she said. “You don’t usually react like this.”

“I’m not usually constantly being teased by a stupid redhead and then my best friend on top of that,” Hannah stated. “And on top of it all I’m hungry. See you later,” she didn’t give Barbara a chance to answer as she strode out of the room and almost ran to the nearest set of stairs. She quickly realized she had forgotten to wear her ribbon, but it was too late. She’d come back for it after eating something.

Maybe she’d run into Amanda on her way there. Unlikely, but possible.


	54. Chapter 54

Amanda, a few hours after eating, had decided to take her time to do some exercise. They’d be doing it with Ursula later, but she didn’t have anything better to do. She was on the treadmill, going slightly faster than normal walking speed, just enough to be jogging. She didn’t plan on lifting weights, but she’d probably do some pushups or something later.

She had forgotten, amongst the craziness that was being the gunman, and now pilot, of a ship, that she liked going to the gym from time to time. She wasn’t exactly an athlete, but she did care about keeping up her shape. She also wanted to focus on something, and exercising helped her focus. Amanda was mostly trying to figure out why did she feel so… blue. She had felt an immense disappointment earlier, when Hannah had clearly stated that she didn’t really want to eat with Amanda.

Amanda wasn’t an idiot. She had enough experience with her own feelings to understand that she found Hannah attractive – and the girl had been acting a lot nicer. Well, a lot might be an overstatement, but she was acting nicer. With each step, Amanda’s head slowly worked through her questions. Did she like Hannah? It was hard to tell, which was what made Amanda doubt. Usually she didn’t have trouble with this kind of stuff. When she saw a girl she liked she knew it instantly. Though, of course, she had never had a close relationship with them beforehand.

She wiped sweat off her face with the towel she hung on her shoulders.

In the end, if she liked Hannah, she assumed she’d realize it fairly easily. So what she felt now was… What? Infatuation? No, it wasn’t that strong. Maybe she had started feeling that Hannah and her were on better terms and her attitude threw a bucket of cold water over that perception. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more that made sense. She had kind of opened up to her, but Hannah obviously didn’t really care for any of that. It wasn’t that Amanda expected Hannah to suddenly like her, but she had believed they were on better terms.

Obviously, ‘better’ wasn’t good.

By the time she finished jogging, she felt a lot better. Maybe it was because of the exercise, but she also felt like she had gotten over her earlier troubles. Hannah was just being her normal self, it was Amanda’s fault for expecting too much.

She moved around the gym and got to doing pushups. While doing them, she didn’t really think of anything, neither when doing squats or crunches. When she finished, an hour and ten minutes had passed. Ursula hadn’t contacted them, despite it already being about four hours since they had split. They would be landing soon. Amanda thought for a while, and decided that she would shower and go to her room. Maybe she’d sleep, though as of right now she wasn’t particularly tired. Even then, if she slept, by the time she woke up they would probably be already on Trashcan.

She used the showers on the gym and got changed, then set off with her small handbag towards the elevators. Should she grab a small thing to eat before leaving? She wanted something. Exercising opened one’s appetite.

Eh, a round around Gold Deck wouldn’t hurt. Maybe she’d go through some streets she hadn’t visited yet.

 

Hannah had eaten and now sat, annoyed, reading a paper that described what had happened in Pan and theories about why the Blue Star had exploded. Some mentioned a fail in design, others cheating – though none of them even close to what had happened in reality – and others even some kind of marketing strategy.

She put the thing away. Stupid people talking out of their asses bothered her more than she had expected. They could have at least tried to interview them or something. Why were humans being basically ignored in terms of press? It was almost as if they were afraid of them.

“Mind if I take the seat?” A voice asked. Hannah scooted a little to the side, nodding. The person who sat next to her grabbed the paper Hannah had been holding and read it for a while. Hannah kept staring straight ahead, the crowds of Gold Deck flowing like a river in front of her, a constant stream of color and noise that was somehow soothing.

It was about five minutes later that Hannah decided to look at who had just sat beside her. She was extremely surprised when she saw a lavender-haired, red cape-wearing woman with teal eyes. She couldn’t help herself when she said “Miss Meridies?”

Croix looked at her and smiled faintly. “Hello, Hannah England,” Croix said. “How are you feeling today?” she asked.

Hannah looked at her not without confusion, but came up with a simple answer. “Good, I guess,” she said. Then, she sighed. Croix raised an eyebrow, putting the paper down.

“You don’t sound like it,” she mentioned. She was wearing, as always, her strange outfit, and her hair stood as if it had been raised with a hundred tons of hair fixer. However, something different this time was that she had a couple of goggles hanging from her neck. Hannah wondered what was she doing with those, until she recalled that Croix was supposed to be a great mechanic and technician. Maybe she worked on some project during her personal time, who knew.

Hannah shrugged. “I’m just in a bad mood,” she explained. “I feel like… I dunno, like I’m the only sane person on an island full of madmen.”

“That sounds overly dramatic,” Croix said. Hannah rolled her eyes. “This may just be my perception, but when Rome, do as the Romans. If you’re surrounded by crazy people, act crazy and you won’t feel left out.”

Hannah looked at Croix with a flat look. “I don’t really like the idea of changing who I am to appeal to a group.”

Croix examined Hannah for a while before a small alarm sounded from somewhere in her pocket. She looked at the clock in her wrist and stood. “Well, people often act differently among different groups of friends. That doesn’t mean you’re being fake to any of them, it just means you’re multifaceted, like everyone else,” she said. “Mind if I take this?” She was holding the paper.

Hannah was a little confused by the exchange, so she just nodded. Croix thanked her and walked away, leaving her alone again.

But with something to think about, apparently.

 

Akko came back to find a lonely Shiny Rod. No Hannah, Amanda, Jasminka or Ursula. No one. She figured she might have just arrived at the place a little earlier and that everyone else was still eating. She hadn’t found anyone but Sucy in their room, and Sucy had no interest in helping her sort her issues, focused as she was on whatever experiment she was doing at the time. So in the end Akko was left with two choices: go back and ask Diana her wand to contact the others or just go back to training. As she felt like it would be a little awkward to go back to visit Diana so soon, she had gone for the latter.

And now she sat, alone, inside the cockpit, windshield open. She was staring at infinity, thinking about mostly nothing. She was tired, but she figured it was about having eaten not long ago. When she tried to stay up late at night she usually called this state the ‘food barrier’. Like a sleepiness barrier you had to get through before you were allowed to breach into the fun of night life. At midday it didn’t matter much, particularly if you had something to do. At night it was a nightmare, as compounded with the tiredness from the day it could lead to you falling asleep without realizing it. Akko had missed a lot of series she liked to watch as a kid because of that.

Right now, even though it was midday – at least to her inner clock – she had nothing to do, and her position in the cockpit didn’t help. She figured she’d practice for a while without Jasminka or Ursula. Just basic movements, maybe try some of the stuff she didn’t dare suggest to Ursula because she knew they were stupid ideas and probably wouldn’t work anyways, things like that.

She closed the windshield, activated the Shiny Rod, and started a simulation. She ran for a few minutes, doing her best to dodge, but she was failing miserably without a gunman. She had already tried to simulate flying with a gunman – it didn’t work. Akko wasn’t sure why, but the Shiny Rod wouldn’t let her fake that. It could simulate flying patterns and attacks from other racers but it would refuse to simulate a human gunman.

After a couple of failed attempts, she stopped the race aspect of the simulation, focusing only on practicing moves. She discovered the Shiny Rod could in fact climb trash mountains and go over those things Amanda called ‘trash plateaus’. Akko kept that in mind, if she could go over trash plateaus she would have an advantage, but of course she wouldn’t _only_ count on that. She’d follow the strategy that she had been working on for so long, and then if she needed that extra push she’d use it. A lot of things could happen during a race.

She tried flying in another pattern and measuring her time. It was worse than before, so she decided to keep it to what Ursula had taught her. Then, she tried doing something Amanda had mentioned: shooting a laser through a mountain and trying to get through it. By the time she recalled she didn’t carry a gunman she was already buried under simulated trash and there was little she could do about that. She tried some more things – steering, going up or down, some strange and probably useless maneuvers. She spent at least an hour in her solo-practice before she got kind of tired and bored. She sighed. No one had approached the Shiny Rod. She wasn’t sure how she could tell, but she could, so she was certain no one had come back yet. She was starting to suspect the others weren’t coming back after all for whatever reason.

She paused all simulations. It felt kinda lonely without Amanda or Jasminka or Ursula there. Nothing but herself to think about stuff. At least she had gotten past the food barrier, which meant she was full of energy again. She felt like she could do as she pleased, which wasn’t particularly good for her. She tended to get over-exited, and no one wanted that.

Akko sighed as she looked up front, the simulation paused and showing her the dumpster landscape.

There was a lot of alien trash, when you started to look carefully. Weird organic stuff that looked like fruits or vegetables, a lot of things that looked like machines but that Akko couldn’t even begin to imagine what were for and overall just a bunch of unrecognizable pieces of paper, scrap and stuff like that. Akko didn’t fail to notice the ground of the area always seemed to be humid. But, she was getting tired of the blue light of day. It could be straining for the eyes.

“Alcor, change to nighttime,” Akko said. It took barely a second before the simulation changed and Akko was now staring at a dark dumpster illuminated by starlight. Akko found it curious that there was no moon. She made the map pop up, and checked the nearby planets that used this one as a giant dumpster. One of them had a moon, another one had two. The last one didn’t have one either. Akko started wondering about stuff. Why didn’t they use their moons as dumpsters instead of another planet? And where did Trashcan’s garbage go? There had to be a lot of stuff that they couldn’t count as resources, so what did they do with it?

Akko turned off the map. Then, she wondered if… “Akko, recline the seat.”

As expected, the seat suddenly was brought to a horizontal position. Akko put her hands behind her head, looking up at the stars. A part of the night sky looked stained by something purple. Akko asked what that was to Alcor, and Akko explained it was a relatively close supercluster. It was pretty.

While thinking, Akko couldn’t help but relax. In the darkness, she slowly felt as if the Shiny Rod was slowly rocking her, getting her sleepy. It was hard not to want to sleep with this mood, but she wasn’t really tired. _I should show this to Diana one of these days,_ Akko thought.

Thinking of Diana, then, gave her a strange idea. Could she… Nah, there’d be no reason to do that.

She still sat straight, the seat following her, and Akko hesitated before calling off the entire simulation and looking outside. No one.

 _It’s a stupid idea,_ she told herself. But, then again… It wasn’t _that_ bad. Just an experiment. Just that. It was no big deal.

Her leg started bouncing. Why was she so nervous anyways? There was no reason to be. Yet… She took a deep breath. “Alcor, start a simulation. Place me on a standard human track and… Make my opponents Diana and Amanda in shooting stars.”

And Alcor did as told.

The landscape, as always, shifted gradually. It was replaced by a common human circuit: a really long, asphalted road in the middle of a forest that extended beyond what the eye could see. Another road passed through the trees to the right. That was, in fact, the same road, just after the curve. Akko recognized this place, though not because of the IPR or Chariot. It was known as the longest racing road on Earth. It was in a forest in Russia. Akko didn’t really remember how long it was, but it was a famous spot to race even if it wasn’t an official track.

It was wide, too, though not too much. It fit the two shooting stars and the Shiny Rod, and another Shiny Rod would have probably fit in. Akko looked at the simulated Shooting Stars to her sides. To the left was the Blue Star, which she assumed to be Diana, and to her right was the red Shooting Star, which she assumed to be Amanda.

She wasn’t even sure why she was doing this, but she still felt very curious. Of course, winning wasn’t her objective, she just wanted to test how good she could perform against her two friends.

Three. Two. One. The three numbers, as always, marked the start of the race.

Everyone accelerated. Akko wondered how precise the simulation was, now more than ever. If she managed to win against them, would that mean she’d win against the real ones? This was a race of pure speed, no gunmen. Akko did notice a slight difference in movement as the gravity and air density on Earth and Trashcan were different, but it only took her a few seconds to adapt, since they weren’t too different.

Here, at the start, they managed to stay relatively close to each other. It was strange, since without obstacles or curves, all they had to do was keep up their speed. How to win or not would depend on ability alone.

Akko was having serious trouble thinking of anything that could help her win other than just starting a physical fight with the other ships. It wasn’t illegal, but she didn’t want to hurt Diana or Amanda, even if these were virtual versions of her. The road, Akko noticed, was now going up, but there was a small hill upfront. Yeah, this wasn’t done on a plain, they were on a forest near mountains. A fairly regular terrain, but it had some ups and downs.

Right as Akko wondered if she should, both Diana and Amanda became flashes of light and she was left in metaphorical dust as she also pressed the nitro and tried to catch up to them. They had gained a second on her, and in this kind of race, a second was bad.

All of them jumped at the end of the small hill. While in the air, Amanda actually maneuvered a little, making her Shooting Star spin, hitting Diana in the process and making the Blue Star spin too. Akko couldn’t help but grow worried at the display. Was Amanda crazy? She could… However, the only thing that happened was that both broom-racers fell in a fairly unregular manner. Amanda was faster to recover, but Diana didn’t take much longer. Akko, however, had fallen ahead of them, so she was currently winning. She didn’t grow confident, though. She was only ahead because Amanda had lost some time trying to get rid of Diana. Would Amanda do that in a real race? Probably. That did sound like something Amanda would do.

Amanda and Diana were now going faster than before. With the balance broken, it was time for the race to get serious. Akko did her best in trying to stop them from overtaking her, but it was hard. The Shiny Rod was considerably smaller than the Shooting Star, and it was a wide road. Going in zigzags, trying to stop the other two brooms was making Akko a little dizzy.

Still, she managed, with effort, to hold Amanda back. That was, of course, until Amanda got tired of this and suddenly the nose of her broom rose, pointing at an angle. Amanda used nitro and jumped over Akko before she could even react, and while she was distracted with that, Diana graciously passed her from the side.

Akko had to spend a few seconds to try and figure out what Amanda had just done. She had often seen Chariot doing crazy things, but what Amanda had just done could have killed them both. It was beyond recklessness, it was… Well, it belonged in a spectacle, not in a race.

But damn if it hadn’t been cool.

Akko got her brain down from the clouds, realizing she was in last place again. Damn it, and she had thought she was doing so well. She accelerated, but she couldn’t find an opening between Diana and Amanda fighting for first place.

In the end, Akko was stuck in the back, mostly being a spectator as Diana and Amanda fought for first place. It was frustrating, but also really interesting. It was hard to explain why but Akko felt that she wasn’t going to win no matter how much she tried. That might have been one of the reasons she wasn’t trying as hard as she probably should.

However, Amanda and Diana were Constantly going faster, slower and overall trying to win against the other. This road was _really_ long too. It had started becoming way more irregular, the ups higher and the downs lower. The mountains that had been nothing but a background before were now perfectly visible, even if still relatively far away.

However, right as she thought that, in the highest point of a hill, she saw it. The curve.

 _Ok,_ she thought, _this may be my chance._

In a straight path it was really hard to break balance, particularly when no one had weapons, but the curve was her moment to break the tide. Plus, Akko had the advantage of having way more fuel than them. Sure, she was somewhat limited, but she knew for a fact she had it easier than them.

As the curve approached, Akko didn’t fail to notice that Diana, to the left, would be allowed to take it from the inside, meaning she’d have it easier. Amanda was now desperately trying to claim the place, but she wasn’t allowed to get close. A U turn that would decide the course of the remaining race. Akko could do it. The Shiny Rod was small, she could slip between them, she knew it.

And, when the curve was on their noses, Akko pressed nitro, turned the ship vertically and tried to get through Diana’s left.

Didn’t work. Diana and Amanda both activated their nitros barely a fraction of a second after Akko, so everyone ended up taking the curve in a split second. Things didn’t change, not for Akko at least. However, Diana did manage to get ahead of Amanda. Amanda didn’t take long to aim up again, but Diana wasn’t stupid. She leaned the Blue Star just enough to cut her off. Akko cocked her head. She would’ve just put the Shiny Rod higher so that Amanda couldn’t have done that so easily. It was then that she realized  that if she had done that Amanda could have overtaken her from below. So what Diana had done was actually the best possible move. Akko had figured it out, but only after some moments of thinking. Diana had reacted instantly.

So this was the difference between them. Akko might have had good instincts, but those didn’t quite match up to the experience of her fellow pilots.

In the end, simulated Diana won the race. It hadn’t been easy, but neither Akko nor simulated Amanda could get past her during the remaining race.

The simulation ended, and Akko half-waited for Amanda to come out of the Shooting Star to try and pick a fight or something. Of course, that didn’t happen. However, this gave Akko an idea. “Alcor, can you simulate a person?”

 **Unknown Command,** Alcor said. Akko found this curious to say the least. It was hard to explain why, but the fact that the Shiny Rod couldn’t create simulations of actual persons left her perplexed.

Maybe she wasn’t being specific enough? “Alcor, can you simulate Diana Cavendish?” Akko asked. A few seconds passed before Akko decided the whole thing was useless, but then, in the middle of the road and right before the curve that would have led Akko back to the beginning of the race, a figure appeared. Akko raised her eyebrows. Yes, that was Diana indeed, wearing her g-suit. However, it was stiff. Not different from a colorful statue.

“Can I get close to her?” Akko asked. She had almost exited the cockpit to go and see, but of course that would have been a stupid move.

Then, the cockpit disappeared. Akko was left standing in the middle of the road, a couple hundred steps away from Diana. She looked around, moved a little. It felt very real, save for the rather strange lack of natural sounds. There was a current, but no rustling of leaves or anything like that.

Akko walked towards the frozen Diana, who was stuck with a neutral, lifeless expression. As she walked, the two shooting stars disappeared. Akko didn’t feel too bad at having been defeated – she’d done well enough against two people who were years beyond her in experience. Maybe she should start feeling like this during IPR related races too.

The frozen Diana was a perfect copy down to the hair tips. Akko examined the simulation. It lacked that spark of life, making it look as nothing but a giant doll, but other than that… Akko was a little afraid of asking Alcor to make her do anything. It kinda felt wrong. She was feeling strange even thinking about what could be done with a simulation like this one. She carefully touched the simulation’s shoulder, finding that it felt real. Too real.

“Ok, that’s enough,” Akko said, and suddenly she was back in the cockpit of the Shiny Rod, everything having one back to normal. She exited the Shiny Rod. How much time had passed? Probably an hour and a half or so. They were definitely not coming back. This annoyed her, since no one had warned her. They could have contacted someone to try and reach her, or come check on her, or something.

Akko left the Shiny Rod, not without feeling slightly troubled. The discoveries she had made about the Shiny Rod were puzzling. She could race against her friends, and could even simulate them. How far did those simulations go? It was hard to tell, but she did understand that whichever the case might be, she was completely _not_ going to continue experimenting with that. Too creepy. What if that kind of technology fell on the wrong hands? The Shiny Rod had, apparently, a way of creating perfect replicas of anything and anyone. Realistic replicas.

The more she learnt about the white broom, the more she realized why Chariot had refused to let it be studied. This technology was almost definitely not human, or not fully human. And that might be for the best. Perfect replicas… Akko shook her head.

Maybe she’d go check on Diana one last time and tell her of this. Assuming she was still awake. She probably wouldn’t be, but well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dropping this a little earlier because I am extremely tired and it's not like it matters a lot anyways.  
> In any case, end of batch! Thanks to everyone who's reading, and particularly those who take the time to comment, as you're the ones that make this all worth it.  
> See you next time!


	55. Chapter 55

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello fellow humans, it is I, the writer of this fanfic that you are reading.  
> I welcome you to this, the new batch of chapters for this here fanfic about races in space.  
> I do hope you enjoy reading these new chapters and that you do decide to leave a comment, maybe with the added bonus of criticism for anything that you may or may not enjoy.  
> I will follow the posting way of the last two times, with one chapter a day until the end. Please, if you would prefer me to go back to the old 'drop the entire batch in one go' please comment about it too.  
> Without further ado, here you have the new chapters.

Akko stood next to the door, waiting for it to open, pointedly _not_ looking at the appal pilots who were standing behind the human group. This would be the last time they traveled with them, apparently, and Akko was kind of glad for that. Everyone was wearing full g-suits and helmets, as the air of Trashcan wasn’t breathable and it would be safer to wear full protection. Akko didn’t quite remember the map of the entire planet, but she did recall that the dumpster that would be their place to race was rather far away from any oceans. Apparently, that was because octopuses cared _a lot_ about keeping their oceans clean. Akko wasn’t aware of this, but apparently, early and late octopuses lived underwater, meanwhile the young adults came to the surface. No race was allowed to go to the underwater cities of the locals, though, so they had to settle for their surface ones.

This time, the air was different, but not because people looked weirdly at each other or anything. Hannah and Amanda seemed chill, Akko felt relatively confident, and apparently Lotte and Barbara had at some point started dating. Akko didn’t care much for romantic relationships, but she was happy for them. However, despite she not wanting to, she did notice the pilots Hadroin and Shill looking at her friends with some longing. Meanwhile, the long-armed girl and the other two members of their team, a strangely triangular man with no neck and a normal looking girl save for her absurdly long eyes, looked at Barbara and Lotte as if they were murdering someone.

Akko found this strange. Why did they look disgusted? Well, whatever.

The door opened, and Akko looked outside to find a beautifully red ocean. As if in a permanent sunset, the ocean reflected the red sky and everything looked incredible. The wooden dock around the _Dragon_ had, as always, already been set, the special brooms to go over the water preparing. Akko couldn’t see shore in any direction, so despite what she wanted to do, she couldn’t quite call on the Shiny Rod and take off in any direction she wanted.

As usual, Akko tried going outside of the magic area around the _Dragon_ to feel the differences on Trashcan. Gravity was slightly off, she felt lighter but not by a lot.

Of course, she couldn’t feel the air, so that was one less experience for her. She looked back as everyone stood around Ursula, waiting for instructions. When Ursula saw her getting closer she started. “We’ll be here for seventy-two hours,” she stated. “Races will begin in sixty hours. Everyone will be allowed to practice in the dumpster, though me and the other coaches have decided on a schedule so that everyone gets a fair chance to practice alone,” then she took a small paper out of a small pouch she was carrying. “This,” she opened it, “is also a special permit.” She handed it to Constanze. “You’ll be allowed to do checkups on the Shooting Stars and Shiny Rod.”

Everyone’s face brightened up, save for Constanze, who got a look of determination and nodded, taking the thing and instantly starting to read it. “How did you get it?” Akko asked.

Ursula looked away as she answered. “I think an old friend tried to do me a favor,” she said. She sounded unhappy as she said that. “I just asked for it and a couple days later it was permitted.”

Akko wanted to ask more, but Ursula was obviously not comfortable with the topic. Not only that, it seemed like she was pained by it. Whatever the reason, Akko decided it would be best to let it go, at least for now. Amanda patted Constanze’s back, congratulating her and warning her to make sure she looked out for damn cheaters.

Ursula interrupted the small celebration by clearing her throat. “Anyways, girls, the place for the race is at these coordinates,” she said, handing a paper to Akko and then sending the data to everyone’s wands. Akko looked at Jasminka and gestured her to follow. Jasminka nodded and they both walked to the other end of the wooden platform where the Shiny Rod was already waiting. Akko got in, told the coordinates to Alcor and then asked him to teleport her there. Not without saying the magic words first.

The teleport happened, and at the beginning, Akko waited a few seconds for her eyes to take in the familiar landsc- “Where the hell are we?” Akko asked, frowning. She looked around, thinking she may be on the edge of the giant dumpster or something, but not.

All that surrounded her was glass, or crystal, or whatever it was. Simple, transparent, broken glass. Everywhere. Piles of it. No, not piles. Cubes. Giant cubes. Hundreds of meters long and at least fifty meters tall.

“Alcor, map,” Akko said. Maybe they were close or… No. When the map showed up, Akko saw that they were at least one third of the circumference of the planet away from the dumpster, though they weren’t far from the ocean in which Akko assumed the _Dragon_ had landed.

She looked around again. There had to be some kind of mistake. The map showed Akko that this place full of cubes of glass was big. Not as big as the dumpster, but more than enough to hold a race. The space between cubes of glass was also enough to hold two to three ships, depending on size. But unlike the sinuous paths of the dumpster, this place was an area of sharp turns and straights, more akin to Machina than Akko wanted.

The blue sunlight reflected off the countless shards of crystal around her, making it hard to see. In contrast to the red sky, everything looked kind of purple, or maybe dark red. It was beautiful. But at the moment, Akko didn’t want a beautiful view, she wanted to see piles of trash covering everything in view and fly through them.

Of course, she teleported back to the _Dragon._ Ursula and the others were still waiting for the Shooting Star – wing repaired, of course – to be shipped to land.

When Akko explained the situation, Ursula double-checked the coordinates. They were correct.

“Motherfuckers!” Amanda said after a few seconds.

Akko shared the sentiment. “They know of us? Or…?” Hannah started, trying to figure out the reason for the change.

Ursula shook her head. “It’s more likely that they knew everyone expected that flying on Trashcan would be the same as always. IT was basically set that Trashcan would be on this IPR’s rotation of planets, so it’s likely every pilot has practiced strategies for the usual track.”

“But by changing it they take everyone by surprise,” Barbara finished. “That’s a dick move.”

“It’s not against the rules, and it’s certainly a good strategy,” Ursula remarked. “We have a limited amount of time to practice, though of course we’ll extend it with the Shiny Rod,” she crossed her arms, closing her arms. “And the rules for the race won’t arrive until a couple hours before the actual race.”

“This is ludicrous,” Hannah said. “They would break a hundred-year-long tradition just to win some dumb race?”

“Tradition means nothing in the grand scheme of things,” Sucy said. “Particularly if there’s some big prize thrown into the mix.”

Hannah didn’t reply.

Akko didn’t know what to think. She was feeling so… bad. Even after things had been going so well, to get changed up like this was not only unexpected, it felt like a betrayal. She pressed her fist. So they had cheated on her, and the worst part was that they hadn’t actually cheated. They had used Akko’s own way of cheating and turned it around on her.

Akko wasn’t mad at octopuses like the others seemed to be – she was mad at herself. She wondered if Diana would have seen this coming. It was so obvious in retrospect. With such an important prize at stakes – whatever it was – it only made sense to bring out the best strategies. They should have seen this coming. Akko should have asked Alcor if there were other places on the planet that would have been fit to race.

“Let’s go, coach,” Akko suddenly interrupted the discussions the others were having. Ursula looked at her.

“Akko, I have some things I need to take care of before we set off, as always…” Ursula trailed off as she saw Akko’s face. It wasn’t determined or angry, it wasn’t sad or begging. It was just a focused face. Akko knew that she had messed up, but they still had two and a half days to fix this. There was no reason to panic. She had gotten good at flying on the dumpster – she could get good at flying in this… place, whatever it was. Ursula sighed. “I’ll push it to later. Come on, let’s go.”

 

“According to this,” Diana said to Hannah while reading something, “the Pure Graveyard had always been a place signed up for racing, just never used, so most people forgot about it after a hundred years.”

Hannah had an expression of utter shock. Diana sighed, putting her wand down. “Sorry for troubling you with this, I just wanted to hear your opinion,” Hannah said.

Diana shook her head. “Thanks for talking to me,” she reassured. “I like to be up to date with these things,” she said. Hannah nodded. Diana was slightly uncomfortable in her posture. Diana had been asleep up until less than half an hour ago, and it had been a while since the last time she’d gotten painkillers, so her leg was starting to annoy her a little.

Hannah looked at Diana for a few seconds. “Hey, do you mind if Amanda comes for a while?” She asked. Diana tried not to show too much surprise, but put on an inquiring face. “It’s so that we can work better together.”

Diana was a little bewildered by the sudden request, but she nodded. Hannah looked as if Diana had just told her her mother had been saved from a life or death situation. Hannah rose from her place in the bed. “Mind if we do it now?”

“It’s fine,” Diana said. She was starting to be amused by Hannah’s situation. It was almost as if she was scared of what was to come, but also excited. A strange dichotomy. She stepped out of the room, and Diana heard some voices outside. A few seconds later, Amanda stepped into the room, looking extremely awkward while trying to play it cool.

She stood on the corner of the room, next to the door, looking around. Then a hand shoved her forward, and she almost stumbled right into the bed and on top of Diana’s leg. “Bitch are you crazy?” Amanda mumbled back as the door closed. She stood up straight and looked at Diana. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Diana said. “Did you have something you want to say to me?” She asked.

Amanda grimaced. She looked Diana up and down. She had already seen Diana once, but she hadn’t stayed long in the room. “You look awful,” she said.

Diana slowly and instinctively drew back into her neutral face. “Well that’s really meaningful, thanks.”

Amanda smiled. “Didn’t know you could do sarcasm,” she approached the side of the bed, crouching. Diana was looking at her with no idea of how she should feel, but then Amanda sighed, looking at her with a much more serious expression. “Hey, let me ask you this from the start: Do you think you’re better than me?”

Diana’s expression didn’t change. Amanda’s question didn’t seem to come from a place of anger, like it had back during the Sídhe-Machina trip. Diana wasn’t sure of what to make of the question. Amanda just looked at her straight, her face as unreadable as Diana’s, in a way. Not because she did it on purpose, but because without anything to hide, she didn’t need to put on a mask.

“No, of course not,” Diana answered. “I don’t consider myself better than anyone,” Diana said.

Amanda shook her head. “You know, it’s hard to believe you when you use that tone,” Amanda said. “Speaking as if I was nothing but a nuisance.”

Diana felt her face twitch. “Excuse me?”

Amanda stood. “See? That’s what I mean. You ask that as if there was no way in hell I’m right,” she scratched the back of her head. “I mean, is it that hard to believe? I know for a fact I’m not the only one who thinks like this. Have you ever considered it may be true? Even if you don’t feel like that?”

“Of course not. Other people’s perception is irrelevant,” Diana defended. “I know how I feel, and I know I don’t place myself above others.”

Amanda pressed her lips. “Well, I guess that’s fine,” she didn’t sound convinced. “Tell me, has a lot of people considered you were looking down on them over the years?”

“Well, yes,” Diana said. It was true. She’d gotten called stuck-up a lot of times.

“Why do you think that is?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

Diana was starting to get annoyed by the conversation. Why was this necessary for her to work better with Hannah? She didn’t see the point. “Probably because they have their own inferiority complexes,” she stated. “Doesn’t mean I’ve got a superiority one.”

Amanda shook her head. “See? You skipped over the most obvious answer, Diana. You’re full of yourself.”

“In which way?” Amanda had come into this room like two minutes ago. Diana was good at keeping it cool, but she did notice some of her anger slipping through the cracks of her voice.

“Diana, look,” Amanda took a breath, “I won’t say I like you – we both know I don’t – but if I’m to work with Hannah for the next two weeks or so I need to get to understand you better, if only so that she’ll get off my back trying to sell me that you’re not as bad as you say,” Diana felt like frowning at this comment, but didn’t allow herself to do it. “All I’m saying is, if a lot of people think you look down on them, then it may be because one: You do, or two: You act like you do.”

“So, what you’re saying is that this problem stems from my attitude,” Diana summarized.

“Well, yeah.”

Diana shook her head. “I already told you, I am not responsible of how others perceive me, particularly those who are unimportant to my daily life. If they see me like that, let them.”

Amanda smirked. “Ah, there we go. You know, Diana, that’s an excuse I often hear from asocial people. They make asses out of themselves and then say they don’t care about what others think of them.”

Diana didn’t need to ask what she was implying. It was rather obvious. She didn’t answer, trying to think of something to say. Amanda seemed to pick up on her hesitance.

“Don’t lose your shit quite yet. I’m just… Trying to understand you,” she gave Diana an unconvinced smile. “Have you considered that maybe your attitude _is_ the source of the problem, Diana? I can’t know what goes on in your head. Nobody can know. We can only trust outward appearances. Social interaction is all about appearances and prejudices.”

“Just because things are a way doesn’t make them ok,” Diana defended.

“Yeah, you’re right. Just as Hannah’s and Barbara’s attitudes regarding everyone else when they were around you weren’t ok, yet you let them go rampant, huh?” Amanda raised a single eyebrow.

Diana narrowed her eyes. “Do _not_ bring Hannah and Barbara into this,” she said, tone dropping in volume.

“You know, half the reason people perceive you as they do is because if them, at least in Luna Nova,” Amanda said.

“Most students at Luna Nova look up to me,” Diana stated. It was true. A lot of people, even those that were her seniors, had come asking for her advice.

Amanda chuckled. “My, and you say you’re not full of yourself.”

“I am _not_ full of myself, I am only stating facts,” Diana was quick to reply.

Amanda sighed. “Diana, just because a lot of people hold you in high regards thanks to your ability doesn’t mean they’re not annoyed as fuck at you, or at least at your underlings,” Amanda pointed at the door where Hannah was probably waiting. “They are always with you, yet when they insulted anyone you said nothing. Why, Diana? Why would you allow your two best friends to just go around belittling people?”

“They’re not… Well…” Diana found herself at a loss for words. She wanted to stand up for her friends, but how could she explain it without it merely sounded like shallow excuses? “They’re good people,” was all she could say.

Amanda snorted. “Bullshit!” She called. “I mean, _now_ I agree, after spending a month with them and being forced to get to know them. You can’t really expect people to just accept their bullying because they’re ‘good people’,” then she crouched. “Also, here’s a tip: Being a good person doesn’t stop you from being a shitty one. You can have a golden heart and still be an asshole.”

“Is this what you came here to do?” Diana said. “Insult me and my friends?”

Amanda shrugged. “I just want to make you think,” Amanda said.

“Well, I believe you’ve made enough,” Diana said, staring Amanda in the eyes. Amanda looked at her and shook her head, turning around.

“Just think about it for a while, what if someone you cared about got the wrong impression? Would you not care then?” Amanda said before exiting the room. Diana didn’t even get a chance to reply, though she wasn’t sure what she would’ve said to her. She was worked up. Always the same with people like Amanda. They thought they knew so much about her. And she had gone out of her way to throw Hannah and Amanda into the mix.

She expected Hannah to come back inside, but she didn’t. That was fine, Diana was in a foul mood and she’d rather be alone.

She didn’t look down on people. She… She had gotten over that. She was fine. Everything was fine. There was no reason for Diana to worry further about it. Only her knowledge mattered. If she knew she wasn’t that egotistical it was fine. Others’ perceptions didn’t matter.

_What if someone you cared about got the wrong impression?_

Then that person obviously didn’t know her well enough to deserve that care. Though, maybe Amanda had a point in pointing out Hannah’s and Barbara’s attitudes. Diana was not in the emotional state right now to make these kinds of decisions, but she was willing to admit when she may have been wrong.

Hannah and Barbara were her best friends, but Diana had never been really happy with what they did. She’d talk to them about it later.

But she was still angry about the other things Amanda had said.

 

Akko, curiously enough, flew without much trouble. She wasn’t going too fast, but she was making sure she got some real practice until the other races made it to the planet.

She had learned to take sharp turns on Machina, thanks to Elizabeth the blue Metal Bird. Seemed like it had paid off, as now this race would be nothing but constant sharp turns. The Shiny Rod couldn’t place a start and finish line since there were no previous races in this terrain. So Akko just set a path for herself and flew. Again, the octopuses were perfect in their organization. The map showed Akko something that looked a whole lot like a brick wall. In one directions there were a lot of straight lines – and Akko was one hundred percent certain that would _not_ be the direction of the race. On the parallel path, however, the cubes were placed as if they were placed in a way to stop a wall from falling over. This was the way Akko practiced. Constant sharp turns at ninety-degree angles.

Ursula had tried to look for a pattern, like back in the dumpster, but to no avail. This place was simple, much simpler. Akko felt cheated, but she understood that only originated because she had been technically cheating in the first place.

It was annoying at best, but she would deal with it. Because she still had a lot of practice to go. Without knowing what the rules of the race were, she’d just have to grow accustomed to the terrain.

“Akko, you’re changing directions too often,” Ursula said after a couple of runs. She traced the path Akko had been flying through in the map with her finger. “It leads you to having to turn the Rod around too much. You should try taking a couple turns in the same direction more often,” she explained to Akko with her finger.

“But that way I constantly leave a blind spot on one side of the ship,” Akko explained her reasoning for why she hadn’t been doing that.

Ursula nodded. “True, but that’s why Jasminka is down there,” Ursula pointed at where the turret was. Akko nodded. She felt slightly uncomfortable with the idea of doing what the coach had asked of her, but it wasn’t long until she got over that. Ursula knew what she was doing. Akko didn’t know better than her and if she wanted to win then she’d better listen to what was being told to her.

Akko did another run. She had polarized the windshield of the Shiny Rod – asking Alcor had been simple enough – and now all the reflections didn’t bother her as much. It was still kind of confusing, sometimes. Not as confusing as a mirror labyrinth but with the way things were spaced out a lot of times Akko had a split-second worry that the path she was on would have no exits. It was hard to distinguish different blocks of glass from one another, particularly when moving at such high speeds, but Akko managed.

Sometimes she would barely clip a corner, but it was something minimal that didn’t make her lose any speed. It did, however, sometimes cause a small avalanche of glass. Akko wondered how the landscape would look after two days and a half of a lot of different races piloting around. How many paths would be closed off, how many blocks would have collapsed. Doing things in simulations allowed one to always reset. Akko hadn’t really thought much about that before, but she sure did now. She’d make sure to regularly check the map of the Shiny Rod to know what changes were made to the landscape and stop herself from being surprised when the race came. She’d keep Amanda and Hannah updated too, of course.

“Akko, a couple more attempts and it’ll be time to head to the shore to meet up with the others and go to the City,” Ursula said after another finished try. Akko manually checked the magic output. She wasn’t using even half of it, though she hadn’t been doing crazy stuff. Unless this ended up being another really long race or something she should be fine for the upcoming race. And Amanda would be fine too, probably.

And, as Ursula had said, after two more tries – in which Akko put to practice what Ursula had told her – she teleported away to shore, where everyone else had just arrived. Akko had expected to see the glass blocks to extend all the way to the shore, but they cut off a few kilometers before the sea, giving room for a small city to spawn. The City looked… Well, alien. Every building was floating in the air and was filled with water. From down here Akko could see the octopuses – with their four tentacles – swimming around inside the buildings, that were connected through big, flexible tubes that appeared to be made of some kind of plastic. The buildings also seemed to be of something other than metal or wood. Akko doubted it would be plastic but the material surely resembled it.

“It’s a material that the Octopuses created mixing a lot of trash,” Ursula explained, as if reading her thoughts as they exited the Shiny Rod. The floating city was about ten meters into the air, though it extended up to thirty meters normally and even up to fifty in the highest places. It wasn’t a massive City, but it extended up all the way to the edge of the thing that Hannah named Pure Graveyard.

“So… We’re not going to sleep in any of those houses, huh?” Amanda pointed at the floating spheres.

“Of course not,” Ursula chuckled. “Our facilities are over here, follow me.”

Akko was slightly confused as Ursula walked. She walked for a while, ten to fifteen minutes at least, and they were under a relatively big house-bubble thing painted red when they stopped. Akko cocked her head, wondering what was going on, until suddenly, the bottom of the red house opened up. The water didn’t fall off, but it instead drained away. The sphere disconnected itself from the tubes around it and dropped to the ground, making it shake a little. Now they were inside of what looked like an igloo.

“Wow,” Akko said. “How do we get outta here, then?” She looked around. Blue light entered through the windows – long, wide but not very tall – and there wasn’t a single door in sight.

“Oh, that’s an easy one,” Ursula said. She approached the wall to the right and tapped a couple times. Suddenly, the material shifted, including window, as if it was being melted. It transformed into a door. Akko couldn’t contain her excitement and ran to it, tapping it twice. Nothing happened. She frowned.

“I’ll teach you later,” Ursula said. “For now, wait until the bus brings here our stuff. They’re going to set up the magical field around this area so that you can relax.”

“I’m going back to practice,” Akko instantly asserted, understanding that Ursula was probably going to her meeting or whatever. That was fine for Akko, but she still wanted to practice, particularly now that she was determined to learn perfectly how to fly in this place. Nothing was more important right now…

“Actually, Akko, in about fifteen minutes it’ll be the Medusa’s turn at the place. Ours won’t be for another four hours. If you want to practice, use the simulator. Or, just relax for a while. Remember, overworking yourself won’t do any good either,” Ursula stopped her in her tracks. Akko pouted, but she reluctantly turned around and went back to the others. Lotte and Barbara seemed to be embarrassed of acting too lovey-dovey in front of everyone else, but they did hold hands.

“Well, now what?” Akko asked, looking at the others. “Wait, where’s Constanze?”

“You just realize she’s not here?” Amanda asked. “She stayed with the Shooting Star. She’s checking it out and making sure it hasn’t been tampered with… Or at least that’s her excuse,” Amanda smirked. Akko raised an eyebrow, but Amanda didn’t – or pretended not to – notice.

“Those blocks are way more pretty than what I expected,” Hannah mentioned, looking at the horizon where the crystal blocks reflected the sunlight.

“You expected the planet to be just a giant sea of trash, right?” Barbara asked.

“I mean, it has the name ‘trashcan,’ what was I to expect?” Hannah argued.

“Well, the Dumpster is more or less what everyone imagined,” Akko said. “But this area is way… cleaner. Dunno, didn’t expect this.”

“Well, you can’t seriously expect an entire planet to be exactly the same everywhere,” Sucy said. “This isn’t some shitty sci-fi story. Planets are too big to be exactly the same constantly.”

“But this one has been used as a dumpster for so long…” Akko tried to say.

“Nowadays what falls on the planet is mostly resources. And the trash that originates in this planet gets shipped out towards the nearest sun.”

Akko found this idea kind of surprising, though she wasn’t sure why. While she was thinking about this, someone else asked the thing that had just barely started forming in her mind. “Wait, that way won’t they run out of resources altogether eventually?” Lotte asked.

“I guess,” Sucy shrugged, “maybe they found a way to overcome that. They’re _sooo_ smart after all,” she scoffed at something. Akko wondered if she was angry for some reason. Had she slept well? “So smart they can’t even come up with a way to win a dumb race.”

“I feel some resentment here,” Hannah said with a hint of mockery in her tone. Sucy basically hissed at her, which made Hannah jump back, scared. Akko didn’t blame her, Sucy was scary.

“I just don’t like stuck-up idiots,” Sucy explained. Akko knew this to be true, but she didn’t think Sucy had ever voiced such distaste for octopuses. She didn’t seem to hate them with passion either, just a mildly obvious disgust. Akko didn’t ask for more details mainly because it was pretty clear the girl wouldn’t be giving them to her.

The inside of the sphere-become-dome suddenly turned on some kind of lights. Akko wasn’t sure where they were coming from – it was as if the wall itself was a giant light. It hadn’t been too dark inside, but it was still welcome light. “Diana would have a blast looking at these,” Barbara commented.

Akko nodded instinctively. She didn’t know a lot about Diana but this did look like the kind of thing the blonde would enjoy.  She was still awake, as far as Akko was aware. Maybe it would be nice to drop by and pay her a visit. She’d probably take Barbara and Hannah with her during their downtimes in the next few days so that Diana wouldn’t feel alone back in the _Dragon._

Hey, maybe she should go pay her a visit now…

“Don’t even think about it,” Amanda said, looking at Akko. “I don’t think she’s in the mood for visits right now.”

 _Hey, stop reading my thoughts,_ Akko thought. Amanda showed no signs of hearing that, but just in case Akko kept her guard up.

“Thanks to you,” Hannah said.

“I just talked to her. She’s the one that got mad for no reason,” Amanda said. Hannah gave her a flat look. “Ok, fine, maybe it was because of what I said but then again I just told her how I see things.”

Akko expected Hannah to say something else. Surprisingly, she just sighed and shook her head. Akko found this weird but strangely interesting.

Or maybe she was just too bored.

As time passed, the _Dragon’s_ crew finally arrived with a lot of their stuff. They set up a magical field where they could take off their uniforms and relax. As soon as that was done, however, Akko got impatient. “Jasminka, let’s go!” Akko said. Jasminka nodded, preparing herself.

“We should go too,” Hannah said, looking at Amanda. Amanda shrugged, nodding.

“Wait,” Sucy said. “This place is big enough. Why don’t you call the Shiny Rod?” she suggested. Akko paused. Yeah, this dome was definitely big enough to hold them all and the Shiny Rod easily. With a diameter of probably twenty meters….

Akko waved the key-wand, and within seconds the Shiny Rod appeared and parked near the wall where it wasn’t obstructive. “Huh. Convenient,” Barbara pointed out.

Akko didn’t have take the time to admire it, however, as she walked up to it and hurried Jasminka to do the same. The pink haired girl moved without a hurry, even if her pace wasn’t slow, and made Akko nervous.

But, once they were set up, Akko finally stopped feeling like she was wasting time.

 

 

 

There wasn’t much to do in Trashcan. Not that Hannah wanted to go out and play in the trash or anything, but since they weren’t in a big city and most octopuses spent their time inside their interconnected floating city, all Hannah could do was accompany everyone as they took a stroll down the beach. The sun was starting to set, though Hannah wasn’t sure how long the day-night cycle was in this planet. When looking at the horizon, while most of the sea looked red or maroon, in the places where the sun shined the most it sometimes shone purple and violet.

They had been practicing for hours now, and had decided to take a break. Save for Constanze, who hadn’t cme back yet, and Jasminka, who had remained in the dome to eat, the others were walking next to the sea, chatting and relaxing. Akko was pestering Sucy about being used as a guinea pig again – Sucy injected her with something that apparently made her see the world as if through a mirror, and it showed in the weird movements Akko was making while trying to walk straight. Hannah watched not without some jealousy at Barbara, who was certainly enjoying her time with Lotte. She was starting to understand the trope in movies where friends try to get each other away from their couples just to be able to spend some time together.

“If you’re going to make that face you shouldn’t have forced Barbara to confess,” Amanda said.

“What do you care?” Hannah asked, annoyed. She wasn’t sure of why she was annoyed. Maybe it was the knowledge of the fact that Diana was alone in the _Dragon_ in a bad mood because of Amanda. Or maybe that was just what she wanted to make herself believe.

“You look like an abandoned puppy,” Amanda explained. “It’s kind of cringe to watch, honestly.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to say much, since she was not in the mood for being teased. But maybe a distraction wouldn’t be bad.

“I feel like I’ve talked with no one but you in the past three days,” Hannah said. “It’s starting to drive me nuts.”

“You talked to Diana,” Amanda reminded her.

“Yeah but it seems like she doesn’t like to keep us in there, so our conversations are kind of awkward,” Hannah pressed her lips. “And now she’s alone and probably over-thinking about what you said.”

Amanda stayed quiet for a few seconds. “Well, she’ll come to her own conclusion. Whatever it is, I got what I wanted to say off my chest and maybe we can start building a better relationship from now on,” she said.

“Wow, that sounded almost mature,” Hannah said.

“Almost? Bitch that’s more mature than anything you’ve said in the past sixteen years,” Amanda replied. Hannah smiled, finding the tone Amanda had used funny.

They kept walking in silence. Sucy was now pushing Akko away, and any sudden movement made Akko trip and fall. Sucy herself was looking around for plant life. She probably knew she wouldn’t find any, but if she did she could quickly become someone highly regarded on the scientific inter-planetary community. Trashcan was a lifeless planet. It lacked most natural resources – for lacking, it didn’t even have salt. Its oceans were pure water. Hannah wasn’t sure if that was the case for the other octopus planets or if they had evolved and adapted. How much time had they spent in this planet, again? Hannah wasn’t sure.

As they walked, the sun reached the horizon. “We should probably go back,” Hannah said, looking at the beautifully sunset. The sky had turned an amazing purple. “Nights here are dark.”

“Are you afraid of the dark?” Amanda asked with a smile.

“I’m afraid of what you might do to me within it,” Hannah instantly replied. Amanda seemed a little taken aback by the answer. It had been a little more suggestive than Hannah’s usual teasing. Well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

The others turned. Akko actually turned the opposite way first, but then she corrected herself. Hopefully the effect would wear off soon, she still had to practice. “I suppose we should,” Lotte said. “Ursula might grow worried, too.”

“If she’s even back. What’s taking her so long?” Amanda asked. Well, it was true. She hadn’t contacted any of them through the communicators in their helmets, so it was more likely she was still doing… whatever it was she was doing.

“Akko, why don’t you call her?” Barbara said. “She may answer if it’s you, thinking it’s an emergency.”

Akko turned a couple times before managing to face Barbara. She looked annoyed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Barbara didn’t answer, just chuckling. Lotte nudged her. “Sorry,” Barbara said, “it was just a joke.”

Akko crossed her arms and let out a little ‘hmpf’ to show she was still annoyed, but Lotte shrugged that off and kept walking with Barbara. Hannah was a little annoyed at the exchange herself. It had been a harmless joke, no need for Lotte to make Barbara apologize.

“Wow, Lotte already tamed one of the dogs. Who would have thought,” Amanda commented. Hannah looked at her through narrowed eyes.

“Are we supposed to be beasts?” Hannah asked. Amanda smirked. “What?”

“I didn’t name you, did I?” Amanda asked with a cocky voice.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “And then you try to pretend you’re mature,” she said, turning around and starting on her way back to the dome that was their home for now. Amanda chuckled and followed, along with everyone. The beach walk had been mildly entertaining but not very satisfactory. Hannah had expected to have some fun with Barbara. She didn’t regret what she had done – Barbara was obviously happy – but she wouldn’t deny that she hoped the couple’s stage of let’s-never-separate was done soon.

As they walked, it grew dark. They had been gone for about an hour, so the walk back would probably take the same. There was still half an hour left, and truth be told, Hannah could only tell left from right because the ocean reflected the stars. As time passed, though, her eyes grew kind of accustomed to the dark and she was at least able to make out silhouettes around her, even if she didn’t know who was who.

Hannah wasn’t afraid of the dark, even if not being able to see made her uncomfortable. Plus, the other five were still around. She wondered why no one had taken out their wand, but she refused to be the first, lest Amanda tease her because of it.

She was a little naïve.

At one point, suddenly, she felt something grab her ankle. She jumped with a high pitched cry, stumbling and not falling on her ass thanks to quick footwork. A chill ran down her spine as she imagined something creepy trying to get her, but it took about two seconds for Amanda to start laughing her ass off. “You…” Hannah said through gritted teeth. She could only guess that the dark figure trashing in the ground was Amanda.

She turned with a huff. _This isn’t going to end like this,_ she thought. Amanda wanted to pull pranks on her? Well she’d see what Hannah was capable of when she got serious. She heard the others chuckle too, which didn’t help her mood. She should have seen something like that coming. Of course Amanda would do something like that in the dark.

 _Just wait,_ she thought, her frown slowly turning into an evil grin.

 

Chariot walked around the pristine white hallways of Luna Nova, hurried. She had woken twenty minutes late. She would miss breakfast but she could still make it to the first period in time. She walked at a fast pace, but wasn’t running. She didn’t need a scolding right now.

She turned a corner without looking, and before she even realized it she had dodged and caught the book of someone who had been surprised by their almost collision. She handed the book over to the girl and was surprised to see a lavender hair and couple of teal eyes hidden behind glasses. Croix.

Chariot forgot about what she was doing previously. “Uhm, hi!” she said. Since the entrance ceremony a week ago she had been wanting to talk to her, but she had failed to see her again. This had to be destiny!

Croix looked over her shoulder, as if wanting to keep moving. “Hey. You’re… Chariot, aren’t you? You’ll be late to your class, so you should…”

“You know, I watched your race,” Chariot completely ignored what she was saying. “The Moonlit Witch race last year, I mean. You were incredible!”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks,” Croix said. She sounded kind of annoyed. “Listen, I really need to get…”

“Do you want to become a witch?” Chariot kept pestering the older girl with questions. Croix sighed, seemingly resigned to her fate, and fixed the girl fangirling in front of her with an unimpressed look.

“No,” she said.

Chariot frowned. “But you…”

“Yes I won a race, but my plan isn’t to become a witch. I’m a pilot for research purposes now would you _please_ move? Bell’s about to ring, we’re _both_ going to be late,” her tone this time implied that she would _not_ take kindly to being stalled for longer.

Chariot pouted. “Sorry…” she stepped aside, disappointed. Croix was about to walk away, but she paused and looked at Chariot one last time. Chariot was making the saddest face she could think of. Puppy eyes didn’t begin to describe it.

Croix sighed and looked away. “Come to the library after school, if you wanna talk,” she said. Without pausing to hear an answer, however, she walked away.

Chariot was left a little stunned, but a smile slowly took over her face. She had managed to get Croix’s attention! Now it would be hard to concentrate in class, as she’d be excited for the end of the day where she’d be able to- The bell rang.

 _Shit, that’s right,_ was all she could think as she took off at a dash towards her classroom.

 

Ursula woke up in the middle of the night. She opened her eyes slowly, but the room was so dark there was barely any difference. She sighed. She didn’t like dreaming of past things. Particularly memories that had once made her happy but were now tainted with bitterness and anger.

She wanted to go back to sleep, but she heard something strange. Some kind of movement. Suspicious, she reached over and turned on the light of her wand.

The rustle she had been hearing came, apparently, from Hannah, who knelt frozen with a bunch of sand in her hands. Ursula looked down at what she was doing and then raised an eyebrow at the girl. Hannah gave her an awkward smile and dropped the sand, putting her hands together in a praying position. Then she brought a finger to her lips.

Ursula hesitated. As a responsible adult she probably shouldn’t allow these things, but maybe because of the dream she had just had, she looked at Hannah and saw some of herself in her. Plus, what she was doing wasn’t particularly harmful.

With a movement, she turned off her wand and decided to act as if she had seen nothing.


	56. Chapter 56

Amanda woke up feeling strangely heavy. She had slept with her g-suit, since the floor was sand and she’d rather not…

“What the fuck?” Was all she could say as she looked at herself. She was covered from neck to toes in a mountain of sand. It wasn’t a lot, but she could feel some on her face and mouth. She looked around with narrowed eyes. She found Akko chuckling along with Jasminka. Constanze had apparently come back at some point during the night, but was still sleeping. Lotte or Sucy were definitely not the guilty ones. Barbara neither, probably.

Hannah, who was still sleeping, looked like an innocent angel.

Amanda rose and made sure to throw a bunch of sand her way. The sleeping bag she had been using was now full of sand, of course, and past the initial annoyance, she found herself smiling. She couldn’t be mad. Sleeping with her g-suit had isolated her so well that she didn’t even feel what was going on through the whole night.

Now Hannah was slowly opening her eyes. Her hair was a mess and her pajama was now sprinkled all around with sand. She didn’t seem too annoyed by this as she smirked with her sleepy face towards Amanda before sighing and going back to sleep. She must have spent a good while trying to bury Amanda without her noticing.

 When she woke up and realized she was covered in sand she’d probably throw a tantrum but that was fine.

Amanda stretched. She looked at the bathrooms they had set up inside the building for them – portable things carried inside trucks. She wasn’t sure how they had gotten those inside the building, but that was another matter. She got rid of her g-suit and left it hanging for later cleaning. She would take a shower and then probably wear her spare g-suit. She wasn’t a fan of the Earth’s team design but whatever. After entering the bathroom and doing everything she wanted, she realized she hadn’t brought the change of clothes with her. It was common for her.

Coming out of the bathroom and stepping on the sand was actually kind of pleasant. Though she’d need to wash her feet again before putting on the g-suit.

She went to the area where they had left their luggage. She rummaged through her mess of clothes until she found what she wanted and sighed. As she turned around, however, she noticed Akko and Jasminka were gone – along with the Shiny Rod. That was right, it was probably their turn at practicing.

The others were still there, though. Amanda thought she had seen some movement somewhere, but that had been probably just a trick of the mind. With a sigh, she went back to the bathroom to finish this lengthy period of time.

When she came out, she felt refreshed. Not that the temperature was too hot or something, but showering always made one feel refreshed. At least she had never met someone who didn’t enjoy a good while under a stream of water.

Amanda sighed. Akko should be back at any minute… Wait, there it was again. Movement. It had come from the direction where everyone was sleeping, but not from them. From the window. Amanda frowned as a shadow moved around. The outside wasn’t pitch black, but the sun hadn’t quite come out yet.

Suspicious, Amanda approached the window where she had seen the movement. “Don’t bother,” Ursula’s voice startled her. “Those kids have been hanging around our house all night. They seem to find us funny.”

“Kids?” Hannah suddenly sprang up from the place she had been sleeping in, alert. “Like hell we’re going to fall for that one again, you little pieces of shit!” She declared. She moved at a speed Amanda wouldn’t have considered possible to put on her g-suit – above her pajamas – and helmet, and ran outside.

Amanda followed her, and as Ursula had said, outside the building a couple of ‘small’ octopuses – wearing those strange water scarves all octopuses used outside water – were sticking to the outside of their building.

“Hey, get lost!” Hannah shouted to the aliens. To Amanda, both kids were basically indistinguishable. The sky was going from violet to red right now, but the sun still didn’t make its appearance over the horizon.

The kids just looked at Hannah as if she was some kind of amusement. They weren’t that different from octopuses, save for only having half the tentacles – shouldn’t they be called something like tetrapuses? Why was Amanda even aware of how to use the prefix ‘tetra’? Mysteries she might never get an answer for – and being way bigger. These two kid octopuses would probably reach Amanda up to her shoulders. Adult octopuses usually were a head or two higher than an average human.

“What’s up with them?” Hannah asked in annoyance.

“Did you put on your translator?” Amanda asked, noticing the lack of the device on Hannah’s helmet. Hannah paused, growling.

“You tell them,” Hannah turned to Amanda. Amanda shook her head, pointing out that she also had forgotten to add one.

“Not that it’d matter, they’re not wearing any either, so this is probably a useless encounter,” Amanda said. They were wearing only those things that allowed them to breathe, nothing else. However, as Amanda said that, both kids made a strange movement, their bodies wobbling like some kind of jelly. Amanda wondered what was it they found so funny. Maybe they noticed the nature of their argument.

Then, both kids dropped from the side of the dome, falling on the sand. The way they moved on land was rather funny, using their tentacles to kind of push and pull themselves, using their suckers to try and stay in place. Their horizontal pupils looked at both Hannah and Amanda and with one moist tentacle they reached forward and started doing something on the sand.

“What are they doing?” Hannah asked, slightly scared. Amanda wasn’t particularly afraid of a couple of invertebrates, so she approached and tried to get a look. She was surprised to find that she understood what they were doing, because it was writing. _We understand,_ read the message.

Amanda was left speechless as she waved for Hannah to get closer. Suspicious, the girl took careful steps towards Amanda. When she saw the message her jaw dropped. She turned to see the octopuses. They looked smug. Could octopuses be smug? Well, these certainly could.

“Wait, you understand us?” Hannah asked in disbelief.

Both octopus kids nodded, writing something else. _Simple language. Easy._

Amanda was really surprised by this. Well, octopuses _were_ technically the smartest race on the alliance, but it was still very surprising. “Well, what are you doing here?” Amanda finally asked. If she recalled correctly, it had been a kid plant that had set up that trap for the Blue Star.

The octopuses moved to write again. _Curiosity. Humans are funny._

Amanda raised an eyebrow. She wondered if the octopuses would be able to read the expression. She was about to say something when, suddenly, she noticed something.

The side of the dome turned blue, but… it was amazing. The sunlight hitting it was fragmented, stretched or focused, it looked like… Like if it was being shone through shattered glass. She turned, and realized the giant glass blocks were just in the right angle to allow the sunlight through, and this was the result. A beautiful blue mural, like a natural stained glass window.

“Holy shit,” she mumbled, failing to grasp the full scope of what she was watching. It was hypnotic. Hannah finally saw what had grabbed her attention and she also paused, looking at the dome with a shocked expression. The octopus who hadn’t written yet used his tentacle to smooth the sand to write again.

 _Humans like shiny things too?_ He asked. Well, Amanda assumed it was a he. She… wasn’t sure of how to tell if an octopus was male or female.

“I guess,” Amanda said, having broken out of the spell the beautiful sight had set her in. The octopuses exchanged some words, as if they were discussing something, and then both of them slowly turned to Amanda. The one from before wrote something else in the sand. _Wait here for a few minutes. We want to show you something._

Amanda hesitated. Could this be a trap? She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t really feel like these two aliens had bad intentions. She took a minute to think about it. Hannah was completely enraptured by the pattern. She looked like she was about to cry. It was beautiful, but well, Amanda had never been much into art anyways.

“Ok,” she finally said. The two octopuses instantly moved. They climbed the side of the dome, and with an agility Amanda didn’t expect, they climbed from the top of the dome to one of the tubes connecting houses. Then they disappeared.

Hannah kept watching the dome. “Hannah,” Amanda said. Hannah turned to her as if she had just woken up. Well, that wasn’t far from the truth. “you should go back inside, you look like you’re about to fall asleep in the spot.”

The girl looked around, surprised. “And the octopuses?” She asked with a frown.

Amanda pointed up. “Sent them away. You can relax now,” she lied. Hannah, however, was a little too tired to process what had happened. She moved as if to rub her eyes, but found the helmet standing between her hand and her face. Somehow, Amanda found this to be absurdly cute. “Go,” she said.

Hannah looked around one last time, as if to confirm there really weren’t any octopuses in sight anymore. Then with a yawn, she waved to Amanda and went back inside. Amanda relaxed a little at that.

If this was a trap, better for her to be trapped alone and not drag anyone else into it.

 

Akko finished the route she had set for herself to use as practice and stopped. Ursula had already sent the information about the times when they would be allowed to use the real Pure Graveyard to practice. She had been at it for half an hour now. She wondered if she should go back to allow Amanda and Hannah some practice, but then she remembered this wasn’t a simulation, so they could come to practice with their actual ship. She wondered if they may have been slacking off because they knew they had the simulator, but that was probably not the case. She’d send a message to Ursula about it later, assuming she was awake and wearing her helmet.

She paused for a little while. Flying non-stop made it easy to get tilted and start making silly mistakes. Practicing in real life was something Akko did mainly to get more used to the controls. The real practice would come in the simulations where she could actually race against others. Or, at least, that’s what she hoped.

However, she was surprised when she saw something approaching her ship. Big, black and red. The shape was impossible to mistake. She was surprised, however, when she saw something else coming from the other side. She was right now standing in the middle of a crossroads, having paths to her right, left and forward. The other ship that had approached was the Second Category daemon ship. It’s blade-like wings were kind of unsettling.

Akko’s heart started to beat slightly faster as she expected this to be some kind of ambush. Would they attack her? She shouldn’t have come alone, but in the worst case she could always teleport and-

Suddenly, both ships’ cockpits opened, and Akko saw one daemon come out of each. One black, one white.

They approached the Shiny Rod without hurry, and once they were close, they waved. “Hey, First Category, care to join us?” The one Akko recognized as Horn said.

Hesitant, Akko left the Shiny Rod. She made sure to keep the key-wand in hand, just in case.

Both daemons were slightly taller than her. “Hello. You’re… _Atsuko_ , right?” Horn asked. He pronounced Akko’s name without the help of the translator, and the way he said it made Akko’s ears scream. His voice sounded like someone scraping their nails against a blackboard, but ten times worse. Akko nodded. “Well I don’t think we’ve formally met,” he said, extending a hand to Akko. It only had three fingers, it kind of looked like the crane from one of those machines where you could get plushies. Akko gave it to him, slightly unsettled by the lack of emotion in his face, and the way his round eyes didn’t blink.

“And I’m Deep Darkness,” the white one said. His voice, in contrast, was a lot less ear-shattering. His eyes were also way more friendly. They seemed to shift between marine green and marine blue constantly, but Akko assumed this to just be a trick of the light or something. It was… Surprising. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he also extended a hand. Akko noticed that, unlike Horn, he also had some of those little protrusions in his wrist, all of them tipped red, of course.

“Hey,” Akko said. She had brought her translator, luckily. “Uhm… What do you want? It’s the human’s turn at practicing here,” she asked not without some worry that they’d try to bully Akko into giving them extra time.

Horn, however, made a gesture with his hands. He didn’t emote, but Akko was quick to realize that it was because they did so with their bodies. Akko suspected the pose he held now, with his hands slightly opened as if he were about to give Akko a hug was some kind of equivalent to a smile. “Don’t worry, we’re not here for that. We just wanted to propose a little race between all of us.”

Akko raised an eyebrow. The other one, Deep Darkness, nodded. Akko hesitated, recalling what they had done to the Shooting Star. But… she wouldn’t mind some real practice. Having some actual stakes would probably make her more perceptive and help. Then again, would Ursula agree?

 _It’s not like Ursula is here right now…_ Akko’s brain thought. She slowly felt her impulsive side take over as the curiosity to race against two daemons completely overtook her rational mind. “Well, if it’s only one race, I guess it’s ok,” Akko said, trying not to be too eager.

Both daemons did a strange gesture with their hands and shifted a little in place, and Akko suspected that had been some kind of excited movement. They quickly set the rules for the race, and with a nod, all of them climbed onto their ships again. The space between blocks of glass was enough to hold the three ships – Shiny Rod, Noir Rod and _‘Blood Sailor’_ as the daemons had called it – so they set up in one. The start of the race would be decided with the rising sun. Right now the Noir Rod’s shadow was touching one of the blocks. The second it stopped touching it due to the shift in light they would go.

The wait was kind of painful, but Akko knew to be alert. She wouldn’t let them win.

Their race would be a good number of kilometers long. Akko suspected it would take them about ten minutes to finish it. It was a good practice. Maybe Akko would also find out something about the Noir Rod. Who knew, she might also win against the two of them and then they’d be afraid to race against her or something!

Yeah, that was just wishful thinking but it’s not like there was something wrong with that.

The race started.

All shields instantly rose, and Akko saw that both daemon ships had tried to destroy the Shiny Rod. Of course, Akko had seen it coming, so she just went straight ahead and started flying like normal. The daemons hadn’t stopped to attack anyways.

Both daemons took opposite routes, while Akko ended up going the same way as the Blood Sailor. The sun behind her was reflected by countless shards of glass, but Akko didn’t mind it much thanks to her now polarized windshield. She took her turns carefully, and thanks to being able to take the first two from the inside she had gained a small advantage over the Blood Sailor. She was surprised not to see the Noir Rod coming upfront at the turn where she suspected they were going to try and attack her again, but of course she didn’t complain.

The Blood Sailor got close to her, and Akko saw the telltale signs of a coming attack. However, right before it managed to do it, Jasminka shot at the ship, forcing them to dodge and miss. Akko didn’t want them getting ahead of her. That shield they could put up was not something she had to deal with on her simulations and she certainly didn’t want to deal with it now.

Her movements were precise and focused. She didn’t even need the map to move around, though she sometimes took a quick look to keep tabs on where the Noir Rod was. It was following a route rather far from Akko, which she believed to be rather strange.

At times she’d attack the daemons close to her, protecting herself with the shields. Jasminka did a good job of reading the mood. Better than Akko, in fact. However, Akko still didn’t manage to lose them. They were constantly biting at her tail, as if they were being pulled by a hook. No matter what Akko tried – changing directions suddenly, attacking in unexpected moments, random shifts of speed – she couldn’t shake them off. It wasn’t that Akko believed she was a better pilot than Deep Darkness or anything, but she felt a little frustrated for not being able to get rid of a Second Category pilot when she was supposed to be First Category.

A sudden attack kicked in the instincts Akko had been developing and she dodged. She made sure her dodge didn’t make her lose any advantage, so she barrel-rolled to the side and instantly took a turn that broke the pattern in which she had been flying, but even with that the Blood Sailor kept reading her. Akko couldn’t help but notice that the Noir Rod was now technically ahead of her. At this rate, the daemons would win. Was this their strategy? To keep the Shiny Rod busy and get the Noir Rod to win?

It sounded plausible enough. Akko picked up her pace. She was pretty much at the limit of what her reflexes could handle, but she already knew what she had to do.

The daemons behind her followed, of course, but their attacks became a little more persistent. So she had been right, they were a kind of distraction making way for the Noir Rod.

This only determined her to go faster and put all of her effort into losing the ones pursuing her. Akko was determined to win the next race. More than everyone else. She was certain of it. Determination blazed in her eyes as she took each sharp turn and made sure not to be deviated by any of the daemons’ attacks.

Soon they were a couple of minutes away from the set finish line. That being, of course, the shore and the end of the Pure Graveyard.

At that point, the Noir Rod finally appeared again. It looked ready to fight, and Akko was perfectly ok with it. It started by throwing some lasers – it seemed to be really fond of those, but Akko dodged, having grown used to them after so many simulations.

However, now that they were close to the finish, she didn’t fail to notice what the Blood Sailor was doing. Shining, starting to spin…

The moment it shot forward Akko got out of its way. That attack was way too powerful. The ship pierced through several blocks before stopping, and Akko frowned. She’d need to go way faster to-

Then the Noir Rod started to shift. Lines appeared connecting its red giant balls, like what happened when the Shiny Rod was about to transform. Its front separated in a sudden motion, like four spider legs. Then, those legs bended back and forward again, giving the appearance of an arrow to the Noir Rod, that then started to spin too. _Looks like a drill,_ Akko realized.

The Noir Rod shot forward too, following the Blood Sailor and making the holes it had left behind bigger. Akko had enough presence of mind to activate nitro and follow them through the holes, since the Shiny Rod was way smaller than both ships, but she found herself astonished at the fact that the Noir Rod could, in fact, transform too.

Now Akko was left behind. She had to go faster before the Blood Sailor lifted that strange barrier and basically won. But it wouldn’t do it with the Noir Rod behind it, right?

Wrong.

It started to shine again. Damn thing, it was too powerful. Akko probably had no right to say that, bearing in mind the kind of ship _she_ piloted. She wouldn’t make it. If the barrier was lifted it would be over. All she needed to do was go faster. She could accelerate and pass him. If she pressed nitro-

That was probably what they wanted her to do, wasn’t it? Akko recalled that it hadn’t taken that long for the ship to drop the barrier in that recording. It was holding it on purpose. To bait Akko. She couldn’t be sure, it might have been just fear, but she had this gut feeling that she would not ignore.

She slowed down, and the barrier was raised. She managed to stop before hitting it. The Noir Rod was forced to stop too, though it ended up hitting the barrier.

Akko took a deep breath. She accepted her loss. She… was angry. Not seething anger. Just cold anger at herself for not doing better. She opened the windshield and stepped outside, blue light bathing her. Akko wondered if it would be hotter than Earth’s sunlight. Blue stars were hotter than white ones, right?

Horn came out of the Noir Rod too. “That sucker Deep Darkness beat us both, huh?” He asked. He wobbled his body a little. Akko wasn’t in the mood to laugh, but she did find it funny. She wondered what that meant.

“I didn’t expect him to win. I thought he was working so that you could win,” Akko explained. Horn’s body started shaking, and Akko understood that it was some kind of laugh.

“No way. We’re both too proud to do that. That barrier he can put up, I admit I’m kind of jealous of it,” it was hard to read his voice. Akko expected he wasn’t nonchalant. Those multiple layers of teeth in his mouth were really scary.

“It is cool,” Akko had to admit.

Horn paused for a moment. “Why didn’t you teleport?” He asked. Akko cocked her head, looking at him. “You do know there are no rules against teleporting, right?”

Akko thought about it for a second. “Yeah,” she admitted. “But I won’t cheat just because it’s technically ok.”

Horn seemed confused. “Miss Atsuko, that’s absurdly contradictory. You can’t cheat if it’s not against the rules.”

Akko shrugged. “It feels like cheating to me,” she said.

Horn’s body shook a little more. “I see. Humans are weird,” he said. Akko didn’t know how to feel about his attitude. Was he making fun of her? Didn’t sound like it.

Not long after, the Blood Sailor appeared. The barrier had disappeared already.

Deep Darkness came out of it. His way of walking had changed slightly. Maybe it was because he was feeling confident. “That was a fun race,” he said, offering Akko his hand. Akko shook it.

“Yeah,” she agreed. Horn also offered her his hand. Akko wished she knew how he was feeling, but his face didn’t give any hints. If his body was giving it away, she didn’t realize. She took the hand and stared straight into the round blue eyes. She wanted to ask about the Noir Rod, but she assumed she’d get no answers, the same way she wouldn’t answer if they asked something private about the Shiny Rod.

“Well, _Atsuko,_ we’ll see you another time. Thanks for agreeing to this,” Horn said. He walked away and jumped into the noir rod.

“I hope we can race again sometime,” Deep Darkness walked to his own ship and then both of them flew away together. Now that she thought about it, neither of the gunmen had stepped out, including Jasminka.

Akko returned to the Shiny Rod, wondering if she should report this to Ursula. Somehow, reporting that she had lost a practice race didn’t seem like the smartest idea she’d ever had, but she also wanted to know what she had to say about this.

Maybe she could speak to Diana? She had met Horn before. It would make for an interesting topic of conversation, at least. Akko sat on the Shiny Rod and thought for a while. Where had she failed? She had allowed the daemons to pull that crazy attack. That was the problem. She wouldn’t have to deal with that on her races, but the Noir Rod had something akin to it. It was annoying her.

She stayed there, thinking. After a while she decided to contact Ursula. Amanda and Hannah should definitely get some practice in the real graveyard.

 

Diana was thankful that there wasn’t a clock nearby. If there were, she’d probably go crazy. Even without one, she could almost hear the tick-tock of the grandfather clock she used to have at home when she was little, before her aunt sold it.

She loved that clock.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl when no one was around. Diana was patient, but everyone had their limits. At this rate she would go bad well before her leg got fixed. Her arm was mostly fine now, though she still tried not to move it too much. She had been told that she would probably be annoyed by both the arm and leg on cold and humid days. She was aware that those things were usual for people with injuries such as her.

Right as she sighed out of boredom, the door opened. For a second, her eyes lit up as she held hopes it’d be one of her friends. She was _not_ pleased to find Greta entering. She must have showed it on her face, because the old lady chuckled and looked at her. “Now, now, don’t be so disappointed. I come here to let you have some freedom,” she said. Diana raised an eyebrow. Then, the entire left wall shook. It slowly raised, like a window blind, and disappeared into the ceiling. On the corridor Diana saw a floating chair. Her eyes widened a little.

“Here,” Greta got her casted leg out of the sling, and slowly helped Diana get up. Diana found her good leg to be weak, and she faltered, but thankfully Greta was stronger than she appeared. She helped Diana get onto the chair. It bounced up and down for a few seconds before coming to a halt. Both armrests had controls for moving it around. Greta looked at her and nodded. “Well, you’re set up, lady. The wheel chair will allow you for two hours of going around. You won’t be allowed to leave this floor, but we have a recreational space down the corridor,” the old nurse pointed in the direction she was speaking about. “Once the two hours are done, it will automatically bring you back to your room. I’ll be waiting.”

“Thank you,” Diana said. Greta laughed as she left, leaving Diana kind of confused, but in the end she guessed it didn’t matter. She moved around, and as she did, a smile grew on her. The chair couldn’t go very fast – a slow walking pace at most – but seeing some movement, Diana finally felt like she was alive again.

She first took her time to explore the floor she was in. Well, more like, section of a floor. She was in the ‘hospital’ of the _Dragon_. It wasn’t massive, but it was big enough to warrant a space dedicated entirely to it. There were a lot of empty rooms, though a fair share of them were occupied too. Diana felt pity for a lot of those. Normal passangers would be missing on normal day fun because of whatever had them here. She was no different, technically, but the fact was, she hadn’t paid copious amounts of money to travel on the ship.

In the end, she stumbled into the recreational room almost on accident. There were a bunch of consoles, TVs and other stuff she didn’t really care about. But she did see some books.

She hadn’t asked for books to read previously. She thought of reading as something to do seriously and with focus. But her pride was slowly crumbling under the sheer force of the boredom she was feeling. The small library held a lot of books, but all of them were some kind of fiction.

Diana could barely remember when was the last time that she had read a book with a purpose other than studying. In fact, she believed it had been Hamlet, more than a year ago. Or was it Macbeth? Something related to Shakespeare for sure.

Still, she picked up a book at random. It was a fantasy book. She wasn’t fond of these, but she opened it to check it out anyways. She read for about fifteen minutes. It narrated the story of a lonely girl who one day discovered she had the power to rewind time for exactly one minute. Diana didn’t get far into the plot, but just by this beginning she suspected the girl would use that power to try and cheat at life, eventually learning to not use it or something. It was well narrated, but she wasn’t really interested, so she put it back on the shelves and moved on to something else. The next one she picked was a sci-fi story about a multiverse cop that traveled across multiple universes searching for this one criminal who kept killing people seemingly at random. This was a little more interested, but Diana didn’t get far before she realized the killer was killing people who had wronged his other-selves. Sure, it wasn’t obvious, but they were all people of varying power, most of them in alternative Frances. All of them seemed to be corrupt or straight up assholes. She guessed his other-selves had probably been working for them or somehow knew them and after something had gone wrong, the killer avenged all the ‘himselves’ from across the multiverse.

She sighed, putting the book back in place. She had already wasted an hour of her free time. Well, not wasted, as she didn’t really regret what she had done. Still, she looked at the bookshelves. She wasn’t a fan of fantasy or science fiction, but she wouldn’t mind reading a romance story. They had always been kind of her guilty pleasure. A lot of the ones she used to like were ridden with tropes and clichés, but she couldn’t control what she liked, now could she?

Diana saw a small collection of books that had vague covers that maybe implied some romance. The first one she opened she decided to close after a single page. It had opened describing a girl who always sat alone in class and had no friends for no apparent reason. She hadn’t even seen the other lead introduced but she honestly didn’t care for those kinds of protagonist. Particularly when they were described as being ‘fine with it’.

The next one seemed a little too cheesy, even for her.

However, the third one seemed to be interesting enough. The protagonist had a broken leg, which made her instantly relatable, and the love interest wasn’t introduced immediately. The book was called ‘Emotions,’ and it was old. Like, a hundred years old. Curiously enough, it was set in a ‘future’ where humans had developed this technology that allowed them to see the emotions of others through auras of colors. It was a funny concept from the era where Magic Energy had just recently been discovered and it seemed to bear endless possibilities. Like reading a Julius Verne book.

The protagonist wasn’t much like Diana. She was an average girl, save for her dream of acting. Save for her broken leg she seemed to be a rather generic protagonist, truth be told, but Diana could deal with that. The love interest, though, was a punk girl who seemed to be an edgefest. It kind of reminded Diana of Amanda, but a lot more aggressive. Both leads were called almost the same, too. Marian and Marianne.

Diana decided she was interested enough in the story to give it a go. A bad book would be better than nothing.

She still had forty minutes left. She looked at the other diversions in the recreational room, noticing that a kid had entered at some point and was now sitting on the orange carpet in front of the TV, watching a movie Diana didn’t recognize.

Diana exited the room feeling bad for the boy. He looked fine, so she wasn’t sure what his problem might have been, but being cooped up in this place wasn’t particularly enjoyable.

The rest of the time she was allowed to go around Diana spent it just aimlessly roaming through the hospital, sometimes reading a page or two of the book. Not the ideal evening, but she didn’t have many options.

At the end of the two hours, the chair stopped responding to her movements and instead automatically carried her back to her room. Greta set her back up in her bed and made her promise to return the book later.

Diana didn’t read much more that day.

 

Amanda stepped carefully forward. Walking through the bottom of Trashcan’s oceans was a rather crazy experience. The water was clear, but it had this red glow to them. Amanda felt like she was walking through watered down blood. Right now she was about ten meters deep, and moved rather slowly due to the heavy suit the octopuses had offered to allow her to move through the bottom of the ocean. It was a barren, underwater wasteland that didn’t hold a single bit of life. On earth, a sight like this might have been something intense and interesting, with tons of fish or algae or whatever. Here, Amanda felt like she would sooner get depression than anything else.

“Is it too far?” Amanda asked. She was wearing a helmet – on top of her standard one – that somehow turned the oxygen in the water into breathable oxygen for her, not unlike how fish breathe. Octopuses really were amazing, and as far as she knew, this had been done by just this couple of kids.

“Just a few more minutes,” one of the octopuses said. They were wearing translators now. Their voices carried surprisingly well through the water.

They kept walking for a long while. Amanda wondered what was it they wanted to show her, and why her, or humans in general. The walk wasn’t really that long but it felt like it.

Then, they reached cliff. Amanda almost walked right into it. Looking down was like looking into the abyss itself. The abyss didn’t stare back, though. It was just darkness. The octopuses gestured for her to jump. _So it was a trap,_ was the first thing that crossed Amanda’s mind.

However, it wasn’t until her eyes adjusted to the darkness that she realized the octopuses weren’t pointing at the pit but at something sticking out of the cliff. A metallic thing. “What’s that?” It was rusted, but just from its shape you could tell it was big.

“it’s something we discovered a while ago. It was uncovered after a landslide,” the translator functioned surprisingly well for a couple of aliens that didn’t have vocal chords. “We believe it to be human tech. It matches human standards,” one of them explained.

Amanda nodded. Was that why they wanted her input? “How am I supposed to get down there anyways?” She asked. She was not about to jump and risk falling into the abyss. It was a long fall.

Both octopuses looked at her and, while their expressions were completely impossible to read, Amanda noticed them using some kind of device that they had clasped all the way up one of their tentacles. She half expected the ground to open up and show a secret lair. She was surprised when something like a disk came floating. It… it was just a metallic disk. It didn’t look any different than a sheet of metal, yet it was raising from the darkness at an incredible speed, stopping right on the edge of the cliff. It was more than big enough to carry both octopuses and Amanda.

“How does this thing even move?” Amanda asked, a little surprised. It didn’t seem to have any kind of mechanisms.

“That’s a secret,” both of them replied at the same time. Amanda suspected it _had_ to had something to do with magnetism. After all, which other way of moving metal around in such a weird fashion could there be? She was no scientist but anyways.

The metal disk lowered until Amanda was in front of the metal sticking out of the cliff. Distances underwater were tricky, so was perspective, for the thing turned out to be way bigger than she had first pictured.

“It looks…” Amanda touched it, half expecting it to crumble. “… familiar,” she finished. “Why haven’t you gotten this thing outta the dirt, anyways?”

The octopuses exchanged looks and then they pressed something else on their devices. Suddenly, a whole section of the dirt above the ship moved. Only slightly, some falling off the cliff, but it let Amanda see what was inside the hole thanks to the light on her helmet. It was… a ship? “This is definitely a human ship,” Amanda said. It looked… Like the Shiny Rod? But bigger, maybe, and the shape wasn’t exactly right.

“I knew it!” one of the octopuses exclaimed. “You think we can denounce this to the Alliance and get humans in trouble for polluting our oceans?”

Amanda turned to them with a serious face. They decided not to continue the conversation. Amanda then decided to fuck it all and jumped from the metallic platform and on top of the buried ship. It was rusted all over, but some signs of the metallic framework were still visible. She wasn’t sure what color it had been, but she didn’t fail to notice a glass ball. It lacked color too. “It’s not particularly old,” one of the octopuses said from behind. They didn’t seem particularly alarmed about Amanda’s rash decision.

“Isn’t it?” To Amanda it looked pretty damn old.

“Not more than six or seven years,” the other one said, and he started describing the process by which they had found out. Amanda didn’t understand any of it. She didn’t care to understand it. Why would she? It was useless information, as far as she knew.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense,” Amanda realized. “There shouldn’t have been any humans in this planet back then. Or since the last IPR, actually.”

The octopuses didn’t answer. Amanda finally reached the cockpit. The inside… was full of dirt too. How strange. Every single bit was full, as if someone had purposely done so. Every centimeter, nook and cranny. _Was this put here on purpose?_

The road ended there. She had to go back and carefully step back into the metallic plate. “This is some kind of ripoff to the Shiny Rod,” Amanda said. “Maybe your people built it trying to copy us.”

Both octopuses laughed at the same time. “The Shiny Rod is certainly a marvelous piece of work, but what do you think we are?” one of them said. “We wouldn’t fall so low just to win. We’ve got our pride too.”

“Yeah, if we win, we’ll do it by ourselves, not copying puny humans,” the other continued. Diana gave this one another look.

“I’m one of those ‘puny’ humans, you know,” she said. Both octopuses laughed as if she had told some kind of joke. Their laugh was kind of weird, as it made their entire bodies shift like if they were jelly in the middle of an earthquake. It was also funny, in a way. “Still, this is weird. Why the hell would _this_ be on Trashcan? I mean, yeah, it’s a dumpster, but I have the feeling no one would actually go through the trouble of just coming all this way to dump a stupid ship.”

“We hypothesize that this was actually a setup to make us think humans had somehow sneaked into the planet, but that it was never discovered,” one of them said.

“We could still use it to sue-” Amanda stared daggers at him. Or her. Or whatever it was. “It’s a joke, worry not.”

They stood in awkward silence for a while. “So, uhm… what now?” Amanda asked.

The octopuses exchanged looks. “We believe it would be better for everyone if you took it back before some officials find it,” one explained.

Amanda looked at them with suspicious eyes. “What do you get out of this?” They looked back at her, confused. “I mean, do you expect me to believe you just took the time to come tell us about this so that we wouldn’t get disqualified or something?”

“Yes,” they replied. “Is it that strange?”

Amanda was taken aback by the straightforward answer. She was still suspicious, but she was probably judging them based purely on the knowledge she had of Faeries and Plants cheating before. In truth, she couldn’t see how taking this back could affect them, particularly if humans were the ones to retrieve it. They could probably do it subtly too, so that they wouldn’t draw attention from any media. Amanda had seen some reporters and stuff like that around the human building. She was fairly certain that they somehow recorded the exchange between Amanda, Hannah and the octopuses.

“I guess not,” she decided to trust the two octopuses. They didn’t seem too bad. Plus, it was not as if she could leave this thing here. It looked like the Shiny Rod and that was probably for a reason other than aesthetics. It would be worth to check it up. “I suppose I’ll tell Ursula about- Holy shit,” suddenly, Amanda recalled what time it was. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck,” she panicked. “I need to go, _now,”_ she put emphasis on that last word. The octopuses looked confused, but they didn’t try to hold her back. In fact, they carried her all the way to shore on top of the metal plate.

Amanda didn’t have time to question them about why they hadn’t just called for it from the beginning. As she came out of the sea she quickly took off the extra suit and ran towards the dome that was their home now. How much time had she wasted? Half an hour, at least. Probably closer to an hour.

She entered the dome in a hurry. There stood Ursula. She had one hand on her helmet, and she was pacing. The second the saw Amanda, relief washed over her face, quickly replaced by anger.

Amanda would have a lot to explain.

 

Ursula took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It opened almost instantly, as if she had been expected.

“Hello, Chariot, how you doing?” Croix answered. She was wearing her utilitarian attire and goggles. Ursula looked at her with the same cold eyes she always tried to use.

“Why did you instruct the captain to have me always report to you?” Ursula asked.

Croix smirked. Ursula hated the expression. She hated how well it fit her face. “It’s a matter of convenience. Do you want to step in?” Croix asked, stepping aside. The room she was staying in was really big, though not as big as her lab. It was four times as big as the rooms the girls were using currently. Half of it was dedicated to a small lab/workshop, while the other had her bed and some more casual furniture. At least five roombas were flying around doing different stuff.

Reluctantly, Ursula entered the room. “So, I heard that you found something,” Croix prompted.

Ursula sighed, giving her the report she had filled with her wand. Croix read it calmly. How? How could she be so calm? Ursula looked at her, feeling all those emotions she had bottled up years ago begin to storm within her chest. And yet, when Croix removed her goggles and looked at her, when Ursula looked at her teal eyes, she couldn’t do anything about it.

“My, so _this_ is where it ended up?” Croix asked, though the question didn’t seem to be directed at Ursula. “Talk about coincidence.”

“What did you do now?” Ursula asked.

“ _Now?_ Why, Chariot, you speak as-”

“Ursula.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ursula. Stop calling me Chariot,” If looks could kill, Croix would have probably exploded into a million pieces in the spot.

Croix sighed, shrugging. “Fine, whatever floats your boat, ‘Ursula,’” she said her name almost as if with disdain. “Anyways, yeah, I’ll be taking this back.”

“So it was yours. I suspected it,” Ursula said. She extended her hand so that Croix could give her back her wand. The purple haired woman did, smiling and overall looking… like Croix. “I suppose you won’t answer me if I ask you what it is.”

“Depends. How willing are you to spend the night with me?” Croix asked with a wink. Ursula felt her face grow red. With anger.

“Well, that’s my report, see you,” Ursula stood and turned, ready to leave the room as fast as possible. However, the door didn’t open, even if she tried to do so manually.

“It only answers to my key card, from inside and outside,” Croix clarified. Ursula closed her eyes and grunted in frustration. “You don’t need to get so worked up about a joke, Cha- Ursula,” she said in the end.

Ursula turned, fire in her eyes. She was so angry that she wished she still had her red hair to match her feelings. “You have _no right_ to joke with me,” she said in a low, raging voice. “Open that door before I _force_ you to do it,” she threatened.

Croix seemed a little surprised by her reaction. Maybe even… pained by it. As if she hadn’t been expecting such an attitude. “Is that how you treat me, even after I approved the petition for one of your students to be on the professional mechanical and engineering team?” She asked. She sounded kind of honest about it. “You know all the problems this could cause-”

“I don’t care,” Ursula said, taking off her glasses. “Open the door.”

Croix sighed, stepping closer – carefully – and opening the door. Ursula instantly exited the room and took off towards the elevators at a fast walk. Why did she have to deal with Croix again? After all these years she seemed to have changed so little. She was still confident and a genius. She had gotten so far in life. She was powerful and probably rich. Did she enjoy tormenting Ursula? Was this some kind of punishment? If so, then she probably deserved it.

It was so frustrating. So… Ursula stopped to wipe the tears from her face. She couldn’t go back looking like this.

 _Stupid Croix,_ was all she could think about as she started her trip back to land.


	57. Chapter 57

“You can’t be serious,” Hannah said while looking over the rules for the race. They had been dropped an hour prior, but she had been speaking to Diana then. The race would start in barely three hours, and besides Amanda’s strange adventure with the octopuses nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Until these rules.

“Seems like they’re trying to offer more of a show this time, since last race was rather lacking on violence,” Amanda pointed out.

The rules said: To be able to get points this time, you _had_ to hit with your weapons at least three different ships. Not only that, if you got hit by three different ships you’d be disqualified. These rules applied for both categories.

“Everyone’s going to go after us,” Hannah said. “We’re first on the leaderboards. Oh god, this is going to be a battle, not a race,” she started thinking. She’d have to hit three different racers. Who were the easier ones? Armors… No, their defense would probably be priority this time. Daemons? Maybe. Medusa, probably. Shapeshifter? No chance. Oh, Plants would-

“Don’t panic,” Ursula said. She had a thoughtful expression. “This shouldn’t change our plans too much. The pilots will keep focusing on their flying. The gunmen will try to hit different racers. It’ll be a little wilder but Hannah can still shoot at the glass cubes to block others’ paths and Akko should be fine.”

Hannah wasn’t convinced, but she allowed the coach to at least calm her down somewhat. She shouldn’t panic, that was true. Amanda would focus on her piloting and Hannah on her shooting. Things would be fine.

As if it would be that easy.

Amanda drew closer to Hannah. She extended her arm, and for a second, Hannah almost believed she was going to take her hand to calm her down or something. Instead, the redhead took the wand in Hannah’s hand and looked at the rules again. “Random my ass,” she said after a while. “This is too perfect of a pair for last race. One race almost purely about piloting and the next one almost purely about shooting. They’re trying to appeal to everyone. This is basically fanservice,” Amanda explained.

Hannah nodded, though she was still too focused on what she needed to do and trying to get her head working normally again to really add to the conversation. “Even if it were a coincidence I don’t think it would change much,” Barbara said.

“It would change nothing,” Amanda confirmed.

“Why is it so short, though?” Akko asked. “This segment lasts five minutes at best,” she said, pointing the area in which the race would take place on the small map showing on the wand.

“Probably to make it more intense,” Barbara said from the side. “If there’s little time, racers will get desperate. It will ensure blood-pumping action from the start.”

Ursula nodded. “Which is why you will use the next two hours practicing with these rules. Get used to the intensity and you’ll have an advantage over everyone else,” she said. She looked tired, and not from lack of sleep. She looked like that since the previous day after Amanda had had her adventure. Hannah was still kind of annoyed Amanda hadn’t told her about what she was going to do. It sounded like fun, but Amanda had let Hannah go back to sleep and went out to enjoy an underwater adventure.

“Let’s go,” Akko said, determined. She had been like that since the race she’d had. Ursula had chastised her for agreeing to it, claiming that it had been an obvious attempt to take Akko out of the race by destroying the Shiny Rod. Then she had proceeded to congratulate her for not allowing the Rod to be harmed in any way. Despite having lost, Akko didn’t take it too badly. Hopefully she’d be able to keep her good spirits and not do anything stupid this time.

Akko and Jasminka got into the Shiny Rod, which left Hannah and Amanda in the waiting list. Barbara was still here, but Lotte and Sucy were sleeping on the other end of the dome and Constanze was who knew where, making sure no one messed with the Shooting Star.

Hannah was happier than she wanted about Barbara being alone, at least for now.

“What a pain,” Hannah said, getting closer to her friend, who was sitting on the sand. She was wearing her g-suit.

“One would think you’d be happy to get a chance to shine,” Barbara commented. Her hair was still humid from the shower she had taken not long ago. The temperature on Trashcan was fine, or at least inside the dome it was, so Hannah didn’t worry much about her friend getting a cold or something.

“I like to be able to shine on normal, standard races. Being able to shine in a race that’s basically centered around gunmen isn’t noteworthy,” Hannah explained. “Plus, it’s too stressful. I gotta make sure I hit three people but everyone’s going to be particularly wary about any kind of attack during this race. It’s…” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know. Expectations are higher than what I’m used to, I guess.”

Amanda apparently heard this – not that unbelievable, since she was just a couple meters away – and chuckled. “Are you really that nervous?” She asked with a smirk.

Hannah glared at her. “I’m sorry I’m not an overconfident prick like you,” she snapped back.

Amanda snorted. “I don’t mean it like that,” she said. “I mean, you’re a really good gunman. You’ll fill your quota, don’t worry,” she explained. “If anything, I should be worried that I’ll get hit too many times.”

Hannah shut her mouth at the unexpected compliment. Amanda wasn’t even looking their way, focused on looking for something through her luggage. She didn’t sound like she was teasing.

Still, Hannah didn’t say more until Amanda walked away and stood close to the Shiny Rod. Hannah sighed. She was a little too on edge when around the redhead. She walked normally, though Hannah noticed she paced. Was she nervous? It was rather unbelievable, but it looked like it.

Then she started doing exercise, dropping to the sand and doing pushups. Hannah hated to admit it, but she looked good when doing so. It felt _right_ to see her exercising.

“She’s not as bad as we thought, eh?” Barbara asked.

“I guess,” Hannah said in almost a whisper. Amanda wasn’t really within earshot, but she wouldn’t take any risks.

“You’ve been getting along lately,” Barbara added.

Hannah stood really still. Was she imagining things, or did Barbara’s question had another implication? Her nose wrinkled. “Just because we have to,” she said.

Barbara snickered. “Sure,” she said in an obviously lying way. “Let’s talk about something that doesn’t make you look at me like if I had killed your mother, though.”

Hannah hadn’t realized she was giving such a look. She rolled her eyes. “How are things going with Lotte?” She asked.

As if by a spell, Barbara’s whole demeanor changed. She suddenly hugged her legs, her expression brightened up and a flush crept up her face. If happiness was a measurable force Barbara would certainly have been radiating it. “Fine, I guess…” she said in an obviously giddy voice.

“‘Fine’?” Hannah asked. “Your words and voice tell different stories.”

Barbara bit her lip. “I don’t want to make you jealous or anything,” she said.

Hannah’s eye twitched. “Just tell me already,” she said while lightly hitting Barbara’s shoulder. Barbara chuckled.

“It’s… Great,” she admitted. “I don’t know how to explain it. You know, it’s like, your heart skips a beat every time your eyes meet. Touching each other goes from awkward to absolutely natural, simply talking can put you on cloud nine,” she spoke about this with almost embarrassment. “She’s a spirits expert. You’d be surprised, she knows how to handle AIs to a point where it seems she’s the one who programmed or something. The other day she organized my wand and the mess of archives I’ve got there in like five minutes.”

“Wait, you let her handle your wand?” Hannah asked with some surprise.

Barbara nodded. “Of course, she’s an expert, like I told you.”

“Barbara, there are some real embarrassing videos saved in there,” Hannah said carefully. She tried not to think about them, but between them were some of Hannah sleeping with plushies, of Barbara getting stuck on the bathroom when the door broke, and of both of them singing in the shower. Together. Hannah had left her recorder on accidentally. She was now seriously regretting never erasing that one. Would Lotte get jealous if she saw that?

“Oh, don’t worry,” Barbara said. “Lotte would never watch something without my permission,” she assured. “She’s too good for that.”

Hannah’s face twisted a little. In one hand, Barbara was definitely happy. On the other one, that video was horrible, particularly because neither of them could actually sing. “Argh, whatever,” she said. “But delete anything that could be used as blackmail.”

Barbara chuckled. “Of course,” she said. They stayed quiet for a while. “You do know this doesn’t change anything between us, right?”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah. It’s fine that you have her, anyways. This whole race ordeal keeps me occupied to no end,” she tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

Barbara put an arm around her shoulders. “It’s fine. You’re doing great. This is already the third race, right? You can do this, there’s only two months left.”

“Two months?” Hannah looked at the ceiling. “Holy shit, it’s been barely over a week since we were in Machina, right?” She shook her head a little, as if to clear it. “It feels like a bunch of stuff has happened since then, right?”

“I mean, it has. Mainly, the Blue Star’s accident.”

Hannah nodded in agreement. “In some ways it feels like it’s been months, and in others like it’s been yesterday. I still find it hard to believe we’re here, you know? Like any of these days I’m going to wake up and everything will be a dream,” she said. Barbara pinched her cheek. “Hey!”

“Not a dream,” she said. “And if it is, I really hope I never wake up,” she turned to see Lotte, who was breathing slowly. Hannah rolled her eyes again. Well, in a way, this was her fault, so she shouldn’t really complain, now should she.

To break the silence, Hannah groaned. “I really hope Akko wins this time. Or at least earns some points. We’re firsts, tied with the daemons. We just need to start making a good gap in our points. That way Diana won’t have to worry much.”

“I’m sure Akko will do fine,” Barbara said. “Maybe not first place, but she’s been working real hard.”

Hannah sighed. “I guess,” she admitted. Akko seemed to be finally putting all of her excess energy into something useful, like practicing. Or training, sometimes. Even Hannah thought that she went a little too far. At least she slept, because if not, then it would probably be a little worrying. Akko seemed like the kind of girl who would forget to sleep if she set her mind to do something.

Well, at least Hannah seemed to be the only one nervous about the race. Amanda was now simply stretching. She seemed mostly fine. Hannah was having trouble focusing. The situation overwhelmed her a little, but somehow, knowing that she had a capable pilot eased her. She would certainly feel better if it was Diana, though.

And, after a while longer, Akko came out of the cockpit. She confused, kind of dizzy. “Well,” she said when she came closer. Her eyes were wild, her skin was even a little pale. “This is going to be hard.”

 

Amanda cracked her knuckles. She didn’t usually do it, but she needed to do something about the feeling of uneasiness in her body. “You can do it, Amanda, Hannah!” Akko cried through the communicator, which was the last good luck wish they had gotten. Amanda wasn’t really paying attention to it. She didn’t care much for if Akko had something nice to say about her or not. What she wanted was a freaking beer. She hadn’t had one since the party at Machina. She could really use some alcohol right now.

That may be alcoholic-like thinking but whatever. Some drunkenness would have been appreciated. Who knew, maybe some extra erratic movements would help her. Amanda had the shapeshifters in front of her and the appali behind. She was in the fourth left position of the starting lineup. Not much of an advantage, but she would take what she could. She sighed and looked to the front. The octopus ritual for starting included a big bucket and water. Water slowly dripped into the bucket. When water finally overflowed the race would start. The bucket was about to be filled, so Amanda couldn’t relax.

She acted confident, sure, but this would be her first actual, real life race.

“In all the simulations we did everyone attacked us first thing. We got taken out like half of those time,” Amanda said to herself. “I need to go nitro at the beginning,” she concluded. Constanze had given them the green light. No one had messed with the ship, though she seemed kind of annoyed that the other mechanics wouldn’t let her made tweaks to it. Amanda smiled at the memory of this. Constanze would find a way to mess with the ship herself, eventually. Amanda could already imagine a Shooting Star mecha or something.

“Hey,” Hannah interrupted her thoughts. “The advice you gave me before, keep it in mind. You’re a great pilot. You’ll get through this.”

She didn’t sound annoyed when talking. In fact, there was even a hint of… kindness in it. Amanda found her voice to be soothing and the advice warmed her heart. Her confidence suddenly was boosted, and a smile slowly overtook her face.

That was right. This was her first actual, real life race.

And she would win it.

The bucket overflowed and Amanda dropped her plan of going nitro. Instead, she did something that in any other circumstance might have been basically career suicide. She turned her ship off and dropped to the ground. Instantly, a dozen different attacks passed over where she had been a second ago. No one had actually accelerated. _No one._ Two seconds later, Amanda was back hovering, and everyone was starting to realize that this was a race, not a battle royale.

Amanda had ended in last place after her stunt, but nothing had hit her. She was following the armors and reptilians, both of them engaged on a fight of their own. The armor didn’t seem to be making an attempt at hitting anyone, instead focusing in defense. Hannah started to shoot. The reptilians dodged rather nimbly. When the paths split, Amanda ended up going a different way than those two. “We’ve got no shots but no hits either,” Hannah summarized.

Amanda understood. She started going faster. She needed to find someone, soon. She went at least fifteen or twenty agonizing seconds without seeing anyone before suddenly she came head first in front of the daemons, who of course didn’t lose a single second and attacked.

Hannah was the gunman. Amanda focused on dodging their attacks, which wasn’t easy. She had to go up and down, sometimes risking hitting the glass walls to the sides. The daemons were in a similar position, though. But Amanda was confident that she’d be able to-

Something hit her wing. Amanda was confused, so confused that she lost focus, and something else hit the front of the Shooting Star. Then she realized, what had hit her wing was a heat missile having come apparently from nowhere. Appali. There was no one else with that kind of weaponry. _Fuck!_ Was all Amanda could think as she kept focusing on dodging. The second hit had come due to her carelessness.

Something had also hit the daemons, but it hadn’t been them, and Hannah was obviously having too much trouble. It wasn’t worth the risk. Amanda didn’t lose any more time and accelerated, even risking crashing to get out of the sticky situation. “Fuck, that surprise attack was dirty,” Amanda said, starting to lose her cool.

“Amanda, relax,” Hannah said. “You’re doing great, just focus,” her voice was strong and imperative. Normally Amanda was the confident one, how did Hannah manage to stay calm?

But she was right. Amanda needed to focus. She kept going as she should, at the fastest speed she could. She had no idea how good she was doing but she was not about to drop to any place below first just because she had been caught by surprise. She needed to start acting like herself.

They had already made one fourth of the race. One more taken and they would be out, but they needed two more hits to pass. And then, the shapeshifter appeared from behind. Behind? He had been in first place after the first few moments. What had happened?

Amanda wasn’t sure, but she didn’t care. Hannah focused really hard on making sure none of those smoky bombs hit them, but then the armors and octopuses also appeared. The shapeshifter was slowly gaining terrain on them, as each turn he could take with way more ease than the Shooting Star.

Hannah managed to hit it right as it passed them. Amanda wasn’t sure how many times it had been hit before, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to risk coming in second, but she was currently focused on dodging the other two racers.

That was, until Hannah crumbled a block right as they passed it, blocking the armors and octopuses behind it, also getting a hit on the armors amidst the confusion. “Good one!” Amanda said with a smile as she finally was free to gain some speed. She didn’t follow the shapeshifter, though. She wasn’t about to risk getting hit a third time for a target they had already crossed off the list.

She did run into the medusa. Dodging it was harder than normal, since you just kind of had to guess where it would aim, and its lightning bolts didn’t always go completely straight. Hannah shot constantly, but she wasn’t getting much results. One would think hitting such a big thing wouldn’t be that hard. But the fact that it was so big was also what annoyed one the most.

Amanda was barely keeping the Shooting Star from being hit, but her crazy movements also impeded Hannah from actually being able to take good aim. And, without Amanda even noticing, she suddenly heard an excited shout. “GOT IT! GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!”

Without needing to be told twice, Amanda put as much speed as she could forward and as before, Hannah cut off the routes behind her. Amanda was aware that armors and octopuses also tended to do this, and sometimes daemons too, but most other races didn’t have the right kind of firepower to cause such things.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. Amanda quickly found herself in the last stretch to the finish line along with the shapeshifter and daemons. However, to her surprise, neither of them attacked outright. They had probably filled their quota and were now focusing on just getting through.

Amanda had a short lead on the daemons, who occasionally attacked. But she couldn’t, for the love of anything, get ahead of the shapeshifter. They were about to reach the end. She… She was going to lose, at this rate. That, or she was going to end up being hit by the shapeshifter, who did attack occasionally.

But then she got an idea. She put herself exactly in line between the shapeshifter and the Blood Sailor. And, right before the next turn, the daemons attacked. Amanda waited until the last second to dodge, being right on the shapeshifter’s tail.

The Inferno projectile hit the shapeshifter. It barely slowed it down, but with just a couple of turns left, Amanda had no way of overtaking the smoky ship.

When they crossed the finish line, a few horrible seconds passed. On top of some of the glass blocks the stands had been set, and as Amanda came out to look at the giant screen – in which she saw herself as being recorded by a camera – she looked at the leaderboard.

For a second, Amanda felt Dizzy.

The shapeshifters had come in first, and sadly they had gotten their three different racer hits… but they had also gotten hit three times, one of them by the daemons in the last minute. Their ten points faded into nothingness, coming instead to Amanda.

Hannah, coming out from the emergency exit of the turret, stood atop the broom and looked at the giant screen. “You absolute madwoman,” she said while next to Amanda. “You actually pulled it off!”

“We fucking won, didn’t we?!” Amanda shouted with excitement, shaking off the slight headache she had. “Eat my cunt, aliens!” she yelled.

Hannah slapped her shoulder. “Relax, jeez, what if someone records… Nevermind, they’re totally recording you,” she said while shaking her head and obviously embarrassed.

Amanda didn’t care for that. “What you did when hitting the armors was rather amazing,” she said. Almost every racer had gotten to the finish line by now. The cheering of the crowds was kind of overwhelming. Amanda hadn’t ever been on the receiving end of such cheering – or booing, depending on the race.

Finally, all results popped in the screen. Humans, Daemons, Appali, Plants, Armor, Cyborgs and Octopuses, in that order. Then, the Shapeshifter, Medusa and Reptilians had been disqualified.

“That was nothing. You got the shapeshifter disqualified with that last move,” Hannah was quick to compliment back.

“Couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t hit him that first time, though. And you also helped in taking the medusa out, now that I see.”

“Just take the fucking credit, since when are you humble?” Hannah said, exasperated. Amanda turned to see her. Despite her voice, she was beaming. Amanda had never seen her smile like that. She stared until suddenly someone climbed on top of the Shooting Star. A female reporter wearing her own g-suit, though a little bulkier than the ones Amanda and Hannah were using. Amanda was kind of surprised to actually see reporters approaching them. In fact, she noticed, everyone else seemed to be looking at this female one with reverence.

“Amanda O’Neill, you managed to win your first race despite being basically a nobody, who taught you how to fly?” The woman asked.

Amanda’s expression went from satisfied to absolutely cocky in the span of a second. “Well, one could say I taught myself. I’m just that good, you know?” she said without a hint of humor.

The woman nodded energetically. “If that’s the case, then why aren’t you the official pilot?”

“It’s a long story that includes me being banned from taking the test ‘cause I caused some trouble at school and stuff,” Amanda explained. She wasn’t allowed to give the details about what had actually gone down but a little comment like this wouldn’t be too harmful, right?

“Hannah England, how is it flying with this new pilot in comparison to Diana Cavendish?”

Hannah was obviously uncomfortable with the situation, but she put on her best camera smile and answered calmly. “They’re different kinds of pilots, and while I am more used to flying with Diana, Amanda is an excellent substitute,” she claimed. The answer was so perfect Amanda was sure she had to have practiced it.

She was still kind of happy about the compliment.

“Tell us, how do you think your friend in First Category will perform?” The woman asked to seemingly both of them.

“She’ll do great, of course,” Amanda replied without hesitating.

“I’m confident she will give it all her best,” Hannah said. The reporter was sharp, and instantly turned the wand she was carrying to Hannah, obviously smelling the better statements.

“Really? Despite her performances during the previous two races?” The woman had the hint of a smirk on her face. Amanda wanted to punch her.

Hannah wasn’t taken by surprise, though. “You need to understand, we’re not used to this environment. In Machina, Akko was just surprised by it being her first actual race. Later, in Pan, we can all guess why she was emotionally distressed,” she spoke in a kind yet strong voice. Amanda wouldn’t have been so tactful.

“Don’t you think you and Diana Cavendish should be the First Category team?” the woman asked.

Hannah chuckled. “Things are as they are. Who knows if we’d be performing as well, should we be First Category?” She basically evaded the question, but it was an elegant way of doing so, that left one with the impression that she had actually given an answer. Amanda felt herself relaxing, realizing Hannah was totally ready to handle the attention she was getting.

“And-”

“That’s enough questions for today, thank you, leave the teenager alone,” before the woman could continue, Croix descended from the sky, her roomba just a few centimeters above Amanda’s head. The reporter’s eyes went up with surprise. She thanked them for their statements and did all but run away to get away from Croix as soon a possible. She shook her head, visibly disappointed. “I thought I had told them all to stay away from you,” she said with a sigh.

Hannah looked up, frowning. “You told them to not get close to us?” She asked, stranged.

Croix nodded. “You’re minors. I wanna make your participation in this race as pleasant as possible. Having to deal with the media can be really stressful,” she explained. 

Hannah took the explanation, though she seemed unhappy about it. “Can’t we have like, little interviews here and there? I feel bad- for the fans, I mean,” she quickly made sure to not sound like an egotistical girl. She failed completely, but that was cute too.

“I’d rather not get in too much trouble with any of the relevant authorities when I get home. Sorry, Miss England,” Croix said before raising to the red sky.

Hannah and Amanda stood there for a few seconds. Silent, but not in silence, since the cheerings of the audience probably erased all possibility of such thing in the area. The blue light of sunlight washed across them. It wasn’t hotter than Earth’s sun, or at least not through the window of the dome. Amanda's head still hurted slightly, and she suspected it came from all the noise around her. “Akko’s race is scheduled to start in like forty minutes. We should probably get moving.”

“Yeah,” Hannah said, moving and dropping back through the emergency exit. Amanda returned to the cockpit and got the Shooting Star out of the track, going to the area that had been designated as the human pits. As soon as they got out of the broom they were ambushed by their friends.

Amanda got praises from everyone, though she had half expected them. Well, it was obvious she was going to win. She was, after all, great… and… _shit._

“Stop,” she said before Akko could continue gushing over her last maneuver. “Hannah did way better. This race is on her, not me.”

Suddenly, everyone stopped, looking at her as if she had eaten a baby.

“Since when are you humble?” Barbara asked something rather similar to what Hannah had asked before. Amanda looked at her with seriousness. “What? I mean it. I thought you’d be like ‘I won I’m better than Diana ha ha ha look at me I’m cool and stuff’ or something like that,” Barbara explained. Amanda smiled at the impersonation. It didn’t sound far from how she actually was.

“I just… I didn’t make it easy, you know?” Amanda tried to put her feelings into words. “Hell, technically I lost to the shapeshifter. I ended up behind it. If Hannah hadn’t hit it at the start what I did wouldn’t had had an effect,” Amanda scratched her neck. She could feel everyone’s eyes nailed on her. She wasn’t acting so out of character, was she?

Maybe she was.

“Do we really need to have the same discussion again?” Hannah was the first one to speak after that. She had her hands on her hips, and she was looking at Amanda like a mother who was getting tired of a child’s shit. “Plus, it was still _your_ piloting.”

Amanda shook her head. Each shake felt a little like a needle poking her brain, but she sucked it up. “Look, this was obviously a race directed to gunmen, so you’re-”

“Oh shut up. Let’s go see Diana, Barbara. Is she still awake?” Hannah interrupted and moved on to something else, not giving Amanda a chance to protest.

“In fact, I think she’s about to go on a walk,” Barbara said, checking her wand. She turned to Akko. “Would you mind taking us?”

Akko looked at Hannah and Amanda, failing to understand what had just happened. Amanda was in a similar position. She was trying to explain why she wasn’t the star of the show this time! She had felt for winning earlier, but now she felt as if it had been an undeserved confidence. It was Hannah who had done the hard work, right?

“Wait, we haven’t-” Amanda tried to stop Hannah, but she turned with a murderous look.

“I don’t even know why you are fighting, anyways,” Sucy suddenly said to Amanda. “This is what teamwork means, you fucking idiot.”

Amanda paused. “You’re right,” she said, the phrase coming out of her so naturally that she didn’t even think about it. Yeah, that was the feeling she had. It wasn’t that Hannah deserved the credit, it was that _both of them_ did! Amanda eyed Sucy, who wasn’t really paying attention to her. The Shiny Rod had already disappeared with both Hannah and Barbara on it, and it would probably take a minute to come back. Amanda wondered if Akko would feel compelled to go pay a quick visit to Diana before the race.

A hand fell on her shoulder. Amanda looked up to realize Ursula had approached her, having come from apparently nowhere. “You did great,” she said, softly squeezing the shoulder and with a big smile.

“I just hope we can keep this up,” Amanda said.

“Well, you already put ten points of distance between us and the shapeshifters, you should be proud.”

Amanda nodded. Yeah. Teamwork. It felt weird, she… She hadn’t really had much of that. She had friends of course, but they usually competed against each other. Jasminka and Constanze were on fields completely different from her own. And Amanda was always the slacker on group projects. She had never really understood what ‘teamwork’ was about.

Was this how it made one feel? Proud not only of oneself but of the other too? Maybe that was why her heart seemed to accelerate when thinking about how Hannah had been willing to argue in her favor, or why she felt dizzy and her headache seemed to dwindle.

That was probably it.

 

_I stood on the hallway, hearing the discussion, feeling my heartbeat fasten as every word gained intensity. Those girls really didn’t like the new girl. They were in the same classroom, yet they criticized her in an overt tone, obviously intending for her to listen. I disliked them for many reasons, but I had never seen such obvious bullying. Gulping down the remaining juice I had, I tried to build up the courage to step into the room and stop the discussion._

_“And that jacket,” Elizabeth was saying, “where did she get it, anyways? The dumpster?”_

_Suddenly I heard a loud crash, the clink of metal against metal. The sound had been so surprising that I instinctively stepped into the room right as the group of four girls that had been insulting the new girl started to scream in surprise._

_I will never forget that image. Backlit by the orange light of sunset, Marian, in her black jacket and ripped jeans, was completely surrounded by a crimson red aura. She held Elizabeth by the collar of her uniform, forcing a face-to-face. Elizabeth’s aura was of a deep fearful purple._

_“You listen here, bitch,” Marian started…_

A knocking on the door distracted Diana from her book. She took a few seconds to process what was happening, but she quickly made sure to close the book and put it on the drawer of her nightstand, as if she hadn’t been reading it. She wasn’t sure of why she didn’t want others to know that she was, but somehow, she had gotten attached to the book.

The door opened before Diana gave any answer, and Greta entered the room and started the process of opening the wall to and setting the hovering chair next to the bed.

After getting into the chair, Diana heard some steps from the hallway. Right on time, Hannah and Barbara showed up. Diana looked at them for a second, feeling like something was off, before she realized what it was.

“Hello Diana,” Hannah said. She looked happy, and she was wearing her G-suit and helmet.

“Wait, don’t you have a race in a while?” Diana asked, frowning. Had something happened. Yet, as she asked this, her friends exchanged weird looks and then looked at the nurse. Greta smiled and shook her head, seemingly understanding what was going on. Diana didn’t, though. “What is it?”

“Diana,” Barbara said, getting closer. “The race just finished. Didn’t you see it?”

Diana’s eyebrows raised on their own, her eyes going round. Had she… Had she missed the race? Impossible. She was sure- She checked the hour. She _had_ missed it. What? How? “Sorry,” she instantly said. “I… I guess I was distracted,” she had missed the race because she had been engrossed in that book. It was a real slowburn. She had read a good number of pages and the two main characters still barely talked to each other.

Hannah laughed. “Don’t worry, you can still watch the replay,” she approached the chair and started to push it towards the recreational room. Greta remembered Diana that she only had two hours, and to not move her leg much. Because of course she needed that piece of advice. “Did you really miss the race? God, being here must be awful,” Hannah said as she opened the door to the recreational room. Diana was still a little shaken by the realization.

Hannah, however, really didn’t seem annoyed by this. She quickly connected her wand to the TV and started a video of the race. Diana shook herself out of the surprise and how disoriented she felt, she needed to pay attention to what was going on. She saw the race, and her mouth opened in surprise at Amanda’s first move, dropping to the ground. “My,” she couldn’t help but say. “That worked out better than one would think,” Diana said.

Hannah and Barbara said nothing as the video continued. Diana didn’t fail to notice some of the things Amanda did, and how incredibly precise Hannah was even if she wasn’t actually hitting anything most of the time. With Amanda’s constant erratic movements, it was hard to even believe Hannah would be able to get close to hitting her target so many times, yet she never missed by much.

If Diana was the one racing, she would have probably chosen smoother movements, maybe create a way of flying and then get Hannah used to that. Maybe that way both of them could have gotten the most out of their abilities, but for a team that had formed just three days ago, Amanda and Hannah performed incredibly well together.

When Hannah dropped the glass on the armors and octopuses, taking the chance to hit the armors, Diana couldn’t help but let her jaw drop. It had been a movement executed flawlessly.

And, the last moment, where Amanda pulled off that trick… Diana started questioning if maybe the girl actually _was_ better than her. She had taken that gamble and it had paid off. Without that, she would’ve ended up in second. Diana felt kind of bad for the shapeshifters for a moment, thinking of the Goodwill’s waiter, but it quickly turned into satisfaction. “That was a really impressive race,” she said to Hannah, who nodded.

“Amanda isn’t as bad a pilot as I thought she’d be. In fact, some of the quirks she’s got for flying seem to work out rather well. The almost acrobatic way she does things seems to put our opponents on edge. It’s interesting,” she explained.

Diana cocked her head. Hannah was talking rather… positively. Of Amanda. It was a little baffling, but she guessed it would be for the best.

Sadly, as she thought of Amanda, her expression soured. “I see you seem to be getting along with her,” Diana said. She had almost managed to forget about the chat they’d had, but now, seeing both Hannah and Barbara together, her mind automatically went back to it. Hannah paused.

“It’s just because I have to,” Hannah instantly deflected.

Diana pressed her lips. “Maybe… Maybe you should try actually becoming her friend, then. And maybe stop being mean.”

Both Hannah and Barbara paused. Barbara was the first one to speak. “This comes from the chat you two had the other day, right?”

Diana grimaced. “Yes,” she admitted. “I… I think she was right, on some points,” she still knew she didn’t look down on people, but what she’d said about Hannah and Barbara was undeniable.

Hannah looked at her. Diana thought she was going to explode. Maybe stand and start badmouthing Amanda right there and then at full volume without regards for anyone who may be in the area. Instead, she just looked mildly annoyed. “I… Know,” she said instead. “I’ll work on it.”

Diana, for the second time, found herself being completely flabbergasted. Maybe Hannah was just in a really good mood from having won the race. That was the only explanation that made sense. She turned around to look at Barbara.

“I’ve been working on it for a few days now, since Lotte wants me to be more amiable and all,” the black haired girl said crossing her arms. She didn’t look too excited about it either, but she had obviously already internalized the idea. Diana was still happy that her best friend had hooked up with Lotte. If anything, Lotte seemed like she’d be a perfect partner for her.

“Thank you,” Diana said after she managed to recover. “Akko’s race is starting in about twenty-five minutes, right?”

“Yeah,” Hannah said. “Wanna play poker?” she asked while taking a box of cards from one of the drawers under the TV.

“You are aware of the fact that I always win, are you not?” Diana asked with a smirk.

Hannah smirked back. “Well, I don’t know, you’ve been a lot more expressive lately…”


	58. Chapter 58

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Bday to Amanda!  
> And happy St. Patrick's day to anyone irish in general!  
> Don't get too drunk!  
>  ~~Even though I will.~~

Akko’s leg bounced as she watched the bucket slowly get filled. It was impossible to calculate the time mathematically, since the rate at which water dropped was at random. Still, Akko couldn’t shake the feeling that she just wished the start right now. She was on the front left, with the Noir Rod behind her. The second the race started the shields would go up and she’d press nitro to get the hell out of the hell that the starting line would become.

Amanda’s technique had been good, but Akko doubted it’d work twice. Plus, she had a viable way to get the hell out of there. Maybe what she did would be predictable, but she was confident that no one would try anything too outrageous from behind. Having such a big engine could be a big help.

The bucket was close to being full. Akko wondered if Diana was watching. She probably was, next to Barbara and Hannah. Would they be making fun of her? Hannah and Barbara maybe, but not Diana.

Akko had wanted to pay her a visit when she took Hannah and Barbara there, but she held back. She had no time for distractions. This was a real race, not a simulation. Her heart pounded in her chest. She stopped moving her leg, but almost instinctively her other one started bouncing instead. When she stopped inhibiting herself, both legs did it. Well whatever, it helped her get over it, but she had to at least stop her right one, to be able to keep it on the accelerator and not suddenly take off on accident.

This would be Jasminka’s first race, too. She wouldn’t remember it but Akko wanted to win it, if only for her.

Each second, the bucket came closer and closer to being full.

Amanda’s and Hannah’s interview crossed Akko’s mind for a second. She had always known, inside her, that everyone thought Diana – and by extension Amanda – should have been the First Category pilot. The obviously biased questions hadn’t come as a surprise, but they had had an effect on her. She needed to start taking things more seriously.

The bucket overflowed.

Akko pressed nitro.

It had been for barely a second, but she almost ran into the block in front of her. Luckily she had already practiced the maneuver previously, so she knew what to do and managed to avoid hitting anything. Her turn came out a little sloppy, maybe because of the nervousness, but she didn’t crash so it was a win in her book. Noone had made the same mistake as in the Second Category race. Instead, they all started moving while attacking. Akko hadn’t been hit, so that-

She somehow noticed something. The Shiny Rod had been hit by something. Right on the back of the ship, besides the engine but not quite there. How did she know? She wasn’t sure. It was as if she could see the spot in her mind while flowing. As if the information was being fed directly to her head. What had hit her was a minuscule bullet. Something so small that it had managed to slip through the small gap that was left between the shield and engine. Something that wouldn’t harm the ship in any meaningful way.

But that definitely counted towards the limit. Who had done this? Plants? Appali? Cyborgs? She wasn’t sure. However, she didn’t let it distract her much.

She flew almost exclusively vertically. It was necessary, if she wanted to take turns as fast as she could. It wasn’t long before she came across a couple racers – that was, because, she had looked for them with the map. The armors and medusa. She didn’t even have time to react before the medusa shoot at her, but luckily the shield came to protect her. Jasminka didn’t lose time either, almost instantly dropping the shield and firing. The armors managed to block all of her shots, but the medusa, who had to deal with both the Shiny Rod and the giant stone ball from the armor, ended up taking a hit from Jasminka. It did manage, however, to strike with one of its lightning bolts at the armor before disappearing in the opposite direction to which the Shiny Rod and armors went. Akko now had to focus on dodging that wrecking ball that destroyed crystal blocks as if they were made of paper.

Sometimes the wrecking ball came really close to hitting, but Akko had trained so much that she had learnt how to deal with the sudden movements the Armors tended to make when handling their weapon. And, in one of those dodges, Akko saw the second ball coming for her, looking like a desperate attack.

Dodging that ball, Akko instantly pressed the accelerator. That attack was dangerous, as the armors read what she did and then used the second ball to attack again. It was hard to avoid, particularly in the relatively confined spaces of the pure graveyard.

However, the move also left them open. Open enough that Akko didn’t even need to say anything before Jasminka shot and hit them. Akko didn’t slow down as she took the next few corners, her mind going almost in automatic mode as she kept going. She needed one more hit, so she quickly looked at who’d be her next target.

The reptilians were the closest, so Akko went after them. Their double-ring of a ship moved with incredible agility, so it would be hard, but Akko went after them anyways. It wasn’t long before she crossed with them. _Just one more hit,_ she said, growing a little impatient. _Just one more._

They were behind her, so against her best judgment she slowed down a bit to allow Jasminka an easier shot. That was her mistake, as the reptilian’s ship suddenly shot something. Jasminka had just begun attacking, and she didn’t have time to put up a shield. What hit Akko, however, wasn’t a bullet or a missile or anything like that. It was… A hook.

The reptilians had grabbed onto Akko. Jasminka managed to hit them, but now Akko was being dragged down. The damn snakes seemed to have no regards for their own position in the race, going all out on their dragging. Down. Akko ended up hitting various walls and corners in her trying to get away. Rising the shield didn’t work. It just created itself around the rope of whatever material the reptilians were using. Shooting at the line didn’t seem to work either. In the map, Akko could see that at this rate she was going to get dragged to last place. The pulling of the reptilian ship was making her fail at basically every maneuver she wanted to pull.

But, what if she… It wouldn’t be illegal, would it? Just a trick of the eyes, a blink and you’ll miss it moment that surely no one would question. Akko wasn’t going to lose because of this stupid trick they were trying to pull on her. Not _this_ time.

“Noctu Orfei Aude Freator!” she cried. However, the spot that was in her mind at the moment of teleporting was just a centimeter away.

In the blink of the ship, the hook got released. Akko took a deep breath, noticing she was almost fifteen seconds behind the lead. The current winners were… The cyborgs? Nevermind that. Should she do it? She had tried it a couple times since the race she’d had with the daemons, but she still wasn’t sure if she…

No, she had tried it. Ursula had even said it was a good idea, but that it should only be her last resource. Akko wasn’t sure if the hook had counted as a hit or not, but she decided to take the gamble.

“Phaidoari Afairynghor!” she cried.

The Shiny Rod transformed. Akko aimed straight at the finish line. It was… Twenty seconds away.

She pressed nitro and started spinning like a madwoman.

The Shiny Rod’s blade could cut through the glass as if it was butter. Akko did feel herself being slowed down by it, but it was still faster than the normal method. The energy output was going off the charts, and she didn’t have weapons or shields to protect herself. She didn’t see anyone else in the map, but…

It took her seven seconds to reach the finish line. In fact, she went way past it, taking away a piece of the giant bock where the spectators stood. Luckily it didn’t collapse.

When Akko finally stopped, she had to go all the way back to the finish line to see the results. _Please, please, please…_ she kept thinking. _Please don’t let me be disqualified. Please let me win. Please let me make Ursula and Diana and the others proud._

Inside the rod, the sounds of the cheering were heavily muffled. And, when she saw the giant screen, she paused.

She had come up in third. The cyborgs had gone first. The medusas had ended in second.

She hadn’t been disqualified, which meant sixteen points, but she still closed her eyes, feeling both cold and hot inside. Cold as one part of her body tried to stop feeling anything. Hot as the other burned with frustration. She had got played by the reptilians. She knew they had that. It had been her mistake to go after them. And even after doing that they had managed to come up sixths and earn ten points.

Akko took a deep breath. Then, she looked at the bright side. Thanks to her ending in third, they could stay in first place. Maybe not as comfortably as they wanted, but the win of the Cyborgs meant none of their big rivals had surpassed them. In fact, they were twelve points above the second place, the shapeshifters. They were twenty points beyond the daemons – who, to Akko’s shock, had been disqualified along with the appali. Humanity had a good lead. It may have only been the third race, but if Akko kept getting better…

“Argh!” she cried, hitting the counter in front of her. She needed to let that out. After that, she took another look at the leaderboard. She saw something she had failed to notice before: The cyborgs had nine hits. Nine. It dawned on Akko it must have been _them_ who managed to hit her right at the start. They had probably hit everyone then. Such a silly thing, but it had allowed them to focus purely on flying. They… They won the second the race started.

Akko was still mad, but she was starting to realize she hadn’t paid cyborgs much attention during simulations at all. She had underestimated them. She had focused a lot on daemons, shapeshifters and medusas. Hell, she had even paid more attention to the armor and plants. Even appali had been on her radar. But cyborgs?

She teleported back to the pits, coming out of the Shiny Rod.

The crew had already been gone for a long time. They didn’t need to stay, since the Shiny Rod needed no maintenance. Sucy, Lotte, Amanda and Ursula were there, though. Constanze would be with the Shooting Star, probably.

“Hey Akko,” Amanda said. She had a strange expression, as if she was uncomfortable for some reason. She still put her arm around Akko’s shoulders. “Don’t look down, that last push was really fucking hype,” she actually sounded excited.

“Yes,” Ursula got close. “It’s my fault. I had completely forgotten about the reptilian’s hook. I should have been more thorough,” she had a weak smile.

Akko shook her head. “I forgot too. I got too eager. I should have tried to take them on from afar,” she said. “But… Well, I lost my patience, I guess,” she started to notice that there was a pattern to her losses. Even if the impact hadn’t been as high this time, this was just another case of her doing something rash and failing because of it. She needed to come up with a way to get over that.

“You still did great, Akko. Third place is amazingly good, actually. And we’re still in first place, so there’s nothing to worry,” Lotte gave her a big, warm smile. Of course she did, she was Lotte.

“Thanks,” Akko said. She forced a smile. She wouldn’t mope around this time.

“But I do need to ask, how did you get rid of the hook?” Amanda asked.

“I teleported but to the same spot, basically. In that split second the hook came undone,” Akko explained.

Ursula’s eyes widened, and she bit her lip. “Akko,” she said, sounding a lot more serious. “You better hope no one looks closely at the footage.”

“Why?” Akko asked, forehead furrowing in confusion

Ursula looked around, as if she expected something. “Remember, they know that you can teleport. If they figure out you used it for that…” she shook her head. “Let’s just say I’d rather not deal with the possible ramifications of that.” Akko’s mouth twisted, but in the end she had to nod. What Ursula said made sense, as always. “But,” Ursula continued, “you still did great. I’m proud how fast you’re growing.”

Akko nodded. Yes, she was growing fast. She would have definitely won if it wasn’t for that mistake. What was done was done, next time she’d be ready. Sixteen points were better than the twelve she had gotten during her first race. Under the blue light of Trashcan’s sun, with the crystal walls surrounding her, Akko nodded.

“I’ll prove that reporter that I’m worthy of my place, “ she said, recalling that interview. Amanda chuckled, and Akko felt some pats on her back. She turned to find Jasminka there smiling, with a bag of potatoes on her hand. Baked potatoes. Full. Akko was about to ask where had she gotten them, but she just shrugged it off, she had other things to worry about.

Like, for example, going to see Diana. Would she be disappointed? Would she be mad? Hopefully not, but for some reason, Akko really wanted to go see her. Maybe she just wanted to get some advice from the second best pilot she knew – behind Chariot, of course.

 

Diana watched as Hannah and Barbara stepped out of the room to let Akko have some time alone with her. It would be at least half an hour until Diana had to go back to her room, so she appreciated the distraction.

Akko stood in front of her, fidgeting, not really looking in her direction. Diana wasn’t sure if she was doing that because of the patient’s attire – which was dangerously loose – or just out of nervousness. “You saw the race?” She asked.

Diana nodded. “Of course.”

Akko paused, as if waiting for something. Diana cocked her head, wondering what was going on. “What… Did you think?” She asked, kind of nervous.

The next few seconds were silent, used by Diana to think about what she could say. Was Akko asking her expecting her to give her some advice? It looked like it was the case. “It was a good race,” she made sure to praise Akko first, make her a little more relaxed. “I thought you did well, particularly at the end. The move with the Shiny Rod’s transformation helped you a lot, even if it was a little too risky.”

Akko was finally looking at her, nodding along with each statement.

“At least in that case it was something you probably needed to do,” Diana continued. “But why did you stay so close to the armors when you didn’t need to?”

Shrugging, Akko let out a little laugh and mumbled something. Diana gestured to let her understand that she hadn’t heard it. “I needed to get a shot in, so I stayed close to be able to find an opening.”

Diana looked at Akko with a worried look. “What if you had been hit by their stone balls? It was dangerous, Akko.”

“If I didn’t do it I probably wouldn’t have found an opening,” Akko explained.

“Then you should have moved to another target. The risk just wasn’t worth it,” Diana tried to say kindly. “If you got taken out it would do good to no one.”

Akko reacted with a lopsided smile. “I know you’re right, it’s just… I dunno, in the end it turned out alright, didn’t it?” She spoke with an edge to her voice.

“Well, if you had moved to another target, then maybe you wouldn’t have ended up going after the reptilians,” Diana explained. Akko opened her mouth, but Diana showed her the palm of her hand to stop her. “I will admit I also forgot about them and their hook. They don’t leave much of an impression, but didn’t they ever use it during the simulations?”

Akko shook her head. Diana pressed her lips, thinking. Last time they had used it against the shapeshifters, back on Machina. They couldn’t use it during the Pan race, for obvious reasons. It had been such a minor thing, and it was a new addition. No one had paid it much mind. Hooks weren’t usually a good strategy.

“It’s fine,” Diana tried not to sound too harsh. She didn’t want Akko to feel too bad, since she had already lost. “Sixteen points is still great, you know?”

“I know, I know,” Akko said. She looked at the colorful carpet under her feet, obviously feeling bad. Diana’s heart seemed to shrink at the sight. At least she didn’t look as bad as she had done the other times.

Still, she felt like she needed to do something about it. “Hey, Akko, it’s ok,” Diana said, getting closer in her hovering chair. “We’ve already told you, you can’t expect to be on the same level as everyone else.”

Akko looked at her. “Well, you and Amanda seem to be doing just fine,” Akko said with some strain.

“But we’ve been practicing for longer. We’re on different levels, you shouldn’t compare yourself to us,” Diana tried to explain to her why feeling bad about this wouldn’t get her anywhere.

Akko’s expression changed, and for a second, Diana felt better. Then she saw what Akko’s expression had changed to.

 

The phrase rubbed off the wrong way on Akko. She her eyebrows slowly furrowed and her fidgeting stopped. She looked up from the carpet. Diana was looking at her with a kind expression. Or maybe one of pity?

“So you’re a higher level pilot than me?” Akko asked. The way Diana had said it had reminded Akko of being a child. She had felt similarly as to when teachers talked down to her because she didn’t understand something. Diana wasn’t one of them, but Akko was bad at hiding how she felt anyways.

 

Diana felt the question as if it had been a slap. “Uhm… Excuse me, it didn’t come off as I intended,” she quickly tried to fix it. She tried to rephrase it. “I meant that you’re just inexperienced. It’s fine, you’ll get there eventually,” she tried to use her kindest tone.

 

Akko looked at her for a second longer. “Yeah,” she said in a much colder tone. “No, you’re right. I won’t catch up to you anytime soon.”

So that was it. Not that Akko could blame Diana. It was natural that she would think of Akko as an inherently worse pilot. It was a fact that she just wasn’t as good. She had already tested it during the simulations. But talking to Diana before had made her feel validated. Now all she felt was this… inferiority.

 

Diana’s heart dropped a little. Akko was in a bad mood. She had just lost. Diana needed to measure her words “Akko, please, that’s not what I meant,” she said. “I was just trying to help you.” Maybe making her intentions clear would help. Akko was a direct girl. Direct things would probably be best to deal with her.

 

The _please_ coming out of Diana’s mouth made Akko a little more receptive. Diana had no malicious intent. She wasn’t trying to make Akko feel belittled. That was just her own feelings. She was projecting. Akko… Akko shouldn’t blame her. “I know,” she managed to say. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She was in a sensitive state, she was aware of that. What Diana had said was nothing but reality. Getting offended over it wouldn’t help anyone. “Sorry, I just took that too seriously.”

It still spoke to something, though. Even if Diana said it wasn’t like that, she probably believed she should have been on First Category. _I need to practice more,_ Akko thought.

 

Diana saw a range of expressions cross Akko’s face. She herself had her own little turmoil. Thankful that what she had said hadn’t ended in a misunderstanding, worried that if she kept talking Akko would get sadder or angry. Even some happiness at the knowledge that Akko took the things she said to heart.

“It’s ok. You shouldn’t apologize for feeling the way you do,” Diana said to her. “I should have worded things better.”

Akko turned. Diana almost panicked for a second. Had she offended her again? However, Akko turned to her. She didn’t look angry anymore. Just determined. “I’m going to go practice, now,” Akko said walking away.

“Oh, ok. Good luck, Akko,” Diana said. She wanted to stop her and talk for a while longer, but this was for the best. Diana wasn’t the right person to deal with her right now. Better to let her go and cool off rather than accidentally provoking her because she wasn’t sure of what to say. It was strange, how hard it she found it to find words in these kinds of situations, while she usually had no trouble knowing exactly what she should say to important people of her circles.

Diana approached the glass door of the recreational room – one of the few in the ship – and saw Akko slowly walk away. _She didn’t mope around this time_ , she thought. _She’s going straight to practice._

With a weak smile, Diana waited until Akko turned the corner. She exited the room and went back to her own, where Greta waited. The old lady looked at Diana as she entered with a mildly amused expression. “Hello, blondie. You have a while longer.”

“I know,” Diana reassured. “I’m just tired.” It wasn’t really a lie. The short talk with Akko just made her wish to go back to the bed. Greta helped her get on. When everything was ready Diana took her book, opened it, and instead of reading, she kept thinking back to Akko.

It was distracting, but for some reason, Diana didn’t mind it.

 

Constanze sneezed as some dust got on her nose, despite the fact that she was wearing her mask.

She was currently cleaning the Shooting Star. That was also part of her job. It was kind of hard, since she needed to move her staircase a lot, but thankfully she had already built a few stanbots to help her. Enough of those guys could do basically anything she asked of them. She had read her permit, and it made pretty clear that she was allowed to carry around basically any tool that might be of use to her while working on the Shooting Star. That included her stanbots, in her book, so they were no longer illegal.

“Hey, kid, you missed that spot,” a guy said from behind her. Constanze looked to where he was pointing. That was spit. She hadn’t really gotten along with the others, but she suspected it was because they felt threatened by having a sixteen year old – and really short – teen in their team.

Constanze waved her wand, and two of the stanbots moved to clean the spot, while two others kicked the guy on the ankles. He complained, trying to kick the stanbots back, but they were too agile for him. Lotte had done wonders with their AI after Constanze had asked, and she was now considering asking Barbara to check on their overall system.

“Hey, get these things off me,” the guy ordered. Constanze ignored him. She didn’t think any of these guys were smart enough to be the ones who purposefully ignored the tampering with the ship, but they were still assholes. “Come on, kid, it was just a joke!” he said, now a little more desperate. The stanbots were made of metal, their hits could be quite annoying, even if not very strong.

Constanze sighed and waved her wand again. The little guys stopped, coming over to keep helping her with the cleaning. The guy behind her was the supervisor of their team, and he had her do the most menial of tasks. He didn’t want her ‘messing anything up’. Constanze didn’t care how she was perceived, she knew full well her abilities were superior to those of most within the team. It wasn’t cockiness either. She was just used to it. She had been born to a Magical Mechanic’s family. She had grown among magic and machines. Apparently, the first word she’d ever said was ‘screwdriver’ when she was five. Up until then, her parents had thought she was mute. She still didn’t talk much. She didn’t feel the need to. Sometimes it could be annoying, but she could make herself understood most of the time. People often underestimated what body language could say.

The supervisor sighed behind her. “Listen, kid, finish this up and come get me so that I can get the ship back into the hangar,” he said, turning and leaving. He hobbled, probably from the pain in his ankles. Constanze smirked as she saw him disappear into the waiting room of the garage – a big room in the back of the hangar. They were in a section saved exclusively for a racer’s broom.

Constanze waved her wand again and stood. Suddenly, the stanbots she had hidden around the room appeared. She had had six helping her before. Now there were fourteen of them. They finished the work for her in ten minutes. Constanze looked at the waiting room, where the supervisor was already asleep and snoring. He always did that, for some reason. He would just sit in one of the sofas and basically black out. It was almost a talent.

A big smile appeared on Constanze’s face. There was no one else in the garage – and no one would come for a long time. With the race done, everyone had a day-long break. The supervisor was in a bad mood because he _had_ to keep watch on Constanze as she finished.

Constanze took out the blueprints she had been working on. What she was about to do was dangerous, reckless and probably illegal. But if she did it, no one would be able to turn it back. So, with a wave of her wand, she got her stanbots to move around the room and start bringing over a lot of spare parts that were lying around – including a lot of the Blue Star’s remains. A surprisingly large amount of pieces had survived without much damage. However, these pieces weren’t the most important ones.

With her finger, Constanze changed the screen to another blueprint. This one was the one she’d gotten from the Shiny Rod. The Shiny Rod was a strange ship, in constant change. It was almost a living being, metal being its flesh and magic its blood. But, as any other living creature, it made sense, if one studied it for long enough.

And while Constanze wouldn’t be able to replicate it, she had gotten some cool ideas from it that she wanted to test out. They’d surely help Amanda, too. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the end of the batch! Just 4 chapters this time. But hey, we broke the 300k wordcount!  
> Hahaha ha ha ha... ha... ah... Why am I doing this to myself?  
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed them! Please leave a comment! until next time!


	59. Chapter 59

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome, boys and girls and others, to a new batch of chapters of this fanfic!  
> I have the feeling you might find this batch particularly enjoyable. I know I had a blast writing it.  
> No more speaking. Just reading. (Don't forget to leave a comment)

Amanda woke up right as the _Dragon_ was rising into the air, her head still hurting as it had been since the previous day. The vibrations spread across the metal, but they weren’t too annoying. In less than three minutes it stabilized and they were already leaving the planet’s atmosphere. She felt slightly sad about not being able to do that thing they’d done back on Sídhe and Machina. But, well, no building in the little octopus village had been particularly high anyways.

Amanda had gotten a chance to say goodbye to the octopuses who had found the rusty old knockoff of the Shiny Rod. It hadn’t been particularly sad or anything. They had just waved. In fact, Amanda wasn’t even sure if they were the same pair. Sure, they looked like it, and they were smaller than the average octopus, but as far as she knew they could have been some other random octopuses.

It wasn’t that important, to be honest.

She exited her room, where Jasminka was still sleeping soundly, and wondered if she should go to the Shiny Rod. Maybe it was a little too soon to ask the broom if it knew what was their next destination. Plus, she kind of wanted to take a break. This trip, Ursula had informed them, would take four whole days.

Maybe Amanda should have gone to the gym. Though, better not. She had just had breakfast, so better wait for a while before doing anything like that. She should have probably gone to the nurse, but the headache she felt was slight, and it was probably nothing serious.

Yet she wasn’t in the mood for strolling alone. She thought of going to bother Hannah, but she didn’t really have that kind of relationship with her quite yet. The girl probably wouldn’t be eager to see her beyond practice, since they were already forced to spend so much time together. 

Maybe there was something else to do. Amanda walked around for a while until she found one of those papers that were posted on some walls that worked as the schedule for the near future. Apparently, there was going to be a huge ‘ball’ at Platinum Deck. A Nightfall event, apparently based on something from one of the more famous books. Anyone with cosplay would get free entrance. Everyone else would have to pay – including Earth’s team. How curious. And lame. Amanda considered going anyways, but she had no idea about Nightfall characters and she wasn’t going to waste money on a party she’d potentially grow bored with.

There were no other big events the next four days, save for an eating competition on Bronze Deck. Well, Amanda knew who would be participating in that. The prize was… Free food for the remaining of the trip. Well, the team already had that, but Jasminka would probably enjoy participating anyways. The prize could go to the second place – because there was no doubt in Amanda’s mind that Jasminka would win.

With a sigh, Amanda decided to go to the Shiny Rod. Maybe not to practice, but just to… hang out, or something. Her relationship with the Shiny Rod confused even her.

Getting there was uneventful.

When she saw the broom, she instantly knew something was off. There was movement in the cockpit. She didn’t panic, since the Shiny Rod would have run away the second someone unknown to it touched it, but she was stranged. She carefully climbed up to the cockpit and looked in.

Akko sat there. She had an absolutely crazy look on her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept… No. She had definitely not seen a bed in a while. When Amanda rapped the glass, Akko looked up like a scared animal. Amanda realized she wasn’t seeing her. _Simulation?_

Akko said something she couldn’t hear. Amanda had to jump out of the way of the windshield as it opened. “What?” Akko said. She sounded tired and frustrated.

“What are you doing?” Amanda asked.

“Practicing,” the crazy-looking brunette said as if that was all she needed to say. She then looked to the front. Amanda noticed that she blinked very little, and really slowly.

“You need to sleep,” she dropped into the cockpit and carefully pulled Akko away from the controls. She struggled a little at first, but gave up after Amanda applied some more strength. “Where were you flying, anyways? Do you already know where we’re going?”

Akko shook her head. “I was just practicing my flying skills in general,” she stated. Amanda could feel that wasn’t the whole truth, but with her headache she didn’t feel fully- Oh, there was no more headache, now that she noticed. Maybe it was something about Trashcan specifically that was causing it, and now that they were out of there it was gone.

After managing to get Akko down to the floor, Amanda was worried the girl wouldn’t make it back to her room. She walked slowly and with her head hanging. In the end, she decided to go after her and make sure she made it to-

She froze. She hadn’t realized, but when she turned to check again, she noticed something next to the Shiny Rod. There were usually different ships on its sides. Maybe the Shooting Star, or maybe others, Amanda wasn’t sure how they sorted it out. That’s why she hadn’t even noticed.

But those small wings upfront, the bigger, wider wings on the back. The thin body. It was green now, but that was the Shooting Star. Even then, it kind of looked different. The wings looked bulkier, maybe. The guns had doubled. Now one stuck out of the nose and another one from right behind the cockpit. There were also strange bulges on the side right in the middle of the way between wings. They were the size of a human head, and looked like they could open.

Amanda knew who was to blame for this. She didn’t even need to message her. What had Constanze done to it? And how had she gotten the green light? Assuming she did it with any kind of permit, of course. Amanda doubted that’d be the case. But what were they going to do now? Rebuild it?

The back of the ship had some metal plates missing, and the inside of the cockpit was a mess of wires and buttons that Amanda decided not to mess with. So it was still a work in progress. This, of course, would have an impact on the flying. The ship looked heavier, but more powerful. The engine still looked the same, though Amanda didn’t fail to notice that the fuel tank looked bigger.

 _Hannah and Diana are going to freak out when they see this,_ Amanda thought with a smirk. Constanze had probably tuned the ship to Amanda, which would cause trouble for at least Diana, but the tiny girl wasn’t so sloppy as to not make sure the broom stayed perfectly maneuverable for everyone.

The green color also fit it rather nicely. It was a bright green. Not as pale as magic. Slightly darker than Amanda’s own eyes. It almost looked like it had been a ship built for Amanda alone. A shame that Amanda would only get to pilot it for one or two more races.

Still, she should probably tell Ursula about this – assuming she hadn’t heard already. It was probably the kind of thing everyone in the mechanical and engineering team would be freaking about. What would Croix say? Amanda knew she sometimes used the _Dragon_ to go from planet to planet, but not always. Maybe she wasn’t here this time. Would they be kicked from the race for this? Probably not. The Shiny Rod hadn’t even had an inspection for obvious reasons.

Amanda sat on the edge of the Shiny Rod while watching the Shooting Star. It felt good to finally be without a headache. She now felt in a good enough mood to take a walk. Maybe then she’d go to the gym, though she’d have to pass through her room to get her sports gear to do so.

She’d probably do that. And, while she was at it, she’d make sure Akko hadn’t passed out on her way there.

 

_The wind made my hair whip up behind me. The helmet didn’t have a visor, so I had to either close my eyes or leave them behind Marian’s warm body. I put my ear to her back. With my arms wrapped around her waist, I felt like I could fall asleep right there and then. The night air, cold and humid, didn’t bother me as much as it had just a few minutes before._

_Marian’s short hair barely peeked from under her helmet. I wasn’t sure of why was I even focusing on that, but I felt like brushing it. I didn’t, though. Her red aura had de-saturated considerably, slowly shifting to a simply annoyed one, but I’d rather not deal with that._

_The rest of the motorcycle ride home felt almost like a dream. I was definitely drunk, as I felt light as air. Maybe that added magic to a simple half hour trip from the mansion back home, but still to this day I think that was the day everything changed. For both of us._

The chapter ended and Diana decided to put the book away for a while. She wasn’t really focusing on the pages, even though she totally felt like she should. The fight had been interesting, and she’d definitely been outraged when she found that Marian’s motorcycle had been vandalized, but she wasn’t really connecting to it right now.

She had had a dream. She barely recalled it now, it was strange for her to have dreams, since she was often simply put into comas to make sure she wasn’t awake during the times where pain or dizziness were too high. But she did recall the general theme of it, and she had felt alone. Very alone. Like she hadn’t felt in years. She had woken and had been reading for a while. Barbara and Hannah would have been alerted that she was awake, but Hannah was probably practicing and Barbara was probably having fun with Lotte. Maybe they were sleeping, though. Whatever the case, she was certain the dream had something to do with the chat she’d had with Akko the day prior.

Now that she thought about it, she had realized that there was a reason to people thinking she looked down on them beyond her – supposed – riches and generally confident attitude. She wasn’t sure of what it was yet, but it probably had to do with words. Was it her vocabulary? Or just the way she said things? Was it something about how she constructed her phrases?

Alone. She didn’t want to be alone.

The thought occurred to her almost as if she’d been holding back on it. She always believed that being alone wasn’t’ a big deal, but her mind obviously thought otherwise. Now the idea made her press her lips and feel bad. The thoughts were swirling around her head, making a jumbled mess of everything.

No one came to see her for the next ten minutes. She spent that time trying to put an order to her thoughts, with little success. She stared at the ceiling. She had heard from Greta that there would be a Nightfall related event a couple days from now. Diana didn’t care that much, but the old lady had said that, should she want to go, she’d be allowed to.

She would probably take the chance. Even if on a wheelchair, she really could use a stroll through the ship. Lotte and Barbara would probably be there too. And knowing Akko she would probably join in on the fun of a party. Hannah would definitely not even come close to it. She hated anything Nightfall related.

Diana didn’t feel like thinking anymore. She had been thinking so much lately she had started to get bored out of her mind – quite literally. She picked the book again.

 _When we reached home,_ the chapter started, _my father’s first reaction was to freak out as he thought the marks the motorcycle had were from an accident…_

“I want you to go to the ball with me and Lotte,” Barbara said.

“What?” Hannah stopped eating her ice-cream, thinking Barbara was making a joke.

“Come on!” Her best friend had a determined look on her face. “It’ll be fun!”

“I don’t wanna be surrounded by all of those Nightfall weirdos!” Hannah claimed. She instantly regretted saying that, and Barbara’s face darkened. “Not including Lotte, of course,” she smiled awkwardly.

Barbara shook her head. “Hannah, I need to tell you something,” she said in a very serious tone. “You may not believe me, but…” she took a deep breath, pausing for a second. They were sitting on the benches on the edge of the park on Gold Deck. There were some trees behind them, and an endless stream of people in front. “I’m a Nightfall fan too.”

Hannah instantly laughed. “Come on, be serious,” she said, taking another lick out of her ice-cream. “Or at least say something believable.” With a smile, Hannah looked back at Barbara. She still had her serious face on. No, not only serious. She was _fucking_ serious. Nothing came out of her lips, but Hannah knew what she was saying. “No way,” Hannah said. “No way in hell. How the hell did you read so many books without me noticing?” Hannah asked.

“Wand,” Barbara said.

“Oh, right,” Hannah said. “Wait, but you always say you’re studying.”

The corner of Barbara’s lips turned up. “And you always believe me,” her smirk told Hannah everything she needed to know.

She felt horror crawling up her body as she recalled a few things. “Wait a second, so that time you took me to the mall the same weekend where a Nightfall convention was being held and you said it was just a bad coincidence…” Barbara nodded. “Wait, but you were with me the whole time!”

“Actually, remember when we tried the simulator?” Barbara asked.

“Yeah, we each had half an hour to- Oh you piece of shit,” Hannah said. “You left me there alone for half an hour?”

Barbara nodded energetically. “I still wear the t-shirts I bought that day every time I go out without you,” she explained. “I actually brought my favorite one.”

Hannah pursed her lips. “Seems like there was a lot about you I didn’t know,” she ended up saying. “I’m sorry for all the times I indirectly insulted you.”

Barbara chuckled. “I know how you are, don’t worry about it. But thanks for apologizing.”

Hannah didn’t know what else to say. She was slowly coming to the realization that for as far as they’ve known each other Hannah had always expressed her disgust for Nightfall Fans. How far had Barbara been one? She was afraid to ask. Instead, she decided to go back to the main point. “Why do you want me to go to the ball, anyways?”

The face Barbara made could only be described as evil. Hannah instantly decided that she wouldn’t accept, no matter what. Last time Barbara had made a face like that had been during the party. Hannah shivered recalling it.

“Because I want you to have some fun!” Barbara claimed. Hannah gave her a cut-the-bullshit look. “Ok, fine, I just want you to interact with Nightfall fans and maybe come to like the books too.”

“I refuse,” Hannah instantly declared. “Sorry but I have no interest.”

Sad, Barbara looked down. Then, she sighed. “Well, I guessed I would have to use it, but I didn’t want to waste it so soon. You will accompany us and I use the one you owe me.”

Hannah barked a loud, fake laugh. “Owe you one my ass! You should owe me!” She said. “I literally got you a fucking girlfriend!”

“Sht!” Barbara put a hand over her mouth. Hannah had brought a lot of attention from passing strangers with her claim. Most of them quickly moved on. “You don’t need to announce it to everyone!” Barbara exclaimed in a whisper. Hannah licked Barbara’s hand, which got her to remove it. “Plus, you were the one who agreed, so you’ve no right to back off now.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. She was about to simply refuse again, but then she thought a little more deeply about it. Of course, she didn’t owe anything to Barbara, both of them knew it. But… “Fine,” Hannah said. “I’ll go,” she accepted reluctantly.

“Really?!” Barbara sounded so surprised you’d think she had just won the lottery.

“Not because I ‘owe you’,” Hannah clarified. “I do it because you’re my friend and if you really like those books so much then I guess I can give it a shot. Though, if I get bored I _will_ lea-” She couldn’t even finish her sentence as Barbara basically tackled her in giving her a hug. Hannah miraculously didn’t drop her ice-cream in the surprise.

“Thank you! You won’t be disappointed, I swear!” Barbara said. Hannah smiled awkwardly. She wasn’t sure if Barbara would be able to make her interested in the story, but it was probably still better than anything. She’d go, check things out, and if she got bored she could always just leave.

She would probably get bored quickly, anyways.

 

When Akko woke up, she knew she hadn’t slept much. She felt like a rock, barely able to move. Gravity seemed to have tenfold. She wasn’t even sure why she had woken up. The room was dark, and Akko was in no state to hear if either of her friends were there. She barely recalled having gone to sleep at all. Last clear thing in her memory was racing against Diana and Amanda in a simulation. Again and Again. Trying to win. If she managed to be better than them, then she’d be worthy of her position.

She didn’t win. Not even once. She had sometimes come close, but only on simple tracks and circuits.

Long story short, she still felt terrible, and it wasn’t due to a lack of sleep.

But she was determined. At this point the Shiny Rod would probably be able to tell their next destination. Akko sighed. If she had woken up then she probably didn’t need the sleep anyways. But moving felt wrong. She closed her eyes, seeing if she could fall asleep again. Diana’s words started to pop up in her mind. Telling words.

She couldn’t fall back asleep, that much was obvious. Yet she didn’t seem to have the energy to move and go to the Shiny Rod. Calling it to their room was impossible – even if this time they had gotten a larger one. This one had more space between beds and a longer desk with two chairs and a mirror. There was even another closet. Akko couldn’t see them in the dark, but she knew they were there.

Not able to do anything else, she thought about Chariot. About that race she had gotten the chance to see in person. She recalled how everyone had teamed up against her, how they knew she was the best pilot there and had tried to bring her down. The Shiny Arc, with the cockpit shooting out of the ship like a massive arrow and crossing the finish line before anyone. How did one do the Shiny Arc, anyways? It seemed like each transformation had a password. But she didn’t know how to get new passwords. _The password is in the mouth of the pilot,_ Akko thought, recalling what Alcor had said. Mouth of the pilot. Akko didn’t have a password in her mouth.

Did Chariot? Akko was sure there weren’t any videos of the inside of Chariot’s mouth. Unless some dentist had somehow taken one. But she’d known if that had been made public. She knew everything about Chariot.

Maybe it was something that only Chariot knew? Like, it was only in her mouth and she had never written it down. But how would Akko ask her if she had disappeared? Would she even tell her, if Akko found out? Akko was a mess of emotions and wished she could just sleep.

The feeling she had told her whatever had woke her up was inside her head. Was this insomnia? She felt like she wanted to sleep, but couldn’t. The tiredness was there. The heavy eyes were there. Yet, this thing inside her seemed to rage like a storm, powering up just enough of her brain to leave her active. Her mind was spinning in a circle of doubt and determination. She doubted she’d ever become as good a pilot as Chariot, yet she was determined to try her best. She had forever turned off the autopilot of the Shooting Star, so that wouldn’t be an option anytime soon.

Akko tried to get up. She failed, grunting. Her body had just given up. The stress of having lost the race and then all those hours of nonstop practice had obviously taken their toll on her. But she was getting nowhere. The more she thought, the more she wanted to go back to practice. Even in her state. Even if she collapsed. She wasn’t good enough for her position. She needed to get up and practice…

 

When Akko opened her eyes again, she was in the cockpit of the Shiny Rod. The world outside the windshield was dark. Was it night? Maybe. She tried to command Alcor to turn on a simulation so that she could practice. But nothing came out of her mouth. She tried to grab the controls, but she quickly noticed they weren’t even there. Only then she noticed that she wasn’t wearing a g-suit. She looked down at herself. Why was she wearing glasses? And what about the white hoodie? She didn’t own one like this.

Again, she tried to speak, but the words coming out of her mind weren’t the ones she had wanted to say. “Why won’t you let me pilot you?” The voice asked. It was a weak voice. “I’m a better pilot than her. You could get so much better use if you just-” Suddenly, the pilot’s seat rocked, threatening to throw her off, but it was just a feint.

Akko stood, even if it was against what she wanted to do. “Fine, do it your way, see if I care,” she said with bitterness on her voice. She exited the cockpit. The outside was… A forest. Akko recognized it as the Arcturus Forest, the one that surrounded Luna Nova. The Shiny Rod floated there, waiting for its pilot. Akko quickly lost quality on her dream, first losing color, then quality. She kicked a tree root and then everything faded to black.

 

Waking up, Akko still felt bad. But she could tell she had slept for a while. Two figures hovered over her, looking worried. “Akko?” Lotte asked. “Do you feel fine?”

“Yeah,” Akko lied. “Why?”

“You looked angry and almost kicked Lotte’s head off,” Sucy said. Akko recalled her dream, wondering what was going on.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was just having nightmare,” she got up, her body no longer feeling too bad. She was starving, now that she noticed. “Is there breakfast?”

“Want me to order some?” Lotte asked. Akko’s expression twisted. She didn’t want to wait twenty to thirty minutes to get her breakfast. But she should probably eat something. She nodded. Lotte went to the small screen for room service and ordered.

Akko took the time to take a shower. Sleeping hadn’t helped much, but now she could go back to practice. What would be their next destination? She was excited. She should probably get Jasminka to come too. Then there was the fact that Ursula would call for them to train at the gym, probably soon. Now that her mind was cleared she could at least organize her thoughts. She had to go visit Diana again and make sure she knew she wasn’t angry, too.

When she came out of the bathroom, her breakfast had arrived. Juice and donuts. A lot of donuts and a big juice. Lotte seemed to know she hadn’t eaten in quite a while. Thanking her, Akko got to the matter at hand: Eating.

 

Ursula made a calculated expression, trying to appear calm and collected.

But she was screaming on the inside. And very loudly.

She looked at the now green Shooting Star. Next to her stood the head mechanic, who was looking at her with an irritated look and arms crossed. Next to him, Constanze was looking perfectly fine. She didn’t care. It was too late to go back on her modifications.

 _Should have seen this coming,_ Ursula thought. The wings looked somewhat bulkier, and there were two new weapons sticking out of the ship. Not to mention the strange bulges coming out of each side of the ship. Even now, a bunch of little robots worked on the ship, not stopping even though the mechanic was there to make Ursula tell Constanze to stop.

“We can’t work on it now!” The mechanic said. “We don’t have the specs, thanks to your student’s modifications! Who knows what’ll happen if we turn it on now? As far as we can tell it might just as well explode just like the Blue Star did!” he complained.

Ursula nodded. She understood his annoyance. She looked at Constanze, who had stopped paying attention and was doing something on her tablet. Where had she even gotten the materials to do as she had done? “I need to ask, wasn’t anybody supervising her?” Ursula turned to the man.

He suddenly stopped looking so angry, instead moving on to looking more on the shocked side. “W-well, I was, but I just took my eyes off her for a minute and-”

Ursula put a hand to the man’s face to make him stop. She could guess what had happened. Still, what Constanze had done was illegal in a lot of ways. Not only did it go against race regulations, it also broke the contract Earth’s team had with the owners of the broom. And she had gone and done it now, when the relationships between the two were so flimsy, due to the explosion of the Blue Star. Since very few people knew about the cheating, Earth’s race committee blamed the company for the accident, a faulty design. Of course, there was no such flaw, but if the contract died Humans would just be disqualified for not being allowed to fly in their own ship.

“We’ll have to talk to the head of the committee about this, maybe the head of the entire IPR,” the man ended up saying, looking defeated. “Maybe we can skip the next race and-”

Suddenly, one of the robots – called stanbots, apparently – kicked the man’s ankle. He cried in surprise. “Constanze, please stop that,” Ursula said. The girl did so reluctantly. Ursula sighed. “Listen,” she spoke to the man, “I’ll try to sort this out. Constanze probably has the blueprints of what she’s building. I’m just worried about the testing. How do you plan on doing that?” She looked at the teenager.

Constanze touched a few things on her screen. Suddenly, the engine of the Shooting Star started. Of course, driving a broom – or at least, a broom that wasn’t the Shiny Rod – on the _Dragon_ was impossible, since it didn’t have enough real gravity for the hovering systems to work, but it was possible to move it around with its wheels.

“Ok, ok, don’t move it, let’s just leave it,” Ursula was quick to react. The engine turned off.

“We don’t even know if the ship can be finished before the next race. Stupid girl,” the man said annoyed.

Ursula turned around and grabbed the man by the shirt. He yelped as she yanked him towards her. He was a little taller, but she brought him down and made him stare her in the eye. “You do _not_ insult my student,” she said in a growling voice. “Got it?”

The man, scared, nodded energetically. Ursula let him go. Only a second later did she notice what she had done. Even Constanze seemed surprised by what had just happened. She shook off her surprise, though, and tapped Ursula’s shoulder. She showed her the screen. She was showing her… Profiles.

“Lotte and Barbara?” Ursula looked at the screen, somewhat confused. “What about them?”

Constanze insisted. Ursula looked a little closer. What could she mean? There was nothing- _Oh, of course,_ she realized. One of them was basically an AI expert, the other a system engineer. “You want them to help you?” Ursula asked. She was relatively satisfied when the tiny girl nodded energetically, her long ponytail dancing behind her.

“What?” The man said. “You want to bring more teenagers into this? Whatever you need, I’m sure my team-”

“Sir, do you know who these girls are?” Ursula cut him off. He shook his head. “This redhead is Lotte Yanson,” she said. His expression changed. “Yes, you recognize the name. They may not be famous, but anyone who knows their stuff knows who they are. On the other hand we got miss Barbara England,” again, the man seemed taken aback. “So, yeah, if your new mechanic wants to bring her friends into the mix, she will.”

Ursula looked as the man slowly went through different emotions, reflected on his face. As she did that, she realized that the team she had together was actually a lot more impressive than she had thought at first. Of course, it wasn’t as if she’d let them do all the work, they were teenagers after all, but trying to come to terms with the fact that such young girls were probably as capable as anyone in the official team’s mechanic and engineering groups was kind of surreal.

Constanze had again gone back to directing her robots. The man, who had been fuming before, now looked very tired and confused. Ursula couldn’t blame him.

She sighed internally. It was as if destiny wanted her to go meet with that woman.


	60. Chapter 60

“You look terrible,” was the first thing Diana told Akko as soon as the girl entered the room. She had the hint of bags under her brightless eyes. Her smile seemed to lack energy, and her whole demeanor seemed to scream tiredness.

Akko nodded. “I had a bad night… or whatever time it’s supposed to be,” she said, her voice also lacking in her usual energy. “I decided to come visit you since we just had a couple hours of training at the gym and Jasminka had to go to this food competition or whatever,” she yawned.

Diana nodded. Hannah and Barbara had been there before Hannah had to leave for training.She had learned Hannah was going to be at the Nightfall event too, which was surprising. Akko was extremely still, not fidgeting or moving at all, save for blinking. “Do you know what our next destination will be?” Diana ended up asking to make some conversation.

Akko nodded. “Poseidon. A planet that’s almost entirely water, save for its core and some rocky layers,” she said. Diana nodded. She knew of it. It was a rather strange planet. It was a planet almost lacking in gravity. It didn’t have a lot of mass, even with the water. In fact, many thought the ocean should have floated off into space long ago. It was kind of a mystery. It was also home planet to the Medusas.

“That’ll be a tricky planet… At least for the Shooting Star,” Diana said. Akko smiled, aware of what Diana meant. “Races in Poseidon usually are all about not going off track, for us,” she started thinking of previous races. “Since our brooms can’t go over the water, cutting corners or taking crazy risks becomes nearly impossible.” Akko looked at her intently. Diana wondered if it was just because of her tiredness. Maybe she really was that interested in what she was saying. “out of the five races that have been run there, we’ve ended up in last in two of them due to having been kicked out of the track. You won’t have that problem, luckily, but I don’t think any human has managed to end up higher than fourth, in either category, since going over the water for even a few seconds makes us lose massive amounts of speed.”

Akko nodded at her. She looked absent. Diana stopped talking, waiting to see if Akko reacted somehow. She kept staring at Diana for a long time. Even if she lacked her usual energy, Diana couldn’t help but grow a little nervous under the stare. Still, she also didn’t take her eyes off Akko.

Diana took the chance and examined the brunette. Her hair was kind of a mess, but not more than usual, and she was wearing sportswear – shorts, t-shirt, sneakers and such. Maybe that’s why she looked so tired, though she seemed like an athletic girl. Diana could see her slender arms and neck, and her shirt almost completely hid her boobs, that weren’t particularly big. Her skin was slightly darker than Diana’s, though that was normal, since Diana didn’t go much outside. Not because she didn’t enjoy it, she just didn’t have the time. Luckily, the standard lighting on the _Dragon_ was created to mimic the sun somewhat, and it helped the body generate some vitamin D.

“Diana?” Akko suddenly broke the silence, which took Diana by surprise. She quickly looked away from her. Diana nodded, to give the indication that she had heard. “How do you take baths?”

Diana blinked. “Excuse me?” Was all she could ask in her shock.

“Baths. You do you bathe? I mean, being in bed and all, do you even do it? You do, probably, since you smell nice, but how?” Akko asked in a completely serious voice.

Diana flushed. She couldn’t help it. All of those years of learning to hide her emotions served for naught when confronted with such a direct and strange question. Maybe Akko was far gone and in her mind it was ok to ask such a thing, or maybe it was her current state, but in any case, Diana kept searching for a sign that the question might have been a joke.

She didn’t find any.

“I-” She stuttered. “I, well,” what should she say? What if Akko asked her for more details after she answered? “A couple of nurses come to help me. They do it with towels and soap,” she answered in a really low voice, almost a whisper.

Akko nodded, as if it was what she’d been expecting. “And your hair? It looks as silky as always, so…” Akko looked at her blonde and tea-green hair and didn’t turn her eyes away. She looked like she wanted to touch it, if that made sense.

“They have a machine that washes and dries it in under five minutes,” Diana explained. It was a relaxing experience, and while she wasn’t sure what products were being used to wash her hair, they were as good as the ones she often used, so her hair didn’t feel any different.

“Huh, that sounds nice,” Akko said. She took a breath. “How are you doing? Feeling any better?”

Diana nodded, glad that Akko seemed to be too distracted to continue down that line of questioning. “I’ve been told that by the time we land in the next planet I’ll probably already be walking on crutches rather than the hovering chair.” She explained. Akko smiled at her, nodding. “And if all goes right, by the time we leave that planet they’ll probably take my cast off.”

Akko looked at her leg. Then, for a second, her eyes widened. Diana cocked her head. Maybe she’d imagined how it felt and had ended up being kind of impressed. She was a nice girl.

“I can’t wait,” Akko said, almost to herself. “You look nice in bed and all, but you’re really Diana when you’re out there doing… well, stuff,” she mumbled.

Diana raised her eyebrows. Akko didn’t seem to have noticed what she was saying. Diana wasn’t sure if she liked that or not.

She felt her fading blush grow a little stronger again. She suddenly became self conscious of the very potentially revealing posture she had. It wasn’t the first time this had happened with Akko, either.

Then, Akko’s expression darkened. “Well,” she turned to her, “I need to go practice.”

Diana kept the disappointment from showing in her face. She wasn’t sure of why, but she kind of… No, she wished Akko would stay for a little longer. But practice was more important than a silly chat. “Sure. Good luck,” Diana said.

“See you later, Diana,” she waved goodbye before leaving the room. Diana waved too, fighting back the sense of loneliness that suddenly overtook her as soon as Akko was gone. She tried to focus on the positives.

 _Do I really look nice?_ She wondered as she slowly reached on to her stand’s drawer and picked up her book. Akko was probably just complimenting her from her sleepy state, not thinking much about what she said.

But maybe that was more telling than it otherwise would be.

 

Amanda watched as Jasminka destroyed the competition. She was against people bigger than her, both from a height and from a width sense, but it didn’t matter. She ate everything in the plates in front of her as if she was just breathing. Hot dogs, pizza, burgers, fruits, anything. Some of the competitors had already stopped, and were looking at Jasminka as if she was some kind of mythological creature.

One by one, everyone stopped eating. Not Jasminka. Amanda didn’t even know how many kilograms of food were in front of her, but even the judges, who should have already announced the winner, seemed to be too curious to see how far Jasminka would go.

It took her another two minutes to finish everything in her plate. She finished eating, let out a satisfied sigh and then raised her red flag. The red flag was a sign that she retired from the competition. The other competitors’ eyes widened as Jasminka just left the stage and walked through the crowd towards Amanda.

“Well done,” Amanda said, patting her friend’s shoulder. Jasminka nodded. Amanda hadn’t seen her this satisfied in a long time. Together, they walked back to the elevators. It was time to practice. “So, how was it?”

Jasminka thought for a while. “Delicious,” she said. Coming from Jasminka, that was quite the high praise. Amanda would check later who made each of the items that had been part of the competition and maybe she’d go try them out.

They walked in silence for a while. They didn’t need to talk much, but Amanda always felt comfortable being with Jasminka. She was that kind of girl. One just felt safer around her. As they moved through the ship, Amanda saw a more consistent marketing for the Nightfall Ball coming the next day. She was still curious about it, but had found no real reason to go.

“The blue team will be there,” Jasminka pointed at one of the posters – which was that of a ballroom with a bunch of people cosplaying different characters. “Should we go too?” she asked.

Amanda shrugged. “Blue team? I mean, Barbara will be there with Lotte, but other than that…”

Jasminka shook her head. “Diana’s going to be there. And I think Barbara mentioned Hannah will be there too.”

Surprised, Amanda stumbled. Why would Hannah be there? Why did Amanda even care? Whatever the reason, she now was reconsidering her decisions. Maybe it’d be a worth party after all.

 

Hannah was outraged. She was offended, hurt and absolutely disgusted by what she saw. Everything in her life seemed like it was going to turn around. This was unacceptable. “What the _hell_ happened to the Shooting Star?” She asked as she approached it next to Barbara and Lotte, who had also been called down here.

The now green broom was still recognizable, but it looked differently enough that Hannah understood it wouldn’t work in the same way. She wasn’t freaking out only because she saw Amanda standing outside the Shiny Rod a few meters away.

She was laughing. Insufferable idiot. What had she done? She stared daggers at her, which only seemed to give more strength to her laughter.

“It was modified by one of your friends,” suddenly, an tall man with dark brown hair approached her. He looked resigned, like he had already reached the limit of how much he could care about something. “The tiny one.”

“Constanze did this?” Hannah asked, bewildered. “Why? Who gave her permission? Do you know how hard it is to learn to fly a new ship? What if it’s failed? What if it explodes?!” Hannah asked her worries about to this man who seemed to be in charge.

The man nodded at each question. “I see there is _someone_ who agrees with me in this ship,” he said. “Missy, all of those worries? I have them too. The tiny kid did this on her own and without anyone’s green light.”

Hannah clenched her jaw. She was fuming. Constanze had done this? Why? What gave her the right? She wasn’t an actual member of the team! She had been given a special permit only to keep anyone from cheating! This was unacceptable!

Constanze popped out of the cockpit. She looked at Lotte and Barbara and smiled, waving for them to get closer. Hannah stood in place, too angry to follow them. It was then that Amanda got closer to her.

“Pretty cool, eh?” She asked with a smile.

Hannah gave her a death glare. “Are you crazy? It was _your_ teammate that did this! This could ruin everything!”

Amanda laughed. “Hannah, there is no one in this world I would trust more than Constanze in remodeling our broom,” she said with absolute confidence.

Hannah grew red with anger. “We’re talking about the most advanced broom mankind has made!” she shouted. “She’s just a teenager! Who knows what she will mess up?” She put a hand to her face, trying to stop herself from just exploding. “This is serious. This is not ok. So many things could go wrong, everything can fall apart mid-flight or we could just explode like the Blue Star did or…”

“Hannah,” Amanda said in a more serious voice.

“Plus it’s got two new guns, what am I to do with that? There’s a reason the standard is two, you know? There is no way I’ll be able to handle all of these effectively…”

“Hannah,” Amanda repeated.

“And look at those wings! They’re wider, the ship’s definitely heavier. And what’s with those things at the side? Was she unable to put it back together like it was supposed and tried to cover it up? What are we going to do, there is no way we can go back to earth and get a new one soon enough…” She was trying to think up ways to fix the problem.

Suddenly, the hand she had on her face was yanked away by Amanda. She didn’t let go of it, and with her other hand she forced Hannah to look at her.

Her emerald green eyes looked worried. “Hannah, it’s ok,” she said. “Listen to me: You don’t know Connie like I do. I promise you it’ll be fine.”

Finally, she let go of her hand and face. Hannah’s panic attack started to subside. “What good is your promise to me?” She still asked.

Amanda actually looked kind of hurt by the comment. “We’re a team, aren’t we?”

Hannah took a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Her worries were still there, but she wanted to trust Amanda. She wanted to believe everything would be ok. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll… I’ll believe you.”

She looked over at where Constanze was explaining something to the couple, all via signs. She tried to calm down, but she found it hard. What had she done? Was she really so careless that she had done this without telling anyone? And mid-race too. Amanda had only ran one time. Everything could turn into a catastrophe so quickly…

“So, are you really going to that Nitghtfall event?” Amanda asked after a while.

Hannah looked at her. “Yes. Why do you care?” She got defensive quickly. She was still self conscious about going to such an event.

Amanda blinked. “I don’t,” she quickly replied. “I was just curious. Seems like it’ll be pretty lame, not the kind of party you’d care about,” she explained.

Hannah grimaced. “I don’t care about it. I’m just going because Barbara asked me to,” she explained. Amanda answered with a small grunt that could have meant a lot of things. Hannah didn’t care for it. “I’ll probably go, stay fifteen minutes and then go back to my room.”

Amanda said nothing, but she nodded with a weird look on her face. What was she thinking? Was it just another way of making fun of her?

_We’re a team, aren’t we?_

Maybe not.

The cockpit of the Shiny Rod suddenly opened. Ursula had to almost kick Akko out of it to make way for Amanda. Akko looked terrible, but the fire on her eyes was almost scary. Jasminka also came crawling from under the ship, and Hannah sighed as she dropped to the ground and climbed onto the already modified turret of the Shiny Rod.

She instantly noticed something was amiss. “What’s up with the extra buttons?” She asked.

“They’re probably for changing guns or something. Check them out, I think the simulation is already taking into account the modifications Constanze did to the ship.”

Amanda was right. Hannah checked the cameras, the Shooting Star was green and had all of the modifications Constanze had done to it. “But it’s not finished,” Hannah pointed out. “Will it even work?”

“Only one way to find out,” Amanda said.

The ship started moving around in a generic green field for practice. It didn’t blow up, which was good, and Hannah started testing her new controls and how to do things. She found out that they were way more intuitive that she had first assumed. It wasn’t long before she started seeing how the added weapons could work, giving her a better angle of firing from both the front and back of the ship. “How’s the flying?” she asked Amanda.

“After some modifications I did to the system? Perfect,” Amanda said. “Almost indistinguishable from how it was previously. And look!” she rose in the air, and Hannah instantly noticed what was different. “We can go up to six meters high now! How cool is that?”

Hannah nodded. Five meters had always been the standard for normal brooms, particularly racing ones. How had Constanze changed that? It was something built on the very core of the ship, a hundred years of development that had given up on height to gain speed. There were actual, flying brooms, but those were specific kinds.

“This is… Impressive,” Hannah said. “Though we will have to see if the real deal performs as well as this one.”

Amanda laughed. “You’ll come to praise Constanze, believe me. She’s one hell of an exceptional girl. Diana doesn’t hold a candle to her in terms of pure genius,” she said. Hannah knew she had just mentioned Diana to annoy her, but it still worked.

“Whatever, let’s just begin with actual practice,” Hannah said, keeping her cool.

Amanda gave a command to the broom, and then the landscape shifted. The endless expanse of green turned into one of almost crystal clear water reflecting a greenish-grey sky and a white sun. A white race track had been set up. It was a sinuous path of some kind of floating stone that stayed in place thanks to some technology the IPR wouldn’t share with other races.

“Is Poseidon’s air breathable?” Hannah asked, curious.

“It is, but not for long. Anything under five hours is fine, but breathing it for over seven hours can cause damage to your lungs, like if it was some kind of really thin smoke,” Amanda was obviously reading that from the Shiny Rod’s references. “The water is also said to be really nice. You like swimming, right?”

Hannah smirked to herself. “My, Amanda, do you want so badly to see me wet?” She asked. Amanda stayed silent for a few glorious seconds, in which Hannah thanked Croix for the advice she had offered. Oh, how she wished she could see Amanda’s face right now.

Amanda then laughed. Hannah expected that reaction in the end, but the moments of confusion had been obvious. “When did you become fun?”

“I’m always fun, you just can’t appreciate it,” Hannah replied.

“You know? You may just be right. Now let’s get this thing moving,” she said. Hannah saw as the other Second Category ships spawned around them. She prepared mentally for the race. Keep the ship from going over the edge would be her main priority for now.

As the race started, she was smiling.

 

Lost. Akko hadn’t won a single race of the ones she’d run. Neither against Diana and Amanda nor against the other First Category pilots. She was starting to feel numb, instead of frustrated. Just another loss. Who cared.

But, she knew thinking like that wouldn’t help her. She cared, she wanted to go back into the cockpit and keep practicing. She would grow so good at flying that Chariot herself would come out of hiding to congratulate her. She would fly and prove to everyone just how good she could be if she set her mind to it. All she needed now was… some kind of strategy to help her get an advantage. Of course she had considered just taking leaps over the water, but that was against the rules. Not going over the water per se, but cutting distances using it. Akko could understand why it was, but she also wasn’t totally ok with it.

Well, whatever. She didn’t even know if the circuits she had been practicing in helped in any way shape or form anyways. As far as she knew, the second they arrived on Poseidon they may be informed that the Medusa built a giant artificial island and that it would be the place of the race. After what happened in Trashcan, Akko wasn’t fully convinced that learning where they were going before time was totally positive.

She now laid in her back with her head down on the Shiny Rod. Jasminka had gone over to see what Constanze and the others were working on. Akko just couldn’t muster the energy to go check it out, even if she wanted to.

She closed her eyes. Being in contact with the Shiny Rod helped, as always. When close to it she always felt… Soothed, somewhat. Even her worst bursts of emotion had seemed controlled when around the Rod. And she was just starting to realize that sometimes she almost felt something from the Shiny Rod too. Not emotions, but… A kind of understanding. As if the broom understood her.

It was a strange experience, but an interesting one too. She recalled the dream she’d had. Who was the girl who the Shiny Rod had threatened? It hadn’t sounded like Chariot, but it may just have been a younger one. But Chariot didn’t wear glasses… Or maybe she wore contacts and nobody had known?

Why had she dreamt about that anyways? It had been such a random thing, yet it had felt so… _real._ Well, she supposed a lot of dreams did. Sometimes, they just didn’t make sense, and that was ok.

She seemed to have been taking a light sleep. When she opened her eyes it was only because Amanda was calling to her. Akko was kind of confused at first, but by the time she realized what was going on, Ursula was there too. She shook her head. “Akko, go to sleep,” Ursula said. “You can’t do anything in this state. Rest well, don’t come out of bed until you feel refreshed, got it?”

“But I’m good,” was all Akko could say.

“Yeah, sure,” Amanda basically kicked her down from the Rod. “Go to sleep. Maybe that way we’ll get our schedules synchronized too, since I’m going to be sleeping just a couple hours from now.”

Akko rose from the floor feeling kind of betrayed, but everyone present was looking at her with very harsh do-as-we-tell-you eyes.

Left with no choice, Akko yawned. Fine, whatever. She’d just sleep and keep practicing later.

 

Croix sighed, looking over her workbench. She stretched her neck and cracked her knuckles, trying to ease up some of the soreness that she felt. She took a sip of the coke she was drinking, and considered heating some water to prepare some instant noodles. Taking off her goggles, she stood with a grunt. She ran one of her greasy hands through her hair, not caring about her appearance at all. If someone were to see her now, they’d probably never guess she was the head of the most important organization in the explored universe. Sure, people tended to attribute that title to the Planetary Alliance rather than the IPR Committee, but most people didn’t understand just how powerful politics relied on events like these. Sometimes, even Croix was surprised by how much of an impact all of her decisions could have.

She took a break from her current project to look over the Shooting Star’s new blueprints. Technically, these were in violation of race regulations. Changing your ship mid-way wasn’t forbidden, but it had to be justified, and changes usually couldn’t be too big. What the little girl had done was basically rework the entire ship and take it one generation beyond what it had been.

Croix approved it, of course. She didn’t care for any of that, and humans _had_ to keep participating in the race. She looked at one of her many screens in the dark lab. It showed some of the transformations the Shiny Rod could achieve. The axe, the hook, the arc. Akko had only unlocked one of these, plus the teleportation feature. By how humans had been racing she probably had found the simulator too. Such incredible speed. She had been with the ship for under two months and she had already found two of the words, plus one of the more useful features of the Rod. It had taken over two months for Croix and Chariot to find the second word, and they apparently had no order, because those Akko had found weren’t the same as she recalled.

Croix wished she could go down there right now and examine Akko. She wondered if maybe she could get the girl to invite her inside the Rod. What would happen if Croix just straight up told her some of the words she was missing? Would they work? It was an interesting concept, though Croix highly doubted that’d be the case. But maybe one could give her a push in the right direction…

Croix looked around. Many of her unfinished projects were still there, waiting for her to get the time and motivation needed to finally get them working. But that wouldn’t happen anytime soon. How much time had she been working again? Her perception of time had been destroyed long ago, but luckily, her clocks were absolutely perfect.

She had a meeting with the octopus representative in half an hour. And her alarm hadn’t gone off.

Well, maybe not perfect.

She put some water to boil and took a quick automatic shower – something she hadn’t invented, but she had still made modifications to it to make it actually usable – that also dried her up and did her hair. The hair was the most important part for her. She knew it drew attention, as well as her clothing, and while putting all those belts on was a lot simpler than most people assumed, it was still fun to see some of the reactions she got.

After coming out of the shower she poured the hot water on a cup of noodles and let them cook while she dressed. She was done at about the same time the noodles would be ready.

She looked again at the blueprints for the Shooting Star. She knew for a fact the ship would perform perfectly, assuming the blueprints came to be fulfilled exactly like the Constanze expected. Though, if what she had heard was true, there was nothing to worry about.

After finishing, Croix stood. There were still fifteen minutes until the meeting, but there was a relatively large walk from her base down on Trashcan to the office building where they would be meeting. Before leaving she didn’t forget her translator device.

While walking around the lab, she was very careful not to step on any of the many Inferno batteries she had around. One of those breaking would probably mean her death. Magic treatment didn’t work with Inferno, despite how similarly they acted.

Before leaving, an alarm on her clock started to sound. The Noir Rod had been activated for some reason. She sighed, putting her mouth to her wrist. “Could I know what are you doing?”

“Practicing,” came a translated voice from the other side.

“You’re in the middle of space, Horn. Don’t give me that crap,” Croix said. She was getting tired of the Daemons messing with her ship. Sure, they had a deal, but building the Noir Rod had required eight years of compounded effort and technology. Having the absolutely crazy Daemons potentially ruining that and teleporting randomly in the middle of space and dying put her on edge. She should just have them take the broom back to her whenever they were done with it and have them practice in simulators.

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just angry, you know? We got disqualified, it’s kind of a pain in the ass. Now catching up to the humans will be near impossible, if they keep performing so well.”

“Even if they won it wouldn’t affect our deal,” Croix reminded them. Horn didn’t react, but Croix could imagine the hiccup his body would’ve made as a snort. She was used to dealing with the guy after three years of working together. “So stop messing with the Noir Rod.”

“Fine, fine,” he said. The alarm on Croix’s clock subsided as the ship was left alone, and she was finally able to relax somewhat. “But you’ve gotta give us some upgrades, Croix. How about some shields?”

Croix paused. That was right, up until now she hadn’t been able to create movable shields for the ship. The Noir Rod was inarguably an inferior ship to the Shiny Rod in more ways than one, and that was one of the more important ones.

However, she had basically just gotten a perfect example of how to mimic such a feature. It wouldn’t be perfect, but… “You know what? You’re right, Horn. I should give you some new shields,” she said with a smirk. “Wait for me for a few hours.”

“Hours? What are you going to do now?”

Croix put on her red cape and boots before replying. “Business,” was all she answered before closing communications. Then she stepped into the small room that was the entrance to the lab and teleported away.


	61. Chapter 61

Amanda woke up with a mixture of anticipation and nervousness. Should she go to the ball or not? She didn’t want to spend money on it, but with Hannah going she wouldn’t be able to practice anyways… Whatever, she’d just go to the gym and then to watch a movie or something. Who cared.

After going through the morning motions, she found herself hesitating. The party would be in about four hours. Even if she went to the gym now and went see a movie she’d probably make it. Though, if she added some time to grab some breakfast at some restaurant then-

Her door opened. She turned, expecting to see Constanze or Jasminka stepping in. Instead, she found a couple of really excited looking girls. Lotte and Barbara.

“Hey Amanda~” Barbara said with an overly innocent sing-song voice. Amanda stared at her, noticing that Lotte’s smile was faltering, as if she wanted to laugh. “Hey, are you planning on going to the party?” Barbara asked.

Amanda shook her head. “Not really,” she said. “I’ve thought about it, but I just… I dunno, I guess it doesn’t appeal to me.” It wasn’t entirely true, but she had no real reason to go.

Barbara got a strange glint on her eyes. “Really? Nothing? Not a single reason why you would want to go?”

Amanda’s mind instantly went to Hannah. Hannah was going to be there. But, on the other hand, Hannah probably didn’t want to see her anyways. Plus, why would she go to a party just to see a girl she’d see as soon as they had to practice anyways? She already got enough Hannah for an entire lifetime in a single day.

“No…” Amanda said hesitant.

Barbara put on a clearly faked disappointment face. “How bad. Guess now we won’t have anyone to match with Hannah,” she said, shaking her head.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Match?”

“Hannah is going to be cosplaying as the Princess of the Moon,” Lotte explained. “And we wanted someone to cosplay as her partner, the White-suited Watcher.”

“Why me, of all people?” Amanda asked with mistrust.

“Well, out of all of us, you have the more… Uhm… Masculine build?” Barbara said. Amanda raised an eyebrow. She obviously hadn’t thought this through.

“I’m fairly certain I have the biggest tits out of all of us- Well, save for Jasna,” Amanda said. Barbara’s eyes widened as she looked at her body up and down. “I’m good at hiding them,” Amanda said with a grunt.

“Well that’s fine,” Barbara said. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“I don’t have a suit,” Amanda said.

Barbara and Lotte laughed. “Don’t be silly, we’ve already got one ready,” Lotte commented. “We…” she blushed slightly, “We got your measurements from your g-suit.”

Amanda looked at the two girls. They were standing in the small corridor leading to the room proper, as if they were afraid to step fully in. “You’re kind of creepy, aren’t you,” Amanda said, looking at the pair. Barbara shrugged, though at least Lotte seemed to have enough common sense to seem a little embarrassed. “And why don’t you tell me the real reason you want me?”

Barbara sighed. “Ok, listen, I have a plan for Hannah and I thought you’d enjoy it,” she explained.

“I’m listening,” Amanda said, now intrigued.

The plan sounded rather enjoyable indeed.

 

“Do I really have to wear this?” Hannah asked with disdain.

“You look great, shut up,” Barbara said while fixing her hair. Hannah was wearing a couple of braids that went from her ears to the back of her head to fuse with a longer braid, all of it mixed with a couple of moonflowers that stuck out from the place where the braids met. It was a simple style, but Barbara seemed to want it perfect.

She was also wearing a long, white ball gown with a bouffant styled skirt. It had quite the number of layers, but it looked quite nice along with all the silver linings and couture.

But the top had quite a bit of cleavage and no sleeves. Hannah wasn’t conservative or anything, but it made her feel way too covered up below the waist and practically naked above it.

“You’re not wearing cosplay, though,” Hannah complained.

Barbara paused, looking offended. “Excuse me,” she said, pointing at her black shirt, black pants and black boots. “I am none other than Miss Dark, the main antagonist of Volume Two thirty-three,” she said, outraged. “Why the hell would I be wearing all black anyways?”

“I dunno, maybe you just felt like it,” Hannah said, trying not to roll her eyes at what she had said. Had she really been such a nerd all of this time? It still felt unbelievable. “And what am I supposed to be, again?”

“You’re Artemis Mc Éisce, princess of the moon,” Barbara explained. “you were of great importance on volume one seventy-six, where Belle had to help you reunite with your fiancée. During the trip, you narrated the story of how love came to bloom between you two. At the end of the book there’s this big ball on the dark side of the moon, and that’s totally what this event is inspired on.”

“Artemis Mc Éisce?” Hannah asked, completely ignoring everything else. How had the protagonist carried a girl all the way to space, anyways? “What’s with the weird mixture of Greek and Irish?”

Barbara chuckled. “Well, the author who wrote those books is probably dead or really, really old at this point,” she said. “She had some weird naming conventions. I mean, why would a _moon_ princess have a name hailing from earth, anyways? Yeah, she wasn’t all that great with them,” she spoke with nostalgia in her voice. “But that’s just one little flaw among all of the great stories she gave us.”

Hannah grunted. If she couldn’t even get names right, then she probably wasn’t all that great in the first place, but she decided to keep that to herself. She didn’t want to offend Barbara in any way.

“What’s Lotte going as, then?” Hannah asked. “Does Miss Dark have a partner or something?”

Barbara laughed. “Miss Dark? Having a partner? Hannah, please,” she spoke as if it had been the funniest idea she’d ever heard. “No, you’ll see what Lotte is later. Now, let’s see you move.”

Hannah sighed, moving around in the dress. She knew how to move in dresses such as this one, and while she liked the looks, she’d much prefer a more… modern design. Each step seemed to make her sparkle like a hundred stars as every silver thread reflected the light. The effect would certainly be amplified in a ballroom, too. “If I’m going as such an important character, won’t a lot of people go like this too?”

Barbara nodded. “Artemis is a normal cosplay,” she confirmed. “But, you see, most people go with the design that was in the cover of the book. I went with the design of the short graphic novel that was also-”

“Ok, ok, I get it, not everyone’s going to look the same as me. Jeez, don’t need to give me a history class with every question, you know?”

Barbara chuckled. “You look nice, don’t you?” She said, ignoring her comment. Hannah grunted in agreement. She really did look nice, the braids on her hair almost looking like a small crown. “I’m sure you’ll get a lot of invitations to dance.”

“I doubt I’ll take any of them,” Hannah said. Then she reconsidered. “Unless Andrew’s there or something.”

Barbara rolled her eyes. “You really think he’s got the time for such a thing?”

“Of course not,” Hannah said. “But I can dream.”

The black haired girl then moved across the room and put the mirror back into the closet. “Well, maybe you’ll meet someone nice at the party, who knows?” She said. “Andrew’s nice and all, but there’s a lot of fish in the sea.”

“I know, I know,” Hannah sat down carefully. The party would begin in an hour, but they wanted to be ready. She still had to put on her makeup – though she probably wouldn’t wear anything too fancy. “I just have standards.”

Barbara nodded with obvious sarcasm in her expression. “Sure you do,” she said. “But does your heart?”

“I’m fairly certain it also does,” Hannah replied.

“I see. Well, guess that’s fine,” Barbara didn’t sound convinced and she didn’t even try to hide it. Hannah was starting to get annoyed at her friend’s attitude, but whatever, it wasn’t like it actually mattered. “Now, let’s get that makeup done,” Barbara said, taking out her makeup kit.

Hannah stood really still while Barbara prepared her.

 

Diana was allowed to wear something other than her patient’s clothing to go to the party. She had to be accompanied by a young nurse, but she wasn’t embarrassed or anything. She understood this was how medical institutions worked and was completely ok with it. She had chosen to wear pajama pants and a t-shirt. She wore no shoes or socks. She was already in a hovering chair and everyone knew her and what had happened. She figured wearing something actually comfortable for once in her life wouldn’t leave too much of an impact in her reputation.

She had agreed to meet with Hannah and Barbara at the party. They would meet at the back of Platinum Deck, close to the right side of the windows that allowed one to stare into space. Platinum Deck was packed. Being of about the same size as Bronze Deck, it wasn’t the biggest one. But it did have vast amounts of empty space in the middle of it, enough to hold a good crowd of a couple thousands. At least half the passengers of the _Dragon_ had to be at this party, and it showed.

People walked about, some in casual clothing, but most in some sort of formal attire or another. And, for this party, cosplay counted as formal attire too. Probably to avoid paying, _a lot_ of people had come disguised as various characters from the Nightfall series of books. Diana didn’t know much about them, but the amount of vampires, werewolves and other various creatures was exorbitant. There were also a lot of white-suited people with masks that covered their faces, all of them with white capes that went down to their feet, almost touching the ground. And most of them were accompanied by someone wearing a white dress with long sleeves and golden highlights.

Diana felt rather out of place, and she was drawing quite the number of looks, but maybe for the first time in her life, she was attending a party for reasons other than to appear like a proper lady among peers. She was just doing it to take a breather from the almost claustrophobic room in the _Dragon’s_ hospital and to see her friends in something other than g-suits.

Food tables were everywhere, constantly being refilled by waiters walking back and forth. Many others walked among the crowds offering drinks and food on the go, and none of those trays seemed to last more than two minutes. With the amount of people in the place, Diana wasn’t surprised by this. At one point she managed to snatch a toast covered with olive oil, a piece of cheese and a slice of tomato. Simple, but delicious. The nurse had warned her that she wouldn’t be allowed to eat a lot, so she should pick what she wanted to try carefully.

She found Hannah and Barbara right where they said they would be. They were next to a food table that seemed to be dedicated entirely to sweets. Cakes, brownies, candy and the most impressive, a chocolate fountain all laid out for anyone to use. Every table also had a waiter next to them, probably to make sure no one tried to take advantage of them.

Diana smiled as she saw her surprised friend’s expressions at seeing how she was dressed. “Diana,” Barbara said. She was wearing pure black. Kind of weird, but it was probably something related to Nightfall too, “you look like you just woke up.”

“Thank you,” Diana said.

“Did they force you to come dressed like that?” Hannah asked.

Diana shook her head. “I chose it,” she explained. “You, on the other hand, look beautiful,” she complimented. Hannah truly did look like a princess. It was obvious she was dressed as the same character that so many of the party attendees were too, but her dress looked distinct, with the silver instead of the gold, and the lack of sleeves.

Hannah shrugged. “It was wearing this or paying, and I’d rather not waste money on something like this.”

“Well, even if you say that, I believe you should let others appreciate your looks,” Barbara said. Diana nodded.

“Where’s Lotte, anyways?” Hannah changed topics. “Weren’t we supposed to meet here?”

Diana noticed with some curiosity that Barbara was trying to hide a smile. “Actually, I think I just saw her looking for us,” Barbara said. She pointed towards the center of the floor. The platform there was being used as the dance floor. “Why don’t you go look for her?”

“Why me?” Hannah asked, annoyed.

“Because you’re way more flashy, you’ll be easier to spot,” Barbara said. Diana could tell she was lying. Hannah too, probably. Still, she just rolled her eyes and carefully walked towards the crowd of people. She drew more than one look as she passed.

“Lotte wasn’t there, was she?” Diana asked.

“Of course she is, though hopefully Hannah won’t see her. I’ve got a plan,” Barbara said.

Diana wondered what this plan could possibly be, but she highly doubted Barbara would tell her. She still looked around. “I am surprised that Akko didn’t come. It seems like the kind of event she’d enjoy.”

Barbara looked at her with a knowing look. Diana didn’t really get why. “So you wanted to see Akko?” she asked with a strange tone.

“I suppose,” Diana admitted. “She is quite entertaining to have around.”

Barbara chuckled, repeating what Diana had said in a mocking tone. “No, she’s not here. She’s practicing.”

Diana nodded, though she was disappointed. She had hoped to see Akko maybe wearing something with a little more class. She didn’t really recall much of how she’d looked back in the Machina party. She hadn’t paid much attention to her then.

It was curious, if she thought about it. It felt as if she was paying so much more attention to her lately…

 

Hannah didn’t see Lotte. She tried looking for redheads – but there was a problem with that: Almost everyone wearing the disguise of the masked man was a redhead. The character probably was, but every time Hannah thought she had seen just the right shade of orange, it turned out to be another person wearing a white suit and a tophat. She was starting to get frustrated.

“Excuse me?” A voice said to her side. She turned with annoyance to find another masked figure bowing and offering her a hand. “Would you like to dance?”

Hannah groaned. “Do I _look_ like I want to dance?” The guy froze. Hannah turned. “Go look for another lonely princess, Don Juan, I’m busy,” she dismissed him with a wave of her hand, and the guy timidly walked away. Hannah grunted, that was the fifth guy who’d asked her in the… what? Five minutes she’d been looking for Lotte?

She should just go back.

However, right as she turned around, someone bumped into her. She turned to see a figure in a dark hood moving quickly, and she cursed all the nerds around her internally. What was that person so hurried for anyways? There was literally nothing to do. Well, there was dancing, as music was being played near the stage, but that figure had gone in almost the opposite direction.

Hannah turned around to get the hell out of the crowd again, but then she noticed something: getting in the crowd was easier than getting out. A lot of people stood there, chatting with friends, but another lot walked around seemingly at random. People bumping into each other seemed to be normal, but Hannah was wearing one hell of a dress and getting a drink spilled on her would probably give her a heart attack.

It would be an arduous process and- Someone else bumped into her. This time she didn’t see who it was. She had flashbacks to that party in Machina, when Amanda and her had been in the middle of the dance floor. _Ok, I just gotta go with the flow and-_ Again.

Hannah started moving. She didn’t do it too slowly, but she tried to maneuver through the crowds carefully. People kept bumping into her – or vice versa, she wasn’t sure anymore – but she managed to not get anything on her. When she came back to the table where they were before, she sighed.

But Barbara and Diana were gone. “Oh you have got to be shitting me,” Hannah said angry. _Fine, whatever, if they ditched me that’s on them. I’m leaving,_ Hannah said. The elevators were relatively far away, but if she rounded the crowds then she’d probably make it without much trouble.

At least she wasn’t wearing high heels. Where could Diana and Barbara have gone to, anyways? Maybe Lotte found them and they went to find Hannah? It would have been a funny thought if Hannah wasn’t in such a bad mood.

She found herself with one problem when trying to leave, though. She couldn’t really round the crowds. It seemed like trying to walk through the borders of the crowd just naturally led one towards the center. A lot of groups congregated on the rim of the floor, so the traffic of persons naturally flowed around them, and since it was still early in the party, it also tended to go _away_ from the elevators.

Hannah wondered if she was stupid as she walked. She turned down another three persons in the process of walking, and that was just with words. She stared daggers at anyone who looked at her for longer than five seconds. Luckily the elevators were impossible to miss, so she eventually made it there and-

“What?!” Hannah exclaimed when she saw the sign that read ‘Only for arrival’. The place had been cordoned with the white cloth before – to make it easier to check those who entered the party – but the sign was new. She approached a guy in a waiter’s uniform, though he had the distinct feature of a golden armband. He stood next to the only open place in the elevators. “Excuse me, what is going on?”

“Sorry, miss, as you can see,” he said while letting a person dressed as a clock step into the Deck,” the elevators are currently only being used by arriving guests. Once things calm down you may use them to get back to your place. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

It was obviously a standard, practiced answer, but Hannah could indeed see that every few seconds a new door opened with a bunch of people pouring out from the elevators. Just how many people liked Nightfall? Or maybe they just wanted in on the biggest party of the ship, who knew.

But that meant Hannah was stuck. She could try to use the stairs, but she could also try to drink some bleach. Neither option was very safe, if she wanted to stay alive. She knew how to walk on a dress like the one she was wearing, but using stairs was another matter. Plus, the rooms they had were like super far. In short, a pain in the ass.

 _Guess I’ll eat something and wait until the elevators are less crowded,_ she thought with resignation, locating the nearest food table and walking towards it.

 

Amanda was surprised by just how smoothly everything was going. Did Barbara have some kind of future sight? Was she an actual witch? She had predicted how Hannah would act almost perfectly.

However, she had failed in explaining one little detail about this whole plan.

Hannah herself.

From the crowd, Amanda had been watching the girl carefully and from a distance. She was impossible to miss. Her dress stood out, but the way she walked with it just made it obvious she was meant for something like it. Amanda would have been happy to admit she had just been impressed by her skill, but the truth was she was just… Bewitched.

Hannah was a quasar among stars. A lot of girls looked beautiful to Amanda, but comparing them to Hannah would have been an insult. Her dress sparkled with every step she took, drawing attention. Her hair was simple but perfect, the moon flowers in stark contrast with her auburn hair. Her face had some light makeup: a base, some blush on the cheeks, and her eyelashes with mascara made it impossible to look away from her light brown eyes.

It wasn’t that every time Amanda looked at her she felt her heart skipping a beat. Her heart had just stopped beating a while ago, as far as she could tell.

In short, Hannah was beautiful.

Now, she stood next to a food table, eating with an angry expression from time to time. She acted tough and all, but she still constantly looked around, looking for her friends. Amanda gulped. Well, right about now was the time where she was supposed to step in.

 _‘After she tries to leave, she’ll probably be so tired of everything that she’ll accept’,_ Barbara had said. Amanda hoped she was right.

 

Hannah put another cherry on her mouth. The table she was eating from had raw vegetables and fruits. It wasn’t a particularly popular table, but that was fine, because she liked the extra space it offered.

She almost choked at swallowing the whole thing without even biting. She was just so angry…

Right as she started to look around for a free chair – there were some on the outside of the crowd – she saw a white figure stepping on her field of view. She sighed, putting on her get-out face, and turned.

The guy in front of her was taller than her by five centimeters or so, but with the white tophat he wore, he looked taller. She noted with curiosity that his white suit didn’t exactly match most of the others going around. The more standard disguises wore black buttons and a black shirt along with a white tie. However, they wore basic shirts and a lot of ties were badly done.

From the start it was obvious that this guy was different. The suit seemed to fit his slender figure more sharply. His buttons were silver too, and he wore silver cufflinks on his wrists, something most didn’t. His cape was also silver on the inside, and his mask didn’t let her see the eyes of whoever was behind it, unlike everyone else’s.

It was almost as if they matched.

He didn’t say anything. He just extended one white-gloved hand and bowed slightly. Hannah’s stare had no effect on him. What was he doing? Why didn’t he- Oh, that’s right, the White-suited Watcher was supposed to be mute, wasn’t he? This guy was certainly taking his roleplaying seriously.

Hannah considered just telling him to go away, but something about his whole demeanor seemed interesting. He insisted, keeping his pose. _Well, it’s not like I’ve got anything else to do now anyways,_ Hannah thought.

She took the hand, and the guy nodded, moving to offer her his arm for her to grab while they walked to the dancing floor. “Getting a little too comfortable, don’t you think?” Hannah asked. To her surprise, the guy shrugged, instead just taking her hand again and slowly guiding her. Somehow, this felt even more embarrassing. After some distance, Hannah decided to just go with the arm thing.

At that moment she realized, this guy had led her through the crowd seamlessly. She hadn’t bumped into anyone, she had barely even noticed they were walking among a crowd. “So, you like nightfall?” Hannah asked as they walked. The guy said nothing. He didn’t even nod his head to give her an indication. “Guess that was a stupid question.”

They kept walking in silence, with Hannah often looking at him from the corner of her eye. The mask also covered a good chunk of the side of his hair, but she could tell that the guy was a natural redhead. Either that or he was really good at dying his hair. Hannah wondered if she should ask him who he was, but that would be against the whole point of wearing a mask, even if it was just a character.

Before she even realized it, they had made it to the dance floor. The guy had walked through the crowd as if he could control it. It was truly amazing. Hannah wondered how he did it, but asking would have been kind of pointless, now wouldn’t it. Having a mute partner seemed a little inconvenient. Not a minute after they paused, the current song ended. A lot of the couples left the dance floor, leaving room for new ones. The masked guy kindly helped her climb onto the stage and the next song started.

It was, of course, a slow song meant to be danced with waltz. The guy put himself in the right pose, and Hannah quickly accompanied him. And then, he started to lead.

She instantly felt a sense of déjà vu. Each step felt perfect, each movement carefully calculated to make the most out of the space they had available. Hannah barely even felt as if she was in control of her movements. This guy was obviously no amateur. Hell, Hannah was an amateur, and this guy was making her feel like a professional. He danced even better than Amanda had, back at that party.

Soon, everything started disappearing. Hannah wasn’t sure of why. She stopped worrying about bumping into other dancers, of about looking silly while dancing in the bulky gown. She stopped seeing the crowds outside of the dance floor looking at them, stopped noticing how a lot of the spotlights seemed to be focusing on her and her mysterious companion.

Everything but the floor under her feet, the firm grasp of the guy’s hands, and the music just faded into nothing. Every step they took seemed to echo through the void. Every second seemed to extend into infinity.

And then it was over. She was panting, though she didn’t feel tired. Her heartbeat was crazy fast. She was blushing. She looked the man in the mask. Unreadable. Hannah wondered what he thought of her. Was she a good dancer? With his ability she had probably felt more like burden than like a partner. Hannah didn’t make an attempt to break off their pose. The guy didn’t either.

The next song started. This time, the tempo was a little slower, and they took it more calmly too. The quality of the steps was still perfect, though. Hannah could feel the world disappearing around her again, and she even stopped looking at where they were going to look at her partner. It was silly, since he had only known this guy for ten minutes, but she already felt like she could trust him.

“You like to dance?” She asked in a low voice as they moved. To her surprise, he nodded. Then, he made a slight gesture with his head, as if to repeat her question. “Oh, me? Yeah, I guess I do,” she said. He didn’t stop looking at the side, but Hannah had the feeling that he was also looking at her. Or at least, trying. “Do you know who I am?” Hannah asked, as she felt a slight familiarity with him. He nodded. She got hopeful for a second, but then she realized something. “Oh, of course, stupid question. Again.”

She was Earth’s Second Category gunman. It may have been easy to forget due to the lack of press, but she was someone pretty famous, particularly inside this ship.

However, she got another question. “Do I know who _you_ are?” she asked to him. He didn’t answer, focusing on guiding them through the dance floor. She wondered why he wouldn’t answer. She didn’t really feel like she _knew_ him, it was just… something. It didn’t make sense, really. She didn’t know any redhead guys, or none that she remembered.

Step by step, Hannah felt something strange. She was smiling. Somehow, this dance had put her in a really good mood. She decided to stop asking questions and just let herself get carried away. She felt light, she almost felt like if she was floating. Her chest was full of butterflies and her heart was pounding in her chest.

By the time the second song ended, they had stopped really close to the edge of the dance floor. It was obvious what the guy was implying with this, but Hannah didn’t want to stop. He still let go of her. She supposed it was only fair. With so many people waiting for a turn, more than two dances would have been a little overkill.

They stepped down from the stage together, and to her surprise, the people watching them started clapping. It wasn’t an ovation or anything, but she felt flattered nonetheless. She turned with a smile to give her thanks to the guy, but he was no longer next to her. He had walked away, and was now disappearing into the crowd.

Hannah went after him.

“Hey, wait!” Hannah said. The guy used his crowd-moving powers to easily walk, though he didn’t seem in a hurry. Hannah, however, was. And she managed to catch up to him and grab his hand. “Wait,” she said. The guy turned, and though Hannah couldn’t see his face, he was obviously surprised that she had managed to catch him.

She stared into his mask. She wished she could see his eyes. “I know you’re in character or whatever,” Hannah said. “But… at least tell me who you are,” she said.

The guy didn’t speak. Hannah wondered if maybe he was an actual mute person, and maybe that was why he had put such effort into his disguise. Then, maybe out of instinct, she slowly rose her hand. The guy was staring into her face, so he didn’t seem to notice Hannah’s hand until she gently placed it in the mask.

The reaction surprised Hannah. The guy instantly let go of the hand Hannah had grabbed and put it to keep his mask in place as he jumped away. He then turned and sprinted, cape floating behind him. Hannah stayed in place, surprised. She knew she had no hopes of catching him, as he even ran as if the crowds weren’t even a thing for him.

Her heart was still pounding and her smile hadn’t disappeared as she wondered who the hell that was.

 

“Well that was quite the scene,” Diana said from the place where they had been watching the stage. “So, who was the masked man?”

“Amanda,” Barbara said with a smirk. Diana could barely believe what she was hearing. “She really looked like a man, huh? How does she hide her boobs like that?”

“Barbara, please,” Lotte said. She was wearing a dark cloak. “What if someone hears you?”

Barbara shrugged. She and Lotte were holding hands. “What did you think of my plan, anyways?”

Diana nodded. “Using Lotte to get Hannah in a bad mood was really necessary, though?” Diana asked. Lotte had bumped into Hannah a bunch of times discretely.

Barbara nodded. “Hannah isn’t an idiot, she kind of knows how to move through a crowd. I figured having someone purposely do it from time to time would help.”

“And what about the elevators? How did you know that was going to happen?”

“That was Lotte,” Barbara explained. Diana looked at the cloaked redhead, who nodded.

“Ten years ago, during the previous race, an event like this one was held. They had a similar problem, so I figured this time it’d be the same,” she explained.

Diana was genuinely impressed. It had been a simple yet difficult plan. So many things could have gone wrong. Barbara really must have trusted her knowledge of how Hannah thought for everything to go so smoothly. “And you did all of this just to get Hannah and Amanda to dance together?”

“Something like that,” Barbara said with a smirk. “Let’s just say I’m trying to teach Hannah that she can keep her options open.”

Diana suspected what she meant, so she didn’t ask. Instead, she looked at Hannah, who seemed to be frozen in the middle of the sea of people, looking in the direction where Amanda had disappeared. “We should probably go check on her.”

“She’s gonna be mad,” Lotte said.

Barbara shook her head. “She won’t. Come on,” she said, and then took off. Diana followed the couple. Maybe Akko hadn’t been here, but at least she had gotten to see something quite amusing.

 

Amanda felt as if her heart was going to burst from her chest. As she slipped in the back alley that was meant for staff behind the gym of Platinum Deck, her breathing was heavy – and not because of the sprint. She put her back against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor.

What had just happened? When Hannah had stopped her by the hand, Amanda had been so lost looking at her face that she almost let the mask be taken away from her.

No, even before that, she had been lost. She had been lost in the touch of their hands together while dancing. In the way Hannah had been grabbing her arm beforehand. She had been lost in her looks from the second she had seen her. Why did her heart pound so harshly on her chest? Why did she find it hard to breathe? Why had every touch they shared felt electric? It was as if…

 _I like her._ The realization hit her like a truck. She blushed hard, feeling the red up to her ears. She took off her mask, only to cover her face with her hands. She took off the hat, too. _I fucking like her. For real._ She shook her head. She couldn’t like Hannah, she was a… Smart and strong girl who had an attitude. But she was bully… Though she wasn’t all that bad. She was an amazing gunman and someone who was fun to talk to.

And then she realized, none of this had started here. In retrospect, she had obviously liked Hannah for a while, she had just been in denial. When had their discussions turned into friendly banter? When had the coin of hate and love been flipped? She couldn’t pinpoint it, but it was undeniable. Back there, when looking at her face, Amanda had felt the almost irresistible desire to kiss her. To take her mask off and just take her first kiss.

But she couldn’t do that, could she? No, of course not. Hannah didn’t like her.

Damn Barbara. She knew what she was doing, didn’t she.

 _‘So your plan is for me to dance with Hannah?’_ Amanda had asked in disbelief.

 _‘Sure. Don’t you want to? She’s a good dancer, and I just want her to have some fun,’_ Barbara had said. Amanda, like an idiot, had taken the bait. How had Barbara known? That girl was way too sharp.

Why Hannah? Of all the girls she had gone out with, of everyone she knew, it had to be the only girl she knew for a fact was straight. But she also felt so… good. So good it hurt. She wanted to go back there, to find Hannah and dance again. She hadn’t spoken because then she would have figured out who she was, but… She was so pretty, so cool, too. She had actually chased her down and caught up to her even if she sucked at moving through crowds. Amanda had been happy about that.

But she couldn’t go back. Then Hannah would certainly find out who she was. She would find out and everything would be ruined. She had obviously enjoyed the dance. For now, that was enough.

_For now, huh?_

Amanda took the hat, mask, coat and cape from her disguise and put them in a bag she had hidden previously on the back alley. She took out a dark coat and put on a simpler mask, this one didn’t cover her entire face. She also put on a wig. She didn’t want to risk getting seen.

 _I’m an idiot. Falling for the only girl who will never reciprocate your feelings. My god,_ she thought with a grim smile. Once her disguise-for-a-disguise was ready, she stepped out of the alley and went towards the nearest set of stairs.

She hesitated before exiting the room. Barbara should have already met back with her. She wondered if Barbara would ever tell her. Amanda wouldn’t.

She stared walking upstairs. What a mess of emotions she had inside her. She had never liked anyone like she seemed to like Hannah. She didn’t just want to take her to bed. She wanted to hug her, kiss her, make her happy, hold hands. Basically, a lot of stupid stuff. Love was stupid. Teenagers in love were stupid.

 _Guess I’m stupid, then,_ she thought.

_But being stupid can feel nice, too._


	62. Chapter 62

Diana was forced to leave the party earlier than Barbara and Lotte, but that was fine. She had had fun. Slowly but surely, she ended up going back to her room along with the nurse. The nurse had had fun too, eating a lot and enjoying the dances and other events that the party had offered.

The door to Diana’s room opened, and both her and the nurse paused when entering. Someone was already inside. Akko, kneeling on the floor, had her arms crossed in the bed, her head resting against them. She was obviously asleep.

“I see your friend decided to wait for you,” the nurse said with a gleeful tone. “She can probably help you get in bed, don’t you think?”

Diana frowned, turning to her. “What do you-” However, before she was done, the door closed. Well, Diana would complain about that nurse’s laziness later, leaving her work to a random teenager. How irresponsible.

Diana approached Akko. She was drooling, which Diana found surprisingly not disgusting. She even smiled, thinking Akko looked cute. She was certainly working hard. “Akko,” Diana said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. She was wearing a black Chariot t-shirt Diana hadn’t seen her wear before. The back, at least, had the image of a depiction of Chariot as if she was an actual witch, flying on a real broom and with a pointy hat and everything, but with a white outfit.

Akko didn’t react.

“Akko, come on,” Diana shook her a little. Akko grunted, but she was sleeping rather deeply. Diana sighed. Troublesome. Well, she’d call a nurse to… She paused. Akko was so peaceful. She almost felt bad for disrupting her. And a nurse wouldn’t be kind. With a sigh, she kept shaking Akko lightly. “Akko, hey, I’ve got food,” she said.

Akko grunted again, but then she cracked open one eye. “Uh,” she said. “I had a dream about you,” was the first thing she said.

Diana blinked. “You did?” She asked with some disbelief.

“We were racing,” Akko said, rising and rubbing her eyes. “I was about to win and-” She stopped and then looked at Diana. “Hey, you didn’t want me to win, that’s why you woke me!”

Both girls looked at each other in silence for a while. Diana chuckled. Akko didn’t seem to realize how stupid what she had just said was, and Diana found it funny. “Yes, indeed,” Diana said. “If you’re going to beat me, then you should do it in reality, not in your dreams.”

Akko opened her mouth, looking angry. Then she stopped. “You’re right,” she said. “I need to practice more,” she stood, looking determined. Then she looked down at Diana. “Uhm… Wait, did you actually see my dream?”

Diana rolled her eyes. “Of course not,” she said.

Akko seemed surprised. “Hum, for a second…” she looked suspicious. “Anyways, why am I- oh, that’s right,” she looked at Diana again. “I was here to see you, but you weren’t here.”

The way she said that made Diana slightly happy. Well, of course she was there to see Diana, but it still made her heart flutter. She wondered if having friends would always feel this wonderful. “I’m here now. Would you mind helping me get in bed?”

Akko looked at the bed and then at her. While she did that, Diana touched the little screen that worked as the control for the wall of the room. It rose, and Akko watched it with interest. Diana wasn’t exactly happy about the prospect of going back to laying down on the hospital, but without magic treatment her leg wouldn’t heal before humans were disqualified.

Diana positioned herself next to bed and tended Akko one hand. Akko took it. Her hands were rough, but Diana suspected it had little to do with her flying. Diana hopped onto her good leg with care, and Akko helped her get in bed. “Hey,” Akko said. “You’re kind of unfair, you knew that?”

Diana paused. “Unfair?”

Akko nodded, pointing at her entire body. “You’re just wearing that and you look like a princess. If I wore that I’d look like I just came out of a hundred year slumber,” Akko said, sounding annoyed. “It’s unfair that some people just look good in _everything_ , you know?”

This wasn’t the first time Diana had received a similar compliment, but she had certainly never experienced it from a close friend and, more importantly, while wearing a damn pajama. “Do you really believe I look good?” She asked, wondering if maybe Akko wasn’t just still asleep.

“Believe? You _do_ look good,” Akko grunted.

Diana softly bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted to say that Akko also looked rather good in everything she wore, but she found it hard. How could Akko throw around such compliments without hesitance? “Thank you,” she said instead, not brave enough to give such a compliment. She searched for something else. “You, ehm… looked cute while drooling,” she said.

Both girls paused. _Why would I ever say_ that _?_ Diana thought almost with pain.

Akko paled a little. “I drooled on your sheets? Oh god,” she looked at her bed. “So sorry.”

Shaking her head, Diana smiled. “It’s fine, it wasn’t much.” _Plus, I’ve already eaten some of your spit already,_ she recalled. She still wasn’t sure why she had taken a bite out of the exact same place Akko had, but she had just felt like doing it like so.

“How was the party?” Akko asked, obviously trying to change subjects. Diana smiled at her.

“It was fine,” Diana said. “There was a lot of food – though I was forbidden to eat much – and seeing people in disguises was fun. A small group made a ten-minute play of a scene from the books. I failed to understand the context but it was most likely a highly emotional scene. There was also a small cosplay contest. Barbara tried to push Hannah into participating, saying that she’d win for sure, but Hannah utterly refused.”

“Who won?” Akko asked.

“A guy dressed as some king. I didn’t get the name,” his disguise had really been quite impressive. He looked like an actual medieval king. He also looked to be forty years old, though he claimed to only have eighteen. Really good makeup.

“Huh,” Akko was looking at her with a soft smile. “Sounds like fun.”

“Didn’t you want to go?” Diana asked.

Akko shrugged. “I heard about it super late, and I… Well, I wanted to practice,” Akko explained.

Diana found this strange. “Late? Didn’t Lotte tell you? Barbara was gushing about it from the second it was announced a couple days ago.”

Pausing for a second, Akko looked away. “I haven’t been talking much to Lotte or Sucy.”

“Did you have a fight with them?” Diana asked, incredulous. Akko, having a fight? Impossible. She was so… Well, good. It was unfathomable that someone would stay mad at her for more than a day. Diana was an exception, since she… Well, she was how she was.

“Of course not,” Akko quickly corrected her. “I’ve just been focusing on my flying. I’m actually here just because Jasminka wanted to go to the party and eat.”

“Jasminka was there? Too bad we didn’t find her- Wait. Akko, how much have you been practicing?” Diana asked, feeling bad vibes from the way Akko spoke.

“From the moment I wake up from the one I go to sleep,” Akko said almost solemnly. “I want to catch up to you and Amanda, I… I need to be worthy of First Category,” her expression fired up. “And then I will beat you and I’ll be so good that Chariot herself will come find me!”

Diana smiled, but at the same time, she felt a strange weight on her chest. “Have you been eating properly?” Diana asked her. Akko looked a little abashed.

“W-why do you ask?” She asked, thrown out of her mood.

“Answer me,” Diana said narrowing her eyes to look a little more menacing.

“Y-yeah,” Akko said, looking away. “I eat breakfast and dinner…”

“What have you been eating?”

“Jeez, why do you care?” Akko sounded annoyed. Diana kept staring. “Today I had a donut and a milkshake, ok? And before going to sleep I ate… uhm…” She paused for too long a time.

Her worry turned into a full angry look as she looked at Akko. “Akko, are you stupid?” Diana asked, forgetting to measure her words. “You cannot start ignoring basic life functions because of practice,” she said. “You need to mind your eating and sleep properly. Do you keep yourself hydrated? And you shouldn’t just eat breakfast and dinner, you’re practicing for intense and stressful races. Eat lunch too, and have some snack  in between meals too. You won’t get fat as long as you train with Ursula. And what’s with ‘a donut and a milkshake’? Do you even think about the nutritional value of what you consume? Even if you don’t know much about it you should know that’s in _no way_ a proper breakfast,” the scolding poured out of Diana’s mouth almost instinctively. “Look at you. You look tired, and no wonder! Here,” she took a bottle of water from the side of her bed. “Drink that and then grab one of my fruits, and then you _will_ ask Ursula for a damn clock so that you can keep a proper schedule,” Diana started planning a schedule that gave Akko enough time to practice, eat, work out and have spare time for fun. “Overworking yourself isn’t going to help anyone, do you understand that? You’ll just end up collapsing and causing trouble for all of us. What if you can’t run the next race? We don’t have another substitute pilot, we’d be disqualified! Do you want that?”

Akko had frozen. She seemed to have short-circuited. Her eyes kept going from Diana to the water bottle in her hand. She slowly took the cap off and drank. Diana had given her an already open one. It was at room temperature, but that was fine, it made it easier to drink. Akko finished the bottle in one go.

“So… I’ve been doing it wrong?” Akko said.

The hurt in her voice was like a physical force. But Diana wouldn’t back down.

“Yes.” Diana said. Akko’s arms were frozen in place. Only then Diana realized the wall was still up, so everyone in the vicinity probably heard her little speech. The brunette just looked extremely confused. Diana pressed her lips. “Did Ursula know of this?”

Akko shook her head. “I don’t tell her a lot of the time I go to practice,” she said, sounding defeated. Diana felt a strange tightness in her chest, but even with that, Akko’s comment only made her angrier.

“Why would you not tell your _coach_ that you are training?” Diana asked.

Akko cringed at her tone. Then, she grew a little red. “I… It doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Akko, _tell me,”_ Diana said in her imperative tone. It wasn’t a request, it was an order. Akko shrunk at it.

“It’s embarrassing,” she admitted.

Diana shook her head. “I don’t care. Whatever the reason, it’s no excuse to forget how to _live_ properly,” Diana said. “Now tell me.”

Akko, who had been staring at the side all this time, now looked down. “I simulate races against you and Amanda,” she said in a small voice.

Maybe Diana should have been flattered, or surprised, or impressed. Instead, she suddenly felt guilty. “Oh,” she said. “Akko, this… I told you to not compare yourself to us!” she said. “Racing against us won’t do you any good!”

“Well,” Akko rose her eyes. “If I beat you, I figured I’d be able to finally win a race,” she explained.

“That’s not how races work,” Diana explained. “You could become an expert at beating Amanda and me and then you’d lose against the first rookie who appeared flying on a damn broom-cycle!”

Akko looked down. “Ok, listen, make the wall go down and sit here,” Diana said in a calmer tone. Akko needed some guidance, but she managed to get the wall to come back down. Diana waited until she was sitting to continue speaking. “Look at me,” Diana said. Akko refused. Diana wanted to just grab her face and force her, but she didn’t want to invade Akko’s personal space. “Akko, please, look at me.”

The brunette finally did. Diana could almost see the gears of her mind working behind her eyes.

“Akko, to take proper care of yourself you need to get what your limitations are,” Diana said. This time she spoke softly, trying to sound more worried than angry. “Pushing yourself like that… Forget troubles you might cause others, you’re just going to end up hating this. Flying. Piloting.”

Akko seemed to be trying very hard not to break their eye contact. “It sounds like you speak from experience,” she said.

Diana instantly fell to her default face to avoid showing emotions. It was more instinctive than she’d realized. “That’s not what’s important,” she said. “Akko, what would Chariot do in your situation?”

Akko seemed taken aback by the question. “Well, she… She always said that taking breaks was important,” Akko said. “But I’m not Chariot. She had experience, she was-”

“You want to be like Chariot?” Diana interrupted. “Then follow her advice. And you haven’t eaten that fruit yet,” Diana said, handing Akko a banana. Akko looked at it and almost resignedly peeled it and took a bite. Diana waited, letting her think over what she had said.

Akko finished the banana in two more bites. Seemed like her appetite had awakened. Before she could ask, Diana was already handing her an apple. Akko took a bite. She paused, looking at Diana for a second. Diana almost believed she was going to be offered some apple, but Akko shook her head and went back to eating.

Diana was only slightly disappointed.

“I think I understand,” Akko said after she finished the apple. “Guess I still have a lot to learn.”

Relaxing at the words, Diana shifted in bed, trying to get a little more comfortable. “The good thing about learning,” she said, “is that you’ll always come up a little better than before.”

Akko turned to her. “That line was super corny,” she said. Diana gave her a flat look. “But I guess it suits you. Thanks, Diana.”

“No problem. That’s… What friends are for, right?” she said. Another corny line, but instead of teasing her, Akko beamed.

At that moment, the door of the room opened, and the face of Greta, one Diana had come to know rather well during the previous days, appeared. “You, brunette, get out of here.”

Akko stood. One did not object to Greta’s orders. The woman was used to being in charge and it showed. “Guess I’ll see you later, Diana,” Akko said.

Diana smiled at her. “See you around, Akko. Don’t forget to get a clock, I was serious about the schedule.”

Akko grimaced, and though she looked like she wanted to argue, Greta cleared her throat, which led Akko to bolt out of the room. Greta didn’t lose any time and instantly signaled Diana to get rid of her clothes while she prepared everything to re-connect Diana to the medical equipment.

“Quite the charming friends you have,” Greta said.

“I suppose,” Diana admitted.

“Do you scold every one of them with such passion?”

Diana blushed. “You heard that, then.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if captain Kannazuki himself had come down here to complain about the noise,” Greta said with a chuckle as Diana finished undressing.

“Sorry. It must have been a bother,” Diana said, feeling ashamed.

She was surprised when Greta laughed. “Girl, that was the best entertainment I’ve had in ten years. You really care for that girl, don’t you?”

Diana allowed herself to start being connected to the different machines. “Yeah, of course I do,” she said without thinking much about it. “She’s a great person and an amazing friend, after all.”

Greta nodded. She worked in silence until she was done, at which point she gave Diana her patient’s wear and prepared to leave. “You should cherish that friendship,” she said. “Not everyone would have been able to withstand such scolding without getting mad at you.”

And then she left.

Diana thought about what she had said, and she found it to be true. Would have Hannah and Barbara been so receptive? Though, Diana was still a little surprised Akko hadn’t argued at all. She was usually a really stubborn girl. Maybe it was because of her state or mind, or maybe Diana was just _that_ convincing.

In any case, Diana was happy. Today had been a good day.

 

“Do I have something on my face?” Hannah asked to Amanda, who had been watching her for a while now.

Amanda kept staring, and after a few seconds, nodded. “Yeah. There’s this… thing, what do you call it?”

Hannah’s eyes widened. She didn’t have her small mirror with her, so she instantly walked over to a nearby broom in the hangar with polarized glass to try and look at her reflection. “What is it? What is it?” She asked. How long had she had it? She must have been looking so stupid…

“Well, there’s the two big brown things, and then that triangle. And those to meaty lines-”

“Oh fuck you,” Hannah rolled her eyes. Yeah, of course it was a stupid joke. She walked back to where she was standing next to the Shiny Rod before, while looking at Constanze, Barbara and Lotte work on the Shooting Star. Both Lotte and Barbara had to work on the cockpit – which currently had the seat and controls removed – and they constantly flirted with each other.

Hannah was happy, but she was also going to get diabetes from the exaggerated sweetness. She snorted.

“You’re in a bad mood today,” Amanda said. She had arrived rather late, so Akko – in a new schedule, according to herself – was taking the first turn of practice.

Hannah wasn’t really in a bad mood. She had just been thinking for a long time about who that guy from the party could have been. She had decided she would find out no matter what. She was just frustrated because she had no idea of where to begin. “It’s none of your business,” she simply said, not wanting to deal with Amanda’s shenanigans right now.

“I think that if we’re going to pilot together then it _is_ my business, mind you,” she said. “If you suddenly start attacking people out of the blue during the race then it might cause us to get disqualified and all.”

Hannah looked at Amanda. She looked kind of different today, though she couldn’t tell why. In the brightly lit hangar, her purple g-suit shined, but that wasn’t new. Her hair was as messy as always. Her expression was indifferent, with that ever present smirk that so much bothered Hannah. The rows of brooms didn’t look any different than normal, so it wasn’t the background. Amanda’s posture was relaxed, and she had her hands behind her head, so the same too.

Maybe it was just that after meeting that masked guy everyone else looked plain in comparison. Could that man had been Andrew? Hannah could dream, but Andrew had broader shoulders and he wouldn’t have dyed his hair just for a costume party. What if the guy was really ugly or something? Maybe that’s why he refused so vehemently to show his face. But somehow, the idea didn’t really bother Hannah. Even if it turned to be, she would probably still be glad to know who it was.

“Hey, Hannah, you ok? You’re spacing out,” Amanda interrupted her thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, I’m just slightly tired because of the party yesterday,” Hannah lied.

Amanda seemed to take the explanation. “Was it fun?”

Hannah hesitated. She had the feeling that Amanda would make fun of her if she told her about what was going on. But if it wasn’t for that it would be for something else. “Kinda,” Hannah said. “It started awful but I guess it could’ve been a lot worse,” she couldn’t hide a slight sweetness from slipping into her voice. Amanda raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Amanda shrugged. “Nothing, nothing. It sounds like you enjoyed it.”

Hannah nodded, but said no more. She had no intention of telling Amanda about the dance, anyways. “You weren’t there, in the end? I heard that Jasminka went.”

Amanda hesitated. Then, she shook her head. “Nah, I had no business in there,” she said. However, Hannah noticed she looked away. Amanda rarely looked away when talking. She may have allowed her eyes to wander, or have them closed, but now she was pointedly not looking at Hannah.

But, what reason would she have to lie? Hannah had already made the mistake of not believing her for an absurdly long time about the Shiny Rod. She was just biased. Amanda teased her, but she didn’t really lie.

“Well, you may have liked it, anyways. There were dances and food.”

Amanda nodded absently. She had decided to hop on top of the Shiny Rod and sit down. “Maybe,” she said without much energy.

They stayed in silence. Giggles sounded from the cockpit of the Shooting Star, and Hannah turned just in time to see Lotte and Barbara looking her way. Both of them looked down and pretended nothing happened.

Hannah was aware that they had seen her dancing with that guy, but they said they had no idea who it was. Hannah didn’t fully believe them, but then again, she was fairly certain neither of them knew a redhead guy who could dance and would be interested in Hannah. Would she ever see him again?

Probably not, but that thought made her sad.

“How would you find someone?” Hannah asked.

Amanda shrugged. “Asking about them?”

“But what if you didn’t know anything about them?”

“Then it’s pretty hopeless, I guess,” Amanda said. Hannah nodded. How would she ever find someone she knew nothing about? “But,” Amanda continued, “if you know even the slightest details about them, Constanze might be able to help.”

Hannah looked at Amanda, who had her eyes closed. “How?”

“She’s got access to the database of the entire _Dragon._ Maybe if you look at different profiles you can figure it out.”

Hannah’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. “Oh my god,” she said. “That’s a great idea!” Yes, if she could have something like that… She did know some little details! Maybe it was some professional dancer or something, who knew?

“We’ll have to ask her later, though,” Amanda said opening her eyes. At the same time, the windshield of the Shooting Star rose. Hannah looked at Akko with some annoyance, but in the end, the race came first than her potentially romantic endeavors.

 

When Amanda sat down inside the cockpit, she let out a long and drawn on sigh. She put on her helmet. She had managed to keep a straight face, but inside she had been so… Fluffy. Yesterday she had interacted with Hannah just normally, why did it feel so different now? Just because she had realized she liked her? It was stupid. But Amanda had already come to terms that she was stupid. Why had she told Hannah about Constanze’s database? What if Hannah found out about her? It was unlikely, but it could happen. How would she react? Probably angry. She would accuse Amanda of crafting it all as some kind of elaborate prank. Or maybe she’d…

 _Yeah, right. Focus on practice,_ Amanda told herself.

She heard Hannah say she was ready, and to get her mind off the stupid things she was thinking about she prepared the simulation. The wide, white track floating above the expanse of seemingly infinite green water had fluctuations on wideness constantly as it went along, as if it had been constructed like the waves themselves. Normally, the rules for this track included not going over the water for more than a certain amount of time and not using the water to cut distances.

“Alcor, start the race.”

Amanda prepared herself mentally as the countdown began. She let go of everything that wasn’t important for this race. She forgot about Hannah and about her feelings. In this random race she had been placed in the first place of the left row of brooms, so she already had a little advantage.

The race started.

The daemons had ended up next to Amanda. This time they wouldn’t be able to use that thing they did with the spinning and dashing and whatever. Their shield… Well, it would be troublesome for Amanda and anyone who couldn’t really go over water, but it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Amanda liked being able to fly without having to worry about hitting stuff on her sides. The limitations were less clear here, and it made her feel free. Free to fly and to enjoy it.

As soon as she got rid of the daemons anyways.

Hannah started shooting at them.

Amanda was surprised by how quickly she had started, but she supposed it was better to attack first than to let the daemons set the pacing for the fight. Amanda was careful as she took curve and countercurve. She had to mind the change on the white material, trying to always stay centered as to not accidentally fly over water.

The daemons didn’t let up. Amanda had a hard time dodging their attacks, but they probably had the same kind of hard time dodging Hannah’s. She could hear Hannah growing frustrated, the simulation had gotten better, so Amanda guessed something had changed in the daemons themselves. Probably had something to do with their low rankings last race.

Soon, other racers joined the party. Amanda didn’t have the option to run away, least she leave herself too vulnerable, but with shapeshifter and plants joining in the attack, this was going to be hard. The shapeshifter seemed to be trying to focus on the daemons, while the plants attacked with their big ass canon. Their projectiles were easy to dodge, but with the daemons not slowing down one bit, it became quite troublesome.

Amanda almost lost control of the ship as a little message popped on her field of vision. Constanze had sent her a message. “Hannah,” Amanda said, “Constanze asks if you have tried pressing the green button at the bottom of your joysticks.”

“No, I haven’t!” Hannah exclaimed in frustration. “For fuck’s sake would you just stay still for one second?” She said. Something was definitely wrong here, she wasn’t managing to land a single hit on the daemons, but Amanda couldn’t just stay quiet. “Whatever, here it goes!” she said.

Suddenly, the simulation world was coated in green. Amanda didn’t get too distracted, but this looked oddly familiar-

“A shield?” Ursula asked from behind her. “Impossible,” she was in complete disbelief.

But it was. Amanda saw the inferno projectiles and the cannonballs completely bouncing off the green Magic screen that had surrounded the ship. She couldn’t ignore the need to check the blueprints, so she ran a checkup of the ship. The shields… Were being activated from the weird bulges on the side of the body of the Shooting Star.

“Ha! Who’s the best genius? Constanze is!” Amanda said.

“Well that’s good and all but I can’t shoot now,” Hannah said.

Amanda was about to say it didn’t matter, but then she checked the fuel.

It was already halfway down, and draining at an alarming rate. Ursula noticed, for she spoke. “It’s not very efficient,” she said.

Reluctantly, Amanda had to admit the shield wasn’t a permanent solution. Unlike the Shiny Rod’s, which was directional – the gunman could make it appear in the preferred direction – this one covered the entire ship, so it probably took a lot more energy too.

“Ok, ok, stop the simulation,” Amanda said. The simulation froze. “It would have been nicer to know about this beforehand.”

“You’re telling _me_ this?” Hannah asked through the communicator.

“Nah, I’m telling Constanze. She’s probably listening to us right now,” Amanda said. How else could she have known the situation they were in? “Hey Cons, is there anything else we should know?”

The message she got as a response read _‘I’ll show you after you’re done.’_ Amanda sighed.

“Well, let’s restart,” she said. The simulation started again, with random placing again. This time they were all the way in the back. Maybe this would be fine too. “Let’s not use the shields for now, Hannah. We should first figure out how they work exactly.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Focus,” Hannah said in an annoying tone.

Three. Two. One. The race started.

Hannah attacked instantly. Not a second into the race had passed before not one, but two lasers shot out of the Shooting Star, directly hitting the Blood Sailor on the side – it was a couple spots in front of them, to the left – and instantly causing it to go off the track and into the water.

“Ha ha!” Hannah laughed, obviously satisfied. “Kiss my ass!”

Amanda laughed too as the race continued. The daemons could fly over water, but they hadn’t been able to gain speed, so they were quickly left behind. Then, for a second, Amanda’s hands had a little spasm.

“Amanda? What was that?” Ursula asked, noticing it.

“Nothing, nothing. It was just a test,” she lied. The little movement had caused the broom to quickly zigzag, but nothing big. Why had she had it? Well, she had imagined herself kissing Hannah’s ass.

She was glad the helmet hid her blush. She shook her head to get rid of the mental image – failing – and tried to focus back on the race.

 

Akko was eating in the room with Sucy.

“Are you gonna eat that?” She asked to Sucy, who had left her half-eaten sandwich on the side. The creepy girl looked at her, at the sandwich, and shrugged. Akko took it. According to her schedule, she still had fifteen minutes to eat before being allowed to go back to the Shiny Rod to practice. She considered going back – she had already finished – but she was afraid of making Diana angry again. Plus, she was feeling much better now. She still sneaked some practices against Diana and Amanda on the moments where Ursula would take a break, but she had accepted that focusing on that wouldn’t be good for her.

She had felt so… strange, when Diana had scolded her. Of course she had felt bad. She had felt like an idiot and a child – but also happy. Because Diana had said that out of worry. It made her all warm and fuzzy inside. “Could you eat with your mouth closed?” Sucy asked in annoyance.

Akko made an effort to do it. The sandwiches they had eaten had been made with ham, tomato and lettuce. Simple, but Diana had told her to eat lightly at noon. She was supposed to have a big breakfast, a light lunch and a mid-sized dinner. Akko had asked Constanze for a clock, and of course, the girl had given her one – it wasn’t synchronized to earth, though. To no established time in general, actually. It worked on twenty-hour cycles. Akko wasn’t sure why Constanze had set it up like that, but the alarms went off with a certain number of hours placed between them, so it didn’t matter that much. It was actually quite the elegant watch, but it didn’t go too well with anything Akko had to wear.

“Sucy, don’t you feel alone, lately?” Akko asked after she finished her sandwich.

Sucy laughed. “Don’t you dare think that, hear me?” She said. “With your obsessive practicing and Lotte spending more time in the Blue Team’s room than here, I am _finally_ able to perform a lot of experiments that would be impossible to do with you around.”

“Oh, come on, don’t you miss us even a little?” Akko asked, not believing her.

Sucy sighed. “Well, I suppose I do miss your company sometimes,” she admitted. Akko nodded in satisfaction. And then she felt something pinching her leg. “As a guinea pig, that is.”

Akko looked down to see Sucy’s wand stuck on her leg. She puffed her cheeks. “Jeez, not again! I have to go back to practice in a while!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Sucy said, standing. “It won’t hamper your ability to fly. Now, stay there.”

Akko shouldn’t have listened, but she was already used to Sucy’s shenanigans. Then, Sucy turned off the lights. For a second, Akko got excited, thinking that maybe Sucy had given her night vision or something. And, when she noticed that the room was getting brighter, she even redoubled on that idea.

And then she noticed she was glowing.

She looked at her hands. “What?!”

“Huh,” Sucy said in the dark. Her glow wasn’t particularly strong but it let her see Sucy’s shadow moving through the room towards her. “I didn’t think the luciferase I injected you would be enough to actually make your entire skin glow,” she took one of Akko’s hands, examining it closely. The glow was like a lit up version of Akko’s skin, maybe with a hint of green. “Guess Magic amplified the effect.”

“Great, so now I’m a lamp?” Akko asked without excitement.

“For a day or two, maybe.”

“WHAT?!” Akko exclaimed. “Imma be a human firefly for the next two days?!”

Sucy didn’t answer as she turned on the lights again. Akko’s skin didn’t look any different than normal now. “Yeah, but it’s not too bright, so you won’t have trouble sleeping or anything.”

“But what if someone sees me?” Akko asked, imagining what would happen if Amanda saw her like this. She’d never stop teasing Akko. And if Diana saw it she’d probably scold her again. “You sure there’s no other side effects?”

“Of course not,” Sucy replied immediately, sounding almost offended. “Don’t you trust me?”

Akko felt guilty for a second. Then she realized Sucy was laughing. “Sucy…” she said in a low growling voice.

“Don’t worry, there’s no side effects,” Sucy said, chuckling. Akko sighed, unhappy with the situation but what could you do? Sucy was Sucy. She would never hurt Akko. Not too much. Hopefully. “Now, allow me to go back to my work,” she said sitting back down.

 Akko finished eating her sandwich and sighed. “I hope I do good on the next race,” she said, mostly to herself.

“I can’t say I expect you to win,” Sucy said. “But I’m sure whatever position you come out on, it will be because you did your best.”

Akko’s eyes widened. “S-Sucy…” She said, feeling her heart grow warm and fuzzy. Kind of like when Diana had scolded her. “I-I always knew you had a heart,” she stood from the bed, wanting to hug her friend. Sucy, however, stuck out her wand and threatened Akko with it before she could take another step. Akko pouted, but dropped back on the bed. “Thank you.”

“If you really want to thank me, shut up. Anyways, isn’t it time for you to practice or something already? We’re landing soon, so you should go.”

Akko looked at the clock. There were still five minutes left. But, well, with the time it would take her to go back to the Shiny Rod, she supposed Sucy was right. She stood, giving Sucy a surprise hug before running out of the room and making sure she hadn’t been injected with anything new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this closes this batch! Now, you may be wondering why I posted them all in one go.  
> Well if you read the previous chapter then you can probably guess why. Honestly, I was just a little impatient, and I'd rather not deal with it, so I just dropped them all.  
> I really hope you enjoyed it! Leave a comment with your thoughts, please!   
> We'll see each other on the next batch.


	63. Chapter 63

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a new batch! Today marks five months since I started writing this monstruosity. Took me a while to finally getting some actual romance done, huh? But look forward to it, as things are only going to get gayer from here on out! Also going back to daily posting. Not gonna lie, it definitely has a better impact on my stats.  
> You may also notice that I think I actually, finally got a hang on separating chapters! For reals this time! (Though I may be wrong)  
> Anyways, hope you enjoy! Leave your comments and all that!

_I couldn’t believe my eyes. There, in the middle of the forest, as if it had always been there, a small house hung in between four trees that it used as pillars. It was painted an unobtrusive grayish green and almost completely hidden by the leaves of the trees, along with some thrown on top of it to help with the camouflage._

_“But you’ve only been here for like two months!” I said, looking at it with amazement. I almost got a crutch caught on a root, but thankfully, Marian was there to catch me. As she seemed to so often do lately._

_“Well, I-” Marian hesitated, uncomfortable to share whatever was going through her mind. “I really enjoy carpentry,” she explained. “It’s not that good. It’s a very simple design, and it has leaks when it rains.” She was trying to act cool, but I could tell she was just holding back her happiness from the praise._

_“Too bad I can’t get up to it…” I said, cursing my broken leg._

_Marian smirked, and she suddenly ran towards a tree. I thought she had gone nuts until she jumped, stepped on the trunk and used the impulse to reach the lower of the branches. She then climbed, disappearing between leaves for a while before reappearing in the small platform that surrounded the tree house. Then, she jumped again, picking something from higher up. A rope._

_And, as she moved the rope, something was lowered. A small wooden plank. Almost like a swing._

_“Think you can sit on it?” She asked. She didn’t speak too loudly, but her voice carried through the relatively silent forest just fine._

_I nodded, suddenly feeling like crying of happiness. I didn’t waste a minute and carefully made my way to the seat. After some thinking, I managed to sit down. Marian’s athleticism never stopped marveling me, as she pulled me up seemingly with no problem._

_And when I reached up, I think I saw the first ever genuine smile she had given me…_

Diana paused as the whole ship started to tremble. They were landing already? Geez, these four days had passed in a rather short amount of time, from her perspective. She had read a good chunk of the book, though, so that was fine.

It was more enjoyable than she’d ever assumed it could be. She liked the realism of the main character in a world where Magic hadn’t been discovered yet taking so long to recover. It seemed to add some charisma to the story. And while Marian had seemed like an edgelord at first, Diana ended up thinking she was her favorite character. She had grown quite much since the start of the story, and seeing her admit that maybe her parents weren’t as good as she believed them to be was something that she really looked forward to.

The vibration of the _Dragon_ stopped a few minutes later. It’d be a while until they set up the platforms around the ship to allow people to get out. She decided to go back to reading.

_… and I gave her a smile back. It had been quite some time since I had smile like that, too._

_She carefully helped me get out of the swing and helped me set up on my crutches. “Will it support the weight of us both?” I asked, a little nervous._

_“Yeah. It should be able to stand four or five people, so we’ll be fine,” Marian reassured me. I relaxed slightly. The inside of the house ended up being prettier than I expected, too, with all the…_

A knocking made Diana pause. She marked her page and put the book away in the drawer. “Come on in,” she said.

The door opened. A suited man entered. With his gray hair and green eyes, Paul Hanbridge looked Diana up and down rather indifferently. “You seem to be doing better, Miss Cavendish,” he said in an overly formal tone. Diana nodded. Her arm had only a scar at this point, and her leg was so much better.

“I must assume you’re not here just to check on my status,” Diana said, not without some bitterness.

Paul nodded. “You received another message from your aunt,” he explained. Diana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She had expected something of that nature.

He handed her his Entangled Communicator. Diana read the message.

Then she closed her eyes and handed the communicator back. Paul seemed unsurprised by her reaction. He had probably read the story. “If it helps put your mind at ease, I will not be taking the offer,” he said. Diana knew that if he sounded kind it was only because he wanted Diana to be in peak mental condition for when she came back. “I’m not really interested in brooms.”

The message had been a simple _‘Selling the Pony to Paul’._ The Pony had been her mother’s broom. It had actually been made by the same company that had made the Shooting Star. Of course, Diana’s first flying experiences had been in it. Daryl knew how much it meant to her. Luckily, she had never managed to sell it, since Diana had made sure everyone in their circle knew that she wouldn’t be happy if anyone bought it. That didn’t stop her from trying, though. She couldn’t technically sell it without Diana’s permission – it was Diana’s and, as everything else, she would get her legal rights over it when she turned eighteen.

“I appreciate it,” Diana said.

Paul hesitated. Then he sighed. “Ok, let me tell you something,” he said. Diana raised an eyebrow. “Our next race will be held at Earth,” he informed Diana. “It might be a good chance to go see your aunt and… Well, sort things out,” he said.

Diana put on a fake smile. “Thank you for worrying, sir, but I shouldn’t be made privy of this information, I think,” she said.

“It’s fine. You probably won’t be running the next race either, will you?” He said. “But please, don’t disclose it to your friends – though I suppose you already found a way to find out anyways,” he sounded kinda proud. He then put the communicator in his pocket and turned. “We’ll see each other later. Get better,” he said as he left.

“Thanks for your visit,” Diana said just as the door closed.

She then took a deep breath. Her reading mood had been ruined, so she didn’t make an attempt to get back the book. Instead, she laid back and closed her eyes.

She’d rather try to sleep than dealing with the seething rage she felt inside her.

 

Akko jumped out of the ship as soon as the door opened. She was wearing one of the masks they had used back at pan – they could breathe the air from this planet for a while, but it was better not to risk it.

Sea extended in all directions. She could see three big things in the distance – other World Hoppers, like the _Dragon,_ probably – but no land, at all. She wondered where the racing track was. She couldn’t see it from where she was, maybe it would be on the other side of the _Dragon_ or something.

Then, she stepped out of the magical field around the ship that kept her grounded. She felt completely weightless. She wondered what would happen if- “Akko!” Ursula called after her. “Don’t jump, got it? You could be flying for like ten minutes, do _not_ do it, come back here carefully!”

Akko pouted, but she could imagine that what Ursula said was true. Even the two steps that it had taken her o get back to the ship almost send her flying up. Going back inside the magical field felt like something had suddenly been dropped on her shoulders. Ursula sighed as everyone gathered around her.

“Ok, first things first, I’d prefer it if you practiced just with the simulator,” Ursula said. “The race track is rather far from here and carrying our brooms back and forth would be really troublesome. Also, we’ll spend three days in this planet. If you want to dive into the sea, please wait until the crew sets up a larger perimeter of magic so that it’ll be safer,” she looked at Akko while saying that. “There are animals here we know little about, and I’d have a lot of problems if one of you got eaten by an alien shark.”

“So we’re just staying in the dragon?” Amanda asked.

“Yes,” Ursula said. “As you may guess, we have no options for lodging in this peculiar planet. Also, please be careful when diving, you can see the bottom but it’s far deeper than it looks. The race will happen in sixty-five hours and the rules will drop three hours prior.”

Akko nodded, and everyone started looking around. Akko saw some members of the _Dragon’s_ crew carrying those metal rods that were for setting up perimeters. They walked carefully as they stepped out of the perimeter to slowly start the process.

She checked her clock. Technically, it’d be her time to sleep in not too long. She felt tired, but the excitement of having arrived to a new planet probably wouldn’t let her sleep. Though, if she thought carefully about it, there was basically nothing to do here, save for swimming. She looked up as the strange grayish-green sky, sprinkled with clouds here and there, and while not directly, she noticed the white sun. The temperature was maybe on the hotter side, a little below twenty-five degrees C, but not exactly annoying either. Humidity-wise, though, it was horrible. Akko had her forehead pearled with sweat in just a few minutes, even if she had barely moved. It wasn’t enjoyable at all.

She wondered if Diana would be able to walk in that low gravity. If not, Akko would probably be able to carry her anywhere, but that wouldn’t be too different from just going out in her hovering chair. Would Akko be able to run over water? If she ran faster than the sea could pull her down… But maybe her steps would only throw her into the air.

“Are there tsunamis here?” Barbara asked after a while, looking at Ursula.

“No,” Ursula said. “There is some measure of waves, but for there to be actual tsunamis I believe there must be land and irregularities underwater. There’s no such thing in Poseidon.”

“I see,” Barbara said. “Is the water drinkable?”

Ursula shook her head. “You won’t die if you happen to get some on your mouth, but while it’s not salty, it has a lot of other things that might be poisonous to your body. Some scientists even debate if it could be considered actual water. I’d be more at ease if you wore your masks while swimming too, so please do it.”

Akko nodded. The masks wouldn’t let them breathe underwater but Akko wasn’t planning on scuba-diving or anything. Akko saw a bunch of other humans slowly come out from the main doors of the ship. Many looked her way, pointing at her or her teammates, but none of them approached too much. A couple of kids seemed to want to get closer, but their parents held them off and threw apologetic looks at the group. Akko wouldn’t have minded. She liked kids, though people often said it was because she acted like one.

An alarm sounded, reminding her that in fifteen minutes she should have dinner. She sighed, turning. “Anyone hungry?” She asked, looking at her scattered friends.

“Me,” Amanda instantly replied. Jasminka just approached Akko, not needing to answer.

“We’ll go too,” Lotte said, grabbing Barbara’s hand. Akko looked at Sucy, who rolled her eyes and stepped forward. Constanze wouldn’t leave the side of the Shooting Star – Lotte and Barbara had finished their part, but she still needed to make sure it worked perfectly. Hannah seemed reticent, but when even Ursula decided to join them, she gave up and also came along.

Akko hadn’t expected this to become a full blown group dinner but she didn’t mind it.

 

Hannah was chatting with Barbara after finishing her food from the McDonalds they were in and having a relatively good time for the first time in what felt like ages. This race stuff rarely allowed them to relax. In a way, Hannah wanted to just jump forward in time to the end of the damn thing so that they could be free of it.

Akko and Ursula were talking about strategies. Akko was explaining that if she got thrown off track, then she could probably counteract it with a teleport. Ursula was explaining to her that it would probably be a bad idea, that it would draw too much attention, but Akko insisted, using the fact that the press had been told to leave them alone as an argument. Ursula didn’t seem at all convinced with that. Hannah had the feeling the teacher had a problem with Croix, due to the way she talked about her.

“So, has your research bearded any results?” Barbara asked.

Hannah gave her a flat look. “If it had, do you really think I’d be here?”

Barbara giggled. “Guess not,” she said with a knowing smile.

Hannah stared daggers. She was _sure_ Barbara knew who it had been, but she would feign ignorance, saying she had absolutely no idea whatsoever. So Hannah was left with no option but to go through the passenger database of the ship and filter them. She had currently filtered by hair color, height and gender. There weren’t a lot of redheads around on Earth anymore, so there had been only a handful on the _Dragon._ Of the thousands of passengers, only fifteen – at least with Hannah’s parameters. There were probably around fifty in total, maybe. The only problem was that seven of them looked like they could be a fit for the masked dancer, ranging from teenagers to forty-plus guys. Hannah didn’t want to believe she had danced with an old man, but the guy had been so good that it might have been the case. Still, Hannah had started with the younger ones, just to make sure. She had used some of her free hours to go check on two of them. One of them had actually been mute, which had given her a lot of hope, but when she had gone to cautiously check on the area where his room was, she had seen that he was one of the clumsiest guys she had ever seen. She had been reluctant to accept it, but that guy wasn’t it. The other one also looked like a good fit, but she had actually caught him wearing a cosplay of the White-suited Watcher, and… He had been wearing the standard white with black, and it was a lot sloppier than the sharp looking figure of Hannah’s mysterious partner.

That only left five, two of whom were in her twenties and the other three were past their thirties.

“I just don’t get it,” Hannah said. “It felt so… Magical, you know?” She closed her eyes, trying to recall the moment. “Like straight out of a fairy tale. I know it’s stupid to have a crush on someone I don’t even know but I really want to at least meet him.”

Lotte, sitting on the other side of Barbara and chatting with Sucy, had turned to listen. Hannah noticed she also had a smile, but as soon as their eyes met she turned again to continue chatting with Sucy. Of course she knew too.

“Well, maybe you just limited the parameters too much,” Barbara said with a smirk. A hint?

“Maybe,” Hannah said cautiously. What was she supposed to change? The height was right the shoes the guy had been using barely had any platforms. “Well, it’s possible he was dyed,” She said with a grimace. “But if I get rid of the redhead parameter then the list is going to become _way_ too big for me to look into them.”

Barbara narrowed her eyes and smiled further. “Well, who knows,” she said.

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you,” Hannah said with bitterness.

“Of course,” Barbara said. “But if it makes you feel any better, I will feel better once you find whoever it is.”

“I could find him right now if you told me,” Hannah tried again.

Barbara just chuckled and put one of the leftover fries she had in her mouth.

When everyone was finished, they exited the place in group. Akko constantly looked at her clock, and Hannah was surprised at how diligently she could follow the schedule Diana had built for her. She didn’t always seem happy with it, but _‘if it makes me into a better pilot, then I will use it until I die’_ she had said. Akko really trusted Diana, which Hannah found strange. Not because she didn’t trust Diana, but because Akko seemed like the kind who would just try to break free of any kind of limitation imposed on her.

Maybe Akko had a crush on Diana. Hannah chuckled to herself with the idea. Yeah, like if Akko could have a crush on anyone. Well, maybe on Chariot, it would certainly explain her obsession.

“Well, I have an hour of free time until I have to go to bed,” Akko spoke as if she was a child with a strict mother, “so I’m going to go for an ice-cream.”

“You just ate a Big Mac with large fries,” Hannah said, “Do you really want to eat _more?”_

“Yeah,” Akko shrugged. “There’s always room for ice-cream.”

Hannah gave her a sarcastic thumb up. “Well, I’m done with calories for today, so I’m just going to go,” she pointed with the same thumb she had up towards the elevators and started walking. She didn’t expect anyone to follow her, but she swore she heard Barbara saying something as she walked away. When she turned, however, it was Amanda who was following.

She looked slightly flushed.

“What?” Hannah asked.

“I’m not feeling up for ice-cream either, so…” Amanda spoke nonchalantly.

Hannah resigned herself. If Amanda was following her then there was probably nothing she could do about it. Maybe she wasn’t even following her, after all, their rooms were in this direction too anyways. “Whatever,” Hannah said.

She continued walking in silence for a while. She wasn’t sure of why she was in a bad mood – but it had probably something to do with Barbara not telling her. They soon reached the elevators.

Amanda hesitated for a moment before pressing the lowest of the buttons, which lead to the hangar. “Are you going to practice?” Hannah asked with a little disbelief. They had been practicing until not long ago, and it had been a long session.

“No,” Amanda said. “I just want to check how the Shooting Star is doing.”

Hannah thought that was a good idea, so she decided to join Amanda, even if it annoyed her.

The Shooting Star wasn’t anywhere in sight once they came out of the elevator, so Amanda and Hannah could only conclude that it had been left in the garage.

“I guess you don’t have an idea of how to get in there,” Hannah asked.

Amanda shook her head, but proceeded to walk to the end of the hallway anyways. “If there’s a door, then I can enter,” she explained.

Their brooms were near the back, so it only took them half a minute to get to the end of the hangar. You could see the big entrance, now closed, for brooms, but if there was one just for humans it wasn’t obvious. Amanda started walking with her hand on the wall, as if looking for a secret button. Hannah followed, curious. Amanda did have a knack for getting in places where she shouldn’t.

At one point, she paused, looking to her side. They were right besides the big door. Hannah looked closer at where Amanda was looking. The metal frame of the door was thick and of a darker color than the actual wall, but Amanda wasn’t looking exactly at that. “It’s not much of a security system, if you ask me,” she said. A small section of the wall right besides the frame was of a slightly lighter color. Amanda used her nails to open up a small panel. On the other side there was a fingerprint reader.

“Huh,” Amanda said, looking at it. “That’s more like it,” she said, looking at it. “I don’t think I have a lot of ways to open this right now, though if I tried I could probably get in.”

“How?” Hannah asked, curious.

“Well, depending on how advanced it is, what I know might not work, but this looks like the kind of reader that not a lot of people use. If I had some makeup and something like a piece of a plastic bag or something I could maybe open it. I don’t suppose you’re carrying such things?” Amanda looked at her.

Hannah shook her head. “I care about how I look but I’m no diva, I don’t carry makeup around,” she explained. She was only slightly disappointed at not being able to see Amanda at work.

“There’s also the idea of taking the thing out and seeing if playing with the cables does anything, but it probably works wirelessly save for the power. I didn’t really come prepared.”

“Then we should probably go back,” Hannah said. Amanda nodded closing the panel again and turning around. The digestion was kicking in, so Hannah started feeling tired. She’d probably go to sleep and worry about the Shooting Star tomorrow. Amanda stopped at one point, though, turning to the Shiny Rod. Hannah paused to look at what she was doing.

“Go ahead,” Amanda said, walking towards the Rod. “I’m going to check something up.”

Hannah raised an eyebrow. She was tempted to just follow the instructions and go, but one didn’t simply do that when the other girl was just casually walking towards the most amazing ship in history with glassed eyes. “What are you doing?”

Amanda stopped looking at her. “I don’t think you’d care much, but I like to think while near the Shiny Rod. It might be some sort of mind control thing that the broom puts on me when it erases my memory,” Amanda explained.

“Think about what?” Hannah asked, suspicious. Amanda had done a hundred and eighty degrees turn on that one. Hannah shouldn’t really have cared, but she still had a feeling that Amanda had been acting kind of strange since the previous day.

Amanda didn’t answer immediately. She seemed to be debating something. “About feelings and shit,” she finally answered. Hannah’s eyes widened, and her gossipy instincts suddenly kicked in. She smirked, walking towards Amanda – who seemed surprised by the reaction – and feeling that maybe she’d finally have something she could actively tease Amanda about.

“Feelings, you say?” Hannah asked. “So you finally have a crush?”

Amanda blushed. “No,” she lied. Hannah’s smirk went full blown shit-eating grin. After so much time having so many problems because she could never read Amanda, she had _finally_ found a weak spot. Maybe it was because of Amanda’s inexperience with actual romantic feelings, but just with that reaction, Hannah could tell she had hit the nail in the head.

“You’re blushing,” Hannah pointed out. What a strange sight. “So, who’s the lucky guy- Erhm, I mean, girl?” She asked, stepping closer, to allow Amanda to speak in a low voice if she wanted.

Amanda looked away. “No one,” she said. “You’re seeing things.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Come on, remember Barbara? You also thought she should have confessed sooner. Are you going to make the same mistake?”

“I told you I don’t have a crush,” Amanda said, dropping down and disappearing quickly under the broom. Hannah was surprised, as she believed she was going to go to the cockpit. She heard as Amanda climbed into the turret. “Just go to sleep,” she said before closing it.

 _Oh no you don’t,_ Hannah thought, climbing on top of the Rod and looking at the windshield. She had never climbed on the cockpit alone. She hoped the ship wouldn’t consider it an attempt of theft or something and teleported them to the middle of space.

She managed to get inside without much trouble. She carefully sat on the pilot’s seat. The controls were nowhere to be seen, but at least she hadn’t been kicked out.

“Are you serious?” Amanda asked. “You’re always acting as if being with me was a bother and now you’re basically stalking me?”

Hannah grimaced. It wasn’t incorrect. “I just like gossip,” she admitted. “And to be honest, it’s weird to see you all flustered, so you can’t really blame me for teasing you. Though I can’t see your face now.”

“So you’re just going to tease me,” Amanda said. She paused. “Guess I kind of deserve it.”

“Are you going to tell me or not?” Hannah asked, feeling somewhat expectant. Amanda stayed in silence. Hannah decided to give her time. “Have you at least talked to your friends about this?”

“No,” Amanda admitted. “Though I think they probably realized it already. Jasminka can always tell what’s in someone’s mind, and Constanze… Well, maybe she’s a robot who can read emotions, who knows.”

Hannah felt like there was more to it by the way Amanda spoke. “Someone else?” She asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I think there may be, but I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Come on,” Hannah insisted. “There’s only four options here, since we both know it’s neither Akko nor Diana. Is it Ursula? Sucy? Barbara and Lotte?”

“You can ask all you want, I won’t answer,” Amanda asked, though she spoke with a relatively strained voice. Hannah started thinking, but in truth, only two of those answers made any kind of sense.

“Lotte and Barbara is it, then,” she said. “Do they know _who_ you have a crush on? Oh god, don’t tell me it’s Akko,” Hannah could see that. Amanda and Akko were kind of similar, in a way. “Is that why you were so quick to jump on the dining plans she had?”

“I’m not answering any of your questions, so you can keep rambling alone if you want,” Amanda said. Hannah smiled at her tone. She was definitely onto something. Could it really be Akko? Maybe that’s why Amanda hadn’t confessed, confessing to Akko would probably have absolutely no effect or results. Well, obviously Jasminka and Constanze were out of the question, since Amanda had obviously spoken as if they’d actually known. Then who?

“Wait, you’re into older women, right? That’s why you liked that girl from the play. Is it Ursula? Is that why you can’t confess?” Hannah asked. Amanda grunted. She was going to stick to her choice of not answering no matter what. Hannah crossed her arms while trying to think harder. “I really don’t think it’s Sucy but I don’t really know what kind of kinky stuff you might be into…”

“Could you keep quiet and just let me think, Hannah? I don’t mind if you’re there but come up with your theories in silence, please.”

Hannah rolled her eyes, but decided to be kind and shut up. Why was she so interested, anyways? Well, maybe because Amanda sinned of basically the same thing she had accused Barbara of. She was being all timid and stuff about her obvious romantic interest, only difference being that Hannah couldn’t figure out who it was. Maybe it was Lotte or Barbara and that’s why she couldn’t confess, actually. It would make some sense. Or maybe it was Diana – After all, love and hate were both sides of a same coin. And Diana was beautiful. Though, it was strange, Amanda hadn’t really changed her attitude towards Diana much.

“Hey, Amanda?” Hannah said, trying to call for her attention. She got no answer. “Are you really going to ignore me?”

Again, no answer. “Wait, are you even there?” Amanda couldn’t have left without her hearing the turret opening and closing, and she also had a pretty good view of the hangar. Unless she had gone through the back, but then again, she couldn’t have left the ship. Maybe she really was just ignoring her.

Still, Hannah decided to check, just in case. Since Alcor wouldn’t listen to her if she tried, she went out of the rod. But then she realized, she had no way of getting into the turret. If Amanda really was hell-bent on ignoring her, then she probably could do nothing about it.

She considered waiting, but on the other hand, she was tired.

Feeling offended and disappointed, Hannah went up to the cockpit again. “Ok, whatever, I’m just leaving,” she said. “Think alone.”

“That’s all I wanted, thanks,” Amanda replied. Hannah narrowed her eyes, but she should have expected such reaction.

With a small ‘hmpf,’ she left the Shiny Rod behind. She wondered if Amanda would regret her sudden treatment of Hannah, but if she did, Hannah didn’t know.

In the end, she left feeling only more determined on finding who Amanda could like.

 

Amanda sighed, thankful that Hannah had finally left. People who were the subjects of crushes truly were oblivious. She had been afraid of Hannah finding out, eventually. Maybe she’d figure it out later, but it was better if she didn’t do it with Amanda there.

She should just confess, huh? Her case and Barbara’s were slightly different. Why was it so complicated? Why did it feel like suddenly her entire life turned around this stupid girl? Her head was filled with thoughts of her. Of every cute thing she had seen her do, of her aspect, whether normal or during that night. She recalled the first dance they’d had no longer as a simple thing of chance but as something super romantic, despite the fact that it was _not._

The Shiny Rod, as always, seemed to put her at ease. It helped clear her mind. She could understand now why she liked Hannah. Fight fire with fire. In some ways, Amanda and Hannah were basically the same, which was why they had such a relationship. On the other hand, they were complete opposites. That was probably where the attraction had been born, and it had evolved far beyond just aspect. Still, Amanda couldn’t pinpoint the point in time where she had fallen for her. At the skyscraper in Machina? Maybe all the way back at Sídhe’s tower? It was hard to tell because now all of her memories were tainted with current knowledge.

But she wouldn’t confess. Not because she wanted to maintain her relationship as it was or something like that, but because she didn’t want to be rejected. She knew she was being too prideful, but she’d rather not have a history of rejection. Plus, these feelings would probably die out after she no longer had to pilot and spend a lot of time with her and stuff.

And the worst part was that Barbara knew. She had known even before Amanda. She had figured it out and she had tricked Amanda into going to that party, maybe with the intention of making her realize it or just to have fun with herself. It was an annoying realization at best. Most of all now, because she had most certainly realized that Amanda had realized. She hadn’t said anything, but she didn’t have to. The knowing smiles, the way Lotte and her made an effort to get them to be alone together. Lotte had been kind of a good influence in Barbara, but Barbara was also being a horrible influence in Lotte.

Constanze and Jasminka had definitely figured it out, too. Constanze had just analyzed her body’s reactions while talking to Hannah the past day, while Jasminka… Well, she just had a sixth sense with those things. Maybe it was because of how close the heart and the stomach were or something. Amanda didn’t like to think of Jasminka as just a girl who ate a lot, because she understood her circumstances, but it was undeniable that her illness had also informed the way she acted and looked at life. Amanda was very close to just asking her for advice, since Barbara and Lotte were definitely not options.

But what would she talk about, anyways? She already knew how she felt and how she would act, and she knew nothing the others said would change her mind. She wouldn’t confess, or at least not for now. She would let the feelings either go away or set in with some strength. She was kind of worried all she was feeling was mere infatuation. She was kind of frustrated, since she didn’t get many chances to masturbate.

Her reaction to Hannah’s comment the previous day ringed in her mind. Even now she could imagine Hannah’s body. As was often pointed out, g-suits didn’t left much to the imagination, so it was fairly easy to get an idea of how someone looked while naked, save maybe for cases like Amanda’s where she purposely made her boobs smaller. She didn’t mind her size, but she liked her fame as a tomboy and showing others that she wasn’t as plain as she made herself to be wasn’t exactly fun.

How would Hannah react if she saw them? Not that she ever would. Amanda shook her head. She needed to get rid of those kinds of thoughts. Being alone and knowing no one would come to interrupt it made it too tempting to just rub one off on the spot. But then she’d have to clean.

Wait. “Hey, Alcor, can the Shiny Rod clean itself?” Amanda couldn’t stop herself from asking. It was so automatic, it probably could. The seconds it took for the familiar to answer were almost painful.

 **Yes, the Shiny Rod possesses an auto-cleaning function,** the robotic voice of the crow said.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. Maybe releasing some of her tension would help her deal with everything…


	64. Chapter 64

_Akko was feeling strangely weightless. She was piloting the Shiny Rod, but it didn’t take long for her to realize she wasn’t the one doing so. She didn’t recognize the landscape, mostly because it was dark and it was almost impossible to see, save for directly ahead, where her lights pointed. There was no one else around, but that made sense, since she was only taking a stroll. On her ship. She liked to do that, sometimes._

_“I’m so tired, Chariot, can’t we just go back?” A voice asked. It was Akko’s best friend._

_“Want me to activate the turret?” Akko felt slightly guilty for having dragged her friend into this so late into the night._

_“No, I want to go back and cuddle. Come on, you haven’t slept in like twenty hours,” her friend said, followed by a yawn._

_“It’s just, we’re so close,” Akko said. “What could possibly be the last word? We’ve been looking for them for four years already. You think we’ll find it before the race ends?”_

_“Probably not,” her friend said. “We’ve been finding them with an average of two per year. It’ll probably take another two or three months for the last one to appear.”_

_“Jeez, you could have said yes,” Akko complained, annoyed at her friend’s no-fun mindset._

_“If I said that then you would get excited and I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”_

_“Ok, ok, just give me five minutes,” Akko rolled her eyes. The darkness surrounding her put her at ease. Flying in the simulator was great for practice, but it didn’t beat the feeling of just going out for real. Just one more word. That’s all she needed to learn. She wasn’t sure of why she knew it, but she just did._

_“Do you think we’ll ever be able to fly normally again?” Her friend suddenly asked._

_“Does it even matter? The Shiny Rod is unbeatable. We don’t really need to fly other ships.”_

_Her friend didn’t answer. Akko could tell she was thinking deeply. Lately she seemed to be doing that a lot more._

_Well, while she did that, it would be as good a time as any to go back. Akko took one final look around before casting the spell. “Noctu Orfei, Aude Freator!”_

_“Do you need to shout every time?”_

_“It makes it more exciting…”_

Akko woke up to the sound of her alarm. She yawned, trying to figure out where she was. Wasn’t she just practicing? Why was she now in… Oh, a dream. Or was it? It hadn’t felt like that. It had felt more like a memory.

She stood. Sucy slept with earplugs on, and Lotte wasn’t even in the room – she had probably gone to sleep with Barbara. They moved fast.

_Time for some breakfast,_ Akko thought as she approached the room service panel.

 

To her right, the armor tried an outright charge for her. Akko had taken some notes from Amanda’s way of flying, and she dodged by jumping over them and turning the ship around in the air. At the same time, Jasminka landed a direct hit with a couple lasers. It didn’t do a lot of damage but it seemed to disrupt the spin of the metallic rings, which led them to not being able to turn in the curve and go off track. They fell into the sea, and Akko knew they wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

She wasn’t first, though. The shapeshifter and the deamons were just better than her at this. Akko had to focus to be able to not go over the sea – not because the Shiny Rod couldn’t handle it, but because she was afraid of committing an infraction. They, on the other hand, seemed to do it without effort. They had at least two seconds on her, and were mostly focused on fighting each other.

Akko didn’t panic. She tried to think about what to do. What would Diana or Amanda do? Could she perform any of those things? No, no she couldn’t. Diana would probably get closer and try to find an opening. Amanda would maybe try to just get past them sneakily, or straight up attack them. But Akko didn’t have the confidence that she would be able to dodge their attacks. In fact, she was fairly certain she would just straight up be unable to do so.

But what she _could_ do was try to do as she often did with difficult things: Headbutt her way through them. She had managed to do an interesting thing in her previous race, having gotten the idea from the daemons. But that was a little overkill for a place with no obstacles. No, what she needed was a straight line.

Every racing track had at least one relatively long straight. It was basically needed. Curves were fine but sometimes people just liked raw speed and things being straightforward. And in the map Akko could see that what she was looking for wasn’t far away.

Ursula didn’t say anything. She sometimes reminded her of things, but for the most part she tried to see how Akko performed and then corrected her afterwards. At which point had Akko started using manual controls more often than not? She didn’t even think about them much anymore.

And her opportunity came. As Akko turned on the straight, she centered herself and looked forward. She prepared her feet, slowly accelerating. Of course, she also made sure no one was getting close from behind. The medusa was having trouble with the cyborgs, which meant Akko probably didn’t have to focus too much on them.

Then, the opening presented itself. The daemons and the shapeshifter rounded each other, separated, and stopped to measure their opponent.

Akko pressed nitro. She shot forward. Jasminka reacted to her idea, covering the Shiny Rod in shields. Attacks came, but Akko barely saw them come as the world became a blur. She only pressed it for a second or two before using all of her ability to make the turn she needed at the end of the straight, a soft curve to the right that allowed her to keep a lot of the momentum she had gained from the burst of speed without losing her ability to perceive what surrounded her.

She didn’t relax, either. She kept the maximum speed she could, dropping her shields. She got attacks from the two ships behind her, but she had gained on them enough to make those attacks evitable, even for her.

The lap around this thing took around eight minutes. Akko was now near the end. But again, she kept focused. She hadn’t won. She wouldn’t win until she had passed the line in first place. Even then, depending on the rules that may not be the case. What rules would this race have? What if they didn’t even use this type of track? What if they had some other new invention or just-

_Focus,_ she reminded herself. For Ursula, for her friends. For humanity.

For Diana.

Even until the last second, Akko kept using every fiber of her being to be aware. She had learned to modify the response of the Shiny Rod to fit her needs in different situations, she had learnt that she had a weird tendency of leaning slightly to the left, so by changing the Rod’s balance values manually she had been able to fix that. She had raced against Amanda and Hannah so many times that even if she couldn’t beat them she could almost _see_ how they would handle each situation.

And she won. The simulation paused, and Akko let out the breath she had been holding. Ursula patted her back. “Well done, Akko. You did great,” she said.

Akko smiled, but she just wished she performed just as well during the actual race. “Thanks,” she replied. “It’s thanks to you.”

“I only gave you instructions, it’s you who applied them,” Ursula shook her head. “Though I see some of the things you’ve done here didn’t come from me. That jump over the armors was quite impressive. It looked like something-”

“Amanda would do, I know,” Akko finished her sentence. Ursula raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “I… I did a lot of side practice with Diana and Amanda simulations. I thought that if I could beat them I would be on a level worthy of being a First Category pilot,” Akko explained. Ursula nodded slowly, probably understanding her reasoning. “But I also came to understand that I’m not either of them. I probably won’t be able to beat them as I am now, so the best I can do is… Well, fly. And maybe being myself will be enough.”

Ursula smiled at her. She seemed like she would have gone for a hug if the space between the two of them wasn’t filled by the seat’s back. She still placed one hand on each of Akko’s shoulders and gave her a kind squeeze.

Akko felt satisfied until she saw Ursula’s expression change. She went from proud and happy to a confused frown. She was looking at something in front of Akko, so Akko turned her head back ahead.

Something floated in front of her. Words written in comic sans. _Why comic sans, though? Seriously,_ she wondered with some annoyance.

“Should I say them outloud?” Akko asked. Ursula seemed to snap out of the confusion, looking down at Akko.

“Uhm, sure, just make sure the simulation is on. You don’t know what effect it’d have if the actual ship changes. Amanda and Hannah are out there, they might get hurt.”

“Ah, right. Alcor, put us in a generic simulation, please,” Akko said. The green sea was substituted by green grass, and the green sky was changed by a blue one. Then, Akko read the words.

“ _Arae Aryrha!”_

“Did you have to shout?” Ursula asked, surprised by her volume.

“It makes it more exciting,” Akko said. She paused, feeling a horrible sense of déjà vu.

Both of them stopped talking after noticing what had just happened. The front of the Shiny Rod had disappeared. No, not disappeared. It had been shot, like a projectile. And it had a rope…? “Oh my god,” Akko realized. “It’s a hook. I had forgotten the Rod had one, Chariot never used it anywhere but in friendly races or presentations!” She said with excitement. She wondered how to control it. She imagined it coming back and, as she had expected, it did. The broom really could read her mind.

“I hope you realize you won’t be using it,” Ursula said. “There was a reason Chariot didn’t either.”

Akko nodded. She understood why hooks were a bad idea. Yeah, she had been severely hampered by one in the previous race, but using it would only come at the cost of your own loss. She still wondered why the reptilians were so willing to use one. It made basically no sense, unless you _wanted_ to lose and decided to drag others down with you.

“Still, I think it’s impressive,” Akko said, recalling her dream. “I think Chariot only found like two a year, while I’ve already found three of these commands,” she explained.

Ursula’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?!” she exclaimed, sounding offended. However, she cleared her throat and calmed down. “I mean, where did you learn about that, Akko?”

“In a… dream, I think,” Akko answered. Ursula seemed baffled by her answer, but she didn’t question it. Well, at least she believed what Akko had said. It was pretty surreal, but now Akko was starting to understand. She caressed the joystick in her hands with her thumb. The Shiny Rod held so many secrets, but if it could erase one’s memory, why not give her new memories? Maybe memories taken from the past. Though, they weren’t full. Who had been Chariot’s friend? Was it, maybe, her mystery gunman? Chariot had always said the gunman had extreme social anxiety and that’s why he or she wouldn’t even show their face.

Ursula was looking at Akko with worried eyes, but she shook her head. “Come on, we should do another round,” she said at last. “This thing was fun and all, but you can experiment with it later. For now, focus. You still have like half an hour, don’t you?”

Akko nodded. Ursula was right. Plus, she had something she _had_ to do after finishing this session, so she’d worry about the hook thing later.

“Alcor, restart the simulation from before,” she said.

Well, maybe she’d test it out just in this simulation, to see how it went.

 

Diana stepped into the light of the white morning sun of Poseidon and squinted at the natural brightness. The day-night cycle on Poseidon was rather short, lasting only about nine hours. She was finally being allowed to walk on crutches, which felt amazingly refreshing, even if it was a little inconvenient. It also kind of made her feel like Marianne, the main character from the book she was reading. It was kind of childish but she enjoyed the feeling.

She had put on her neutral face, to not show anyone she might have passed on the way here how she really felt. It was hard to explain, but she wanted to appear strong.

Yet she couldn’t help but smile when she saw Akko waiting for her on the outside. The brunette wouldn’t see it, though, since Diana was wearing a mask. Hannah would be mid-training, and she had enough awareness to know that if she dared come here while slacking off in her training Diana would get mad at her. Akko. The nurse behind Diana made sure she was extra careful as she went down the ramp towards the wooden platform set up around the _Dragon._

“Hello Diana!” Akko said, drawing in close. She wasn’t wearing her mask. “You won’t believe what just happened,” she spoke with excitement.

Diana looked at her curiously. “Well, if I won’t believe it you might as well keep it to yourself,” she said. Akko frowned, and Diana had a little stab of fear as she wondered if Akko might take her answer as her being angry. “It’s a joke, Akko,” she made sure to explain.

“Ah,” Akko said, nodding. “Listen, uhm…” She looked at the nurse behind Diana. “Can we talk alone?” She whispered.

Diana looked at the nurse. “I’ll be fine. If anything happens, Akko is stronger and has better reflexes than you, probably,” she said. The nurse pursed her lips. Diana cringed a little, realizing she had offended her. Akko, on the other hand, smiled and looked down, a little embarrassed. Well, Diana hadn’t said anything that wasn’t true.

“It’s fine, but you are _not_ allowed to step out of the magical field, ok?” the nurse said.

Nodding, Diana turned to Akko. Then they walked off. There was a _lot_ of people on the deck. Probably a lot of them were bronze tier passengers, who were taking the chance to dive, since they couldn’t do it in the pools.

They approached the edge of the deck from near the ship, a mostly empty spot. Diana didn’t find walking with crutches too hard, but she still wasn’t used to it. Diana hesitated for a second before handing one of her crutches to Akko and using the girl as support to look over the edge and down. The bottom of the sea was a world of color and movement. There were a lot of different plants of every color of the rainbow down there, and she was certain they weren’t as small as they appeared. They were just really deep. It wasn’t coral, either. No, it was full blown plants. Underwater flowers, algae, and things that looked like trees even. Different types of aquatic creatures also moved about. Things that looked like normal fish existed, of course, but Diana didn’t fail to notice a lot of different types of life too. A gigantic thing that looked like a cross between a crab and a whale, with big crab-like chelae and legs, along with an exoskeleton, but that was massive and long, moving slowly. A small fish that seemed to move with water propulsion jumped out of the water for a second and dove back down. Only, it wasn’t so small as it had seemed. It had to be at least twice the size of Diana’s head.

“Pretty, eh?” Akko asked, looking down. “Hey, look, that fish looks like you,” Akko pointed.

Diana looked in the direction. There, a flat fish seemed to swim with two tiny legs. The fish’s scales were platinum and green, in a pattern that looked a lot like her hair. Diana looked flatly at Akko, who just chuckled.

“Didn’t you want to talk about something?” Diana asked, trying to sound annoyed. Truth was, she had found Akko’s joke kind of funny too. She was currently trying to look for a fish that looked like Akko. No luck so far.

Akko’s eyes lit up. “Right, right, listen!” she shuffled, like if she wanted to move, but Diana was still leaning on her, so she didn’t. “I found another command! Like the teleport one and the big axe thing one!” she explained.

Diana blinked. “Really, now?” She asked with some concern.

“Yeah!” Akko said in her excited tone. She then explained that it was a hook and how it had appeared out of nowhere. She also narrated her – unapproved – attempt at using it during a simulation. It had failed miserably. Diana chuckled with the story.

“I’m glad you’re learning to not rush into using your shiny new toys,” Diana said, looking at Akko. Under the white light of the sun she seemed particularly pale, though Diana probably wasn’t much better. She suddenly became a little self conscious off how her arm was around Akko’s shoulders, and of how Akko was grabbing her hand to get a better hold of her.

“Did you add that Shiny on purpose?” Akko asked raising an eyebrow.

Diana paused. “No, sorry,” she said, trying to suppress a smile.

“See? I told you, puns are the essence of life itself. You can’t run from them even if you want to,” Akko said.

“It’s not like you’re using puns constantly,” Diana refuted.

“Like anything, if you abuse it it’ll lose its value. Striking with the right pun at the right moment is better than making people used to them.”

Diana rolled her eyes. And when she looked back at Akko, their eyes met. Neither of them looked away – why would they?

“You know you have quite the beautiful eyes, right, Akko?” Diana found herself saying. Inside, she was proud of finally being able to compliment Akko in the same way she had done previously.

Akko looked away. “Eh, I dunno,” Akko shrugged. “Yours are way prettier. Looking at them is like looking at the sky, you know? They make me feel all… calm and relaxed.”

Diana blushed. That was _so_ unfair. She had finally given a charming compliment and Akko had just one-upped her like it was nothing. What was she supposed to answer to that? “Thanks,” was all she could say, feeling like a failure.

Like a failure. She paused to think about that. How many times in her life had she felt like she had failed? Not many. Yet Akko… Didn’t really make her feel bad about it. She made it feel good. Diana imagined what kind of aura Akko could have right now, should they be in the universe of Emotions. She looked kind of embarrassed, so maybe a lighter orange? But she was so happy too, so probably a strong yellow…

She laughed to herself. She had been reading way too much.

“I’m probably tiring you, why don’t you hand me the crutch?” Diana said.

Akko did as told. “You’re not heavy anyways, I could have been like that all day,” she made sure to let her know. Diana shook her head, as Akko was clearly exaggerating. “Do you want to have a seat?” Akko asked. She pointed towards a series of small benches that had been set up around the deck. Most of them were used, but some were free. They’d be surrounded by people, unlike where they were now, but Diana wouldn’t have minded a seat, so she nodded.

Diana turned, ready to walk towards the bench, and moved forward. First her crutches, then-

She slipped. The floor seemed to have been wet _exactly_ where she had placed her crutch. The wood on the deck was pretty smooth, and the water of Poseidon wasn’t exactly water either.

In short, she made sure that if she was going to fall, she wouldn’t do it on her harmed leg. She instinctively dropped her other crutch and braced from impact.

Akko caught her. She jumped forward, quickly using one hand to catch Diana and the other to catch the crutch she had let go of relatively willingly. In a second, Diana was back on her feet, her one crutch in hand as a support, as Akko looked for the other.

The other dangled for a second on the edge before falling into the water.

Akko, like a madwoman, didn’t hesitate to jump into the water after it. “Akko, wait!” Diana reacted too late. Akko had dived into the sea without a mask. It was extremely dangerous down there!

The nurse, noticing the commotion from where she was standing, promptly got closer. She looked at Diana with worry, but Diana made sure to let her know she hadn’t gotten hurt in any way. Akko, on the other hand, had been underwater for a good thirty seconds.

Diana felt impotence as she could only watch the edge, not able to move, the nurse obviously uninterested in carrying her closer to the water. Forty seconds. Diana started to get worried.

Then, a hand came out of the water. Akko followed suit, completely soaked, her clothes dripping. She took a few deep breaths before climbing onto the deck. “Sorry,” she said, sounding ashamed. “I was this close to catch it,” she drew her fingers really close, “but at the last second this big and fast fish took it and swam away at lightning speed.”

Diana looked at the soaking figure of her friend and sighed in relief. “Akko, that was dangerous!” Diana said. “There’s a lot we don’t know about this planet! You could have gotten hurt!” she scolded her. Akko looked down. Then, Diana smiled, taking off her mask so that Akko could see. “But you were also pretty cool,” she admitted. “Thanks for catching me.”

Akko looked up cautiously. “You’re not mad?”

“No, I’m not,” Diana said. She was mostly just thankful that nothing bad had happened.

Akko relaxed. “Now we probably have to go back to the infirmary, huh?” She said, looking at the nurse. She looked at both of them and shook her head. “I’d rather you help Diana sit there,” she pointed towards a bench,” and wait until I bring another crutch.”

Akko nodded energetically and didn’t hesitate to put herself under Diana’s left arm, which was the one lacking a crutch. Diana felt a stab of coolness from Akko, and her clothes got wet, but she didn’t care. Akko helped her go to the small bench and they both sat down, watching the nurse disappear inside the _Dragon._

“Sorry again,” Akko said.

“I’m the one who tripped,” Diana said. “Don’t worry.”

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Akko was looking at the arm that held her scar.

Diana shook her head. “No, you didn’t. That was really heroic of you,” Diana said. Akko smiled, looking away. Then, something popped on Diana’s head. There had been a similar scene in her book. In a scene from when Marian and Marianne barely knew each other, right at the beginning, Marianne had slipped on water on the bathroom’s floor and Marian had caught her with barely any effort.

Akko hadn’t been as flawless in her performance, but she was also a real person. And then she had just dived into an alien sea in order to get back something just so that Diana wouldn’t be mildly inconvenienced for a while. She had failed, but it was the intention that mattered.

“How did he water feel?” Diana decided to ask.

Akko paused. “It wasn’t exactly like earth’s. it felt… I dunno, a little oily? Here, feel it,” Akko said, extending her still humid arm. Diana paused, softly brushing Akko’s skin. It was right. Not quite like oil, but it did feel more slippery than normal water.

She left her hand touching Akko’s arm longer than needed. Her fingertips tickled Akko, who seemed to be very focused on the touch. Diana started to feel a strange atmosphere creating. No, the atmosphere had started earlier.

“Yeah, it’s kind of different,” she finally said, taking away her hand.

The silence between them seemed to somehow dampen the sounds coming from the hundreds of people around them. Diana was surprised by how little the sun seemed to bother her, despite her skin usually not taking kindly to being exposed to sunlight for long periods of time. The humidity was horrible, though. She was sweating, even if she had done basically nothing.

“Hey, look at that,” Akko said, pointing at the water. A small kid had below him a floater hat was obviously the Shooting Star. “They’re quick to do merchandize, eh?” Diana nodded, founding it extremely endearing. “Guess the Shiny Rod isn’t that popular, nowadays,” Akko said with a hint of sadness.

Diana paused. “You really don’t think Chariot abandoned, do you,” Diana said.

Akko shook her head energetically. “Of course not! It makes no sense! She was about to win, Diana. She had a tremendous advantage and… No, she wasn’t going to win, she had already won!” Akko claimed. Her eyes shone with admiration. “Why would she ever leave? People who dislike her only do so because they felt disappointed! But she _had_ to have a reason! Maybe they threatened her. Maybe something came up and she just had to leave. Who knows, maybe her mother died or something.”

Diana paused. Chariot was obviously a delicate theme when talking to Akko, but she wanted to really understand how she saw things. “But then, why didn’t she ever come back and tell her story?”

“Maybe she’s still being threatened, I don’t know,” Akko shrugged, “but… Most don’t get it, Diana. I _know_ Chariot loved what she was doing. She would have never quit willingly! I saw one of her races live. She was in that… planet with the deserts and stuff,” the planet was Set. Diana frowned, realizing something. “The moment she finished that race, the way she used the Shiny Arc,” Akko looked at the sky. “I was amazed, Diana. I was moved. I remember it clear as day. That was the moment I decided I wanted to be a Witch and pilot a broom.”

Diana felt time slow down. Akko was talking about the same race, wasn’t she? The race before everything changed for Diana.

“I was lucky. The _Dragon_ had to make a trip back to earth just before that race, because of some accident that messed with the supplies, allowing a bunch of people to get in to go watch that single race. My parents managed to gather enough money to go. It was incredible. Even this whole trip we’re doing now completely pales in comparison to the excitement I felt back then,” Akko spoke with nostalgia imbued into every word, every letter. “I really hate people who just insult Chariot without giving her a chance. How do _they_ know what happened? I will find Chariot after this stupid race is over and I will prove to the world that she’s as great as she proved herself to be back then and nothing’s going to stop me.”

Diana looked at her. Akko was just staring forward, looking at nothing, probably thinking of Chariot. Diana couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Such blind trust. She really couldn’t imagine Chariot doing something bad. In a way, Diana felt even guilty for her own skepticism. But she couldn’t be as optimistic as Akko.

Still, she had no intention of putting Akko in a bad mood. “That’s very… you,” she ended up saying. “Being your friend must be really comforting,” Diana laughed.

Akko looked at her. “Well, you are, so you tell me,” she said.

Diana paused. “Yes, you’re right,” she said with a chuckle. “It is very comforting.”

With a smile, Akko kept staring at her. Her hair was sticking to her back and neck, and her clothes had created a small pool of water around her feet and seat. Some of that water had gotten under Diana, but she had already been pretty humid from earlier, so at this point it was basically irrelevant.

“Ok,” suddenly, a voice made Diana snap her head around, “here you go, Miss Cavendish,” the nurse, standing behind them, handed Diana another crutch. Akko stood, offering Diana a hand to help her stand up. Diana took it, setting up with the new crutch, which was already perfect for her use. “And now, I believe we should head back. It’d be better to avoid slipping like that again,” the nurse said. Diana sighed, nodding.

“Want me to accompany you back to the hospital or whatever it is?” Akko asked, sounding hopeful. Diana smiled but shook her head.

“You should go change your clothes,” she said. Akko had a blue shirt and black shorts. Both of them stuck to her body as if they were a g-suit.

Akko looked down at herself. “I guess you’re right,” she said, sounding unhappy. Then, the watch at her wrist suddenly started to sound. Of course it’d be waterproof.

“And I assume that alarm is the one saying you should go have some more practice before lunch,” Diana said with a smile. She was happy Akko had taken her schedule so seriously. When planning it, Diana hadn’t really expected Akko to follow it so thoroughly.

Akko smiled awkwardly, “Yeah,” she said, sighing. “Well, see you later, then,” she said as she walked away.

“Bye,” Diana said. Then, she felt like that wasn’t really enough. She wanted to say more. She wanted Akko to look back at her one more time.

But she had nothing else to say, so she let it go. And, after Akko disappeared inside the world-hopper, dropping water, she started her own way towards the infirmary, the nurse following behind her, making sure she wouldn’t slip again. Diana was careful too.

_I should have wished her good luck or something,_ Diana thought after a few minutes. _I’ll do it next time._


	65. Chapter 65

Amanda finished the simulated race basically tied with daemons. Lately, she had been feeling like the edgy fuckers had stepped up their game. They more consistently got first place. They were rather annoying too. Amanda often tried to either avoid them or take them out early. Rarely did it work.

“They certainly feel different,” Ursula said. “Maybe they changed something about their mentality due to the latest results.”

Amanda nodded. That went without saying. She started fidgeting with the joystick in her hand, tapping her fingers and just trying to get rid of the uneasiness inside her. She wasn’t getting consistent wins even in simulations. Was she distracted? She didn’t feel like she was. Everything in her mind just seemed to be white and black. She either thought about flying or about Hannah.

Maybe that was the problem. Hormones. She was trying really hard not to think about Hannah during her flying, which was hard when the girl was her gunman. She considered asking Ursula to change them up, maybe make Hannah the Shiny Rod’s gunman and give her Jasminka. But it was too late for that. Hannah had grown used to her flying already, changing it up now would be stupid. No, this was something Amanda had to deal with on her own. She wasn’t stupid. If she knew what the problem was, then she could try to fix it. It wasn’t that big a deal.

She considered her options. Confessing and trying to move on after a rejection felt like it would work, but the problem with that resided in the turret. Literally. Even if she did that, Hannah would still be her gunman, and that would just create all kinds of new problems. It wasn’t an option, not until after the race. But by then it’d be too late.

Maybe she could ask the Shiny Rod to erase her memories of liking Hannah or something? Yeah, it probably wouldn’t work. Maybe she should talk about it with Ursula. She seemed to be experienced, and if she was a couch she had to have been a pilot.

It seemed like as good a plan as any.

“Ok, I need a break,” Amanda said.

“What? We’ve only been at this for like forty minutes,” Hannah instantly said. Amanda got annoyed at how easily she wanted to say she was right and sit back down.

“I know, I just need a break or I’m going to lose it. Can I talk to you, coach?” Amanda turned her seat. Ursula seemed shocked that Amanda had asked to talk with her. Made sense, since Amanda had barely ever talked to her. She nodded.

“Ok, guess I’ll go to the bathroom,” Hannah said, grumbling. She didn’t like it when Amanda did something unexpected that broke her flow. Once she left, Amanda looked at the blue-haired teacher and pointed.

“Should we do this outside?”

Ursula looked at her. “I suppose it depends on how private what you want to say is,” she replied. Amanda considered this, lowering her hand. “I guess we’re doing it here, then. What is it?”

Amanda was about to just tell her, but something kicked inside her. Embarrassment and self consciousness, probably, because she got hot on the cheeks and she suddenly couldn’t meet Ursula’s eyes. It took her a good minute, in which Ursula patiently waited, before she could basically force herself to answer.

“So… Have you ever had a girlfriend, coach?” She asked, not fully ready to dive into what was bothering her.

Ursula’s eyes widened. “I… Yes, one. Why are you asking? Are you hitting on me?” Her tone got a lot more serious with that second question.

Amanda instinctively laughed. “Of course not!” She said, finding the concept funny. Then she saw that Ursula’s expression got a little harsher. “Not that you’re not hot,” she quickly clarified, “but I was just curious.”

Ursula relaxed, sighing. “So, you’re having love problems?”

Amanda was surprised at how sharp Ursula was. Well, maybe not sharp. She had made it pretty obvious. Still, Amanda didn’t expect it to be actually receptive to the obvious intention of her question. “Yes,” she admitted.

“I knew it,” Ursula sighed. She turned and sat down on the floor of the rod. She was cramped when standing, but sitting down wasn’t too uncomfortable. “You like Hannah, don’t you?”

“Do I really make it that obvious?” Amanda suddenly felt terrified at the prospect of others noticing. Particularly Sucy. She wasn’t sure of why, but she _really_ didn’t want that girl to know. Felt like she could use such info to blackmail her.

“Not really,” Ursula said. “But since the other day I’ve noticed you seem to pay very close attention to everything Hannah says, when you didn’t before. I thought maybe after your win you’ve decided you had a better chance of winning if you worked together instead of being constantly bickering,” the explanation made sense. Then she let out a dry laugh. “Yeah, of course not. In any case, it’s not hard to sum two plus two.” Amanda grimaced. Was she really like that? She’d have to be more careful to try and ignore what Hannah said from time to time.

“You said you had a girlfriend, right? Did it ever interfere with your piloting?” Amanda asked.

“Yes,” Ursula answered without even thinking. “When I first realized I liked her suddenly all of my grades went down – which was pretty hard, since I wasn’t a great student in the first place – and I was constantly trying to show off in front of her,” she spoke nonchalantly, but Amanda perceived some hurt in her voice. “The teachers really didn’t like me, back then.”

“And how did you deal with it?” Amanda asked, hopeful.

“I didn’t. She did,” Ursula explained. “She came to me and told me that if I started taking things seriously she would give me a kiss,” she shook her head. “She was always good at reading me. Too good,” she said with bitterness.

Amanda looked up. “Well that doesn’t help me at all,” she said with tiredness. “Hannah’s never going to do that.”

Ursula looked at her. “True, but you can always try to deal with it by yourself. Have you considered telling her?”

“She would reject me in a heartbeat,” Amanda replied, sure of herself. “And it’d be all weird. I’ll confess after Diana recovers so that we don’t have two teenagers in awkward terms with each other instead of just one as the responsible team of winning this race.”

Ursula chuckled. “I came up with a similar reason to not confess when I was your age,” she explained. “You do understand that even if she rejects you your relationship wouldn’t be that different, do you? You can stay friends.”

“Easy for you to say,” Amanda said. “You’ve probably been rejected before. Not me.”

“Oooh,” Ursula said, smiling, “so you’re a real Lady Killer, aren’t you?” she teased.

Amanda blushed. “Hey, I’m just stating the truth,” she said, turning her seat around to not have to look at the coach anymore. Ursula giggled. “Hannah likes guys. That’s just how it is, you know? I have a really good gaydar. I can tell.”

“I won’t say I have a lot of experience with romances,” Ursula said, now in a kinder voice, “but you’re not going to go anywhere with that mindset.”

“So I should just confess?” Amanda asked, unconvinced.

“Maybe not. I don’t want you sad for the race either. But you should find some reason to focus other than just winning. Some kind of reward.”

“It would sure be nice to get a kiss from Hannah,” Amanda said, closing her eyes. But that would also be Hannah’s first kiss. She obviously cared a lot about things like that. “But I can’t really think of anything to motivate me beyond wanting to win.”

“How about asking Hannah on a date?” Ursula suggested. Amanda gave her a flat look. “What? Dates can also work as just friends, you don’t have to confess!”

“Hannah would find it suspicious as hell,” Amanda said. “She still dislikes me, for the most part. If I suddenly suggested such a thing she would definitely think I’ll try to prank her or something.”

Ursula thought for a while. “Was I really that dumb as a teenager too?” She complained, baffled. “Ok, then… How about something like a date that’s not actually a date?”

“I think you’re just complicating things more than I would,” Amanda commented.

“Hey, it’s you who wanted to talk about this,” Ursula reminded her. It was true. Amanda paused, trying to think of what she would want as a reward. Hanging out with her friends was good, but something she could do all the time anyways. In fact, she could do basically anything she wanted outside practice hours. There was literally no incentive for her to win other than wishing for it. Amanda hesitated, wondering if maybe she could use the win as an excuse to confess. Win, and in the moment of high emotions and pride and confidence and whatever, she looked Hannah straight in the eyes and said it, right there and then.

Hannah would probably laugh, roll her eyes at the ‘joke’ or maybe outright slap her. Amanda would then be the laughing stock of the entire universe.

“I think I’m just going to hit my head. Maybe it’ll give me amnesia and I can go back to piloting without getting distracted,” Amanda joked.

“Ok, how about this?” Ursula said. “I’ll help you set up a date that Hannah won’t suspect is actually a date.”

“Barbara already did that,” Amanda said. “And she probably would do it better than you anyways.”

“Oh, so you’re saying we should ask for her help in this?”

“What? No-”

Ursula jumped and moved with agility, faster than Amanda could react, and got out of the Rod. “Hey, wait!” Amanda jumped after her. “You’re supposed to be an adult!”

“Sorry!” Ursula turned with an apologetic smile, “It’s for your own good!”

Amanda saw as the teacher got to the elevators before her. She’d have to wait there, so Amanda would still be able to catch up and – Why was one open and free _now?_ She let out a cry of effort as she dashed, trying to catch up, but the doors closed before she could reach. Ursula had been smiling the whole time.

Amanda started mashing the elevator call button, but she knew it wouldn’t bring back Ursula’s elevator. Why was that old woman so damn fit? One would never guess from looking at her normally.

“Amanda?” Hannah said, turning around the corner. The bathrooms of the hangar were near the elevators, after all. “Where are you going?”

Cursing internally, Amanda looked at Hannah. “It’s… Nothing,” she said, sighing. “Let’s just go back to practice.”

Hannah obviously didn’t buy it, but she shrugged and walked off. Amanda looked up. Well, now she’d be distracted for sure.

 

“I knew it!” Barbara exclaimed as she jumped, striking a victory pose. “I’m just surprised Hannah is being so dense. But, well, she didn’t realize when I liked her either, so…” She paused, looking back at Lotte. “And I didn’t realize when you- Well, in any case, the point is that I was right!”

Ursula smiled at the reaction. She had felt kind of ashamed of asking a teenager for help, but she wasn’t particularly good at these kinds of things. She also felt kind of ashamed of what she had done to Amanda. She hadn’t acted like that in… Well, years. Impulsive and childish, dashing off because she knew Amanda wouldn’t let her do it otherwise. On the other hand, feeling like a teenager again wasn’t too bad.

“So, we need to set up a totally-not-a-date for Hannah and Amanda if Amanda wins?”

Ursula cringed at hearing he idea out loud. It had made a lot more sense in her head. “Yes,” she said.

“I’ll do it even if she doesn’t win, but you don’t need to tell her that,” Barbara said with a smile.

“You sure seem excited about the prospect,” Ursula said, a little surprised by how easy it had been to convince the girl to trick her best friend.

Barbara shrugged. “I think Hannah also likes Amanda. Maybe not in a romantic way, but she’s just acting tsundere for no reason. At this point she needs to admit she at least considers Amanda a friend. A not-date would be a perfect setup for that,” she explained. Ursula found the reason surprisingly logical, despite how absurd the concept was. “And who knows, maybe we’ll have a new lily blooming in the garden.”

“A lily?” Ursula asked, confused.

Lotte chuckled. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. Ursula wondered if it was a reference to Nightfall or something like that. She had always kind of meant to enter the series, but it was just so damn long, and like three new volumes came each year… Yeah, it was probably too late for her.

“Anyways,” Barbara interjected again, “we’ll see it done, coach. Now you should probably go back before Amanda goes crazy.”

Ursula nodded, thanking the couple, and walked away. Now Amanda would have some extra motivation to focus – and who knew, maybe she’d find the courage to confess. Even if she failed, Ursula thought it would be healthier to express her feelings rather than bottling them up.

She smiled grimly at the hypocrisy of her own thinking.

 

_I could do nothing but sit and watch as my two best friends walked away, their auras an indifferent lime green. I tried to call to them, but words didn’t come out._

_My head dropped on top of the desk. I wanted to cry, but I honestly didn’t even have the energy for that. It had been such a taxing couple of days. My best friends not believing me had been the last straw. I remember thinking I was done with everything. I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep forever._

_And then, I felt someone messing with my hair. “Leave me alone,” I said to Marian. I didn’t want her to see me like this. Where had she come from, anyways?_

_“You’ve been alone for some time now,” she said. I looked up. The sun was about to set. Winter really did have short days. How much time had I been asleep? “Come on, let me take you home.”_

_“I don’t want to go home,” I said. “My father is going to kill me.”_

_“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Marian started to scratch the back of my head. It felt good. “Who cares about what anyone else thinks?”_

_“I do,” I admitted. “Why did I hit him? Now everyone hates me,” my voice came off as weak and on the verge of tears. Marian looked at me, her aura a… what, joyous yellow? How could she be so happy? “I don’t know why you believe me.”_

_“Because I know you wouldn’t just try to leave a guy sterile for no reason,” she said. I looked up to meet her deep blue eyes. Then she got a little closer. “Did you really hit him with your crutch tho?”_

_“Yeah,” I admitted. “I was getting tired of him. You’re a bad influence on me,” I tried some humor, but it didn’t come off as I wanted at all. “But everybody believed his side of the story. Well, it makes sense that I’d hate him, but truth is… I just don’t care anymore,” I confessed to her. Sure, Horace had been the love of my life before he dumped me, but… “I think I have other stuff to worry about. More important stuff.”_

_Marian laid her head down next to mine. My heart started to thump in my chest. “Really, now?” she asked. “What kind of stuff?”_

_I could tell that she was flirting. Again. This time, though, I was glad for it. At least one person didn’t seem to care about what I had done. One person only. “My studies,” I started, “my health, my friends…”_

_“Those who ditched you and left you sleeping in an empty classroom for hours?”_

_“Other friends,” I scoffed. She looked at me with inquiry. “Fine, I don’t have many friends. You’re still here, though,” I said with a smile._

Diana paused her reading for a second, taking a sip of water. She could see on the data from the M.M.U. that her heartbeat was slightly faster than normal. And, why wouldn’t it be? She was obviously near the climax of her book. She finished her drinking by popping one of the grapes from her lunch earlier in her mouth and went back to reading.

_“I’m indeed here,” Marian said. She hadn’t taken her hand away from me, and was now softly brushing my neck. It seemed to tingle ever so slightly. It was relaxing. “Though I don’t think I can be your friend at this point.”_

Diana swallowed. This was it.

_I felt a moment of panic as I imagined her turning her back on me too, but by looking into her eyes I realized I was being stupid. “Is this classroom the right place to do this?” I asked, feeling my breath get shallower._

_“Why not? As long as you’re there, any place can be the right place,” she answered, drawing slightly closer. I could see every detail in her face. Her freckles, her asymmetrical eyebrows due to a fail in trimming them, her pink lips as she wet them…_

_“You’re really going all out, today, aren’t you?” I smiled further. “You were at least subtle before.”_

_Suddenly, her hand pulled kindly from behind my head, making it move and allowing Marian to place a kiss on my forehead. “I’m tired of subtlety.”_

_Then she moved her head slightly down, and her next move was clear. She paused, looking at me, as if asking for permission. “Do you like me?” I asked._

_She blushed, starting. “Jeez, do you really need to ask?”_

_“I want to hear it,” I said. I felt like I needed to._

_Marian hesitated, but sighed. “And I was trying to be all cool and shit,” she lamented. “Yeah, of course. I like you, Marianne. I like you a lot.”_

_My heart stopped. Or maybe time had. I already knew it. I had known for a long time. But hearing it directly from her was different. I couldn’t stop as tears starting to stream down to the desk, and I had to get up and rub them off._

_“I like you too,” I said as I started to sob. “I… I’m sorry for crying,” I apologized, covering my face. “I’m just so relieved I-”_

_My sentence was cut as Marian gently put my hands aside and looked me in the eyes. Then, she leaned forward. I did too._

_We kissed. It started as a mere peck, but when she pulled away, I suddenly threw my arms around her neck and brought her back. I had fallen for her long ago, too. I had been wanting to do this for a while. I wanted her, and I showed it by giving her the most intense kiss I could._

Diana had to stop. She was smiling, a lot. She had seen these two characters grow closer to each other for three fourths of this book, and seeing them finally get together was absurdly relieving. She was also slightly flushed. She had expected their first kiss to be in the tree house, but what Marian had said was right. It wasn’t about the place, but about the person.

She looked down to read again, until she heard knocking in the door. Biting her lip in frustration, she put the book in nightstand. “Come in,” she said.

The person to enter the room made her forget her frustrations for not allowing her to read. Akko. She was followed by Hannah and Barbara, too. “Hey!” Akko said, energetic as always.

“My, what a party,” Diana said, surprised that they had all come together. Hannah didn’t really enjoy Akko’s company.

“Rules just dropped, so we all decided to take a break to come tell you about them,” Hannah explained. She looked at Diana and a few lines of worry appeared on her forehead. “Are you fine? You’re kind of red.”

Diana hadn’t even realized it. “Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she said. “I’m just a little hot.”

Hannah pressed her lips, probably wondering if she was telling the truth. Akko didn’t care, though, and moved to sit right next to Diana. “Look,” she said, handing Diana a paper where she had transcribed the rules in her messy writing. “They’re the same for both categories. You have to finish the race in five minutes.”

Diana nodded. The paper indeed read that. Though the wording was a little strange.

_For both categories: Finish the race within the five minutes indicated by the timer. Fail to meet this requirement and you will be disqualified and earn zero points._

“Zero points again, huh?” Diana said, pursing her lips. “I’m not sure if I like how much they’re doing this,” she said. What seemed to be the obsession with disqualifying people? “It seems like a good way to completely break balance and take away tension from a race.”

“Plus, on average, Amanda takes about seven minutes to go around the circuit. This is kind of crazy,” Hannah explained.

“They’ll probably modify it,” Barbara said. “Hopefully they won’t just pull out a completely new track out of their butts or something.”

“I swear to god if we just wasted another three days of training I’m gonna be mad,” Hannah said, expression growing dark. Diana understood the feeling. Preparing mentally for something only for it to be completely different could be really stressful.

Akko didn’t seem at all bothered by this prospect, instead just smiling brightly at Diana, obviously eager to share something. Diana wondered what it could be. With her excitement, it was probably something about the Shiny Rod. Or… Well, she could just ask. “Is there something else, Akko?” Diana asked.

The fire that suddenly appeared in Akko’s eyes after the question made Diana lean back a little. “Yes,” Akko said, big smile on her face. “I’ve been winning _every_ race today!” She said with a tone that implied she was _really_ proud of that. And she actually had good reasons to be, Diana supposed.

Behind her, Hannah rolled her eyes. Diana tried to warn her with a look, but she didn’t want to alert Akko, so she settled for smiling. “That’s impressive,” Diana said with a smile. “You’re getting better, aren’t you?”

“I’ll prove it today,” Akko assured. “I… I think I may have a good chance,” she sounded a little less confident now. Hannah seemed to want to make a remark, but she refrained. Diana silently thanked her for that. “Did you go to the actual racing track for practice?” she made sure to ask.

“Of course,” Akko said. “Though nothing seemed different from the one in the simulations. I read a little about that rock. It’s supposed to be this really strange material that basically ignores gravity but has an amazing mass. It’s pretty crazy. No one knows how the medusas even worked it into a racing track.”

Diana nodded. She already knew that, but she was glad Akko seemed interested.

“I’m also using some of my free time practicing some Cyborg talk. I wonder if I can practice some during the next party the IPR throws or something,” Akko added.

“Ok, ok,” Hannah interrupted, “We all want to tell Diana about our lives, but we need to get back to practice, Akko,” she said exasperated, “Diana, we just came to basically check out your opinion on this. The wording is pretty weird, isn’t it?”

Diana looked at it again. “I thought the same, but I can’t see what kind of trap it could have. Maybe it just came out this weird because it’s supposed to be random – even if I don’t believe that.”

Akko seemed satisfied with the answer. Hannah and Barbara not so much. Modern AIs were good enough to pass the Turing test unless explicitly programmed not to. It seemed silly that one would choose words at random. Still, Diana would try to get that out of her mind.

“Well, guess we’ll have to see,” Hannah sighed. “Do you need anything?” She asked.

Diana shook her head. “I’m fine, thank you,” she said.

“Then we should head back,” Hannah said. “Constanze also said that we could finally see the new Shooting Star,” she spoke with nervousness. “I really hope we don’t die.”

Diana wondered if it was a joke. Didn’t sound like it. When she had heard about the changes to the Shooting Star she had found it really hard not to get angry. What Constanze had done broke so many rules that Diana was surprised they hadn’t been outright disqualified from the race. Maybe Croix was biased because they were humans or something. Though something told her that probably wasn’t the case.

“Constanze has everything under control,” Akko reassured her. “Though I do suppose we should be going. Ursula said we only had twenty minutes,” she said standing.

As they shuffled a little, Barbara approached the bed. She had been watching the exchange with apparent interest, but she hadn’t said much. Well, it made sense. She was probably the one who visited Diana the most. They didn’t talk about a lot, but the almost perpetual supply of fruit Diana had came from her and Lotte, so she usually let Hannah do the talking when both came together.

“So, how do you like Emotions?” She asked in a whisper. Diana’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden question. Barbara was smiling slyly. “Sorry, I just noticed that lately, whenever I come visit you I hear the drawer before entering the room, so I came visit when you were asleep an checked,” she explained.

“Barbara, what are you talking about?” Hannah asked with annoyance. Diana was recovering from the surprise, not knowing how she should feel.

“Nothing, nothing,” Barbara stood, turning and winking to Diana. “I was just asking her something. Come on, let’s go.”

Barbara and Hannah were the first ones to exit the room. Before Akko did, though, Diana cleared her throat. Akko looked back, meeting her eyes. Diana held the stare for a second longer than needed. “Good luck,” she said.

Akko smiled as brightly as the sun. “Thanks!” she said before running out.

Diana noticed her heart had accelerated again, and this time it hadn’t been because of the book.


	66. Chapter 66

Hannah sat patiently. The race would start when some random fish decided to jump over the track, but she was focusing her attention on the daemons. They were in first place this time. That was fine. They had a timer attached to the new Shooting Star that, after a couple test laps and a tank refueling, had proven itself to be perfectly functional. This timer was attached to the windshield, so there was no way it could interfere with anything else on the ship. Constanze had checked anyways to make sure. It was a simple timer that would start when the race did.

This was easily the worst part of every race. The calm before the storm. She wished it could be as simple as the three-two-one from the simulations.

The racing track had been limited. Only three fourths were going to be used for the race. That was perfect. It left at least twenty seconds on average for Amanda to reach the finish line. It might not seem like much, but in racing terms, twenty seconds was an absurdly long amount of time. The sinuous white path was exactly the same as the simulations otherwise. It was big, long, and one couldn’t actually see the entire thing from the starting point. The audience stands this time had been set up in floating platforms around the track, though many spectators were just swimming. There were also a lot of different people – from all races – jumping around and enjoying the almost null gravity of the planet.

Hannah was probably going to join them before getting out of this planet. She wanted to experience what floating like that felt like.

“Hey, Hannah,” Amanda said.

“Focus,” Hannah said.

Amanda sighed, but said nothing more. Hannah felt slightly guilty for snapping at her like that, but the comment had been so sudden that it had caught her off guard. Damn fish, could _one_ please just jump already? She wasn’t an impatient girl but at this rate-

A fish finally showed up, for the Shooting Star shot forward at obvious high speeds. Hannah kept her side guns active for now, though if she saw someone approaching directly from behind she’d activate the front and back ones. The start of the race wasn’t that different from the simulations. Amanda quickly took the first place. The timer made sure to remind them of the five minutes they had to finish the race.

Hannah aimed to the back of the ship. They were being followed by daemons, who were a little busy dealing with the shapeshifter. One of those smokey projectiles managed to hit the Blood Sailor, a sudden burst of smoke attaching to the whole ship and blinding them. In this track blindness was particularly dangerous, so Hannah made sure to keep an eye out for those.

The daemons, however, spun one time with their ship glowing. They got rid of the smoke and retaliated in full force, the space between their knife-like wings shooting a constant stream of Inferno towards the dark arrow. The group of three quickly left behind the others, Amanda making sure to dodge the occasional attack from any of the two pursuers.

Hannah didn’t attack. At the moment the daemons and shapeshifter were engaged with each other, so calling attention to the Shooting Star wouldn’t be the smartest choice. The white stone below them created a strange effect as they moved, the speed creating the impression that the track itself was changing, like waves. It had been kind of nauseating at first, but after practicing for days Hannah had gotten over it.

The shapeshifter’s mobility was something Hannah always found impressive. It moved more like a bird than like a ship. The way it was constantly flying around the daemons while dodging, the acrobatics it displayed in its spins and twists and turns, everything about it was so graceful. The shapeshifter weapons had never been impressive, but they had managed to stay on the top four almost purely on their maneuverability.

It was tense. If Hannah intervened then she could have turned the scales towards whoever she preferred, but who was the lesser of two evils? The aliens with the ship that could rip them apart if they hesitated for a second or the alien that probably saw them as little else than a high bar on an obstacle course? Amanda’s crazy spins and turns didn’t really help, either, but at least she was used to dealing with those.

When the timer hit one minute, the shapeshifters made an unlucky movement and got hit. Hannah knew the little balance had been broken, so her neutrality was over. She attacked.

She aimed carefully, but as always, she had to leave room for the changes in direction and speed. Putting the turret in rapid-fire, she used the side guns to aim at the daemons to not leave them any breathing time.

Then the ship did something Hannah hadn’t expected. It activated a shield.

A square sheet of red Inferno appeared in front of the Blood Sailor. Only then Hannah noticed the slight difference in aspect the ship had: Its nose, before sharp, was now more rounded. Similar to the devices that activated the Shooting Star’s shields. Hannah’s bullets bounced off the shield without causing any harm, and she clenched her jaw. It was way too suspicious for them to have gotten shields at the same time the humans had. And with such a similar design, too. Everyone knew Magic and Inferno were pretty similar in function. Did they steal Constanze’s designs? How? Maybe they had somehow sneaked in the _Dragon_ and studied the Shooting Star while no one watched? No, Constanze had constant surveillance over it. It made no sense. It wasn’t just about how or who, too. When had they done it? It had to be at least a couple days prior to have implemented it into the very next race.

And the implications of this new development didn’t stop there. Daemon energy management was way more efficient than that of humanity. If one didn’t take into account the Shiny Rod, at least. But it was hard to measure with that broom because it appeared to have infinite energy – an idea Hannah didn’t really like, as it would allow it to break all laws of physics and such power on the hands of Akko was a little daunting.

The daemons still didn’t get closer, though. Hannah imagined its shield probably worked similarly to the Shooting Star’s, being stuck in place, which meant that if they got closer Hannah would be able to shoot at them from the side. As one might expect, that wasn’t a move they’d want to make.

Hannah stopped attacking. While they weren’t at a real risk of running out of energy in just five minutes, it would be best not to overdo it either. The shapeshifter was also struggling and trying to attack, but like a hurt bird, its movements had gotten a little erratic and desperate. It managed to hold third position, though.

Hannah didn’t fail to notice that Amanda had been steadily increasing their speed, too. As she grew more comfortable with how the track flowed she could react quicker, not to mention the hours and hours of practice they had.

The white track, the green sea and the light green sky seemed to work in perfect contrast against the blacks and reds of the daemons. Hannah wondered if it was just because of her biases, but she definitely felt like today the daemons were sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Hannah, when I say now, throw something powerful at the daemons,” Amanda suddenly said. Hannah didn’t reply, focused, but she nodded even if Amanda couldn’t see it. Gunmen were usually expected to do exactly as the pilots told them to do, and while at first she had been hesitant to follow all of Amanda’s instructions, she had proven herself to be reliable.

Hannah waited. Some time passed in which something started happening between the appali and the shapeshifter behind the daemons, but she didn’t lose focus. She wasn’t sure what Amanda planned, but-

“Now!” Amanda cried, and Hannah instantly shot lasers at the daemons. Right in that split second, Amanda had done a barrel roll to the side. The green plasma-like stream of energy seemed to take the daemons by surprise, as they quickly tried to block it with the shield and got thrown off their rhythm. Hannah was left stunned as she saw how the sudden move made it so that the shapeshifter and appali almost crashed into the daemons, the three racers becoming a jumbled mess trying not to destroy their ships on impact as Amanda got away and gained advantage on all of them.

That move had been so unexpected that Hannah wondered how the hell Amanda had guessed that would happen. It had depended so much on Hannah aiming right, too. Was it blind trust or a desperate move? But they weren’t desperate, at least not now. They still had two minutes to reach the goal, though they would certainly make in time unless something really unexpected happened.

But it didn’t. At one point the daemons managed to get ahead of the other two and decided to drop their barricade. That gave them a big advantage while putting a lot of pressure on the racers behind them. Maybe they had given up on trying to catch to the Shooting Star, which had at least five seconds of advantage too.

They finished the race with a whooping thirty seconds to spare. Amanda didn’t even celebrate as they stopped, and Hannah was still trying to process what had happened. In one single move Amanda had managed to win. Sure, they had a little advantage even at first, but what they had done to the daemons had set the results in stone. Could Diana do something like that? Would she dare do it? It had been a smart move, and not a reckless one. Even if it had failed, they wouldn’t have lost much in the grand scheme of things. A surprise attack, a sudden lunge that no one expected. Something they hadn’t even done on simulations.

“Ok,” Amanda said, sighing. “We won,” she sounded more relieved than Hannah had expected. Instead of her usual cockiness her tone denoted that she had been unsure if what she had done was going to work. Though, Hannah wasn’t sure why she even sounded nervous. Again, it had been a very low risk move.

In any case, Hannah ran a checkup on the ship’s systems. She’d rather not have another Shooting Star explode so soon. She waited until everything was confirmed fine and sighed. She then looked up and, since she didn’t want to deal with having to crawl through the ground, she manually opened the emergency exit above her and climbed out on top of the ship. Amanda was already there, looking at the giant screen, listening to the deafening roar of the crowds. There had been a seven second difference between first and second place, and a three second difference between second and third. Other than that, only the cyborgs had managed to get zero points, and by just a fraction of a second.

“Another first place, huh?” Hannah said, noticing how unusually quiet Amanda was. Amanda reacted as if she had shouted in her ear or something, because she jumped back as if scared. Hannah was fast enough in her reaction to step forward and help the redhead stay on top of the ship, grabbing her by the arm, but Amanda shook it off as if it burnt.

“Jesus, are you ok?” Hannah asked, frowning. “What am I, a ghost?”

Amanda seemed to snap out of some kind of trance. “Yes. I mean, no.” She shook her head. “I’m just stressed out, my head hurts. I can’t believe I managed to stay in first place for the whole thing. I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest,” she explained. She really looked a little anxious, opening and closing her fists, her eyes flicking all around.

“Well, you seemed to be pretty determined,” Hannah said. “What you did to the daemons was pretty neat.”

“Thank you,” Amanda said. Hannah waited for a reply, and it came. “You did great too,” she complimented. She still looked out of sorts, though.

Hannah considered what could be the problem. Then, she thought about what the difference could be between the previous race and this one, but only one thing seemed relevant enough to make sense. With a little smirk, Hannah moved closer to Amanda. “Is this about your crush?” She asked.

The reaction was as expected. Amanda took a step back, which made her fall on her ass on top of the windshield, and she seemed surprised for a few moments before sighing and standing up. “I don’t have a crush,” she insisted.

“I guess she’s watching,” Hannah continued, ignoring Amanda’s poor attempts at denying the obvious. “Maybe you wanted to impress her and think that having stayed in first place for the whole time will make you look like a badass?”

Amanda hesitated. “Do you think that’s impressive?” She asked. Hannah resisted the urge of pointing out that she wasn’t trying to deny the crush anymore.

“Of course. I’d certainly find it pretty cool if a guy showed off like that just for me,” Hannah imagined Andrew or the masked guy doing something like that. It would be cool indeed.

Amanda didn’t reply, instead looking away. Hannah wondered just who this girl could be. Maybe it wasn’t even within their team. It could have been just a girl she saw at random while walking around. Though, Hannah wondered why she wouldn’t just confess if that was the case. Maybe she actually really liked this girl and didn’t want her to reject her? Sure, Amanda didn’t seem like the type to act so much like… Well, like a teenager, but she had also admitted that she had little experience with actual romance.

“We should get going,” Amanda claimed suddenly. Hannah wanted to protest, but the top of a ship probably wasn’t the best place for having such a talk. Not this one, at least.

She got back to the turret as Amanda piloted around the track to go to the floating platform that had been set up as the human pits. The Shiny Rod wasn’t there yet, and Hannah suspected Akko was probably still training. Hopefully she wouldn’t miss the race in her stupidity.

 

Akko almost forgot about the actual race while training. She realized that she had only five minutes to get there and panicked, only to remember she could teleport. So she did.

The brightness of the sun didn’t really annoy her, as she had been practicing with that setting. Still, it was the afternoon, so the sun would set soon. Probably in another hour or two. The place she had teleported to wasn’t exactly the one she had been aiming for, and that was because the Rod had auto-corrected its course to a few meters to the side. In the spot Akko had wanted to appear, a small crowd gathered. It was behind the place marked as the starting line.

This time, Akko didn’t get a first place. She was in the left line, on second place. As she did so, a medusa suddenly appeared out of the water at the sides of the track, floating in a bubble way smaller than the ones the racers used, and placed a small device on her windshield. The timer, probably. The Noir Rod was right in her face, and as she set into place, she instantly saw something had changed on the black rip-off of the Rod. A couple of little protrusions, maybe bulges, coming out of its sides. Awfully similar to the ones on the side of the Shooting Star 2.0.

Akko paused to think about what that changed. The Shiny Rod hadn’t included that in the latest simulations. Maybe there was a way of hiding from it? Akko recalled the first time the Noir Rod had been simulated. It had glitched a little, as if the Shiny Rod couldn’t fully process it, but from then on it hadn’t caused many more problems.

This meant that attacking them would be significantly harder, if it worked like the Shooting Star’s. had they stolen that too? Akko had always found it weird that the Noir Rod didn’t have any shields despite the Shiny Rod having such a handy one. Though, that one didn’t seem to be as good as the Shiny Rod. If it just encapsulated the whole ship it would be a tremendous waste of energy. _But it could take them out of a pinch,_ Akko reasoned. She hadn’t planned for this, but that was fine. It wouldn’t change the fact that she was going to win. She’d have to see how Amanda’s race went later, for now she was content with seeing that she had come up in first.

What was this race’s starting method, again? Akko tried to recall.

She didn’t even have time to do it as a fish jumped out of the water. Her instincts kicked in and she accelerated, thankful that that _had_ been the way after all. If not, it would have been pretty embarrassing, not to mention she could have been disqualified for a false start.

Akko looked ahead and tried to focus her current efforts in dodging. The timer was a countdown from five minutes to zero. However, as she flew, Akko noticed something strange: The daemons weren’t going all out. They fell a little bit behind, and Akko went past them with such easiness that she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she was being played in some way. She kept a special eye out for them, but she soon had to focus on more pressing threats, such as the medusa and shapeshifter that were trying to take her out. Akko managed to dodge some of the projectiles – she mainly focused on dodging the thunderbolts coming out of the medusa’s bubble – but Jasminka had to take care of a lot of them too, her focus on the shapeshifter. It was almost like a dance, neither of the three races managing to keep first place for long before the other two barraged it with attacks forcing them to slow down.

As Akko flew, she changed the parameter of height for the floating. She had set it at three, but she had the feeling a little more height might have been useful, so she went up to four. The medusa was such a giant thing, she didn’t want it to take advantage of its high ground. Or high air. Or whatever.

At one point, Jasminka stopped attacking and just threw a shield around the Shiny Rod. Right in that moment, a missile hit the green layer of protection. Akko noticed the appali were right behind the fighting trio. Could she use them to her advantage? Maybe, but they seemed to be out for blood, attacking without pause to all three racers. They were smart, too, using weapons that didn’t risk hitting on their engines or cockpits. Those missiles of theirs were rather small, the size of maybe a water bottle, and they had apparently a ton of them. For such small things they sure created big ass explosions.

Now with four people all fighting for first place, Akko basically entered The Zone. She stopped thinking about what to do, she just did it, because if she hesitated now she _would_ lose. She made Jasminka drop the shield. She could see how the shapeshifter went under the medusa to lead a missile into the water, missile that instantly went off, taking a large chunk of water out of the bubble. She had to barrel roll to the left to avoid another missile, and in that second, Jasminka shot it from behind, making it go off. Akko flew through the smoke and fire and came out of it almost flying into the shapeshifter.

Jasminka then proceeded to attack the appali. Akko had noticed the lack of attacks from both medusa and shapeshifter. The appali had broken into the little party they had going, so the three fighting for first place had paused to take a breather.

And retaliate.

The humans weren’t the only ones attacking the appali anymore. Their cone ship was suddenly being blasted with three different kinds of attacks, and even if they tried to keep up their own attacks, it was soon obvious that the only viable way of not outright getting destroyed was to fall back.

There was a couple seconds where the three leads seemed to be taking a breather. They kept their positions and didn’t make any crazy moves for that period of time. Only then Akko noticed the opening that had appeared between both ships, and how they were on the long straight of the track, and pressed nitro.

The Shiny Rod became a blur of white and green as people swimming on the vicinity of the track were suddenly splashed with water created by the wind coming out of Akko’s supersonic speed. People who attended races usually wore earplugs, so she trusted she hadn’t blown anyone’s eardrums off.

She had gained t least a full second on the shapeshifter and medusa with her stunt. She was in first place. With only two minutes to go, she was sure she would make it to the end in time. But of course, neither the shapeshifter nor the medusa had intentions of making her life easy. She checked her magic output status. Could she last two full minutes with her shields on? No, for now she’d have to hope her massive engine was enough of a protection and carry on.

She didn’t allow herself to get distracted. Sure, the seemingly shifting white path was cool, and the white sun on her back made the sea sparkle beautifully, almost like a sky underneath her, but she didn’t look at those things.

Some of the dark shapeshifter smoky missile things were shot down by Jasminka, and for now the medusa couldn’t really attack Akko without risking hitting her engine. Akko knew that they would probably attack in full strength during the next curve, so as she took it, she was glad the shields went up to protect the broom. Everything slowly fell into place in her head, and the flow of the race seemed to be going in her favor.

But she didn’t drop her guard. No. First place. She was in first place, even if her two pursuers were getting closer. Attacks came and went, Akko trying to keep them away from herself, but she couldn’t really attack directly behind her. Jasminka did a good job nonetheless.

One minute remained and Akko started to feel her heart thump. _Don’t panic, don’t get excited. That’s what they want. You’re going to make a mistake if you keep this up,_ she thought. Trying to keep her now trembling fingers under control, she kept staring forward and trying her darn best not to be overcome with fear of messing up.

The seconds seemed to stretch into infinity. One minute became an impossibly long amount of time, with Akko feeling like every time she eyed the timer, no matter how much she waited, only mere milliseconds had passed.

She started getting shot more often. Somehow, the shapeshifter had caught up. She was actually glad for having something to do as she dodged the black projectiles.

And she finally saw the finish line. Almost automatically she pressed nitro. She made sure not to touch water, she wasn’t going to get disqualified now.

She crossed the finish line in first place, and the Shiny Rod came to a halt a few hundred meters after. Akko, impatient, teleported back to the finish line. She had crossed it with twenty-two seconds to spare. She had been first. She smiled as she looked at the giant screen, the twenty next to her name-

Zero.

Shapeshifter? Zero.

Medusa? Zero.

Akko frowned. Was that a mistake? Maybe it hadn’t quite updated yet. She waited. But it only updated when the daemons crossed the finish line.

With a twenty. Only then Akko noticed that the timer hadn’t stopped at zero. In fact, it was now counting up. She opened the windshield, taking out the device and looking at it as if it wasn’t real. Akko then realized what the rules said. _Within the five minutes marked by the timer,_ she recalled. The numbers before had been slightly darker than they were now. They…

They hadn’t been marked.

Akko dropped the timer. No, it had to be a mistake. A bad joke. A horrible joke. Yet, even as she thought that, the human commentator was complaining about the trick. She heard booing from the spectators. Everything seemed to spin around. Akko could barely understand what was going on anymore. A dream. This had to be a dream.

However, before she could check that out, she felt the strength leave her legs. She collapsed, everything going to black.

 

Amanda saw the end of the race outraged. “That was dirty!” she joined in the cries of dissatisfaction from not only humans, but a bunch of other aliens who thought it had been an unfair trickery too. She ignored how the roaring crowd made her headache give off pulses of pain. Hannah, to her side, was also complaining loudly to Barbara next to her. Everything seemed to be wrong. Everything _was_ wrong. What kind of bullshit was this? This had been absolutely outrageous.

However, out of them all, the one who seemed the angriest was Ursula. She remained silent, but Amanda could almost see the vapor coming out of her ears. Akko had done so well. Akko had done perfectly, marvelously. She had finally won a race fair and square.

And then, they snatched that victory from her. With such a stupid trick.

Then, in front of everyone, Akko collapsed, the big screen showing clearly how she slipped from the side of the Shiny Rod. If not for the low gravity, the fall might have caused some damage. As it was, she only fell slowly, her head slowly touching the ground, promptly followed by her body.

“The shock was too much,” Sucy was the first one to react. “Come on, let’s go,” she moved quicker than Amanda could have expected from her. She looked genuinely worried. She always treated Akko like a nuisance, but when the girl actually needed it, Sucy could be kind. “I wonder if I can poison the IPR committee with m poisons…” Sucy mumbled as she walked. Well, kind in her own way.

Amanda didn’t pay much mind to her comments, though. She followed Sucy down the stands and soon everyone was behind them.

“I can’t tell if the daemons just got real lucky or if they could tell what was going to happen,” Hannah was commenting behind her. Amanda thought she knew the answer to that. They had known. That’s why they had fallen behind on purpose. They had managed to stay in a perfect place to qualify and be first.

To reach the ground, Almost everyone just jumped out of the stands and slowly fell towards the Shiny Rod. Jasminka was already coming out of it, looking worried. The first one to land was Sucy. Amanda had kind of overdone it thanks to a sudden spike of pain and was definitely going to fall in the water at the other side of the track. But in the meantime, she saw as everyone slowly fell relatively close to the white broom. At landing, Lotte bumped the ship, which caused the alarms to go off and it disappeared in an instant.

After swimming back towards where everyone was gathering, Amanda saw Sucy quickly doing a checkup on Akko while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. “She’s probably just in shock,” Sucy said. “Everything is fine,” her voice sounded way angrier than one might expect from someone who had just confirmed their friend was fine.

The racers had already finished crossing the finish line, so they were no longer at risk of getting hit by them. Amanda was pacing angrily, unable to stay still and needing a release for her anger. She could see the figure of Croix floating on top of one of her roombas not far away. She wanted to punch her and everyone involved in the event, but attacking the head of the race wouldn’t really help anyone right now. Save for Amanda and her frustrations, in any case.

Not long passed until the ambulance arrived. They gave basically the same diagnosis as Sucy, so everyone relaxed. But, since it looked like she wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon, they took her away to the _Dragon_ to keep tabs on her, telling everyone not to worry and that they’d be told when the girl woke up. Amanda asked for an aspirin. She was given one, but no water to gulp it down with. She swallowed it dry, it wasn’t that hard anyways.

“Let’s go back,” Ursula was the first one to speak after the ambulance carried Akko away. “We’re leaving in about eight hours. Just… Take a break from all the training and whatever,” she sounded calm, but it was a forced calmness, the fragile kind that would break as soon as someone gave her some shit.

No one argued against her.

Finally, as her headache went down, Amanda let everything sink in. From the moment Ursula had told her that she had asked Barbara to set up a date between her and Hannah, everything had been… Fuzzy. Amanda had believed it wouldn’t be much of a motivation, at first, but then she started thinking of different scenarios. Watching a movie together, going out to eat something, even shopping would’ve been fine. Amanda already spent a lot of time with Hannah, but most of it wasn’t really personal. They spoke through communicators and there usually was someone else around.

A date would be a good chance, too. Maybe she’d get a good feeling of Hannah’s sentiments too. She held next to no hope, but if that last piece of hope was squashed and thrown in the garbage then she’d be able to move on as well as if she confessed and got rejected, maybe even more.

She had been really happy for the hour or so between the two races. She had cautiously avoided looking at or speaking with Hannah, but she really hoped Barbara would make the date happen somehow.

Then Akko had won, a second of ecstasy in which humans had all cheered their lungs off, only for it to be replaced with cries of outrage against the trap that had been set up. Even as they walked through the track now, Amanda could see how humans acted irritated and had loud chats about how unfair everything had been. On the leaderboard Humans were still first – but only by a single point. Sixty-eight to sixty-seven from the Daemons. Right after came the Appali, with an eleven-points difference of fifty-six. Then the Shapeshifters, Armor, Octopus, Plants, Medusas, Cyborgs and Reptilians. The Medusas being so low was really strange, though with the random rules and all these zero-point competitions, it made some semblance of sense.

The trip back to the _Dragon_ was long and tedious. Walking in such low gravity was annoying at best, more like constantly hopping, and then they had to wait for specialized brooms to come pick them up and carry them back to the main ship, though at least they got priority thanks to being Earth’s official team. Poor normal passengers would probably have to wait long to go back. Three, maybe four hours. At least most of them wore masks, so it wouldn’t be too dangerous.

People even tried to run on water. Amanda had seen it been tried a bunch of time, and while some got pretty far, no one could keep it up for too long. The waves, while not very perceptible, existed, and the shift of the water ended up causing missteps and eventually everyone fell to the water. Amanda wasn’t too ashamed of checking out every girl in a bikini that moved around. She wondered how would Hannah look on a bikini. Not much different from how she looked now wearing that g-suit, probably.

When they finally got back to the main ship, everyone got to do the stuff they needed. Constanze had obviously come back an hour ago to keep an eye on the Shooting Star. Jasminka, who was sad for what had happened – and making Jasminka sad was a crime in itself – said she was going to sleep. Going to sleep without eating? Yeah, she was definitely affected.

Lotte and Barbara, on the other hand, looked at Amanda with some doubt. They probably wondered how much time was ok to let pass before setting up the date, to let the bad mood from what had happened blow off.

Sucy joined them in going to the rooms. Ursula had to report to her superiors, and Amanda pitied whoever would be the one to break the careful balance of the coach’s current emotions. Hannah stated that she wanted to go see Diana, so that left Amanda alone.

She would have liked to maybe get inside the Shiny Rod and simulate a race for a while. Just to blow some steam and get her mind off everything. But who the fuck knew where that broom had gone now? One would think it had grown accustomed to at least Akko’s close friends, but it didn’t look like it.

Maybe Amanda would go to sleep too. She was tired, though not as much physically as mentally.

Some good dreams might have been exactly what she needed.


	67. Chapter 67

Diana should have seen it coming. Not only that, she should have deduced it from the timer. Someone should have realized what was going on. Yet she had barely given the timer in reverse any thought. An hour had passed between races, Diana had barely paid any mind to the difference. And then Akko had just collapsed.

When Diana had been about to punch the screen that was on top of her bed, Greta had showed up. Diana kept her emotions in check, but Greta quickly deduced what was going on from the M.M.U. She turned to Diana, cheeky smile on her face. “Your friend is being held not far from here. Wanna visit her?”

Diana was a little surprised. “I’ve already taken my two hours of walking today-”

“Yes, yes, whatever. This damn thing has already finished giving you the treatment you needed for now. Grab those crutches and follow me,” the old lady said. Diana hadn’t even been given the choice, in the end. Well, not that it would have been different anyways.

She was thankful to Greta. She was probably breaking protocol with this, but Diana had better things to worry about right now that breaking a rule or two.

Akko was in a room exactly like Diana’s, grey, metallic and uninspired, though hers looked more spacious since she didn’t have an medical unit or other stuff Diana’s room had. The unconscious girl laid on the bed with a peaceful look. Diana expected some kind of emotion in her face, but people didn’t usually have much of that while unconscious.

“Where are the others?” Diana asked, wondering why no one else was here. She would have expected at least Lotte.

“They were told by the ambulance not to bother her until she woke up,” Greta explained. “I let you in because I trust you won’t make too much of a ruckus.”

“Thank you,” Diana said. Greta dismissed the thanks with a grumble and walked out of the room.

Diana wasn’t sure of what to do now. With Akko in the state she was, Diana didn’t have many options. It was still relieving to see she was ok. Diana moved closer to the head of the bed. She hesitated for a while before deciding to sit down. She tried to do it carefully, but she wasn’t very subtle.

Once down, she turned to look at Akko once more. She still had the hint of bags under her eyes. Diana wondered if she was just seeing things or if her muscles were a little more toned. It hadn’t been long since they’d started their almost daily workouts, but Akko had always shown a relatively good body anyways.

She examined Akko up and down. While she expected to feel down or sad, given the recent loss, she found that she instead felt… Fine. More than fine. Diana wouldn’t be able to describe it, but strangely enough, she felt not a single bit of disappointment.

When she looked at Akko’s face again, she almost jumped in surprise. The girl was staring at Diana with wide, unblinking eyes.

“H-hello,” Diana said, wondering if she was even awake.

Akko blinked. “Oh, it wasn’t a hallucination then,” she commented nonchalantly.

Diana felt a smile appear on her face. “I see you’re feeling better,” she said, looking the girl and making sure she wasn’t sleep-talking or something.

Akko had tears in her eyes. Diana was taken aback. “Akko?” She asked in a worried voice. “Does anything hurt? Why are you crying?” She frowned. Had the nurses missed anything? Akko shouldn’t have suffered damage, but-

Shaking her head, Akko tried to rub her eyes with the heels of her hands. “I finally won one race,” she said. Her hands stopped moving, but they stayed covering her face. “And it didn’t count because of some stupid rule that I couldn’t figure out,” she said in a strained voice.

Diana pressed her lips, unsure of what to do. “Akko, you-”

“And then I just fainted,” she said with a sad chuckle, interrupting Diana. Diana, on her part, was thinking really hard of what to say to her. Trying to say she did her best would maybe rub salt in the wound. Saying that no one figured out the trick wouldn’t help anyways. There had to be something. She didn’t want to see Akko sad. But, on the other hand, she had just been robbed of her victory. It was natural to feel like that.

However, when Akko finally revealed her face, even if her eyes were still somewhat humid, she no longer looked troubled. “But I won,” she concluded. “And I won’t be caught in the same trap two times,” her voice was fine, too. She looked at Diana with a confident look. “That means next race I _will_ win.”

Diana was left speechless. Well, that was a short-lived depression.

Akko seemed to be waiting for her to say something. Curiously enough, Diana found what she wanted to say. “You were amazing,” she said. “Even if you didn’t earn points, I think everyone will believe you won,” she tried to give Akko a warm smile. She wasn’t sure of how those worked, so she just went with what felt right. “You made everyone proud.”

 _Including me,_ she thought. Maybe that was what she was feeling. Pride.

Akko beamed. “Thank you,” she said. Then she tried to sit up, but Diana was quick to put a hand on her shoulder a push her back down.

“Don’t,” Diana said. “Call a nurse and have them allow you to get out.”

“But I feel fine,” Akko complained. Then she looked at the clock on her wrist. “And look, I should be training now.”

Diana shook her head. “Take a free day. You just collapsed. It must have been from the stress, so just relax,” she was very aware of the fact that her hand was still on Akko’s shoulder, despite Akko not really fighting to stand anymore. She pushed down the desire to…

 _‘I suddenly felt a hand softly brushing my hand. No words came out of me as I looked away, faking ignorance as Marian gently intertwining her fingers with mine,’_ a line from Emotions popped in Diana’s mind. She let go of Akko’s shoulder, suddenly feeling unnaturally hot in the cheeks.

“I dunno,” Akko said. “Want to see if the Shiny Rod has updated the designs for the Blood Sailor and Noir Rod or not,” she explained. “And I’d rather not be cooped up in here.”

Diana sighed. “Just call a nurse and they’ll probably let you go. Don’t overwork yourself, though,” she said. Akko pressed the button to call, and not long after a nurse showed up with a face denoting that she hadn’t expected Akko to wake up so soon. She did a quick checkup and advised Akko to take a day off – basically the same Diana had done.

Akko stood, helping Diana to stand too, and accompanied Diana to her room.

“So,” Akko said as Diana laid down. She looked a little insecure, and Diana wondered if it was because of her clothes. Diana had been walking with her patient’s attire. She had grown used to it. “You think I did good?” Akko asked instead.

“Of course you did,” Diana reassured. “You won, Akko. Points or not. You managed to beat both medusa and shapeshifter fair and square, and they’re two of the best regarded racers in the universe,” she explained with a smile.

Akko gave her a nervous smile. “I guess I did, huh?” She said. “Though, I wonder if the daemons figured out what the rules had been or if they were just lucky.”

Diana thought about it for a second. “I guess they probably knew. If they didn’t they would have done their everything to beat the five minutes. I should have found their seemingly relaxed pacing strange.” Diana wished she could go back in time and warn Akko, but dwelling in the past wouldn’t be healthy.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Akko sighed. “Well, whatever, I need to watch Amanda’s race too, so I’m going to take my leave.”

“I’m glad that you’re fine, Akko,” Diana said before the girl walked away.

“Thanks a lot, Diana,” Akko smiled at her again and Diana’s heart skipped a beat. She had gotten cheerful rather quickly, hadn’t she? Diana really believed Akko could win the next race. But, then again, the next race would be at Earth. The home-race curse seemed to be a constant of the IPR. Diana hoped she’d be in flying conditions for that race, to be the one to break such curse, but they’d remove her cast today at best, and she’d still have a couple days of recovery and rehabilitation after that. It wouldn’t be as bad as if she’d had to recover naturally, but even with all of that maybe Ursula would still choose to use Amanda one third and final time. The redhead was definitely up to the task.

Whatever happened, Diana hoped humans could keep their lead. There was one point of difference between them and the daemons. They had been in first place for three races straight now. It wasn’t a new record or anything – no, that record was held by Chariot. Or, well, by the previous earth team. It was strange, how everyone seemed to forget the existence of the Second Category pilots of that generation. Guess it wasn’t that big of a surprise they usually bashed Chariot in interviews and stuff. She had certainly stolen their spotlight.

How did Chariot react when she saw her ship being used by someone else? Diana wondered about it, and while she did, she let the tiredness she felt for having been awake so long take her over.

Sleeping sounded good.

 

Amanda stepped into the infirmary holding her head, having been unable to sleep. It wasn’t the one where Diana or Akko were, it was the one closer to their new rooms. She would have been excited to having gotten a new, bigger room if not because of the headache she had. The aspirin she’d downed two hours or so ago, had only helped for a while. It was worse than the one she’d have the previous week.

Only then she realized, this infirmary was probably the same one she’d been carried to by Lotte so long ago. This headache didn’t really compare to that one, or at least she didn’t think it did, but she wanted to get rid of it anyways.

“How may I help you?” A nurse asked. It was a guy with the body of a wrestler. Amanda got over the shock of seeing the dude and pointed at her temple.

“My head is killing me,” she said. “been for a while. I’ve already had an aspirin, but it’s not helping anymore.”

The guy nodded, putting on a thoughtful look. “When did it start?” He asked.

“I dunno, during the race, probably?” She guessed. It had been there when she exited the Shooting Star after winning. “It’s not clear.”

The guy nodded. “It might be due to stress or high pressure. You don’t usually have blood pressure problems, right?” he asked, taking out a small bracelet.

Amanda shook her head. The nurse put the bracelet up Amanda’s arm, almost next to the shoulder, and pressed a button on it. He waited for a few seconds. Then he frowned, taking the bracelet off. “Have you eaten a lot of salt recently?”

“Uhm… no,” Amanda wondered what could be wrong.

“You have an abnormally high blood pressure, as I guessed, but…” he shook his head. “Please, lay down,” he pointed at the small bed. Amanda felt like she knew what was going on with her. She slowly took out the small note the nurse had given her weeks ago and handed it to the guy. He read it, cocking his head, but nodded, and went to the back of the room to fetch the M.M.U.

Amanda let the guy connect her to it and patiently waited until the checkup was done. When the guy frowned again she guessed what he was going to say. “You’ve got a really small grade of Magic Poisoning,” he explained. “Have you been in contact with magical sources recently?”

“No,” Amanda replied. She hadn’t, as far as she was aware.

The nurse didn’t speak for a while, puzzled. “It’s strange,” he said. “It’s unlikely this is a remnant of that poisoning back then,” he was still touching things on the machine. Amanda let him work until he stepped away from it. “Ok, I’ve removed what little magic you had in your system. Now,” he turned around and took some pills out of a drawer, “drink this and go sleep. And this,” he wrote something on a small card. A digital card, not unlike a keycard. Something used nowadays for authentication, particularly on fields such as medicine, “is an order for regular checkups. If you feel _any_ kind of bother in your body, go to whatever infirmary you happen to be closest and have them make sure it’s not magic poisoning, ok?”

Amanda gulped the pill down and nodded, taking the card.

She then said goodbye to the guy, exiting the place and taking a deep breath. Magic poisoning again? It was too much of a coincidence, wasn’t it? She didn’t have any kind of proof, but it wasn’t too crazy to think that it had to be something related to the Shiny Rod.

Well, she had nothing better to do, so she’d go check it out. Sleep could wait. Not that she expected to get any kind of answer, but maybe she’d be able to figure it out on her own. Maybe the rod was leaking somewhere? It was hard to imagine, since the ship repaired itself, but-

Suddenly, her attention was snapped away by her wand. She had gotten a message. From Barbara? She hesitated before opening it. What could it be?

 _‘Go get your swimsuit,”_ it read.

What?

 

“You sure you don’t wanna come?” Hannah asked with some disappointment. Barbara shook her head, sitting on the desk and reading something. A book on… Cooking? What was she planning? Well, whatever. “You’re not going to get another chance like this one, you know?” Hannah insisted.

“Hannah, I already swam with Lotte yesterday,” Barbara said, not looking back.

“Oh,” Hannah flushed. Yeah, it made sense. “Well, I’m going anyways,” Hannah grabbed her towel.

“Have fun,” Barbara waved. Hannah sighed and walked off. She felt kind lame for doing this all alone, but what else was she supposed to do? She liked swimming, and wanted to see how different it could be on this planet. She had heard it was like swimming in oil – though she suspected that wasn’t exactly true, since swimming in oil was a no-no.

She walked through the seemingly empty corridors of the _Dragon_ still kinda grumpy about Barbara ditching her. But, well, everyone was in a foul mood because of what had been done to Akko. Hannah wasn’t any different, she wanted to punch someone in the face, but the second best thing she could do was at least have some fun.

When she came out of the ship, she put on her mask. The night was bright. There were two moons on Poseidon. One was relatively big, while the other was half of that. Together they made it so that the night was perfectly visible without the need of a lantern or extra sources of light. The sea reflected the lights of both moons and the countless stars, it was quite beautiful. It was a good romantic setting. She imagined sitting there with Andrew, or maybe the masked guy. It would’ve been great… Since when had the masked guy reached the same level of importance in her head as Andrew?

Hannah was surprised by the lack of people outside, too. There were a couple families here and there, but she had expected more of a crowd. She walked towards the most empty place she could find – to the right of the door she had used. There was no one in the vicinity, so she could at least feel like she was alone. The laughs of the children in the distance were kind of a bother, but she couldn’t do anything about those. Once putting her things on the nearest bench, she approached the edge of the platform and looked down. For a second she was stunned by what she saw: The underwater world was very luminous. Fish and plants glowing in all colors, dancing to the currents. It was hypnotic, and she wished she could swim to the bottom of the ocean and see the spectacle from up close.

Well, she couldn’t swim to the bottom, but she could at least dive.

She touched the water with the tip of her finger. It was cool, but not annoyingly so. Then, taking a deep breath, she cannonballed into the sea.

She instantly felt strange. The water did feel more oily. She swam to the surface, only to feel how different it could be. She felt as if she should move faster, but also noticed it was harder to swim in general. Not by a lot, but… well, it felt as if she’d dived wearing light clothing instead of just a swimsuit, if she had to compare it to something. Not I’m-going-to-drown levels of hard, but slightly uncomfortable.

She spent a while swimming on the water. She quickly grew used to it, realizing it probably didn’t matter it was slightly harder to swim through in Earth’s gravity, since this planet had so little of it. Hannah could see the slight disturbance in the water in the place where the magical field ended. It was about twenty five meters away from the platform. She wondered how it would feel to swim outside of it. It didn’t look like any crazy animals were around, and she just wanted to have a test. Maybe she should-

“Ursula’s going to be mad at you if you try that,” a voice from behind made her turn. Amanda stood there. She wore a black bikini, which kind of contrasted with Hannah’s white one.

“What are you doing here?” Hannah asked. She wasn’t sure of why she was being hostile. Probably out of habit.

Amanda didn’t answer and went to put her own towel next to Hannah’s. She hadn’t brought any clothing to cover herself up, though Hannah didn’t find it too weird. She had walked around on her underwear alone before. When she came back, she dived head-first into the ocean. A few seconds later she came back out. “Shit, this water feels weird,” she commented.

“I know,” Hannah said. She had one hand on the platform to stop having to make too much of an effort. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”

Amanda hesitated. “I wanted to swim,” she said.

Hannah rolled her eyes. She didn’t believe it. “And you just happen o come out at the same time as me? Come on,” she said. The moonlight was more than enough to see Amanda’s troubled face as she thought of an answer. Her hair, now down, reached down a little past her shoulders. Hannah wondered if she did something to it so that it stayed like it usually did when dry. Such a wild style didn’t really seem naturally possible.

“Today was probably the last race I’ll be flying in, huh?” Amanda changed topics wildly.

“What?” Hannah wondered if Amanda was high or something.

“Diana will probably be able to walk again in three or four days,” Amanda explained. “Which means she’ll have time to get in the groove before the next race. She’ll probably be walking before we land on the next planet or right after at most,” she put her back against the wooden platform, stretching her arms and looking up. “Guess we’ll probably practice for a few days but it feels kind of weird.”

Hannah sighed. “Getting all sad now?” She said. “I, for one, look forward to being able to aim carefully and not having to deal with sudden bursts of movement without warnings.”

Amanda’s expression didn’t change. Instead, she started tapping her fingers against the wood to an unheard rhythm. Hannah had expected some comeback, but none came. Maybe she had actually hurt Amanda’s feelings. She wondered why she found the idea so bad, though.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Hannah ended up asking. “You’ve been kind of weird since the race.”

“I’ve probably been kind of weird for a couple days now,” Amanda said with a sigh. “Don’t worry about it, I’m just going through some edgy teenage bullshit. I’ll get over it.”

“Is this related to your crush?” Hannah deduced. Amanda grimaced at the mention of that, but before she could answer, Hannah continued. “Come on, it’s not a big deal. Everyone has crushes, you don’t have to deny it or be embarrassed.”

Amanda bit her lip for a moment before replying. “It’s not as simple as that.”

“It never is,” Hannah said. “But talking about it with someone can always help, you know?”

“I’ve talked about it with someone,” Amanda said. Hannah was surprised by the revelation, though she supposed it made sense for it to not have been her. “It didn’t really help much… In fact, it probably only made it worse.”

“Why?” Hannah raised an eyebrow.

“Everyone just tells me to confess. I get it, normally it’d be the quickest and easiest way to deal with it, but I don’t want to get my relationship with her into a muddier state than it already is,” Amanda explained.

Hannah cocked her head. “You don’t have a good relationship with your crush?” She asked, confused. If that wasn’t the case, then why did she even like her?

“It’s… Complicated,” Amanda closed her eyes. She seemed almost afraid. “I don’t think she likes me much,” she sounded insecure. That was weird.

Hannah was trying to figure out who this girl could be. “And why do you think that?” She asked in hopes of getting a clearer picture.

Amanda mumbled something unintelligible before answering. “Well, she doesn’t seem to be particularly glad when I’m around, and she often snaps at me or just acts as if I wasn’t pleasant to be around.”

That sounded oddly familiar, though Hannah could imagine that a lot of people would have that general attitude towards Amanda. Well, that definitely ruled out Akko and most of their friends from the list. Could it be Diana, then? Not likely, Diana rarely snapped at anyone. Sucy? It fit the description, but she acted that way towards anyone. And Hannah couldn’t imagine anyone falling in love with Sucy, as cruel as that could sound. Then it was probably someone outside their group. Amanda wouldn’t have much time to socialize with other passengers, but it wasn’t impossible or anything.

“Well, maybe she just hasn’t seen your best side,” Hannah suggested. “Have you spoken a lot with her?”

Amanda laughed out of nowhere. “Probably more than she wanted,” she said.

“And have you let her see how you are?”

“I think so,” Amanda said. “Though I don’t know what you mean. I’m always the same.”

Hannah couldn’t really argue with that. “Then… Well, maybe you’re just not meant to be, you know?” she said. “Sometimes it’ll be like that, and that’s ok.”

Amanda nodded. “Well, at least someone seems to get it,” she had a grim smile, as if she’d just said something incredibly ironic.

“But,” Hannah continued, “you should confess. If you know she’s going to reject you at least you can live without the regret of never attempting it.”

Amanda looked at her with a tired look. “Like how you confessed to Andrew?” She asked.

“I… I don’t think our crushes are on the same level,” Hannah said, expression twisted. “Though, I suppose I should,” she admitted. “Point is, worst case scenario, you stop seeing this girl. At best you may even start dating. What do you have to lose?”

“I don’t think I can stop seeing her, but that’s another matter,” Amanda sighed. Then, for the first time in their conversation, her expression changed to a more relaxed one.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re going to see each other for the duration of the race whether we like it or not – and we go to school together,” she explained. So it _was_ someone from their circle of friends.

“Ok, that’s it,” Hannah punched the water, splashing some on her face. “Seriously, just tell me who it is, I promise I won’t tell her, stop teasing me like that,” she complained. The suspense was starting to really annoy her. How hard could it be to just tell her?

Amanda took a few seconds. “Maybe you’re right,” she said. “Maybe I should just confess and get it over with.”

“Yes,” Hannah said annoyed. “But please tell me, don’t be an ass. I know we aren’t exactly friends but come the fuck on I’ve been dying to know.”

“It’s funny,” Amanda said. “How people who are the subjects of a crush usually don’t realize it, right? They don’t tend to think of themselves as an option.” She smiled. She seemed to find it funny indeed.

Hannah would’ve too if she hadn’t been angry. “Ok, fine, don’t tell me, see if I care,” she said, letting out a ‘hmpf.’ She would have crossed her arms if she wasn’t using them to support herself in the wooden platform.

Amanda then rolled her eyes, looking at her. “Seriously, just how dense can you be?” She asked, slight annoyance to her tone too.

“What?” Hannah asked, too focused on her own pouting to really think about what Amanda had meant.

Amanda groaned. “Fucking hell you’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” She let go of her right arm to fully turn and look at Hannah in the eyes. “It’s you. I’ve been making it obvious this entire conversation, you moron. I haven’t even been subtle. I _like_ you,” she said with a serious tone.

Hannah’s first instinct was to freeze. Her second instinct was to laugh, though it wasn’t a real laugh. More of a nervous one. “Excuse me?” She asked, narrowing her eyes and smiling. “Is this some kind of prank?” Her voice denoted how she didn’t believe Amanda.

“If I wanted to prank you I have tens of thousands of ways. I just fucking like you,” she said.

Hannah froze again. Amanda was… serious. Her green eyes stared firmly into Hannah’s. Beautiful green eyes, though now a little hidden by a frown. “Why?” was all she could ask, wondering if she was hallucinating.

Amanda threw her hands up in the air. “Fucking hell if _I_ know,” she said angrily. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for a while now,” she dropped underwater for a few seconds before coming out and shaking her head like a dog, sprinkling water on Hannah. “But it could be a bunch of stuff. You’re pretty, you’re pretty smart, you’re fun to talk and mess with, I dunno,” she shrugged. “Don’t give me that look, I was confused too.”

“B-but,” Hannah stumbled over her words, “we… Well, we _don’t_ like each other,” she remarked. “We’re not even on friendly terms.” She still wondered if this was some elaborate prank. It didn’t feel like one.

“I thought so too, but here we are, now aren’t we,” curiously enough, the one more bothered by this confession seemed to be Amanda, not Hannah. Hannah was mostly just lost.

“S-since when?” She asked. “Has it been just a few days? Maybe you’re confused or-”

“I have no fucking idea,” Amanda spoke. “I realized it a few days ago, but I think I’ve liked you for a while now. A week or maybe even two, who knows.”

Hannah could barely process what was going on. She looked down, trying to look for the signs. Amanda had opened up to her a little a couple times, but it hadn’t seemed like something so important back then. Had she only done that because of this? Because of… liking her?

“I… I don’t really know what to say to that,” Hannah said. “Are you serious?”

“Yes I’m god damn serious,” Amanda turned to her. Hannah worried she’d be angry at her, but it was pretty obvious Amanda was just angry at herself. “I went and fell for the only actually straight girl in our group. God fucking damn it I should just fucking end myself,” she shook her head. “Like seriously, out of all choices out there here I am, giving probably the worse confession in history to a girl who can’t like me back and whom I have to live in close vicinity for the next two to six years of my life depending on how far I get on Luna Nova.”

Hannah pressed her lips. “Hey, it’s- It’s fine,” she said. “I mean, it’s not that big a deal,” she tried to sound more cheerful than she felt. “So you like me, that’s fine. After all, who _wouldn’t_ like me?” she laughed. Amanda didn’t. “It’s not like I’ll treat you different for this or anything. You can just find another girl to fall for eventually, right?”

Amanda gave her a tired look. “Yeah, I guess,” she didn’t sound convinced. “The problem with crushes is that I don’t want to fall for anyone else right now.”

Hannah blushed. “I’m flattered,” she said. But when she looked at Amanda she thought she had to give her an honest answer. She’d just have to reject her so that she could… Stop liking her… “But I… Well…” Great, now she was having trouble coming up with the right words.

“Don’t worry, I get it,” Amanda sighed and pushed herself up into the wood. “Look,” she said without looking down. “Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen, alright? Tomorrow everything will be back to normal.”

Hannah wanted to say that that wasn’t a healthy approach at this, but for some reason she couldn’t find the words. “Sure,” she ended up agreeing. Amanda shook her head and walked away, leaving a trail of water in her step.

And as she walked away, Hannah couldn’t help noticing that her slender and slightly toned body seemed to shine with the moonlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the end of the batch! Make sure to come back and- Ha! April foo- wait, I'm kind of late to that party. Well, whatever. Originally it was going to be but then I decided not to be a jerk.  
> There's a few more chapters coming so look forward to that. Don't forget to leave a comment tho!


	68. Chapter 68

Akko was walking towards the spot where the Shiny Rod usually was when she realized it wasn’t there. She didn’t hesitate to take out her wand and flick it, and waiting an excruciating second until the broom finally appeared. She sighed with relief, realizing she probably had left it back at the track when she passed out. “There you are,” she said, patting the side of the white ship. She wondered if it had feelings or something. Maybe Alcor did. Were Alcor and the Rod the same thing? She hadn’t really thought about it like that. Though Alcor usually spoke of the Shiny Rod in third person. Well, whatever, it’s not like it mattered.

“Interesting, don’t you think?” Akko heard someone behind her. She turned around just to see the face she probably wanted to see the least of now. “The ship seems to be able to tell where matter stands and avoid it on teleportation. If it can’t go to where you want it to, it’ll go to the closest possible place, unless that space is too small – though it will never kill anyone, no matter what,” Croix was saying.

Akko looked at the lavender haired woman and her extravagant outfit and wondered if it was ok for her to even be there.

“Oh, don’t look so sad,” Croix smiled at her. “I know you probably think you were ripped off today – if it helps, I also felt like it was a little unfair, but sadly, I don’t make the rules.”

“You’re the head of the IPR,” Akko retorted in a grumpy voice.

Croix, with her arms crossed, chuckled. “Yes, I am, but I don’t single handedly make decisions. I’m more of an administrator, and I have a bunch of old guys below me who are more in charge of things than anyone expects,” her red cape was a bright contrast against the usual grey and metals of the _Dragon._ She was tall, taller than than anyone in their group, though she didn’t seem very athletic. She had a pair of goggles hanging from her neck, something she didn’t usually have.

“Well, whatever,” Akko said, trying not to think about her loss.

“If it helps, I think you did great,” Croix added.

“It doesn’t earn me points, so it doesn’t really help,” Akko replied. She wasn’t looking at Croix anymore, faking instead to be examining the Rod.

Croix sighed. “Well, I think Chariot would be proud of your almost win today,” she said. This caught Akko’s attention, who looked at her with suspicion.

“What do you know about Chariot?”

“Oh, I haven’t told you? I used to go to Luna Nova with Chariot. We weren’t in the same year, but you could say we were close friends,” she explained, the corner of her lips turning upwards.

Akko forgot about her loss, her eyes opening wide. “What? You knew Chariot?”

Croix nodded. “Yep.”

“And you were friends with her?” Akko’s eyes started to shine.

“She sometimes called me her best friend,” _and more,_ her expression seemed to imply, though Akko didn’t really pick up on that.

She was completely hung up on the idea that she had in front of her someone who had known Chariot personally and called her a friend. “And what do you think of her now?” Akko asked cautiously. She knew the general census on her idol, but individual cases could always be exceptions.

Croix considered her answer. “I still consider her a great pilot, and while we have parted ways, I wish we could maybe reconcile and be good friends again,” Croix explained. Akko was a little disappointed about the parting ways, since it meant Croix probably didn’t know where Chariot had gone either, but this new source of information was relevant.

“So, if you were such close friends, what can you tell me about her that I don’t know?” Akko asked for some proof.

Croix looked up, trying to remember something. “Well, she used to always drool on her sleep, until I started teasing her about it and she got it mostly fixed,” Croix chuckled. Akko cocked her head. How did she know how Chariot slept? They had been in different years, which meant they couldn’t be in the same team… “Oh, and before any kind of test, she would always sit alone on the Shiny Rod for a while, thinking it would help her remember stuff during the exam – even if she hadn’t studied. It never helped,” she said.

Akko couldn’t know if it was true or not, but… What reason would Croix have to lie about such a thing? “That sounds a lot like something I would do,” Akko said a little embarrassed.

“She was more like you than you’d think,” Croix took a step closer to her, getting a little friendlier. “Though, if you ask me, she was slightly less stubborn,” she winked at Akko.

Akko didn’t find weird the strange level of familiarity the leader of one of the most powerful institutions of the universe seemed to have with her, instead choosing to focus on the things that she cared about. “Why did you part ways?” She asked.

Croix pressed her lips. “Well, you know how it is,” she started. “She became famous and all, didn’t have much time to hang out together, we kind of lost touch.”

“But you’re famous too,” Akko said.

“Well, yes, but even now I’m nothing compared to Chariot,” she explained. “Four out of five people on earth will be able to tell you who Chariot was. Instead, only one in ten thousand will be able to tell who I am. Sure, I’m famous, but in no way comparable.”

Akko nodded. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “You really think I’m like her?”

“Very much so,” Croix nodded. “I’m sure that’s why you can pilot the Shiny Rod, you know?” Croix pointed at the relatively small white broom. “It can recognize you’re somewhat similar to Chariot, so it lets you pilot it.”

In truth, Akko had never seen it like that. It was hard to imagine chariot as someone like herself. Akko was… Well, Akko, while Chariot was this almost legendary figure in her eyes. Comparing herself to Chariot felt strange, wrong even. “Maybe it can tell I just want to meet Chariot and it’s trying to help me find her too,” Akko commented.

Croix raised a finger. “That’s a good theory. You know,” she now spoke in a lower tone, as if she was about to tell her some big secret, “I actually think we could accelerate that process, too,” she said.

Akko frowned. “What do you mean?”

Croix pointed at the Rod again. “The Shiny Rod is connected to its pilots,” she explained. “Don’t you think it should be possible to try to examine the traces of that connection back to Chariot?”

Thinking about it, Akko’s mouth slowly opened into a big O. “That’s right!” She said. “The Shiny Rod can always tell where _I_ am, so why not Chariot?”

“See?” Croix smirked. “So, what do you say, want to help me reconcile with an old friend and meet your idol?” she asked.

Akko didn’t hesitate. “Of course!”

 

_Chariot ran out of the cafeteria faster than anyone else. She knew how athletic she was, if she didn’t want to no one would catch her. The night air was cool, and she wasn’t particularly warmly clothed, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was to get away from everything for a while._

_What a stressful day it had been. Exams all day, and classes had started only like two months ago. She would get in trouble for running away, but at this point she was used to that. Whatever, as long as she later did whatever they told her to do she wouldn’t actually be sanctioned._

_She disappeared among the trees of the Arcturus Forest. It was dark and scary, but she also liked that. It offered her some semblance of privacy, of the kind no one else seemed to get. Maybe that’s why teachers didn’t want her to go out there._

_When she finally decided to stop running, she was in a small clearing on the forest. It was just a small area where nothing but thin grass grew and moonlight was able to shine through the trees, its light turning everything into a hue of blue and silver._

_She dropped on the middle of it, laying on her back and looking up. The moon was full today. It was small, but still quite pretty. After the stress of the day, being able to just wind down and stare at the night sky felt like exactly like what she needed. She closed her eyes, wondering how big of a punishment she would get if she slept where she was._

_“You’re going to get a cold if you stay like that,” a voice came from the darkness of the trees._

_Chariot’s body bolted upright, scared for a second before she saw the figure stepping out of the line of trees. For such a proper student she was wearing a completely unapproved hoodie on top of her uniform. “Oh, it’s you,” Chariot said, smiling and dropping back down._

_“Yeah, it’s me,” Croix said, sitting down next to her. “Is there going to be a single night in which you don’t cause some ruckus?” She asked._

_“Hey, I didn’t do anything yesterday,” Chariot complained._

_“Because you fell asleep while I was helping you study,” Croix said in a monotonous voice. Chariot giggled._

_“How did you carry me back to my room, anyways?”_

_“I just carried you.” Chariot raised an eyebrow. Croix was a good pilot and all, but her physical state left a lot to be desired. “Fine, I used a couple of spells for it, same thing.”_

_“You used spells just to carry me back to my room?” Chariot asked with some surprise. She had fallen asleep in the library and her room was basically in the opposite side of the school. It must have taken a lot of energy out of those spells, and refilling them wasn’t cheap._

_Croix nodded, not giving any more insight. Chariot pouted. Croix would be like that, sometimes. Be all kind and hinting at something, and then go radio silent and kill the mood. Chariot got mixed signals from that, and she wondered if maybe she was just overthinking things._

_“Here,” Croix suddenly took off her hoodie. “I can afford getting a cold and skipping a class or two. You’re in no position to be falling sick, though,” she threw it at Chariot._

_Chariot put it on. She wasn’t cold, but Croix’s clothes were warm and fuzzy, and made her heart pound loudly in her chest. “Thanks,” Chariot said. She noticed Croix was now hugging herself, obviously cold. She rolled her eyes. Again, mixed signals._

_She threw herself against Croix, hugging her. “If you’re cold just say it,” Chariot said. Croix resisted at first, but after a few seconds, and without saying anything, she just let one of her arms drop around Chariot’s shoulders._

_They stayed like that for a while._

_Next morning both of them would wake up to runny noses and a fever._

Ursula awoke to the sound of an urgent message in her helmet. She didn’t want to get up, lost in the after-dream realm of momentary happiness. It didn’t take long for the veil of dreams to fall and reveal reality, though, so with a yawn she moved her hand around aimlessly for a while before finally getting a grasp of her Witch Hat.

She imagined it’d be some kind of message from Captain Kannazuki for an emergency meeting with some of the people from Earth’s sector of the Planetary Alliance. Yesterday they’d had a long and tiresome discussion about child safety and Akko’s state. Even after being told that Akko was fine and was only distressed because of how the win had been stolen from right under her nose they still wanted her to get ‘more breaks’ and ‘made sure she hung out with her friends for an appropriate amount of time,’ completely failing to understand what Akko was really going through.

So, when she read the message, she was surprised to read that it came from Lotte, and that apparently Akko had just vanished after coming out of the hospital. She wasn’t in the hangar, she hadn’t gone back to their room – despite the fact that according Diana’s schedule she should’ve been sleeping – and despite having searched for a while on Gold, platinum and bronze decks, they couldn’t find her.

Ursula got up, completely alert, and did what she thought would be best. She contacted the security leader of the _Dragon,_ asking for any signs of Akko. At first he refused, but after Ursula threatened with throwing him out of the ship while in interstellar travel and not caring a single bit about the consequences if her student didn’t appear, he seemed a little more willing to cooperate.

 _She’s not an idiot. Not too much, anyways. She’s probably just… In Silver Deck, maybe. She probably wanted to swim. That sounds like something Akko would do. Maybe she just didn’t hear her alarm while underwater,_ Ursula started to try and figure out where her student could be. The _Dragon_ was not small. It would take days to look at all the security footage. What if she was left behind in Poseidon? She could teleport back to the _Dragon_ probably, but Ursula had never had to do that, so she wasn’t totally sure.

Right as she was on the verge of just running out to go search on her own, she received another message from the security guy. She opened it, surprised to find that he had already found her. He sent a file too with a couple of videos.

One of Akko speaking with Croix in the hangar.

One of Akko and Croix walking together through the _Dragon._

And one of Akko entering Croix’s room. According to the message, she had been there a good number of hours. The cameras on the top floor had also stopped working not long ago, apparently.

Ursula dropped her helmet, taking her wand and instantly running out of her room.

 

When Ursula reached the top floor, she was met with a sight she hadn’t expected. The normally grey corridors were now spotted with red. Red flying disks. Croix’s roombas, all of them with something on top of them. Something that looked awfully similar to…

She hid inside the elevator as a bunch of those started shooting small inferno projectiles. Not lethal, but a good number of those could bring her down in seconds. She took out a small green capsule that was obviously filled with magic. She swallowed it. Waiting until it took effect, Ursula counted each second. One. She saw eight of those roombas in the corridor right in front of her, though she was sure there would be more spaced around the floor. Two. _Calm down. She’s going to be fine,_ she told herself. Three. A cool head was usually the key to success. She just needed to take this as any other challenge. Four. She started feeling a tingling in her stomach, like if she had drank something really really bubbly. Five. The feeling extended through her whole body. She could see the veins below the skin on her arms glowing green. Her eyes would probably be glowing too.

She jumped out of the elevator, and the world seemed to go in slow motion. What she had just taken was a pill that simulated how it felt to be inside a broom’s cockpit. Her body was strengthened, her reactions were enhanced. She didn’t have much time, though. Whatever Croix was doing, she obviously didn’t want anyone to bother her.

Even with her enhanced reflexes, the magic projectiles didn’t move slowly. Ursula ducked under the first barrage of them. Seemed like these things didn’t have a quick cadency of fire. In a second she had reached the first roomba, which didn’t even seem to move as she jumped and dropkicked it, making sure it was fully destroyed against the floor with her heel.

She followed the motion by jumping and stretching her arms and legs to push on both walls at the sides of the corridor and stay up for a second as another barrage of magic came at her. When she dropped to the ground again, she kicked the carcass of the broken roomba towards the closest one. The crash of both created a small explosion of red energy. She ran forward, sticking to the left wall as new attacks came through the Inferno cloud, and resumed her run as she snapped one of the devices out of the air with her hand, spun in place and threw it as if it was a discus towards another one. It bounced off that one, hitting also a third, and the three of them were stunned. Ursula was left to roll forward as she dodged the bullets from the remaining three roombas in the corridor, picking up two of the stunned ones, aiming them at the remaining ones and when the next barrage of shots came out, another two fell down. Ursula had to take a shot to the shoulder, but with her strengthened body she barely felt it.

She then used the roombas she had in her hands to bring down the remaining two, throwing them with such force that all four exploded in place. If Ursula hadn’t been magically enhanced, she might have had to deal with Inferno poisoning later on.

A short run towards the closest intersection was enough to tell her that Croix had a lot of those things waiting for her. Her room wasn’t far away from the elevators, though. The next corridor had nine of those hellish disks, and Ursula took a deep breath before running in.

She instantly jumped and stepped on her right wall to push further up, avoiding the indiscriminate shooting. While in the air she took out her wand and, despite not wanting to waste the energy, waved it so that it shot some Magic at the nearest roomba. This upgrade on a wand was technically illegal, but she had some connections that understood why she would have such a thing.

When she hit the ground she rolled forward, picking up the roomba she had just hit and used it as a small shield to cover herself from the next round of shots. A couple got her on the side, but it wasn’t too bad. As she was growing fond of doing, she used the now useless device to destroy another one.

Her next move was to try to run forward, but she was almost crushed by a moving wall. She managed to backflip out of the way just in time to see a small circle in the wall hitting the other end. It would have been enough to crush her ribs if it had hit. However, before the floating portion of wall could get back in place, Ursula picked it up from the air. It had some magnetic resistance, but she was able to snatch it just in time to use it as a more effective shield against the magic bullets, shield she used to charge forward and snatch every roomba out of the air with her hands and one by one throw them against the ground. Some of them exploded, others didn’t. Ursula didn’t care about that.

The next corridor- was empty. Or, more like, suspiciously empty. It was also a relatively long one with a surprising lack of doors on any side, something Ursula probably hadn’t bothered to notice until now. Bearing in mind what had just happened, she imagined what this was all about.

She threw the piece of metal on the floor, cracked her neck, stretched her arms and back and then proceeded to run as if her life depended on it.

Pieces of metal flew out of the walls as if the ship was falling apart. Ursula did notice that most of them came out _after_ she passed by them, and not before. They were fast, sure, but with her current speed they weren’t much of a problem. It reeked of setup. Croix probably knew what kind of resources she had. Though, it may have been a little self-centered to think all of this was just to stop her.

She finally reached the corridor where Croix’s room was. There were two roombas next to the door, both of which Ursula took out by throwing pieces of metal she had snatched from the previous corridor. Then, walking slowly, she stood in front of the door. Croix probably wasn’t even in there. She obviously could teleport, somehow, to that secret lab of hers. Being the head of the IPR she probably could teleport to most planets on the Planetary Alliance.

The door opened by itself. Ursula hesitated, but she stepped into the dark room.

When the door closed behind her, she felt ethereal for a second, only to realize she was now in a small cubicle she was already familiar with. She walked out of there and looked at the dimly lit place full of unfinished machines and scraps all over the floor.

And, where there once was a wall, now a new room had appeared. Ursula approached it and wasn’t surprised to find a small garage holding the Shiny Rod inside it.

“Those things are expensive, you know?” Croix said from behind her.

“Next time you may want to keep them to yourself instead of trying to kill me,” Ursula replied without humor.

“Oh, they weren’t meant for _you,_ they were meant for everyone else,” Croix replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I knew you had some of those capsules stored around. Remember when you got us in trouble for using the one they had given you for testing with the sole purpose of stealing that cake from the teacher’s fridge?”

“Where’s Akko?” Ursula turned. In the dark room she could more easily perceive the green streams all across her body. Despite this, Croix didn’t look particularly scared.

“Over there,” Croix pointed behind her. Ursula moved instantly, charging for Croix – who moved out of the way just in time to not be tackled – and going to the end of the previous room, where the countless monitors stood illuminating Akko’s unconscious body on top of a working table.

“What did you do to her?” Ursula turned with anger.

“Save for examining her psyche and trying to figure out the mental link she and the Rod share? Not much,” Croix shrugged.

Ursula walked until she was up in front of Croix, looking at her with anger. “I swear to god, Croix, if you make Akko do the same you did to me I’m going to-”

“What?” Croix interrupted her, her nonchalant expression shifting for a more serious one. “Punch me? We both know that’s not going to fix anything. Reveal your identity and what I did to you?" she put a finger to Ursula's chest. "You’re too much of a coward to do that, since you know as well as me that was also your fault,” Croix dug her finger in Ursula’s chest, though thanks to the magic, Ursula almost didn’t feel it.

Ursula gritted her teeth, turning around and picking Akko up from the table. “Don’t talk to her. You already failed once. The Shiny Rod is not your toy.”

“I won’t fail this time,” Croix said in a harsh tone. “If you listened to me for a second you may understand why.”

Ursula ignored the comment, taking Akko, who thanks to her strength was now as light as a feather, and placing her inside the Cockpit of the Shiny Rod. She looked around for the key-wand, only to find it when Croix threw it at her. She seemed to do it with anger and wanting to hit her, though she was obviously aware of Ursula’s current state and knew there would be no chance in hell for her to be successful.

"Stay away from her," Ursula said without even looking at Croix one last time.

Dropping inside the Rod, Ursula carefully put the key-wand in. She was relieved when the thing didn’t kick her out, though she now had to wonder if it would allow her to do what she wanted.

“Noctu orfei aude freator,” she whispered. For a second, nothing happened, and she was starting to think that she’d have to come out and take the small cubicle back home. However, after blinking, she realized she was back in the hangar of the _Dragon,_ the Shiny Rod now parked next to the Shooting Star. “Thank you,” Ursula whispered, though she suspected the command had only worked because the Rod knew Akko was unconscious.

When she came out of the Rod, she noticed that all of her magic enhancement was gone. _Old habits die hard,_ she thought, looking back at the broom. She now felt weak and slow, though she would have energy to spare for a few hours still. With a sigh, she walked away, already dreading all the explaining she’d have to do about the destruction caused on the top floor of the _Dragon._

 

Amanda was trying really hard not to laugh at the irony of being in the pools the day after failing miserably in her confession.

Constanze and Jasminka had wanted to swim for a while, so they all went to Silver Deck to spend some time having watery fun. Only problem was that Amanda wanted to do anything _but_ swim right now. Still, she didn’t let it show, since she wanted to at least keep her mind off last night’s debacle by spending time with her best friends.

Constanze was wearing a floater around her waist and had her hair up in two buns on the sides of her head. Along with her blue swimsuit, that was awfully similar to a school’s one, she looked like a damn kid. Amanda knew she didn’t do it on purpose but damn it if she wasn’t cute as hell.

Jasminka, on her part, wore a simple green bikini. Amanda wore her black one.

The pools weren’t particularly full today. There was a ton of people, but they could swim comfortably. Amanda felt something touching her feet as she slowly walked on the water. Probably Constanze’s stanbot. She was trying out a new underwater mode which was probably the main reason she wanted to go to the pools in the first place. Jasminka seemed to have fun just floating around, and Amanda was constantly swimming in different styles or just freeform. She also spent a lot of time underwater.

It was after about half an hour of doing basically nothing that when she came out of the water she found Jasminka next to her. “Want some?” She asked, offering Amanda a candy. Amanda wondered where had she kept it, but didn’t ask out of politeness.

“Sure,” she said, popping the thing into her mouth. She cracked it with her teeth and swallowed it.

“Are you ok?” Jasminka asked after Amanda finished with the candy. Amanda looked at her and sighed.

“Guess you noticed,” she commented. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just feeling like an idiot.”

Jasminka nodded. She didn’t usually ask for a lot of details when asking about these things. She understood that if Amanda wanted to, she’d tell her eventually. Truth was, Amanda felt like speaking . “I confessed to Hannah, yesterday,” she explained.

This seemed to also catch Constanze’s attention, who floated closer to them. She knew how to swim, she just didn’t like that in most pools she always had to float and couldn’t touch the bottom, so she just used that floater. Amanda had the theory that she actually liked looking like a little girl and found ways of looking more like one when she could but making convenient excuses so that no one suspected.

“I just said ‘fuck it, I might as well get this over with here and now,’ and went and did it. It would have been romantic and all if I wasn’t about to puke from the nervousness,” she had acted all confident and such, but in the end she had just rambled and felt so ashamed that he had no choice but to get out of there, lest she just started banging her head against the wooden platform to fall unconscious. “And then I basically ran away ‘cause I didn’t want to hear her rejection. She was unusually nice and shit, but she was just pitying me.”

Jasminka patted her shoulder. Constanze made it so that her stanbot swam near Amanda and it patted Amanda’s knee. Amanda appreciated the support. “And now I don’t know how I’ll face her when we have to practice again.”

“It’s ok,” Jasminka said. “Hanna’s a nice girl.” Amanda looked at her, expecting a cheeky smile, but she just had her regular one. Of course, Jasminka was the kind who often ignored bad things, not out of a problem with them but just because that’s how she was. If you looked up the definition of ‘nice’ in the dictionary there was probably a photo of Jasminka next to it.

“I even said something like ‘act as if this didn’t happen’ or some shit,” Amanda continued. “God, I’m cringing just at remembering that. Jesus fuck just kill me,” Amanda dropped underwater for a few seconds, only to allow herself to float up while looking at her friends. “What am I supposed to do now? This is so fucking awkward, I’m never saying ‘just confess’ to anyone ever again.”

The stanbot patted Amanda again, though Jasminka just kept smiling. Amanda wondered if maybe she could use the Shiny Rod to go back to Earth and stay there and just fuck off for the remaining of the race. Akko could probably get another person to be her gunman. Jasminka did pretty ok. It was obviously some kind of automated thing, it didn’t matter _who_ was down there as long as it was a human. Or who knew, maybe it didn’t even have to be a human. Maybe they should try to put a dog or something in there. Worst case scenario it wouldn’t work. Amanda doubted it’d cause any harm to the animal.

“And the worst part is that I still like her,” Amanda lamented. “Like, I dunno, I know I have no chances, but I still want to see Hannah and talk to her and shit. Even if she probably thinks I’m a pitiful thing now,” She sighed, closing her eyes. Floating in the water… Was that how flying felt? Probably not, but she could dream.

“Well, you can still be friends,” Jasminka offered.

“Yes, I know. Problem is that I don’t really think we’d work as just friends, you know? I dunno,” she splashed on the water with her hands a little. “It’s weird.”

She didn’t get an answer this time. Jasminka seemed to be pondering over what Amanda had said. Amanda knew that what she had said didn’t make too much sense, but on the other hand she knew what she meant. She couldn’t really imagine herself being just friends with Hannah. She wanted to, but there was this… barrier. She had come to like her, which had broken the barrier from her side. But it needed to be brought down from both sides to work, which meant the barrier would certainly not go down now. She should have kept it to herself, she had just been hasty and stupid.

“Well, whatever,” Amanda said in the end. “I’ll just try to act natural and be normal and when we go back to Luna Nova we won’t have to be living together twenty-four seven,” she decided.

Jasminka nodded at her decision. Both of them knew it was stupid, and that Amanda would eventually find a better solution, but there was no point in arguing about it now.

Amanda resumed her swimming. Constanze seemed to want her to race her Stanbot so she did. Overall, it was fun.

 

Hannah and Barbara sat on Diana’s bed. Diana’s cast was gone, and she seemed to enjoy that. She was still connected to the M.M.U. but other than that she finally looked normal. Hannah had been quiet for most of the meeting, while Barbara enjoyed narrating a story about how Lotte had introduced Plants in her Nightfall fanfic after reading that book about them. It was kind of stupid in concept, but she executed it pretty well. Not that Hannah cared a lot.

“Is something the matter, Hannah?” Diana asked her suddenly, which took Hannah by surprise. “You’ve been awfully silent,” she showed concern in her face.

Barbara turned with a curious look. The black haired girl had been conspicuously unperceptive of Hannah’s strange attitude since last night, and Hannah suspected it was because she knew that she and Amanda had been alone. In fact, Hannah was certain Barbara had known of Amanda’s feelings and she had kept silent about them. Not that Hannah was super mad about this, but she would have liked some kind of hint, something to mentally prepare her for what had gone down.

Hannah sighed. “It’s nothing,” she said. She really didn’t want to bother her friends with this. Or at least, not give Barbara the satisfaction of knowing what had happened. Now it made sense that she’d refuse so strongly to accompany her.

“It’s not ‘nothing’,” Diana insisted, “come on, please feel free to confide in us.”

Barbara kept saying nothing. Hannah bit her lower lip, wondering if maybe she should just tell them. However, the thought made her blush and look down as she recalled how absolutely stupid she had been in not realizing the obvious signs of Amanda liking her.

“No, really,” Hannah said, unable to look at her friends. “You shouldn’t-”

“Ugh,” Barbara finally spoke, grunting. “Yesterday something happened with Amanda,” Barbara turned to speak with Diana, “and now she’s all embarrassed about it.”

Hannah furrowed her brow, scowling at Barbara. “Thanks for understanding, jeez,” she said in a cold voice.

“Just tell us, Hannah,” Barbara said in a serious tone. Diana looked a little lost.

Hannah gulped. Well, Barbara had already dropped the ball, so there wasn’t much to hide anyways. “Amanda…” Hannah said in a really small voice.

“Excuse me?” Diana ask. “I didn’t quite catch that.”

Hannah bit her lip. “Amanda. Confessed. To. Me,” she said, putting emphasis on every word and basically forcing herself to say it out-loud.

There was no immediate answer, so Hannah looked at her friends. Barbara was smiling from ear to ear, her expression of happiness so powerful that Hannah fully believed she was going to rip her lips apart. Diana, on the other hand, looked more confused than before.

“Amanda?” Diana asked, disbelief in her tone. “Hannah, are you sure it wasn’t something like a dream?”

“Diana, please,” Hannah shook her head. “I was as surprised as you are.”

“How did you answer?” Barbara asked with excitement

Hannah hesitated. How had she answered? It was… unclear, really. “I don’t know?” She said, doubtful. “I asked her why she liked me and stuff,” she blushed some more when she recalled the praise she had gotten from Amanda, “but she kinda ran away before I could give her a real answer,” Hannah explained. She had been thinking about it for a while, and somewhere deep within her, she was happy she hadn’t actually given Amanda an answer.

She wasn’t sure of why, but she felt like she wanted to think about it for a while longer.

“And how was it?” Barbara asked with a knowing look. “Romantic? How did she say it?”

Hannah recalled the night. “She called me a moron for not realizing it,” she admitted. “To be honest, in retrospect, she had been making it obvious. Then she proceeded to get angry at herself and we had a small conversation before she ran away.”

Diana seemed surprise by this, though Barbara chuckled.

“Amanda,” Diana was still hung up on that. “What happened between you two while I was in bed?”

“I don’t know!” Hannah complained. “I had felt like we had maybe gotten a little friendlier, but sometimes she would get a little too close or something and I’d snap at her thinking she just wanted to tease me,” she recalled that time where she had sent Amanda away to eat while she was going to take a shower. That time, maybe Amanda had wanted to wait for Hannah, but Hannah had pushed her away. She had felt kind of bad back then, and now it made a little more sense. “I… I feel like I was being too mean, now.”

“And how do you feel about Amanda?” Barbara asked, excitement in her eyes.

Hannah cringed. “I… Well, I don’t…” She didn’t like her, but saying it like that felt a little too strongly. “I can’t reciprocate her feelings, but I also don’t want to hurt her or anything,” Amanda was a girl. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, but Hannah just liked guys.

Barbara pressed her lips. However, before she spoke, Diana was the one to talk. “If you don’t like her,” she said in a more serious tone, “I suggest you tell her so as soon as possible. She needs to hear it if she wants to be able to move on.”

Hannah nodded. “I know,” she said. “I just… Wait, when did you learn about these kinds of things anyways?” Hannah was a little surprised at Diana having given such advice. She often stepped aside in matters of the heart.

“I’m just speaking what’s in my mind,” Diana quickly replied. Hannah raised an eyebrow, finding it kind of strange, but she suspected Akko had probably rubbed off in the wrong – or, maybe right? – way in Diana. Hannah understood that what she said was true, though. Maybe it’d hurt Amanda but she needed to make things clear.

“And leaving her in a limbo out of pity is just cruel,” Barbara added.

Hannah sighed. “I’ll tell her as soon as I see her. We’ll probably have to practice soon enough.”

“Well, as long as you do it,” Barbara said, though she sounded a little disappointed.

“Why are you so bummed out, anyways?” Hannah asked with some annoyance. It really felt like Barbara wanted Hannah to get with Amanda for basically no reason.

“I just… Nevermind,” Barbara shook her head.

Hannah was about to insist, but then the door opened and an old nurse stepped in. Hannah already knew her, and she instantly stood up. The old lady pointed with her thumb and both Hannah and Barbara marched outside, quickly saying goodbye to Diana beforehand.

“That lady gives me the creeps,” Barbara said.

“I know,” Hannah agreed.

Barbara then looked at her wand, as it was vibrating with a message. “Oh, Lotte says they found Akko.”

“See? Told you she was going to be fine,” Hannah scoffed. When she had heard that Akko had ‘disappeared’ she hadn’t been worried at all. Still, they hadn’t mentioned it to Diana, since Diana was the kind to worry about those kinds of things.

“I’m going to see Lotte,” Barbara said. “See you later. Go talk to Amanda.”

“Fine, fine, whatever. Go,” Hannah grumbled. She wasn’t satisfied with the way their conversation had ended, but she’d rather not keep discussing the matter either. “I’ll go see if she’s in her room.”

“Do it!” Barbara said before walking away. She was going to take the stairs, since the hospital wasn’t that far from the Decks anyways. With a sigh, Hannah walked towards the elevators.

She needed to get this over with. Maybe she’d find a nice place to make things easier…


	69. Chapter 69

_“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Croix was saying. “It’s that you’re being a little too reckless,” she complained as she walked through the dark forest._

_“You’re just a coward. I do this all the time,” Chariot said, walking with confidence. Croix wasn’t sure of how in all hell she wasn’t tripping, while Croix herself couldn’t take two steps without having to pause and make sure she wasn’t stepping on a root or a bush. The forest was almost pitch black, the only light coming from the faint rays of moonlight slipping through the canopy of leaves high above._

_“Yeah but_ I _don’t,” Croix reminded her. “I like to keep my status as a decent student, thank you.”_

_“No one knows you’re gone. My plan was flawless,” Chariot reassured. Croix grunted. Chariot’s last ‘flawless’ plan had gotten her a two weeks punishment of peeling potatoes and cleaning bathrooms. She never learned._

_That was part of her charm, though._

_As they kept walking, Croix reached a point where her scraped knees could take no more. “Chariot I swear to god if you’re trying to kill me just put that wand in my mouth and choke me, it’ll cause less suffering,” she said. Next time they did this she wasn’t going to wear shorts, no matter how hot or how comfortable they were._

_Chariot sighed, turning around with a cocky expression. “Fine, here,” She walked towards Croix and turned once again, crouching and offering her a piggy ride._

_“Really?” Croix asked in disbelief. “This is not what I meant, you,” she said with annoyance._

_“Just hop in, we’re not far anyways,” Chariot insisted. Croix hesitated, but she ended up taking the offer. Even with the extra weight Chariot seemed to be able to walk without any kind of trouble. She was just connected to her surroundings. It wasn’t the first time Croix wondered if the magic that had turned Chariot’s hair and eyes red may have also given her some kind of animal mutation._

_She was warm. In the hotness of the summer this should have been annoying, yet Croix didn’t mind. She carefully hugged Chariot from behind, closing her eyes and letting her take them to wherever she was going._

_Croix wasn’t sure of how long it lasted, but however long it was, the ride was too short. “We’re here,” Chariot finally announced, almost dropping Croix without a warning. Croix managed to find her footing thanks to Chariot realizing she was stumbling._

_Grunting in annoyance, Croix looked around. She instantly saw what Chariot had meant. A white building, in the middle of the forest. It was basically overtaken by plant life, with tree branches sprouting from cracks and moss covering the entirety of its base. Yet it didn’t really look old. The architecture looked modern enough, maybe from just ten years ago at most, and the overall look of the stone wasn’t that bad. It was more like…_

_“You think there was some accident here?” Chariot asked. “Doesn’t look that old.”_

_Croix sighed. She had one hell of an intuition. “Maybe it was some kind of magic testing site and it got blown away with magic. Would explain why the plant life around it is so wild,” Croix suggested. It was true, the vines surrounding the building grew in weird, spiral patterns that were in no way natural. Then Croix paused. “So you took me all the way here just to see some ruined building?”_

_“It’s cool, isn’t it,” Chariot pointed at it. “I haven’t explored it yet, though. Wanna check it?”_

_Croix grimaced. The idea of entering a crumbling, probably dirty and full of all kinds of bugs building wasn’t particularly appealing. But Chariot looked so excited, there was no way she could just say no._

_“Ok, whatever,” Croix said, steeling her heart for what was to come. Chariot led the way to what looked like the door. An iron one, with a broken cybernetic lock._

_She proceeded to carefully kick it open, and the inside…_

Croix opened her eyes. She let out a long, dragged out sigh. One of her roombas instantly detected she was awake and started making her a coffee. Slowly getting up, Croix frowned. It had been a while since she’d had any kind of dreams. She usually worked until she all but fell unconscious, and then slept until something woke her up. Not a very responsible schedule, but after four years in the workplace and one year as the head of the IPR Committee, people had grown used to her randomness. Not that they cared a lot. Most other Committee members were sad old creatures with nothing to do with their times other than argue with each other.

It had also been probably years since the last time Croix had dreamt about Chariot. She… Wasn’t sure she liked what this meant. She was fully aware of her feelings and of how they could affect her work. Still, she didn’t really have a choice at this point.

Taking her newly made coffee from the roomba, she yawned. She drunk the hot cup in a single go and yawned.

Time to get to work analyzing all the data she had gotten out of Akko.

 

When Akko woke up, she was in her room. Wait, was it? Oh, it must have been her new one. As she looked around in the bigger place, she realized Ursula was sitting in the desk of the room, waiting for her to wake up. She looked oh so tired, but other than that she was ok. Akko tried to recall what happened.

“Wait,” Akko said. “I was in Croix’s room and…”

“Good day, Akko,” Ursula said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You… passed out again, I’m told. You gave us a scare, as we didn’t know where were you,” she spoke with a strained voice. “If you feel bad, please tell us.”

Akko didn’t really remember how Croix’s room looked. Had she really passed out like that again? She could only remember her excitement at the prospect of… Wait, what had she talked about with Croix again? Her memory was all fuzzy.

Then, an alarm went off on her clock. “Oh, it’s time to practice,” Akko realized while checking it.

“No, it’s not. I gave you all a free day. Try to follow your schedule starting from… well, whenever is the next time you restart a day,” Ursula said kindly. Akko wasn’t precisely happy with the idea, but she supposed it made sense.

“Where are Lotte and Sucy?” Akko asked, noticing the lack of her roommates in the vicinity.

“Lotte went out to meet with Barbara, though she’ll probably come back if you ask her to. Sucy said you were snoring too loudly and left the room, though I think she was just relieved to see you ok and didn’t want to perform any dangerous experiments near you,” Ursula said with a smile. Akko smiled at that too.

“Well, please tell them I’m awake and bored. If I’m going to have a free day, then I’d like to spend it with them. Barbara can come too, if she wants.”

Ursula proceeded to send the respective messages. It wasn’t even ten minutes before Lotte and Barbara arrived at the room, Lotte hugging Akko and then chastising her for disappearing without any warning.

“I’m starving now, though,” Akko said after all was said and done. “Think Sucy’s going to arrive soon?” She asked.

“She should be here any minute,” Lotte said.

And, as if speaking of the devil, the door opened. Sucy arrived with a grunt, saying nothing. She was wearing a cloak and seemed to be extremely annoyed. Normal Sucy, basically. “Hello,” Akko said.

“Next time you disappear like that I’m putting a GPS chip on your brain,” Sucy threatened. Akko understood that was her way of saying she had been worried, so she smiled at her.

“Oh, I know a good place where we can go have a bite,” Barbara said with a smile. Akko looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You’ll see, you’ll see,” she said, though her voice sounded kind of… evil.

 

The place was the Goodwill.

“Oh come on, did you seriously know about this place?” Barbara was complaining. Akko nodded. They had already asked for their food. All of them had asked for the Appal stew. Better to take it while they could, as there was nowhere in earth where they could take it… For now, at least.

“Yeah,” Akko nodded. “We kinda dropped by and Diana was here. It was pretty fun,” Akko recalled.

Sucy snorted. “Fun for you,” she said, “the only good thing that time was the food.”

Lotte gave her a harsh look. “Sucy, come on. You don’t have to be like that,” she chastised. Sucy rolled her eyes.

“I’m also kind of offended Diana didn’t bring us with, too,” Barbara said, pouting. “That was after her first win, right? I… think we – Hannah and I – were on the pools that time,” she looked at Lotte from the corner of her eye. “I think we were admiring Andrew, back then.”

Lotte paused. “Admiring Andrew, eh?” She asked with a cold voice.

Barbara quickly looked at Lotte. “That’s in the past, though. Don’t get mad…” she paused as she realized the corners of Lotte’s mouth turning upwards. “Oh, you,” Barbara said with a smile. “Don’t scare me like that.”

Lotte chuckled. Akko smiled, wondering how it felt to have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or whatever. She had never really considered it, since she had never liked anyone before. She didn’t really care for romance, as she found it kind of tedious. From her standpoint it felt like people with relationships just went through troubles all the time. She had seen many friends in high school get heartbroken or rejected or be the ones to do those things, and in the end she had decided to not partake in any of that.

“Akko?” Lotte asked, looking at her. “Are you ok?”

Akko fell back into reality. “Yah, why?” she asked.

“You were staring a little too much,” Lotte explained.

“Maybe she’s got a crush on you,” Sucy said with a chuckle. Both Barbara and Lotte stared daggers.

Akko shook her head. “Sorry, I was thinking about how romance feels like it’d be a lot of trouble,” she explained. Maybe saying that to the two in her group who were in a relationship wasn’t her brightest idea but that was another matter entirely.

“Well…” Lotte seemed to find the question awkward. She scratched her cheek while looking for an answer. “You could say that, I guess. It usually is at least somewhat complicated.”

“Like a girl who refuses to confess for days despite it being obvious that the other girl has feelings for her too,” Barbara said. “And then stalk her for a while because she’s an idiot.”

Lotte rolled her eyes. “I told you it was fine, come on,” she said. Then she looked back at Akko. “But yeah, the problems in relationships often come from self confidence and trust issues,” she explained. “And, well, I don’t know if you’d call rejections ‘relationship problems’. Sometimes people just don’t like each other.”

Akko considered this. She felt like asking a couple questions. “And how does it feel? To like someone?”

Lotte paused. Barbara too. Both of them remained quiet for a while, probably looking for the right way to describe it. To everyone’s surprise, it was Sucy who spoke.

“It’s like seeing a red dot in a white sheet,” she said, looking down. “You wonder how it got there, or why can’t you take your eyes away from it. You know that spot isn’t technically different from the rest of the sheet, yet it also feels kind of special. You also know, from the second you see it, that no matter what happens you’re probably never getting rid of it. The sheet will be forever stained no matter how much you wash it. That dot will be forever there, even if eventually other ones might appear somewhere else that get a better hold of your attention.”

Everyone was looking at her with wide eyes. Akko could barely understand the metaphor, but Lotte and Barbara both looked down, considering it. “Sucy,” Akko spoke, “do _you_ like someone?”

“Nah,” Sucy showed her hands, where her wand was showing an internet page. “I just took it from a fanfic,” she said with a smirk.

“W-wait,” Lotte suddenly blushed. Hard. “T-that’s mine! I haven’t even posted it yet!”

Sucy shrugged. “Constanze can do some crazy stuff if you give her the right pieces,” Sucy explained. Lotte was now looking down, with Barbara patting her back.

“I-in any case,” Barbara said with an awkward smile, “it’s something like that. You just see this person and… Well, you think about her, and want to be with her. Though, there are different types of likes too. When it’s romantic you’ll probably want to kiss, hold hands, do… other stuff,” she blushed slightly at that. “It’s a really fluffy and warm feeling. You’ll feel happy just talking with the person you like, and you’ll pay extra attention to everything he or she may say,” she looked at Lotte. “And it can come from the most unexpected of places, too.”

Akko nodded. All of those looked like special things, though not ones she particularly could relate to in the moment. Lotte and Barbara sure seemed to be comfortable around each other, smiling constantly and obviously making as much time to be together as possible. Akko tried to imagine herself in that situation. Imagine herself with someone she wouldn’t mind spending a lot of time with, maybe even sleeping together.

She saw her parents, at first. It made sense, though that was not exactly what Barbara meant, probably. She didn’t suffer from the Oedipus complex, did she? Hopefully not. Then she also saw Chariot. She was her biggest – maybe only – admirer, but it felt strange. Akko didn’t know Chariot personally. It was an ideal of her, a mere image with little personality.

Thinking this’d bear little fruit, she decided to stop. However, before she could stop fully, in the ways a mind works, she went on for a while longer. She… saw Diana. She saw her sitting next o her on a hospital bed.

Before she could keep her focus on that, however, food arrived.

“This looks so gross,” Akko pointed out while looking at the grey stew with the worm-like flowers. “But it tastes really good.”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Lotte said, starting to eat. They had asked for simple water to drink.

“People always say that, but isn’t a picture worth a thousand words or something like that?” Akko asked, eating too.

Sucy sighed. “Akko, a book has a little more words than a thousand,” she said. “Maybe you should think before you speak.”

“Ok,” Akko agreed, “But this stew, can it really be described in more than a thousand words?” She asked, looking at it.

“Akko,” Sucy said in a tired voice.

“Yes?”

“Just eat it,” Sucy gave her a flat look.

“Fine,” Akko said while pouting.

 

Amanda heard the knocking on the door as she was playing videogames with Constanze. It was a fighting game. Constanze was wiping the floor with her so she was glad to have an excuse to stand and go to the door. When she opened she wasn’t as glad anymore.

“Hello,” Hannah said with an uncertain smile.

Amanda couldn’t stop herself from being ever so slightly happy to see Hannah, and she cursed internally for that. “What is it?” She said.

“We need to talk,” Hannah said.

Feeling her heartbeat drop with dread, Amanda pressed her lips into a thin line. “I’m fairly certain we talked, like, yesterday.”

Hannah deadpanned. “This is serious, Amanda. Please.”

Amanda could see that Hannah was indeed serious. She understood there was no escaping this situation, no matter how indifferent she may have wanted to act. Plus, she didn’t want to _not_ talk, if that made sense. Damn contradictions. “Fine, whatever,” she said. “I’ll come back in a while,” she said backwards. Her two teammates gave her a couple of thumbs up as she walked outside.

Hannah started walking away.

“Where are we going?” Amanda asked.

“Somewhere a little more private. I spent a while thinking of where to have this talk. I should have come sooner,” Hannah said.

Amanda wanted to just ask her to get it over with. She couldn’t say it. She wanted to bang her head against a wall and knock herself out. It’d probably be less painful than this.

Still, she followed Hannah. She noticed the slight shake of her hips as she walked, and how she smelled of shampoo. She had taken a shower for this? Damn, she sure took it seriously.

When they got in the elevator and Hannah pressed the button for the Hangar, Amanda was slightly confused. “We going to the hangar?”

“Yes,” Hannah said.

“Why?”

“Because I want to, shut up,” Hannah said.

“Well that’s a reasonable and perfectly logical answer that qualms my curiosity,” Amanda replied.

Hannah sighed in annoyance. “Why do I even bother…” She mumbled. Amanda faked not hearing. She’d rather not speak much, with how nervous she was. The rest of the way down was pretty awkward, particularly when some other people got into the elevator and they obviously recognized them.

When they reached the hangar, Hannah guided them to the Shiny Rod. She sat in it, and then patted it so that Amanda sat next to her. “I thought you didn’t think it was very comfortable,” Amanda said.

“It’s not, but it has emotional value,” she explained. Amanda stared at her for a few seconds. “Don’t say it, just sit.”

Amanda carefully sat down. She left a noticeable distance between her and Hannah, a distance she so badly wanted to shorten that it physically hurt. But she also understood that Hannah had her personal space and- Hannah scooped closer to her. They weren’t touching, but Amanda couldn’t look at the auburn-haired girl without blushing now. She was really close.

“Hey,” Hannah said. “You’re kind of tense.”

“Jeez, I wonder why,” Amanda said with sarcasm.

Hannah sighed. “Look, about what you told me…” She started.

Amanda instantly interrupted. “You can’t just pretend nothing happened like I asked you, can you?” She tired one last time to stop what was to come.

“No. You know I can’t,” Hannah said.

“I had decided to act normal and all, it’s-”

“Amanda, listen to me, for fuck’s sake,” Hannah was now annoyed. Amanda looked at her. Big mistake, as Hannah was looking back and their eyes met. Amanda had never thought that simple brown eyes could look so good, yet there they were, in the face that had somehow managed to catch her heart.

She couldn’t help but look away. “Sorry, let’s get this over with.”

Hannah sighed. “Look, I’m going to be straightforward. I’m flattered that you like me, but I don’t exactly feel the same,” she explained.

“You didn’t need to bring me all the way here to tell me something I already knew,” Amanda complained. Hannah punched her in the arm.

“Let me finish, for fuck’s sake,” she said. Amanda shut up, though she almost punched back. “Also, look at me.”

“Aren’t you getting a little too cocky?” Amanda said, looking back at her. She held back the impulse to just lean down and kiss her. To lean down and…

“I want to do this properly,” Hannah said. Maybe she had felt Amanda’s desire, for she seemed to tense a little. She didn’t back down, though. “So, even if I don’t like you,” she said, making Amanda die a little on the inside, “it’s not like I… Well, _dislike_ you,” she admitted almost begrudgingly. “So I don’t really want us to be all awkward around each other.”

“Yesterday you said you hated me,” Amanda said, remembering the conversation that had been burnt into her memory. “Hell, you said you were glad we weren’t going to fly together anymore,” Amanda felt her eyes narrowing. She had been more hurt by that comment than she expected to ever be.

Hannah pressed her lips. “I did, and I’m sorry,” she said. “I… well, I was just being mean,” her admission took Amanda a little aback. “I’m so used to our banter that I just… did that, and I think I hurt you.”

Amanda was about to deny it, but she couldn’t do that while looking straight into Hannah’s eyes. She looked like she meant the apology. She didn’t want to belittle its importance. “You kind of did,” she admitted.

Hannah nodded. “Well, truth is that… You’re a great pilot and I actually enjoyed flying with you,” she said. Amanda couldn’t help the small smile that crawled into her face. Hannah seemed to grimace at it. “Don’t think that means you’re better than Diana. You’re not.”

“Sure,” Amanda shrugged.

Shaking her head, Hannah mumbled something across the lines of ‘should’ve shut up’. “But,” she continued, “even if we’re not flying together we can still hang out,” she suggested.

Amanda was the one shaking her head this time. She had to look away to answer. Looking at Hannah so much seemed to be putting her in a good mood despite how theoretically bad this moment was supposed to be. “It’s not that I wouldn’t want to,” she said. “But how would you feel about Andrew if he rejected you? Would you still be ok hanging out with him as just a friend?”

Hannah paused. “As I said, I don’t think our situations are that comparable, but… Look, I…” She seemed to be struggling to say whatever it was she wanted to. Amanda looked at her through the corner of her eye. Was she blushing? “I want us to be _friends,_ ” she said. The last word came out so strained that it heard as if her throat had been burning or something. “There, I said it.”

Amanda laughed. This had been kind of exactly what she had been talking about before with Constanze and Jasminka. “Hannah, I…” She turned to look at her face and she shut up. Hannah had an intense look. Did she really meant what she was saying? “I… Won’t stop liking you as long as we keep hanging out together.”

Hannah seemed surprised by the answer. She blushed a little. “You don’t know that. If you get to know more about me you may discover parts of me you dislike.”

“That’s not how crushes work.”

“Shut up I know, I’m trying to be the mature one here,” this time it was Hannah who looked away. “Look, this is a case of ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s taken away from you’. I think we had started to be more… cordial to each other. Cutting that relationship as it stood feels hasty.”

Amanda cocked her head, as something started to feel… strange. Hannah had said she didn’t like Amanda, but she hadn’t actually said she would _never_ like her, had she? And this whole ‘friendship’ thing… It felt like something Amanda might have come up with to catch some of her previous preys. Just, without the obvious innocence behind the idea.

“What if I never stop liking you?” Amanda asked. Hannah’s blush got a little stronger.

“I doubt that’ll happen. I’ll get a boyfriend eventually, so you’ll have to-”

“What if I end up liking you more? What if everything I discover makes me fall deeper in love with you?” Amanda asked. It was a really awkward question. One extremely uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of. But something had just brought a spark of inspiration to Amanda.

“Then I’ll deal with it, I guess,” Hannah said, feeling uncomfortable. “But as I said, you’ll find someone better than me eventually,” she really couldn’t look at Amanda anymore, it seemed. “Still, I would wish for you to respect my feelings too. We’ll be friends, just that.”

Amanda wasn’t as disappointed as she should have probably been from that. “Ok.”

Hannah blinked. She looked at Amanda. “What?”

“Ok, let’s be friends,” Amanda tended Hannah her hand.

Raising an eyebrow, Hannah looked at the hand and back at Amanda. “What… are you up to?”

“Me? You made the offer,” Amanda said, her tone suddenly cheerful.

“Amanda…” Hannah narrowed her eyes in a look of suspicion.

Amanda smiled. “I just think that you’re making a mistake, but if you won’t take my word I might get a chance to prove it.”

“If you do anything weird I’m going to sue you,” Hannah said, taking the hand and shaking it.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Amanda said, her smile growing. If there was one thing she hadn’t expected to take out of this conversation, that was certainly _hope._


	70. Chapter 70

“How’s your leg doing?” Greta asked Diana. Diana didn’t answer, too focused on her book to do so. She was near the end, and with little time left in the hospital, she’d rather finish it sooner than later.

_The darkness that once made me want to hide under my sheets now was a comfortable veil over what would have otherwise been a really awkward situation. The makeshift mattress under us cracked and rustled with every movement, but we didn’t care. I felt the warmth of Marian’s body next to mine, her gentle touch as she explored my body, her breathing getting stronger as she felt my own hands on her hips. Maybe out of pure instinct, she pulled me closer and kissed me passionately. I had already grown accustomed to the feeling of my blushed face, but the heat that spread across my body with the kiss was something new. Familiar, maybe, but also unknown._

_I started playing with the hem of her t-shirt, slipping my hands under it. My hand seemed to send shivers across her body, as her fingers brushing my neck did with mine. Then, with surprisingly steady fingers, she started undoing the buttons of my shirt…_

The book was snatched away from Diana. “Listen, Miss Cavendish,” Greta interrupted her. The way in which she pronounced her name almost made Diana flinch. “I know the sex scene is really intense, but if I ask you a question, you _answer it_ , ok?” Her eyes were giving Diana something she could only describe as a fierce look.

“Y-yes,” Diana said, blushing. She had been lost in her reading. “Sorry, uhm, could you repeat the question?”

“Tell me how your leg is, girl,” Greta said, handing her the book back. “Then you can go back to reading.”

“It feels fine,” Diana admitted. “Though it still feels weird not to have the cast.”

Greta nodded. “In about two days you’ll be back on your feet. We’re going to intensify a little the magic treatment to make sure everything goes well in these final stages,” she used her medical voice. “Now you can get back to your book. Enjoy,” she said with a wink.

Diana would have been a little more embarrassed, but she honestly was just too enraptured by what she was reading.

_… one by one._

_“Have you really never done this before?” I whispered to her ear when she started kissing my neck, trying to hold back a moan._

_“Why would I lie to you?” She replied in between kisses, finishing with my buttons._

_“You’re just…” I paused as one of her hands brushed my chest, “So confident about it all,” I managed to finish._

_Marian was now kissing my collarbone. “I love you. I want you. And I’m confident you feel the same,” she explained. “…You do, right?” she paused her kisses for a second._

_I took my hands and pulled her t-shirt up. She allowed it to come off. “Of course I do,” I smiled, even if Marian wouldn’t be able to see it._

_“Then I’ve no reason to be nervous,” she finished, finally going back to pressing her soft lips against my body._

Diana paused. Truth be told, she wasn’t used to reading such… explicit things. She had read sex scenes here and there, but they usually were less detailed, less graphic. Neither character was actually naked yet, but her heart was already racing and her face burnt.

Before she could put her eyes back in the page, there was knocking on her door. She hastily threw the book in the nightstand, taking a deep breath and trying to quell her face before speaking. “Come on in,” she said, keeping her voice even.

She had to look away as Akko entered the room. Somehow, having just read that scene made the interactions seem dirty. “Hey Diana!” Akko said. She was carrying a bag. She was cheerful and smiling, which was a relief, given everything. Diana was kind of relieved it was Akko, too, since she’d probably wouldn’t notice it if she acted weird.

“Hello,” Diana said, forcing herself to look at the brunette, who didn’t hesitate to sit in the bed. “What is that you’re carrying?” She asked, pointing at the bag.

“A gift,” Akko carefully handed it to Diana, and as Diana took it out of the bag a small smile started appearing on her face.

“Is this Meatflower stew?” Diana asked in disbelief. Akko nodded energetically. Diana felt her smile truly reveal itself as she looked at Akko. “Did you get it for me?”

“Well, we were eating at the Goodwill and I recalled you really liked this so I saved some of mine. I hope it’s not too gross,” Akko smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

Diana, surprisingly enough, didn’t find it so. “I’m just surprised you managed not to finish it to save some for me,” she said, smiling. Akko seemed happy. Diana felt bad for what she was about to say, but she had to. “Too bad I can’t eat it.”

Akko blinked. “Huh?”

“I’m barely able to eat anything human, Akko. This could seriously mess up my treatment,” Diana explained, feeling guilty for having to reject Akko’s gift. Akko’s smile slowly turned into an embarrassed expression. Diana, almost out of instinct, placed a hand on her shoulder. “But I’m happy you thought of me, Akko, really.”

Akko pursed her lips. “Can’t you eat a little? Just a bite?”

Diana shook her head. “Sorry.” Akko sighed, but looked at Diana when she handed the food back. “Here, finish it. You must be hungry.”

“Now I’m not,” Akko said in a disappointed voice.

Diana stared firmly. “Akko, eat, please,” she said in a harsh voice. Akko reluctantly took it, looking at it. “Don’t feel bad. I can go eat there in a couple days when I’m able to walk again.”

Akko stared at the food for a while. “Fine,” she said in an unconvinced tone, not unlike one of a kid who just agrees to something ‘cause he can’t think of anymore excuses. Then she looked at Diana. “But we’re going to eat there as soon as you can stand up and I won’t take no for an answer,” she said with a grumpy voice as she put a spoonful of the stew into her mouth.

Diana held back a chuckle. “It’s a date, then,” she said, looking at Akko chew at her stew.

Akko swallowed and nodded with energy. She was certainly hungry, after all. She ate the stew in a heartbeat, and when she was done, Diana handed her some water. Akko gulped down an entire bottle.

Diana watched all of this with her chest somehow feeling full. Akko put the plastic tupper back in the bag before looking at Diana with her big red eyes and sigh. “Well this trip was useless,” she lamented. “Now I’ve only probably made you crave for some of this,” Akko sloppily held the bag up.

“I won’t say I wouldn’t want some,” Diana said. “But I don’t think you coming here was a waste. I’m glad you did, in fact,” she explained. Akko looked at her with some mistrust. “I’m serious. You’re an interesting and fun person, Akko. In a way, I’m kind of glad my leg broke. I’m not sure if I would have come to like you so if I hadn’t been, well, forced to talk to you back then.”

Akko kept staring, but she ended up smiling broadly. A smile Diana was really starting to wish she could see more of. Then, Diana felt something vibrating. Her wand, in her nightstand, to be precise. She looked at it. “It’s for you,” she handed the thing to Akko.

Reading it, Akko cocked her head. “Ursula says she has something to talk about,” she said with a slightly worried expression. “Guess I should go see her.”

“Probably,” Diana agreed.

Akko pressed her lips. “Hey, Diana?”

“Yes?”

“Ask Hannah and Barbara to bring you some nice clothes for the moment you get discharged from here,” she said as she stood.

Diana smiled again. “Of course.”

“And… Well, I’m also happy we got to know each other some more. I’ll…” she paused, as if realizing something. “I’ll… come by later,” she said absently. Then, with barely a wave of the hand as a goodbye and her brow furrowed, she walked out of the room in thought.

Diana might have been a little more curious about that if it hadn’t been Akko, who had the attention span of a fly. Their chat had left her feeling warm and happy. Well, she’d certainly keep feeling warm, at least in the face, as she planned on finishing the book right now.

 

Ursula was bouncing her leg.

_‘You‘ve been lying to me!’_

The memory of her shout, her voice filled with rage and mixing with tears, echoed in her head like it so often did many years ago. She had expected for all those memories to come back during the race, but she had never expected them to hurt as much as they did.

She had screamed that right after the best race she’d ever had. When everyone would think she would be the happiest. Where every human spectator was already celebrating their first victory on the IPR. Every odd had been stacked against her, every other racer had been out for her throat. She had given her usual, happy speech at the end of it.

_‘I did not! I told you I could better the magic output, and I did! We’ve been winning without a hint of trouble for the past three races! They all tried to kill us but we were above their bullshit!’_

_‘You cheated! You… You didn’t have the right to!’_

_‘Everyone ganged against us wasn’t cheating?!’_

The memories were almost tangible to Ursula. Her realization of what had happened during that race, what had happened during the previous couple of races, it had been so terrifying to her. It still was.

_‘No!’_

Her final word still made her look back. Made her think if, had she answered differently, things could have been better. A knocking on her door snapped her out of remembrance.

Akko was outside. “Uhm, hello,” she said, a little nervous. Ursula’s message had been rather cryptic, she was aware, so it was normal for Akko to be a little fidgety.

“Come in, Akko,” Ursula said. She was probably as nervous as the brunette. More, in fact. Her hands were sweaty, and she was really starting to think Akko would end up figuring out her secret. But she couldn’t let Croix manipulate her. She had to look out for her students. For Akko. For the Shiny Rod.

Ursula sat in her bed, while Akko sat in the chair of her room. She had gotten a room with a single bed and a desk. It wasn’t fancy but it was functional. It also had a mini-fridge. She didn’t use it but those things always made a room feel better. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Akko said, looking away.

“I’m not mad, Akko, relax,” Ursula clarified. Akko visibly loosened up, smiling.

“Oh, good. So, then, why am I here?” She asked, clearly more comfortable. She seemed to be in a particularly good mood, for some reason.

Ursula looked Akko in the eyes. Would she figure it out?

Would it be that bad if she did?

“Akko, have you ever wondered why the Shiny Rod is such a special broom?” The room, lit with the white, even light of the rest of the ship, seemed to get darker to Ursula.

“I… guess I have,” Akko said, her voice slightly confused. “Though I don’t think I’ve been too concerned with that.”

Ursula nodded. It made sense. She hadn’t been too worried about it either, at first. Not until… “I think it’s about time we talked about it,” she looked Akko straight in the eyes, getting rid of her glasses. “About what the Shiny Rod is and what it can do.”

Akko frowned. “Do you know?”

Ursula nodded. “You could say that.”

“How?”

The question was an obvious one, yet also the one Ursula feared the most. Akko had a face of confusion and curiosity. It was pure, no suspicion, no doubt. Just… Akko. “Well, I… Investigated,” Ursula said. She didn’t have the heart to lie to Akko face to face. Half truths, on the other hand? Those were much more bearable. “Though it’s not something I’ve shared with anyone.”

Akko thought for a second, but she nodded. Seemed like the word ‘investigation’ automatically turned whatever she heard into something believable. Ursula didn’t know if she should’ve been happy or worried. Some day the girl would need to develop some extra skepticism. “Then, what is the Shiny Rod?”

Ursula thought. She wasn’t sure Akko could handle the entire truth. But that’s what half truths were for. Taking a deep breath, she took her wand and showed Akko a blueprint of the Shiny Rod. It didn’t matter that it was ten years old. The Shiny Rod wouldn’t change.

“It’s many things. A living broom. An experiment. A weapon, even,” with each word, Ursula changed what was showing on the holographic screen of her tablet. A blueprint of the Rod’s ‘axe’ form. A blueprint of the ‘speed’ form. A blueprint of the ‘sprinkler’ form. “But most of all, Akko,” she went on to show her a bigger image next time.

It was a blueprint of the Shiny Rod’s engine. And fuel source. It was a circular chamber with hundreds of small holes that spread the energy thorough the whole ship. What wasn’t obvious was that this power source was as small as an apple, and those hundreds of holes not wider than a needle.

“The Shiny Rod is a source of energy. I’m… not sure of how, but it has an apparently infinite amount of it,” Ursula explained.

“That’s pretty cool, I guess,” Akko said. “Though… I don’t see what it has to do with what I’m doing.”

Ursula sighed. “The commands you’ve been unlocking – They’re different keys. Passwords, if you may. Each one allows the Shiny Rod to access a new way of releasing that energy, that… Well, Magic,” Ursula showed Akko something else. A map of all ley-lines on earth. “It’s an energy source that seems to tap directly into the source of magic, whichever it may be. Where the ley-lines come from. It allows the Shiny Rod to do all the crazy stuff it does. Teleporting, reconstructing itself on a whim, floating permanently, ignoring gravity, among a lot of other things,” Ursula continued.

“But… How many of them are there?” Akko was obviously having a hard time processing all of this.

“Seven,” Ursula said. Then, taking a deep breath, she showed Akko a photo. A photo taken inside a white building. A photo of a wall with inscriptions. Maybe like a seven-leaf clover, each leaf with a different thing written inside it in an incomprehensible language.

“And what happens when we get them all?”

Ursula hesitated. “I… I’m not sure,” she explained. “I believe it’d allow the Shiny Rod to get out its maximum output of energy. As it is, it can only use but a small, minimum fraction of it. Basically zero, if the amount is infinite. Unlocking all of them and its secrets may allow us to tap into untold potential.”

Akko didn’t seem to get it.

“In short, Akko, it’s a really, really powerful thing that if it happened to fall in the wrong hands it could cause a _lot_ of damage,” Ursula put it in simpler terms.

Akko then made a face of ‘ah’ and nodded. “I see,” she said. “So… I have to unlock all other commands? Or, like, stop doing so?”

“You should unlock all of them, I think,” Ursula put her wand down, looking Akko in the eyes again. “Because as long as you have it, the Shiny Rod won’t ever harm anyone.”

Akko nodded, looking serious. “Ok, then. Just tell me the commands and I’ll go unlock it all and we’ll…”

Ursula chuckled. “You took it better than expected, but no,” she shook her head. “It’s… complicated. You can try, but if the Shiny Rod doesn’t consider you ready, you won’t be able to use any of the commands.”

“And how do I know when I’m ready?”

“Well…” Ursula wet her lips. “Each phrase, each command, has a meaning,” she explained. “To be able to use them you must understand them.”

Akko seemed ok with the idea. “Then what do the ones I’ve already got mean?”

Ursula smiled. “ _Noctu Orfei, Aude Freator:_ Strive for your ideal place,” it had been years since she’d had to recite them. She didn’t actually know how Akko had discovered this one, now that she thought about it. “ _Phaidoari Afairynghor:_ You don’t get the things that you dream of, you get the things that you work for,” the second one she had discovered after giving up the auto pilot. She had understood that working hard was better than just letting the phantom of an idol take her place. “ _Arae Aryrha:_ Don’t compare yourself to others, do what only you can do,” Ursula had been there when Akko had finally understood that trying to be like Diana or Amanda would get her nowhere. She looked at Akko, to see how she reacted.

Akko cocked her head. “That’s a lot of meaning for just a couple words,” she commented.

Ursula laughed. “I suppose.”

“What language is it?”

This gave her pause. “I don’t know,” she admitted. Akko didn’t look satisfied. Ursula often forgot it, but Akko was actually skilled in languages. She had gotten a good hang of Cyborg in little time, and despite being Japanese she spoke English without a hint of accent.

“Hmm…” Akko put a hand on her chin. Did she do that often? Probably not. “So… What do the other commands mean?”

Ursula looked at them. She couldn’t actually read the language. It was the Shiny Rod who had translated them. She still recalled the meaning of the ones she’d discovered, though. “Well, I’m not sure if telling you would be helpful. You should probably focus on one at a time.”

“Why?”

“It should happen naturally,” Ursula explained. “If I told you, if you try to force it, well… You may lock yourself out of discovering them in the first place,” she pointed up, at nothing specific. “I- Chariot probably had problems with this. She started to understand this and tried to force it.”

“I see,” Akko said, nodding. “Then… I should go practice and-”

“There’s still twelve hours in the free day I gave you. Go use them and _then_ you can go back to the rod, got it?” Ursula really didn’t want Akko to go back to the Rod right now. She had already checked it, and luckily Croix hadn’t managed to do anything weird with it, but she’d rather give it a grace period.

Akko pouted. “I guess…” Then she looked up. “Wait, can I tell the others about this?”

Ursula pressed her lips. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her other students, but… “I’d prefer it if you didn’t. This is dangerous knowledge. Can I trust you to keep the secret?”

Akko seemed really torn. “I…” she hesitated. “Not even Diana?”

Ursula cocked her head. “Diana?”

“Yeah! She’s way more reliable than me, don’t you agree? She could probably figure it out with me too…” Akko was making puppy eyes. It was kind of hard to say no to that. Well, not kind of. It was really hard.

 _She’d rather tell Diana than her teammates?_ Ursula was slightly surprised. It seemed like their relationship had grown into a real friendship. Or maybe more? Were Ursula’s thoughts tainted because of Barbara and Lotte, or Amanda? Not every friendship had to develop into romance. “Ok, but just her,” she gave in.

Akko beamed. “Ok then I’m gonna tell her thanks!” Akko said in quick succession as she walked out of the room. “I’ll find the commands and not disappoint you or Chariot!” She cried as the door closed.

Ursula got the distinct feeling that Akko hadn’t gotten most of the conversation. Did she really understand what was at stake?

Would it make any difference?

After all, knowing it had tipped Croix in the wrong way. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe…

Ursula dropped on her bed with a long sigh. _I can’t believe she didn’t figure it out. Bless you, Akko’s short attention span,_ she thought as she finally allowed herself to relax some more. This chat had gone a lot better than she’d expected it to go.

 

“I have the feeling,” Hannah was saying to Barbara as they walked together, “that I made a mistake.”

“You just talked to her, at least wait for a while before panicking,” Barbara said, smiling knowingly. Gold Deck was as full as always, so walking through its narrow streets was annoying at best. “You don’t know what she meant.”

“I know that she was totally acting weird,” Hannah said. “She… She didn’t look hurt! I mean, I didn’t want to see her hurt, but by the end she didn’t even look sad!”

Barbara chuckled. “Well, you kind of gave her hope,” she explained. “If you were going to reject her you should have been a little more direct.”

“I was pretty direct.”

“By what you told me, it’d probably be easy to misinterpret it. You sure you actually don’t want Amanda to like you?” Barbara paused to look at a window. It had pretty clothes.

“Of course not!” Hannah said, offended. “I just want us to be normal friends!”

Barbara didn’t seem to be paying attention. “Amanda’s totally going to start actively flirting with you, you know,” she commented. “How are you going to handle that?”

“I’ll just ignore it. I already know she likes me, no amount of flirting is going to change anything,” Hannah assured. She had already imagined Amanda would be flirting with her. But what could she do, anyways? Now that she thought about it, Hannah had never flirted with anyone… and no one had actually flirted with her.

“Ok, think about this: You’re walking together, having a ‘totally normal friends’ time, and she grabs your hand. What then?”

“I let go, duh,” Hannah replied instantly. Barbara turned to look at her with a neutral look. “W-what?”

“Nothing,” Barbara shrugged, and she kept walking. Hannah was kind of frustrated, mostly because she already figured out what Barbara thought. She was totally expecting Hannah to fall for Amanda, didn’t she? But Hannah really wouldn’t like to hold hands with Amanda. No matter how slender those hands, or how good they might feel. No matter how cool Amanda might look… “Nice blush.”

“I’m not blushing!” Hannah snapped. She could feel the blush, so the lie was kind of stupid, but it had been more of a reaction than an actual statement. Anybody would blush by holding hands with Amanda. She was a pretty tomboyish girl. Anyone would blush at that.

Barbara chuckled. “If you feel that uncomfortable, just tell Amanda that you don’t actually want to be friends.”

“But I want to! I just… Want her to act normally. Ugh, she’s the one making it weird,” Hannah put a hand to her face.

“If you ask me, she’s acting pretty normal for a girl who has a crush. Plus, if your theory is right, she’s not going to do it for long, right?” Barbara offered.

“I’m just kind of scared she’s going to go overboard and ruin everything,” Hannah said. “She doesn’t look like she’d harass me, does she?”

Barbara rolled her eyes. “Jesus girl, you think she’s going to grab your butt and call you pretty?” she said with sarcasm. Then she thought for a second. “Nevermind, she seems like one to do that… but not to you, at least. She can read people pretty well. If she’s going to flirt with you she’ll probably do it in a more subtle way.”

“What do you mean ‘subtle’?” Hannah asked with mistrust.

“Well… If I had to flirt with you, I’d do compliments, probably. Small and big, you get easily flustered with them. ‘You look nice today. Though I guess that’s true for every day,’ stuff like that. Nothing cheesy either. You like cheesy in your stories but IRL that’s pretty damn cringy. Maybe I’d invite you to eat something, though I don’t think Amanda would be the kind to do the ‘nice guy’ act. And, well, we don’t really have to pay for our food here, so that’s not an option anyways,” she paused for a second to think.

“You seem to have given this thought,” Hannah said.

“I did, years ago. I actually tried to get you to notice I liked you for a while. Failed miserably. You’re pretty dense,” Barbara winked at her. Hannah rolled her eyes. “I dunno. Maybe I’d look for casual skinship, though nothing intrusive. A bump of a shoulder here, the brush of a hand there. Maybe a kiss on the cheek when we meet, stuff like that.”

Hannah pursed her lips. She recalled a time when Barbara had been a little more touchy than usual. Had it been because of that? “Isn’t that like, wrong?” Hannah asked.

Barbara gave her a flat look. “I mean, we’re friends. Sure, I kind of touched you a few times with ulterior motives, but I don’t think I ever made you uncomfortable,” she said with a simple tone. “If you feel like Amanda is crossing a line – assuming she’ll do this, I don’t know what she’s gonna do – just tell her. That’s also what friends do.”

Hannah looked up, thinking. Why was she so uncomfortable with the idea of Amanda flirting with her, anyways? It was probably just going to be another way of teasing her. She just had to show no reaction and she’d get bored eventually. But what if she didn’t? What if by the end of the race she still liked Hannah? What if they went through the entirety of Luna Nova with Amanda still liking her?

Even if she found it weird, the idea didn’t seem to bother Hannah too much. That didn’t mean she’d ever come to like Amanda, though. She’d never go out with her, take her hand, kiss her or… “Y-you’re right,” Hannah said, shaking her head to get rid of the weird ideas forming in her head. “I wanna be her friend and I’m going to show her how it’s done,” she said rising a fist.

Barbara laughed.

“What?” Hannah asked, offended.

“Nothing, it’s just funny to see you try so hard,” she said. Barbara slapped her arm. “Ok, ok, relax.”

“Anyways, I just gotta think of a way of getting her to see me as nothing but a friend. Think getting a boyfriend would help?” Hannah started considering options.

“How will you get one?”

“If you told me who the masked guy was…” Hannah still had to go back to her search, since the last days hadn’t really let her do much, but she was already losing hope of finding him on her own.

Barbara chuckled. “I told you I don’t know,” she lied. “Though I’m sure you’ll find out who it was some day,” she winked at her.

Hannah didn’t gave her the satisfaction of reacting. She just crossed her arms as they got to walking again. Now, how could she go about things…

 

Akko paused in front of the door. She had been there like twenty minutes ago. But she wanted to talk with Diana. She wanted to tell her what Ursula had revealed – though, to be honest, she failed to really grasp it. Maybe Diana would help. But then, why did she hesitate? ‘ _You think about her, you want to be with her’,_ Akko recalled Barbara saying. _‘It’s a fluffy and warm feeling’._

Why was she thinking about it anyways?

She knocked. She got no reply. Maybe Diana was sleeping? She hadn’t looked tired, though. She knocked again. Nothing. She pouted. She had really wanted to talk with Diana. _‘You’ll feel happy just talking with the person you like’._

Akko had recalled that earlier, when exiting Diana’s room, though she’d had a hard time really understanding why. Diana seemed to be a lot on her mind recently. Akko decided to peek into her room. If she was sleeping then she’d just come out and go do something else.

The door opened and she looked inside. Diana was… awake. She didn’t even notice Akko’s head sticking out of the threshold, her eyes focused on a book sitting on her legs. She was staring intensely at it, her eyes almost unblinking as they darted through the pages. She had her hair pulled up in a ponytail, something Akko hadn’t seen her do before.

She looked really pretty. Even in bed, wearing that oversized clothing. She always looked pretty, but something about how intense she was being made Akko unable to look away. Diana passed pages, and Akko noticed she was basically at the end of the book. What was it about? She didn’t read many books, and that one was thick, but if Diana was this lost in it then it was probably good. It didn’t look like it was a scientific book or something like that.

Akko didn’t know for how long she had been watching Diana, but at one point, she paused, closed the book, and smiled. Then she looked up, and their eyes met.

Diana’s eyes widened, and she blushed. Akko gave her a lopsided grin. “H-hey,” she said. “I saw you focused and I didn’t want to bother you…”

“Y-you saw me?” Diana looked down at the book. “T-this is just… Uhm…”

“A book?” Akko entered the room. Her body hurt a little from the uncomfortable position she had been in before. She hadn’t even noticed it while looking at Diana, but now it was annoying.

“Yeah, a book!” Diana exclaimed. Why was she so nervous? She seemed to realize what she had said, for her face went even redder and she hid behind the book. The title read ‘Emotions’. “I sounded like an idiot, did I not?” she asked.

“Well… I suggested it, so I guess we’re both idiots,” Akko said with an awkward chuckle, hesitating before getting a little closer. “So, uhm… What’s it about?” She asked while pointing at the book. Diana slowly came out of her hiding place. Her face was still slightly red, but that only made her look… Well, better. Cuter. Akko couldn’t really stop looking at her blue eyes.

 _Like a red dot on a white sheet,_ Akko realized.

“It’s a romance story,” Diana described. “Between two girls.”

Akko nodded. “Is it interesting?”

Diana smiled, looking at it. “It was wonderful.”

Akko wondered if she should read it. She threw the idea away, since she really hated reading. “Sorry for interrupting you,” she apologized, sitting down next to Diana. A romance story? Well, everyone had their hobbies.

Diana shook her head. “You didn’t. I just finished it.”

“Oh,” Akko paused. Romance story… “Hey, Diana,” a question popped into Akko’s mind. She wasn’t sure of why she suddenly was so interested in the topic, but she had to ask. “Is there… someone you like?”

Diana’s blush, which hadn’t gone away, strengthened. “W-why do you ask?”

Akko wondered the same thing. “I’m just curious, I guess.”

Diana stopped to think. “I… don’t know,” she seemed to be realizing something herself. She gave Akko a strange look. “How about you?”

Akko shook her head. “I…” She looked at Diana. Liking someone. Wanting to be with someone. Being happy when talking with someone. An idea was forming in her head, but she couldn’t really give it shape yet. “I… don’t know either,” she said. Looking at Diana made her warm and fluffy inside. Her heartbeat raised. She wondered if she could lean down and…

Could it really be?

Diana looked ever so slightly disappointed. “I see. It’ll be a weird day when you of all people fall for someone,” she said with an amused tone. “How would a love struck Akko act?” She chuckled a little at the idea. There was a strange air between the two of them. Akko started to wonder if maybe Diana… “Well, in any case,” Diana interrupted her thoughts, “What brought you back here?”

Akko suddenly recalled why she had come back. “Oh, right!” All of her previous thoughts seemed to flee as the strange atmosphere of the room changed into the normal one. “Listen, this is a secret, so please don’t tell anyone…”


	71. Chapter 71

Amanda smiled as she saw Hannah standing next to the Shiny Rod. Practice resumed today, and even if Diana would be back on her feet tomorrow, she’d still have a couple days of rest and rehabilitation before she would be allowed into a broom.

In short, Amanda had at least three days of time alone with Hannah, and even then, now that they were real ‘friends’ she would have a lot more of chances, probably. “Hey Hannah,” Amanda said, smiling genuinely. Now that the awkwardness was gone from her mind, she could really accept just how much she enjoyed looking at and being with Hannah.

“Hey Amanda,” Hannah said, smiling back. Amanda could see that her smile was somewhat forced, but that was fine. “I heard you hit the gym this morning,” the auburn haired girl was sitting on the Shiny Rod. Amanda sat next to her, leaving little space between them.

“Yeah, I did,” Amanda said. “Don’t worry tho, I showered before coming here,” she clarified. Hannah shrugged. “How about you?”

“I slept a lot,” Hannah said. “Woke up like an hour ago and came down here,” she said. “Akko hopped in there just five minutes before you came, so we’ve probably got some waiting time.”

She was wearing her g-suit. Amanda tried not to ogle her too much. She didn’t want to make Hannah think of her as a pervert. “So we’ve got some time together, eh?” Amanda asked, looking at the hangar in general. It had become such a familiar view, she barely thought about it anymore.

“Yes,” Hannah said. “Seems like our next destination is Earth, by the way,” she commented.

Amanda was a little surprised. “Huh. Didn’t expect to go back so soon,” she said, thinking about it. It wasn’t really that exciting, since they could really go there whenever they wanted with the Rod.

“Well, it will be fine to get a few days of normality amidst all of this,” Hannah said.

Nodding, Amanda laid on her back. There were a few minutes of silence after that. From her position, Amanda could see Hannah’s nape. It was a normal nape, but it also was all the more special than others too. She wanted to kiss it. Since she’d been able to just… well, be open with how she felt, she felt all the more free. Like normal, basically.

“This is awkward, isn’t it?” Amanda said, noticing how Hannah was playing with one of the straps of her g-suit.

Hannah shrugged. “Kinda, but we’ll get over that eventually,” she said, though she didn’t sound too confident.

Amanda chuckled. “This is your fault, you know. We could have been normally awkward, but now we’re here,” she said. “Trying to act normal when nothing is.”

“Well, like I said-” Hannah started to repeat itself, but Amanda interrupted.

“You know I want to make you fall for me now, don't you?” She confessed. Hannah stopped fidgeting. She turned to look at Amanda with disbelief, her face turning red. It was quite the expression, if Amanda was being honest. “I mean, I made it obvious yesterday, but I wanted to make sure all my cards were on the table.”

Hannah didn’t really seem to know how to reply. “God, Barbara said you’d at least be subtle,” she said putting a hand over her eyes to hide her embarrassment. “I mean, I knew it, but being told like that is just…”

“Eh, being subtle only works for people who don’t have an absurdly dense girl to conquer,” Amanda explained. “I feel like being straightforward works better for you.”

Hannah was still covering her face, but she was smiling. Maybe she didn’t realize it. “Do you really think it’s going to work? Whatever you do? What do you even plan on doing?”

“Well, if I spoil it the fun will go away, don’t you think? And of course it’s going to work,” Amanda said with confidence.

“Why are you so convinced?” Hannah finally showed her red face.

“Well, you didn’t exactly say you wouldn’t ever be able to fall for me,” Amanda explained, shrugging. “So I might as well take the chance.”

“And if I told you I won’t ever fall for you?” Hannah asked.

Amanda had already thought about that, of course. “Then I’ll give up,” she admitted. She looked at Hannah from her position. Met her eyes. “Just say it and it’ll end before it even begins,” she said with some hesitance. She hoped really hard Hannah didn’t do it, but if she did…

Hannah opened her mouth, and Amanda prepared for impact. “You shouldn’t get your hopes up,” was all she said, laying down next to Amanda.

“Wait, not going to deny it?” Amanda said, dumbfounded.

“I can’t say for certain it’s impossible, can I?” Hannah replied.

Amanda smiled. “I guess falling for you wasn’t so bad after all,” she said, confidence growing again. She looked at Hannah next to her, who had blushed again. She wanted to roll over and hug her. Or to climb on top of her and… She shook her head. Hannah was a slow learner. Trying to force something like that on her would be overstepping. Instead, she decided to continue with what she had planned on doing in the first place. “Hey, can I kiss your cheek?”

Hannah looked at her with distrust. “Why would you do that?”

“I just feel like doing it,” Amanda said. “You can think of it as a french greeting if you want,” she suggested.

Hannah seemed to actually consider it. Then she put on a serious face. “If this is what you mean by ‘being direct’ then it’s not going to work. A kiss isn’t going to-”

“Then I can do it?” Amanda raised her eyebrows.

Hannah, annoyed by the interruption, pursed her lips. She mumbled something.

“I didn’t catch that,” Amanda said.

Going beet red, Hannah looked to the other side entirely. “…just a peck,” she said in a really strained voice.

Amanda started. She had to look around to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Had Hannah actually let her? She… Hadn’t actually expected that to work. Now she was actually nervous. She used her elbow to prop herself up and get a little closer to Hannah, who was still looking away. She was about to ask if she really could, but that would have probably made Hannah just retract.

She leaned down and very carefully placed a quick kiss on Hannah’s cheek. It was only an instant, yet it felt like an eternity.

When she got back to laying down, she felt as if lightning had struck her, almost unable to think. She had never felt that way after a kiss on the cheek. Scratch that, she had never felt that way in her life. “Well, there you go,” Hannah said. She was still red. “No big deal, see?”

“That was the biggest deal,” Amanda said, her voice almost a whisper.

“Excuse me?” Hannah looked at her with concern.

“Can I do it again?”

“No!” Hannah sat up. “Jeez, it was… Just a small kiss…” she put a hand on her cheek. “You’re really annoying,” she said, crossing her arms. Amanda couldn’t even be bothered to give a retort. She was just staring upwards, getting blinded by the massive white lights, up in cloud nine.

They stayed in silence for a while longer. Maybe Hannah found it awkward, but Amanda was happy. She still felt the brush of Hannah’s cheek on her lips. So soft, so smooth. She really wanted to do it again, but since Hannah had said no, she’d have to conform with what she had gotten.

“Hey, Amanda,” Hannah regained her composure, though a faint blush remained. “I never told you what happened on the party last week, did I?”

“Nope,” Amanda said.

“I danced with… someone. Remember how I asked you about how would you find someone who you didn’t know anything about?” Hannah asked, playing with the strap of her suit.

“Yeah,” Amanda said.

“Well, I’m trying to find who I was dancing with. It was a masked guy so I don’t even know what he looked like,” Hannah explained. Amanda already knew, but she wondered if Hannah was telling her in an effort to get her to give up.

“Huh, pretty romantic, isn’t it,” Amanda said with a smirk. “What about Constanze’s help?”

“I thought it’d be helpful at first, and I suppose it was, but the options are too broad. Even with that I’d probably have to spend months searching,” she lamented. She allowed herself to lay back down. Amanda kept looking up, because the tightness in her chest told her that if she looked at Hannah now she’d be tempted to kiss her again, and she didn’t want to lose control.

“I see. Then, how about trying to look for the guy’s interests?” Amanda suggested, closing her eyes. The lights above were starting to annoy her. Hannah remained in silence for a while, and Amanda could focus on hearing her breathing.

“How would I know what his interests were?” She asked.

“Well, he was in a Nightfall party, so that may be a clue. Was he good at dancing? Then maybe he’s into it,” Amanda wondered if giving all of these red herrings would end up causing her to think the masked guy was someone other than her. Hopefully not. “Did he say anything?”

“No,” Hannah sighed. “The character he was cosplaying as was mute. I don’t think he was – I’ve looked, but there are only two mute people on this ship, one of them a three year old child and the other an engineer – but he was really into his roleplaying. Didn’t say a word, ran away when I tried to unmask him…”

Amanda tried not to blush when thinking of that moment. Hannah had been so beautiful that night. Well, she was always beautiful, but damn it she had been just radiant. “Well then he’s probably a big fan of Nightfall. Maybe you could look for people in possession of Nightfall books on the ship.”

“I can do that?” Hannah asked, surprised.

“They register everything we carry with us,” Amanda explained. She left out the part where she had only learned about that when trying to sneak in a small hacking device that was banned from most countries. She had tried to argue it wasn’t the one banned, that Constanze had just built it, but they wouldn’t believe her.

“Well, that’s as good a lead as I can get, I guess,” Hannah sighed. “I wish Barbara would just tell me who it is.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know,” Amanda said.

“I know her all too well. She knows and she’s just messing with me. I will find out eventually, anyways,” Hannah assured. Amanda dared open one eye to look at Hannah and see her expression. She was clearly looking back, though as soon as their eyes met both girls looked away. “You’re awfully cooperative in helping me find a potential boyfriend for someone who supposedly likes me and wants me to fall for her.”

“What, you think I’m scared of some dimwit who couldn’t take off a mask to let you know how to find them?” Amanda said, only partly feeling like she was insulting herself.

“I could fall for him,” Hannah explained.

Amanda chuckled. “You could, but then again, knowing nothing about the person there’s no way to tell,” she was holding back a chuckle.

“Would you give up if I happened to get a boyfriend?” Hannah asked.

“Probably,” Amanda said. She wanted oh so badly to see Hannah’s reaction to her reply. Would she be disappointed? Happy? Determined? Angry? “But I’d jump right back into it as soon as you broke up,” she finished.

Hannah paused. “You think we’d break up?”

“Teenage relationships rarely work out,” Amanda explained.

Hannah paused. Again. “Do you even realize what you’re saying?”

Amanda nodded, chuckling. “Of course I do. I said rarely, not never. I just gotta trust myself and not trust others. Pretty simple, isn’t it?”

“I never took you for an optimist,” Hannah said.

“Not optimism, I’m just egocentric. I trust myself to make a relationship last if I want, I also trust others to screw up,” Amanda shrugged. “It’s easier to live that way.”

Hannah stayed quiet for a while. “I wish I could see things as you do,” she said in the end. “Do you ever get nervous about anything?”

“Of course I do,” Amanda said. “I mean, I was pretty nervous during the days between the party and the confession.”

“Oh, right,” Hannah said. “You acted as if my touch burnt back in the finish line. You were nervous then?”

Amanda nodded. “I was thinking so hard ‘I won, Barbara’s going to set up a date for me and Hannah’ that when you touched me I kind of overreacted.”

“Wait,” Hannah’s tone shifted. “So it _was_ Barbara who set that up!”

“I thought it was obvious,” Amanda shrugged. “Though, a part of it was also the headache I had…” She suddenly recalled something. She sat up, looking down at the rod. “That’s right. I think the Shiny Rod is poisoning me!” she said with an accusatory voice.

Hannah, behind her, cocked her head. “What?” She asked with a ‘what-the-hell-are-you-on-about-now’ face.

“I got magic poisoning, despite not being close to any magic besides the Rod,” Amanda explained. “And now that I think about it, same thing happened back in Trashcan, but the headache went away when… I sat on the Rod.”

Hannah put her hand on the broom. “You know, in any other context I’d think you paranoid, but I believe this broom has done enough weird shit for what you said to be believable,” she said. “So, if it’s poisoning you, why not me? Or Jasminka?”

“Maybe it’s because I’m the, say, permanent gunman or something?” Amanda guessed. “Or maybe I’m particularly vulnerable? Though, if you think about it, recall that time in Machina Akko got magic poisoning too?”

“Right. She was fine and then all of a sudden bam, collapsed, eyes glowing,” Hannah recalled.

“That was the only time the Shiny Rod allowed me to use the teleportation,” Amanda said. “I didn’t give it much thought but… Maybe it knew what was going on.”

“And what was going on was…?”

“Piloting. Akko has an obvious mental link with the Rod,” Amanda couldn’t really explain how she would be able to make it do what she wanted with her half-assed requests otherwise. “And it must have one with me, though weaker. So… maybe it doesn’t like it when we use other brooms?,” she hypothesized.  “Maybe it’s like a trap. If we use a broom that’s not the rod, it releases magic into our system to stop us…” Amanda paused, her eyes widening.

“Well, that sounds fine, but it’s kind of a stretch, don’t you…”

“It’s the truth,” Amanda realized. “I… Don’t know why,” she was so… sure. She felt as if she’d always known this information. It was just like… “Just like when I realized I knew what the shapeshifter ships were like.”

Hannah was looking at her as if she was going crazy. Then, however, her expression softened, and she started to look more thoughtful. “Yeah, what you said was too specific. It also sounded way more like something Diana would say,” she agreed.

“Are you implying I’m not as smart as Diana?”

“I’m not implying it, I’m outright saying it,” Hannah said. She stuck out her tongue in a childish gesture that somehow really got on Amanda’s nerves. Being compared to Diana – and being considered the loser – seemed to really strike her the bad way.

“In any case,” Amanda said, decided to change topics before this devolved into another Amanda-versus-Diana discussion, “we should probably talk to Akko and Ursula about this.”

“Should we?” Hannah said. “I feel like adding stress to Akko isn’t going to help her.”

Amanda thought about it. “Guess you’re right,” she admitted. “Then we’ll talk to Ursula when she’s alone.”

Hannah nodded. Amanda stared at the Rod for a while, wondering if this meant she wouldn’t be able to pilot normally anymore. Well, even if it meant that, she’d use whatever broom she wanted, fuck the Rod. Though Akko probably wouldn’t have that choice.

Silence ensued for a while. Amanda started to get tired of it.

“Can I hold your hand?” She asked, turning to Hannah.

Hannah blinked. Then she pinched her nose. “So you’re just going to ask for random things at random times?”

“Can I?” Amanda insisted.

“No!” Hannah exclaimed, and she looked away with crossed arms. Amanda chuckled, laying back down. The bit of levity allowed her to get back into a good mood again.

 

Diana was tapping her finger on the mattress. She had realized she was doing it a while ago, but she didn’t care to stop it. She was thinking, and that thinking made her nervous, so she used that as a release.

 _‘Is there someone you like?’_ Akko had asked her. The question wasn’t what had left her thinking. _‘I don’t know,_ ’ she had answered. The answer wasn’t what had her like this either. This was bothering her more than what Akko had explained about the Shiny Rod. She knew which of these was technically more important. Her brain didn’t seem to care.

What had her thinking was the thing that had crossed her mind when the question rose. When Akko had asked that, Diana feeling embarrassed at being caught reading Emotions, with those two red eyes piercing hers, Diana’s mind had played a trick on her. As soon as her brain processed the question, one thing popped into her mind.

Akko.

This is what had her thinking, but she couldn’t seem to reach a conclusion.

Did she… Like Akko? If so, why? She had only really known the girl for like two months. Was that really enough time? And how did Akko really make her feel? She was fun to talk with, but could that really be liking someone? And maybe it wasn’t even romantic love. As far as she could tell, she was just having fun with a new friend. It had to be that, in fact. She was just over-thinking things, placing Akko in a pedestal as a shiny new toy. After so many years of only being friends with Barbara and Hannah, having the ever-cheerful Akko around gave her new experiences and emotions, things she could mistake for love.

Or, that’s what she told herself. She wasn’t really convincing.

Akko was like a ray of sunshine. Maybe annoying at times when it was too insistent, but beautiful and radiant, and when it showed up it also meant it’d be a good day. She had an amazing smile, intense eyes, pretty hair. Diana could feel her chest tighten only thinking about it. She wanted to talk with Akko. When had she begun looking more forward to talking with Akko than Hannah and Barbara?

When was it that she’d begun fantasizing about romance? About her own tree-house, about riding a motorcycle while hugging her girlfriend from behind?

And why was Akko the one who always seemed to take the place of her lover?

The answer was obvious, but Diana was… Confused. She had never liked anyone. She had never even considered romance as an option in her life. She was so focused on her goals that having relationships felt like nothing but a distraction. But then, Akko came along and just seemed to obliterate her previous ideals. She just showed up and Diana’s heart started beating faster.

But Diana understood this was just how she felt. Even if she liked Akko, she was in the middle of a race. She wasn’t like Lotte and Barbara, basically doing nothing all day and having time to enjoy the space cruiser. She wasn’t like Hannah and Amanda, two people who had seemed to jump the line of love and hate without even realizing it.

Diana was someone of focus. She had always taken pride on her apparently inhuman ability to ignore all of her emotions and do what she rationally knew was right. Liking Akko or not was not the problem, the problem was what could come after. Akko was a great person. She was cute, and slender, and happy, and when she smiled her smile lines seemed to- Diana shook her head. Well, there was no denying the obvious at this point.

The point was, Diana still had too much to do. Daryl was trying to screw her over again. Diana _needed_ to keep up her game. If she lost a single race, her aunt would try to use that against her. Diana couldn’t get side-tracked with relationships. She’d… She’d leave that for _after_ the Inter-Planetary Race.

But then, what? Did Akko like her too? Diana hoped so, but it was hard to tell. She was friendly with everyone. Maybe Diana read too much into things.

She would have one chance to find out, though. Akko had said they’d go to the Goodwill as soon as she could walk. Maybe, at that time, Diana could try asking about it. Maybe she could put some order to her feelings that way. These kinds of feelings would only get in her way eventually. She needed to settle them before going back to racing.

So, she’d talk to Akko during the dinner. She’d… Tell her she liked her and…

Diana had to close her eyes as she felt the blush creeping up her face. As rational as she liked to be, she couldn’t really control these reactions. Imagining herself telling Akko, what if Akko confessed back right there and then? What if Akko kissed her?

Kissing Akko. With her eyes closed, Diana could visualize it. It didn’t help her flustered state. Kissing Akko, hugging her, slowly taking off her shirt and- Diana shook her head, again. Stupid book, it had put outrageous ideas in her head. She didn’t even know if Akko liked her back, this was no time to be fantasizing about getting physical.

But it was hard not to. She imagined Akko wearing her g-suit. It didn’t leave much to the imagination. Was it dirty? Would Akko be mad to know Diana had started seeing her that way too?

“Argh,” Diana grunted in frustration. All of these emotions and thoughts were definitely interfering with her rational thinking. She needed to get a hold of herself.

She definitely needed to talk with Akko about this.

 

Akko looked at the next track in front of her. ‘The Island Stadium’. The place was a famous ‘free’ stadium, meaning any big competition could hire it for the right price. It was massive, the track a mess of curves and twists that overlapped for kilometers of magically reinforced concrete, all packed in a thirty-stories tall building in the middle of the ocean. The stadium was often used for world cups too. It was the third biggest stadium, only surpassed by the European Cup Stadium and the American Grand Prix one. It had taken the place of the Asian Cup Stadium.

Chariot had managed to win in this stadium, of course, which was why Akko even knew of it and the relationship it had with the other three. This had been the place where she had settled herself as Earth’s pilot.

Too bad she’d only get to practice here once before the Rod change objectives again. “Can’t we, like, ask Paul what the track is going to be? I know it’s the human tradition to use a different stadium every time, but I can’t possibly practice in _every_ one of Earth’s possible tracks for the next three days or so,” Akko complained.

“I’ve tried,” Ursula explained. “He refuses. There’s not much we can do until we reach Earth.”

“Can’t I just teleport and-”

“Until we _officially_ reach Earth,” Ursula corrected with a smile. “There’s no going around this. We can maybe narrow it down to the ten most plausible places, but this race has been so full of unexpected developments that I don’t trust the executives to go for the obvious choices.”

It was easy to understand the feeling. She didn’t know about a lot the IPR, but she had been surprised way too many times. She’d rather have a nice and easy race, for once. The faeries obvious cheating, the three laps in Machina, the absurdly specific rules in Pan and Diana’s ‘accident’, the change in scenario of Trashcan and what had happened to Akko in the previous race. Each race had had its quirk. But now they were going back home. Akko wouldn’t have said she was confident that nothing could go wrong, but she was at least somewhat hopeful that this time things would go without too many hiccups.

Akko called for the map of the track. It was… well, a mess. The layers upon layers of track wasn’t something she could read with just this representation of it. Maybe she should have taken her time to study it, but she honestly didn’t have the patience for it.

She decided to do a simple test run on her own, then she’d try it with some racers. She was at the starting line, in the ground. Looking up felt like staring from the bottom of a pit. It felt like a closed space, with all the supports for the tracks going around and working as walls, with the sky almost completely obstructed by the track itself. Good thing Akko wasn’t claustrophobic, or things could have gotten out of hand real quick. She didn’t like to be cooped up, but being in a room for a while didn’t bother her. As long as it wasn’t a boring room, at least.

There were a lot of floating lights around the track. These were popular, particularly in magically charged places where keeping them up was easy. Akko decided to start her stroll. The first thing upon starting was a straight and a curve to the right, which turned into a complete loop that bridged over itself and aimed for the far wall before inclining upwards and curving to the left. In a way, Akko thought, it wasn’t that far from how a really crazy rollercoaster would have been. A rollercoaster of brooms. Maybe they should have called this place that. ‘The Rollercoaster Stadium’ sounded much better than ‘The Island Stadium’.

As Akko explored the place, she wondered if Jasminka recognized that they were in Earth. Akko had considered the possibility of going into the cockpit and feeling what their gunmen seemed to be constantly feeling when in there, but she had trouble coming up with ways in which the Shiny Rod would activate the real turret if _she_ was in it.

The track went up and down, left and right, making weird turns and twists all over the place. These tracks were meant for standard human races, so they were more about the speed and piloting ability than they were about fighting or gunmen.

The trip almost made Akko nauseous. Even the straight lines were constantly going up and down as they avoided other segments of the track. Following what her position was relative to her surroundings became harder with each second, and by the time she had been five minutes in there without reaching the top she started to consider just moving on to the next track.

However, it wasn’t long until she reached the highest point. The blue sky above shone as a relieving shower of freedom. And then the trip down began.

Going down was far easier than up. This path was more straightforward, basically being a big, long loop around the edges of the stadium that surrounded the rest of the circuit. Akko let out a sigh of relief as she reached the finish line again. One of her first thoughts when finishing was worrying over Diana. She hadn’t piloted for a couple weeks, what if this was the track they had to race on? Akko had almost gotten sick and she had been doing this constantly. Would she be ready?

Another one of her prominent thoughts was that Chariot must have practiced a lot. Akko recalled the race in this place. She had seen as she had basically razed the competition. By the end of the race, there was no one in the world willing to dispute her place as the number one.

“I think I’m going to need another lap,” Akko said. “I’m definitely not ready for practicing with more racers.”

“It’s ok,” Ursula patted her shoulder. “This is a hard circuit. Do another couple laps if you want.”

Akko nodded. She really hoped this wasn’t the place where they’d end up racing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we end this batch! Hope you liked it!  
> Now, I'm starting to consider posting this weekly. After five months of constant writing I finally have enough confidence to do this. Who knows, if it goes well I might even consider doing it twice a week, though I'll have to see about that.  
> How do you feel about this? Do you enjoy more this way, in which I post about once every two weeks or so and I drop a number of chapters in basically a single go or you think it'd be better to make an actual schedule?  
> Please leave a comment!


	72. Chapter 72

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to another batch!  
> Seems like overall more of you wanted me to keep up the batch release schedule rather than make it weekly (you smart bastards, you know that this way you get more chapters a month) so here we are.  
> Don't forget to comment and all that! Enjoy!

Hannah casually walked in front of the local’s door. She was being nonchalant and totally unsuspicious. She, out of pure casualty, decided to peek inside the local. Nevermind that this was her fifth time doing this, she was just casually strolling around this area of the Gold Deck, it wasn’t as if looking inside the bookstore was her plan.

“Jesus, could you just get in?” Barbara sighed in frustration.

Hannah paused. “Why don’t you go inside and-”

“It’s _you_ who’s so desperate to try and prove you don’t like a girl that are looking for a random masked man just because you may like him,” Barbara shook her head. “I’m not going to help you with that.”

Hannah pouted. “Since when did you become such a bitch?” She asked.

“I’ve always been, it’s just usually not directed at my friends,” Barbara said. She was standing near the door, pinching her nose. “Just get in, will you?”

“B-but I know nothing about Nightfall,” Hannah explained.

“Well, tell them you wanna get into it!” Barbara claimed. Hannah cringed a little, as there were a lot of people going around them.

“But I don’t! And if I do then they’ll expect me to come back and stuff! I’m famous now, it’s not like I could hide!”

Barbara groaned. “Well, do whatever you want,” she said, crossing her arms. “I’m not doing this for you.”

“It would be so much easier if you just told me!” Hannah complained.

“If I told you then it’d spoil the surprise!” Barbara replied. Then she paused. Hannah smirked. “Wait, no…” she tried to correct herself, but she trailed off after seeing Hannah’s look.

“You _asshole!”_ Hannah pointed at her. “You’ve known all this time and you just refuse to let me know?”

Barbara was about to reply when the door to the bookstore opened. An old man with big, round glasses and an unfriendly expression was now looking at Hannah. “Now, girls, I know it’s not technically my property, but I’d appreciate it if you had your screaming match elsewhere. We’re trying to have a discussion in here.”

Hannah blushed, embarrassed. “Oh, yeah, sorry,” she said, lowering her head. The old man nodded and turned around. “W-wait a second, mister?” Hannah called to him.

He turned with an annoyed look. “Yes?”

“Look, I’m- I’m just looking for someone. Can you ask the members of your book group if any of them went to the Nightfall event last week dressed as… Uhm…”

“The White-Suited Watcher,” Barbara finished for her. Hannah had kind of forgotten about the name of the character, having grown used to just calling the person she had danced with ‘masked guy.’

“Two of them,” the old man said.

“Did one of them go with like, silver instead of just black and white?” Hannah asked, hopeful.

The old man frowned. “No, why would they? Black and white is the Watcher’s appearance. Are we done here?”

Hannah let out a long, drawn out sigh of disappointment. “Sure, whatever,” she said, and the old man turned and closed the door. Hannah wanted to drop on the floor and knock herself out for a while.

“Well that was a waste of time,” Barbara said, approaching. Hannah stared daggers at her. “What? I didn’t say it wasn’t my fault.”

“Is it at least someone I know?” Hannah asked.

Barbara shrugged, not bothering to answer. Hannah gave up in trying to obtain information from her, she was too good at hiding it when she wanted. She knew Hannah knew her and that allowed her to counteract it. It was a damn strategy match against a mirror.

“So, what now?” Barbara asked.

“We’re going to hit the gym in just twenty minutes anyways,” Hannah said, no longer having the energy to continue with her investigation for now. “So go do whatever you want, I’m going to Platinum Deck.”

Barbara looked at her and sighed. “Don’t you think that the masked man would have already told you who he was if he wanted to?” She asked.

“So you’re saying he doesn’t want to?”

“It’s a possibility,” Barbara said. “I mean, he obviously must know who you are. If he doesn’t want to come out, then it’s his problem.”

Hannah pursed her lips. “Fuck that shit,” she said, crossing her arms. “I’m going to find out who he is and tell me face to face that he’s not interested,” she sounded absurdly childish, but who knew? Maybe the guy was super shy and timid and didn’t dare come out or something. The only way to deal with those types was to be direct and force it out of them.

Barbara rolled her eyes. “Should’ve expected that response. Well, do what you want. Maybe all your flirting with Amanda will get this guy out of your head eventually.”

“ _She_ is flirting with me,” Hannah quickly corrected.

“That’s why you let her kiss you,” Barbara smirked.

“It was to prove a point!” Hannah retorted. It wasn’t like she had enjoyed the warm, tingly sensation it had left on her cheek, or as if she recalled how soft Amanda’s lips had been.

“Sure, sure,” Barbara started walking away.

“Hey, don’t walk away! If I like this masked guy I can’t like Amanda, you know,” Hannah said, going after her.

Barbara turned, expression unconvinced. “Same way you can’t crush on Andrew and a complete stranger at once? Love is a fluid thing, Hannah. It shifts and changes. You haven’t seen Andrew since the play, but you had a good time with the masked guy at the party and Amanda is now going to make constant advances in you.”

“Doesn’t mean I like her!”

Barbara shrugged, walking even faster. Hannah stopped following, too offended to try to keep defending herself. Why was it so hard to understand? She just wanted to meet the guy. There had to be a way of getting Barbara to confess. Maybe Hannah would ask Diana to help her look. She’d get discharged in less than a day. It would still take another couple days until she was allowed to pilot, but she could always help her. And if Barbara saw that Diana was involved she’d have to give in.

Yes, it was a perfect plan. Nothing could go wrong with it.

 

“And this is it for this time,” the shapeshifter said. Andrew waited patiently as every representative said their goodbyes and one by one their holographic figures disappeared.

When the room’s lights turned on, he looked at his father’s tired figure. “That was exhausting,” he complained, sitting on the chair behind him. He took off his glasses and started massaging his nose. “But I trust you understood what was happening,” Paul gave him a look.

Andrew nodded. “You were arguing about the results from the last race, though subtly. And then you made the bet with the Daemons, though that wasn’t particularly subtle.”

“Correct,” Paul sighed. “If they end up in a better position than us in the next race, then they get to let their pilots into the _Dragon._ If it’s the other way around, they will share some of their ways of handling Inferno.”

“Which we could use for our own technology, since Magic is so similar to it,” Andrew said. “Though, I fail to see what they would gain from letting their pilots into our ship.”

“Probably something to do with the Shiny Rod. Cursed ship, always causing us trouble,” Paul said with a sigh. “Speaking of which, what about Kagari? Is she fine after what happened?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” Andrew answered. “I haven’t checked on her, though I suppose she’s fine if there was nothing to report.”

Paul looked up. “Wasn’t she like, your friend or something?” He sounded slightly annoyed.

Andrew shook his head. “I think calling us acquaintances would be a little more accurate,” Andrew said. “I have talked to her very few times.”

Paul started to drum his fingers against the metallic table of the room. “That girl’s trouble,” he said with a sigh. “She’s going to lose again and then the daemons are getting into the ship. Hopefully they won’t try to leave the _Dragon_ stranded in the middle of space to kill us all,” he said.

Andrew frowned. “She did good on the last race, don’t you think?” He pointed out.

“Yes, but that was only because the Daemons knew what the rules meant and stayed out of it. She wouldn’t have won against _them,”_ his father asserted. Andrew wasn’t convinced that was all there was to it, but he couldn’t really argue against him. When he set his mind there was little anyone could do to make him change it.

Paul stood, his tiredness leaving his face as he put on his politician’s mask.

“Well, let’s go. We’ve got to speak to the captain and warn him about this possibility. Since we’ll be on Earth we’ll have an easier time ramping up security,” he was speaking mostly to himself. Andrew knew to only listen and not bother trying to butt in. “Actually,” he paused. “I want you to go talk to that Kagari girl. Make her understand how important it is that she wins the next race.”

Andrew didn’t show his surprise, but he was pretty shocked by the proposal. “Don’t you think that’ll put her under unnecessary stress?”

“I believe we already let her go four races without unnecessary stress and she’s failed to get points on two of them. Maybe some stress is just what she needs,” Paul said without pausing. He was certain of what he was saying. He was a prideful man, he liked his ideas and pursued them.

“I understand,” Andrew said. “I shall talk to her.”

“Good, good…” Paul seemed lost in thought.

Andrew sighed internally. He wasn’t really looking forward to having to talk to the brunette.

 

Amanda finished running. She stepped out of the treadmill as she took a long sip out of her water bottle. It was inevitable that her eyes would also fall on the figure of Hannah, with her shorts and tank-top, her forehead pearled with sweat, her admittedly small chest going up and down. She didn’t stare for too long, least she get turned on.

After running came doing ten minutes on the stationary bike. Amanda hopped on top of one and started pedaling. She had purposefully chosen one that looked away from where Hannah was. It would be too tempting to look at her and nothing else otherwise. Flirting with Hannah was one thing, but doing it while in the gym was something else entirely. Hannah got in kind of a bad mood when she was sweaty and tired. Better leave her be until she took a shower and the good sensation of exercising arrived.

Akko then hopped onto the bike next to Amanda’s. “How’s it going?” She said between breaths.

“Uhm… Fine, I guess,” Amanda kept her eyes forward. Talking while exercising was not the brightest idea, usually. It was easier to run out of breath.

Akko nodded. She was pedaling slower than Amanda, obviously taking it easier. “You got any plans tomorrow?” She asked.

Amanda cocked her head. “Other than practicing for like eight hours and then maybe hanging out with Jasminka and Constanze? I don’t think so, no.”

“Good,” Akko replied, completely missing the sarcasm. “Wanna come to Diana’s discharge dinner? Well, I mean, we don’t know if it’ll be dinner or not, but-”

“I get it,” Amanda interrupted Akko before she could start to ramble. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a small place ran by a shapeshifter. Nice atmosphere, really cool. Amazing food,” Akko described the place.

Amanda considered this. “Well, I guess I can go,” she said with a shrug. Plus, she figured that if Diana was going, Hannah would be too.

“Perfect,” Akko said. “Be sure to tell Constanze. I haven’t seen her recently,” Akko said. Amanda nodded. Constanze was busy with some other project involving the Shooting Star. Amanda hadn’t asked, but it probably had something to do with the shields. Maybe she’d make them a little more efficient, since their current waste of energy was too much to handle.

They kept pedaling in silence for a while. Amanda noticed that Ursula was training too, doing pull-ups on a metal bar. She did them without a hint of trouble, and didn’t even seem to be focused. She looked like she was worrying over something.

“So, do you have any big strategies for the next race?” Akko asked out of the blue.

“Our circuits are fairly straightforward. The other tracks have been annoying but as long as you get to practice some curves it shouldn’t be a problem to get used to them,” Amanda explained. The constant shifting of tracks didn’t seem to bother her as much as it did the others. Maybe it was because she was almost sure she wasn’t going to be the one piloting during this race. She was… Strangely numb about that. Maybe it was just being counteracted by her newfound love, but this indifference seemed to be a symptom of something deeper.

She had gotten two races as a pilot. That was more than she could have ever realistically asked. And of course she would be glad once Diana was back on her feet. But there always was that underlying feeling, that glimpse of hope. She hadn’t spoken yet to Ursula about her discovery the other day, but the more she thought about it, the more she was certain Ursula probably knew about it too.

She had been reluctant to let Amanda fly before, and she had known how to react when Akko had gotten that stage four poisoning in Machina. How had she known was a matter all on its own, but Amanda was sure she was aware.

Maybe it was from all the staring she was doing, but Amanda started noticing that Ursula had a good body. She had clear muscles and a slender build, and her face left nothing to be desired. She moved smoothly when doing her pull-ups, and she did them without pause. The perfect rhythm of someone used to exercising. Her ponytail bounced around, though her boobs didn’t move much. Sports underwear, probably.

“Like what you see?” Someone asked her from the side. Hannah had hopped onto the bike next to her.

“You jealous?” Amanda asked in turn.

Hannah scoffed. “I’m just asking,” she spoke weakly, but she had gotten better at keeping up with the schedule. “Since you were staring rather intensely.”

“Don’t worry, I would have stared at you more so, but I didn’t want to get too wet,” Amanda replied.

“That was unasked for,” Hannah said, trying to keep her cool. Then she stopped pedaling. “Wait, you get-”

“Would you look at the time!” Amanda suddenly jumped out of her bike. “I’m done with this, I’m going to do pushups now,” she winked at Hannah and walked away. She wasn’t lying, actually. She had done her time. As she walked away, she looked at Hannah’s blushing face once more.

Truth be told, Amanda felt like she had gone a little overboard with that one. But well, telling jokes like these was normal between friends, so Hannah could take that as a good sign, maybe.

Amanda did her pushups, squats and everything else she needed to do. She even got some spare time, so she used it to rest peacefully in the space of the gym dedicated purely to this type of training. She closed her eyes, though she wasn’t really sleepy. She let her mind go blank. She didn’t really want to think of anything.

“So,” Hannah’s voice interrupted her nothingness. “What was that you were talking about before?”

“About how I masturbate to the mental image of your naked body every night, wishing to the stars that you will enter the room and submit to me so that I can-”

“Oh shut up,” Hannah said. Amanda could feel the eyeroll, even if she didn’t see it. “Asking for kisses is one thing, saying things like that is a little distasteful,” she scolded.

Amanda sighed. “Sorry, I kind of get carried away with those. I get nervous, don’t really know how to reply and I end up making sex jokes. Don’t take it personally,” she confessed, opening her eyes.

Hannah was giving her a puzzled look. “Well that was way more honest of a response than I expected,” she said with a startled voice. “So you’re exaggerating,” she said.

“Well…” Amanda blushed ever so slightly. “I do find you attractive, as I have made clear,” she explained.

“So you do…” Hannah’s expression twisted.

“I’ve only done it once, though!” Amanda exclaimed. “It’s hard to find private places in this place, and the bathrooms are way too small to do it comfortably.”

Amanda couldn’t really get a read on Hannah’s expression. Had she screwed up? Maybe she had really just stepped over the line this time.

After a painful moment, Hannah blushed slightly and looked away. “Well, we’re hormonal teenagers, what are you going to do,” she said with an accepting tone. “I made peace with the idea that boys probably use me for their fantasies, so I don’t see why you would be any different.”

Amanda smiled with relief. “That was way more mature than I expected,” she commented. Hannah nodded, obviously proud of herself. “But you’re not working out now. You should probably get started,” Amanda pointed out.

Hannah opened her mouth, surprised. “I… Kind of forgot about that.”

“Well, I’ll let you be,” Amanda said, sitting up. “Be sure not to overdo it.”

“I won’t,” Hannah said, shifting positions towards a pushups one.

Amanda saw her start and then walked away, though she did stare at Hannah’s nape probably for longer than needed. What was it about her nape that was so attractive, anyways? Amanda really wanted to place her lips on it. Maybe she’d ask for it next time.

Could she try to pull that off at the restaurant…?

 

Akko turned the curve and accelerated. This was a simple track. It was a square. Well, with round tips. What was that called again? Whatever, it was a round square. As far as Akko was aware, this track was boring. She hadn’t seen Chariot race in it, so it wasn’t any kind of big deal, and it was fairly small. Sure, broom-racer tracks were usually big in normal standards, but Akko wanted something a little more stimulating, maybe. Not crazy as The Island or anything, just… bigger and a little more complex. Though she suspected this kind of track would be fairly popular. It really put to test nothing but piloting and gunmen skills. Though, depending on who you asked, that was also better tested on harsher environments.

Akko couldn’t say that she agreed, but she understood the sentiment. These tracks were simple and pure, sure, but how could you really measure the skill of someone if you didn’t push them to their limits?

Even after feeling a good refreshing session of exercise and finally setting everything up for Diana’s little discharge… what, party? Get-together? She still felt a little numb. She wanted to unlock the next word too, whatever it was. Akko looked at Ursula behind her. There wasn’t much to practice about in this track. She nodded, so Akko decided to start the simulated race.

However, before she could set it up properly, there was knocking on the windshield. Curious, she opened it. Amanda stood outside. “Rich boy wants to talk with you.”

Akko frowned. Rich boy? Who?

She stood, looking out of the cockpit, and down there, in front of the ship, stood Andrew. “Oh, you,” she said. “What is it?” Akko asked.

Andrew seemed a little baffled by the question. “Uhm, miss Kagari, do you think we could-”

“Akko,” Akko said.

Andrew sighed. “Ok, Akko, could we talk in a more… private place?” He asked. Akko noticed how Hannah looked at him. She seemed to want to talk with him too.

Akko looked back at Ursula, who nodded. Akko didn’t like the idea of breaking Diana’s schedule, but when she checked the clock she noticed there were only five minutes until her pre-bedtime break started. Well, five minutes wouldn’t be too bad.

Getting down from the Rod, she saw as Amanda and Hannah – the later doing it rather reluctantly – climbed on the white broom. Akko looked at Andrew, who seemed uncomfortable in the situation. “Well, there’s no one around,” Akko pointed out. “You can speak.”

Andrew looked around, unconvinced. He still took a deep breath and looked Akko in the eyes. “Mi- Akko, it seems like my father has decided that he… Or, rather, than you…” he paused. “He wishes for you to win the next race. At all costs. We cannot end this round below the Daemons, for reasons I’m no allowed to disclose,” he explained.

Akko heard this and stared at Andrew. “Ok? Anything else?” She asked, a little confused.

Andrew gave her a similar look. “No,” he said, uncharacteristically confused. “I just expected you to be a little more… Reactive.”

“Well, I mean, I already want to win. This doesn’t really change anything,” Akko shrugged.

Andrew examined her for a moment. He seemed to be looking for the right thing to say. He smiled. “You’re amusing, if nothing else,” he said.

“Uhm… Thanks?” Akko said, giving another smile in return. “Was this really all you had to say?”

“Yes, it was,” Andrew nodded in respect. “Now, if you excuse me, I need to go,” he turned.

“I might as well come with,” Akko stepped and walked next to him. “I’m going to go eat something before sleeping,” she explained.

Andrew nodded. They walked in silence until the elevators, where Andrew sighed. He looked tired. His hair was slightly imperfect, which looked wrong, and his tie leaned to the right. Must have had a harsh day.

They stepped inside the elevator once the doors were open. “Were are you going?” Andrew asked.

Akko wanted to say the number of the hospital floor, but she wanted to refrain herself from seeing Diana until she was discharged. It was kind of hard, though. She really wanted to go see Diana. “Where are _you_ going?” Akko asked.

“To my room. I’m hungry,” Andrew answered.

“Oh, well then, why don’t you accompany me to Gold Deck? We can grab something to eat together,” Akko suggested. Andrew looked at her with uncertain eyes, but after some hesitance he pressed the gold button and the elevator began moving. He also passed a small card through the slit on the buttons panel. Akko had never really noticed it was there.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“It forces the elevator to go to my destination directly without stopping to pick up people. Security measure. I’m surprised you don’t have one of these,” Andrew explained, showing her his black card. Akko found it curious, but it was kind of a douche move to those waiting for elevators to come.

Silence followed. Akko wasn’t really sure of what to talk about with Andrew. Save for what his status was she knew basically nothing about him. Well, save maybe for one thing.

“Oh, I heard Hannah – or was it Barbara? Whatever – mention that you and Diana know each other. Are you friends?” Akko asked.

Andrew blinked. “No, uhm… we’re just neighbors. Well, and our parents know each other. Other than that, we don’t really speak much,” he explained. “We’ve got some fundamental differences in our ideals.”

Akko cocked her head. “Like what?”

“Well,” Andrew explained, “For starters, I believe that Magic Energy will just bring humanity down in the long run. It’s a finite resource. Basing all of our current technology in it is foolish.”

Akko was about to refute his claim. The Shiny Rod had infinite energy, after all. Then she recalled it was a secret. “Oh, I see,” she said, stopping herself from mentioning anything else. “And… How did you come to know each other?” She decided to ask.

Andrew sighed. He didn’t seem to enjoy the topic. “We were basically neighbors, and with Diana’s mother being a famous pilot, she and my father got along quite well, despite their different ideals on how magic should be used. We didn’t really get along. And after her mother passed away…”

“Wait,” Akko said. “Diana’s mom was a pilot?”

Andrew gave her a curious look. “Yes, of course. She’s the entire reason Diana wants to win the IPR. Her mother died before she had a chance at the one ten years ago. Well, that and some family issues that I don’t think I have the right to make you privy to.”

The elevator door opened to the third deck. The small Plaza in front of the elevators was as concurred as always, and Akko kept her thoughts to herself as she walked alongside Andrew down the street. “That’s so… Sad,” Akko wondered if asking Diana about it would be rude.

“I suppose,” Andrew said. “So, any idea of where we shall eat?”

Akko was still distracted. “Wherever you want,” she said. Diana’s mom was dead? What about her father? What were those family issues? Maybe she could help with them. Unlikely, as they were probably rich-family issues, but she could try. Akko couldn’t really imagine her parents being dead. Few people probably could, save for those who already suffered it. Parents were such a… given, for most. Having them gone would be shocking for anyone.

Akko followed Andrew while on her own little world. She bumped into more people than normal, and some gave her bad looks. Well, it wasn’t _her_ fault that this place was always so damn crowded. Plus, if they really hadn’t wanted to bump into her they could have probably avoided her. Akko was a meek girl, she was easy to avoid. And hard to catch, according to her parents.

Andrew led them to a restaurant Akko hadn’t been to before. It was called ‘Très Bien’. Very good in English. Not very creative, but Akko didn’t really care about that. The inside was… fancy. Everything was pristine white, save for the tablecloths, which were from all the colors of the rainbow and probably more. It had floating chairs that looked very comfortable, with cushions and all, and the tables also included small screens to make orders from there. The place was pretty full, and some of the guests looked at both Akko and Andrew and clearly recognized them.

Without pausing to think, Andrew walked in and sat in a blue table. Akko nervously followed. “You… frequent places like this?” She asked, feeling the _aristocracy_ in the air. This was a place for rich people. Would she even have enough money to pay for it? She- Oh, wait, right. Free food.

Andrew started picking from the screen. “Do you have any preferences when eating?” He asked.

“Uhm… Something with lots of meat, if possible. Or pizza, pizza’s always nice,” Akko said.

“Do you mind if I order for you?”

“Do your best,” Akko gave him a thumbs up. He touched the screen a couple times before resting his back on the chair and loosening his tie a little. “Do you always wear suits?”

“Yes,” Andrew answered. “At least when in public. My image is important,” he explained.

Akko was unimpressed. “It looks boring,” she said. Andrew raised an eyebrow. “What? It’s true. You’re always the same. Sure, you sometimes change suit colors, but most of them are black. And that tie looks ridiculous,” she pointed at the red-and-gold striped tie.

Andrew looked at it offended. “Excuse me, but this is a silk tie and striped with metallic colors has been in fashion for-”

“It looks ri-di-cu-lous,” Akko repeated. “You should try wearing actual clothes. Wear some jeans, a t-shirt, a pair of sneakers,” she said. “Being uptight all the time must be tiring.”

“It’s not tiring, Akko. I’m just used to these clothes. It’s not that weird, you know,” Andrew said with that tone people often used with Akko. Akko never figured out what it meant.

“Just saying, try it out next time. Oh, we’re having a dinner tomorrow for Diana, since she’ll be able to walk again and all, wanna come?” Akko recalled.

Andrew grimaced. “I don’t, sorry. I’d just spoil it for Diana and probably everyone else,” he commented. Akko frowned, but she supposed he may be right. “I may drop by her room sometime to give her a small gift or something. Father should be the one doing it, but… Well, he’s who he is.”

Akko nodded. Though, by the way Andrew spoke, Akko could tell he at least cared about Diana. Maybe on the same level as far cousins could care for each other.

Andrew’s mannerisms were similar to Diana’s. He spoke similarly too. Akko felt some semblance of familiarity from him, but he was lacking something in comparison to Diana. It wasn’t beauty, since even Akko could admit he was as handsome as Diana was beautiful. What could it be, then?

“Hey, Andrew,” Akko called. Andrew looked at her. “Have you ever liked anyone?”

He blinked. He seemed a little taken aback by the question. “I have liked some girls here and there,” he replied then. “Though I’ve never been on a relationship.”

Akko heard this and got to thinking again. She wasn’t sure of why she was so interested in romance all of a sudden, but hearing different people’s experiences with it made her feel at ease.

“Why do you ask?” Andrew distracted Akko.

Akko hesitated. “No particular reason,” she said. She basically asked herself the same question every time she asked.

Andrew grew a little more uncomfortable. Then, after some thinking, he sighed. “Ok, look, let’s get this over with,” he said, sighing. Akko frowned, wondering what was going on. He looked at Akko with tired eyes. “I am not interested in romance, at all. I don’t plan on getting a girlfriend in the near future,” he said with a serious voice.

Akko nodded. “I see,” she said. That seemed like a mature approach.

With a sigh, he leaned forward to speak in a lower voice. “I mean that I can’t reciprocate any feelings directed at me.”

Akko nodded again, though now with some uncertainty. “Uhm… ok?” She said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice you’re opening up and all, I’m just wondering why you suddenly decided to tell me that.”

Again, as it often seemed to happen when he and Akko talked, Andrew looked confused. “Wait, don’t you like me?” He asked with a serious face.

Akko froze. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry,” Andrew blushed, leaning back against his chair again and covering the lower half of his face with one hand. “I thought you had asked because… Well, a lot of girls do that and…” He seemed to be regretting being born.

Akko chuckled nervously. “I-I get it, don’t worry,” she said, trying to lift some of the awkwardness. “You’re a handsome guy, a lot of girls like you, so you’re probably used to it.”

He nodded. “Only on this trip I’ve had five girls confessing to me, and practically every day one tries to flirt,” he explained. “Sorry I took your question as that. I shouldn’t have presumed things.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Akko made a dismissive gesture with her hands.

“So…” Andrew also seemed to be searching for a way to move on. “What about _you?_ Do you like someone?”

Akko’s response was automatic. Instinctive, even. She hadn’t even thought before the name left her lips. “Diana,” she replied.

Then she paused.

 _Oh, it makes sense,_ Akko realized, suddenly all the little pieces of the puzzle she had been trying to solve the past couple of days falling in place. Andrew looked at her with a shocked expression. “ _Diana?_ ” he asked in disbelief. “I… I suppose it’s not that weird, but…”

“Yeah,” Akko felt strangely comfortable with the epiphany. Well, she had never given romance much thought, so why should she now? If she liked someone then that was it.

While they stayed in silence for a while, the food arrived. Akko’s plate was a stake with mushrooms on top. She tasted it, and it was delicious. She started eating with thoughtful expression.

“May I ask what you like about her?” Andrew asked. He was eating… what were those things called? Soufflés?

Akko swallowed what she had in her mouth and thought about it. “I dunno,” she shrugged.

Andrew gave her a baffled look. “What? You don’t know?”

“Yeah,” Akko nodded.

“That’s…” He smiled. “Very like you, I suppose,” he shook his head. “You really can’t think of anything?”

“Oh, I can think of everything,” Akko said. “But if I had to list everything we’d be here all day,” she explained. She thought about Diana’s pretty hair, beautiful eyes. About her pale skin and her mature voice. About how serious she was about most things, about her unusual smile.

Andrew took the answer and continued with his own food. Akko kept eating for a while before pausing for a second to smile.

She had to tell Diana about this.


	73. Chapter 73

Diana was wearing nice clothing. She had asked for one of her dresses. It was sleeveless, thin and stuck to her figure, but it was comfortable. The light blue color matched with her eyes. Biggest problem was that it lacked pockets.

Greta was there, taking everything out of the room. Diana had already returned Emotions, though she would certainly buy it as soon as they got back to Earth. She probably wouldn’t re-read it anytime soon, but she had enjoyed it enough and she wanted to own it. Hopefully she’d find it. It was an old book, and physical releases nowadays weren’t very popular. She could always buy a digital version, but owning physical copies still felt right to her. She knew a lot of people didn’t agree, and could see why, but it wasn’t as if she _only_ read physical books.

“Well missy, you’re all ready,” Greta said after the room remained spotless. “All in all you must have been one of the best patients we’ve ever had in this place,” she said as she touched some things on the panel and the lights of the room dimmed.

“You’re too kind,” Diana said. “Thank you for your job.”

“Nonsense. Most people who end up here during this trip complain all day about missing out on the fun or whatever. You sucked it up, and you’re a damn pilot,” Greta explained, talking like an angry grandma. In a way, Diana supposed she was. “Now get out of here, your date is waiting for you.”

Diana nodded. She had agreed to meet Akko in the third deck’s elevator area. “Thanks again,” Diana said as she walked out of the room.

“Never come back, kid,” Greta waved goodbye. It took Diana a few seconds to realize it was the same as giving her good wishes, since this was a hospital. She smiled as she walked out of the place, partly because she was happy to be able to walk again – Magic kept her legs strong, so she barely had any trouble with it – and partly because she was going out to meet Akko.

 

When the elevator door opened and Diana stepped out, she was almost tackled by Akko. “You’re free!” the brunette girl exclaimed. “You can walk again!”

Diana’s heart skipped a beat. She had certainly not expected Akko to hug her out of nowhere. Before she could snap out of her confusion and hug her back, however, Akko stepped away with a big grin. She was wearing blue jeans and sandals, paired with a pink frilly t-shirt. “Yes,” Diana said, looking at her with a smile.

“You look great, too,” Akko looked her up and down. “Well, I mean, you always do, but the dress really suits you,” she said nonchalantly.

Diana had to hold back a grin at the compliment. “You look beautiful too,” Diana said. She blushed at her own compliment, happy to have been able to say it. She was even more surprised to see Akko blushing slightly.

Well, this was supposed to be a date, after-

“Diana!” Suddenly, a couple voices came from behind Akko. “Akko, if you saw her you should’ve told us!” Hannah quickly came and gave Diana a quick hug too. “Are you ok? Can you walk fine? Nothing hurts?”

Diana was trying to figure out what was going on. Wasn’t this a date? Well, if she thought back to it, Akko had just invited her out for dinner. It was very like her to also bring everyone else. “I’m fine,” Diana said, regaining her composure. It didn’t last long, because Barbara also hugged her. “I would appreciate it if you allowed me to breathe, though,” she added.

Barbara stepped back and smiled at her. “You sure you’re fine? You look kind of… disappointed,” Barbara said.

Diana quickly put on her neutral face and from there worked a little smile. “Oh, sorry, I’m just a little overwhelmed,” she lied.

“Well you’re about to get a lot more overwhelmed,” Amanda’s voice came from behind. She was wearing casual clothing, though she had worn a t-shirt with a lower neckline than normal. It didn’t look bad on her, but it was slightly more… feminine than what she usually wore. Could it be related to Hannah?

“Oh, everyone is here,” Diana noticed. The green team was complete. Even Sucy was there, waiting some distance away. Diana then heard the door behind her close. “We should probably move, we’re being a nuisance.”

Everyone agreed and they slowly started their walk towards the goodwill. “So, how does it feel to be on your feet again?” Akko asked. She was walking extremely close to Diana. She still had a big smile on her face, and something felt… different about her. Or maybe she had always been like that outside the hospital and Diana hadn’t noticed before. It was strange, realizing that before the accident Diana hadn’t really been that close to Akko, yet now it felt as if being apart from her would hurt her a lot. Were two weeks really enough to fall for someone? Or had it started earlier?

“It’s refreshing,” Diana admitted. Akko’s hand brushed hers. Diana wondered if maybe taking it would be too obvious. _I’m not here to start a relationship,_ she had to remind herself. She wanted to talk about this calmly and rationally. She wanted to let Akko know and explain her thoughts.

It was hard to think when Akko’s face seemed to be so close to hers, though.

Diana looked back, kind of hoping for someone to save her from Akko and from herself. Sadly, everyone seemed focused on their own things. Amanda was smirking at Hannah, who wore a tired expression, but also a soft blush. Amanda seemed to be offering her hand for something. Hadn’t Hannah rejected her? Diana felt a little lost.

Barbara and Lotte were talking with Jasminka about something too. Maybe Jasminka wanted to get into Nightfall? Maybe they weren’t even talking about the book saga. It was easy to assume they talked about Nightfall because, well, they always did, but that wasn’t all they were, probably.

Constanze was doing something on her tablet, and Sucy was looking with some curiosity. The purple haired girl walked with so little movement that if one wasn’t looking close enough it almost looked as if she was just sliding.

“Hey, Diana,” Akko called to her. Diana looked at her, thought it was hard not to notice the pounding in her chest every time she did that. _Keep it under control. It’s the middle of the race, you’ve no time for this,_ she tried to calm herself. The thought was lost in a sea of red as she looked into Akko’s eyes. “Can we sit next to each other during dinner?”

Diana almost tripped over her own feet. “W-why are you asking?” She tried to hide her face by faking that she was checking out shop windows.

“Well, I figured you may want to sit next to Hannah and Barbara,” Akko explained. “So…”

“You could just sit in front of me, right?” Diana suggested. She’d rather have Akko where she could easily look at her- Wait, that was a line in Emotions. Seemed like that book had really struck a chord with her.

“You’ll be sitting in the head of the table,” Akko explained. “So… I don’t want to make you choose though. You know what? Ignore it, whatever,” Akko scratched the back of her head. “I don’t-”

“I’d be glad if you sat next to me,” Diana said. She instinctively placed a hand on Akko’s arm. A soft touch. A telling touch. She instantly put it back down, feeling embarrassed.

Akko didn’t seem to mind, as she was now smiling too. “Thanks!” she said. “Also, I think I have something to tell you, but it’d be best if we talk alone for that one,” she added.

Diana raised an eyebrow, but took the chance. “Oh, how curious, I find myself in a similar situation,” she didn’t mention the part where she had expected the ‘alone’ part to be this entire date. She… felt slightly bitter about that. Not that she didn’t want to hang out with her friends, but she had already prepared mentally for a dinner with Akko and now all that felt like a waste. She knew she was being silly, though, so she didn’t let her emotions show in her actions.

“God,” Hannah suddenly walked up next to Diana, “Amanda is really annoying,” she said in a grumpy voice.

“Didn’t you want to be her friend or something?” Diana mentioned.

“Well, yes! But she’s been really… flirty,” Hanna said. Diana looked back at Amanda, who was chuckling. “And I can’t just ignore it when she’s blatant.”

“Have you tried asking her to stop?” Diana asked.

“What do you take me for? Of course I’ve-” She paused. “Wait, no, I don’t think I have. Hmm…” she trailed off as she thought about it. Diana didn’t add anything, but she got the feeling Hannah wasn’t as annoyed by Amanda’s advances as she pretended to be.

Then, they finally reached the Goodwill. When they stepped in, Diana noticed some of the tables had been moved and arranged for a party of nine. And, as she had hoped, the place was empty, which in the light blue light of the Light Flames made it look kind of eerie. The dark furniture didn’t help with the atmosphere either.

Diana smiled. She really loved this place.

“Let’s get some meatflower stews for everyone,” Akko said as she walked up to the head of the table and offered Diana the chair there. Diana sat down with a smile, and Akko sat to her right.

This was going to be a fun meal.

 

Hannah sat between Lotte and Amanda. She wasn’t sure she liked how she had ended up so far from Diana, but Barbara had just taken Diana’s left and then Lotte had sat next to Barbara and she hadn’t wanted to sit next to Akko, so… here they were. In front of her, Sucy, Jasminka and Constanze seemed to all be playing some videogame in Constanze’s device.

“Nice place, huh,” Amanda commented. She had been basically isolated from everyone else, but she didn’t seem to care. She seemed happy by just being next to Hannah.

Hannah wasn’t willing to admit that made her heart beat a little faster.

“It’s Diana’s favorite place, so of course it’s nice,” Hannah remarked. Amanda hadn’t complained a lot when Akko had asked the same food for everyone. She didn’t even know what she was getting. Seeing her reaction may have just been worth having to sit next to her, though.

Amanda yawned, stretching her arms. Then she ‘subtly’ placed one of those arms around Hannah’s shoulders. ‘Subtly’ being an equivalent to an elephant in a pet zoo.

“Could you, like, at least keep it to when it’s just the two of us?” Hannah said, lifting the arm away. “I don’t want others to get the wrong idea,” she explained.

With a smirk, Amanda looked at her. “So I can do this when we’re alone? Nice,” she nodded with satisfaction.

Hannah growled. “Hey, would you stop if I asked you to?”

Amanda’s smirk disappeared. “I’ve already told you that if you say it, I will stop,” she said. “I was being serious.”

Hannah paused. “I guess you did,” she said. Yeah, Amanda had said something like that. _Just say it,_ Hannah thought. _No more flirting, you can just get on to being normal friends._

But they wouldn’t be normal friends. Hannah knew that. This way, at least, she could slowly make Amanda understand and… And she’d stop.

Why did her heart seem to throb at the idea?

“Though I will try to keep it between ourselves from now on,” Amanda said. She was smiling. Hannah felt like she should have objected, but she just blushed slightly and nodded. Great, now her heart beat faster. And for some reason she couldn’t stop fidgeting.

Hannah looked at Amanda again after a minute. She had started talking with Jasminka, sitting directly in front of her. She talked with Jasminka about how the hell had she managed to win against Constanze in that game, and Jasminka was giving her some directions.

Shaking her head, Hannah tried to calm down. Why hadn’t she told Amanda off, again? She couldn’t come up with a reason.

To distract herself, she looked at Akko and Diana, who were chatting cheerfully. Diana was… smiling. Not her polite, political smile. A genuine, wide smile. The kind Hannah had almost never seen her make. She didn’t break eye contact with Akko, and she seemed to even be blushing, though it was hard to tell in the relatively dim lighting of the Goodwill.

It couldn’t possibly be what Hannah was getting the feel for, could it? Diana would never- Hell, Akko was probably incapable of falling for someone.

That’s what she wanted to believe, at least. The alternative was a little too much for her.

The food arrived soon after. Hannah carefully watched Amanda’s reaction, only to find herself disappointed, as the redhead seemed mildly interested in the food rather than disgusted. She picked up a spoonful of the meatflowers, that kind of looked like worms, and looked at it while it was covered on the green, thick liquid of the soup.

Then she shrugged and shoved it into her mouth. Jasminka hadn’t even hesitated before she started eating, and Constanze had examined it with her device before starting to eat too.

Hannah sighed. She had wanted to see Amanda being surprised by the thing.

Well, at least the food was as good as she recalled.

 

Akko was smiling. She was happy, so of course she would be. The dinner had been wonderful and not only because of the tasty stew. “Mom then almost threw me head-first into the backseat of the car,” she was telling a story, “and drove me all the way to the hospital. When the doctor saw me, all covered in bruises and small cuts, he smiled as if he understood and started checking me,” Akko recalled that day as if it had been yesterday. She had given her mother quite the scare. “In the end I had nothing. The doctor told my mother I should take a bath, though, and my mother almost scrubbed my skin off.”

“I still can’t believe you managed to climb a pine tree that had no branches on the lower part. You’re like a monkey,” Diana commented. She seemed to be enjoying the conversation as much as Akko was. Akko wondered if wanting to touch her hand was weird? People always did that on movies but movies were fiction. Well, her parents often did that, but they were married and all. Akko wasn’t dating Diana yet.

 _Yet_ , Akko thought. Looking at Diana, she tried to imagine what dating would be like. Walking hand in hand, maybe kissing, sleeping together… Would Diana reciprocate her feelings? Akko had been talking to her this entire time and she had seen Diana smile almost the whole time. A beautiful smile. Would it be too self-centered to think it was thanks to her? Akko’s heart was racing, but it felt nice. She could feel warmth in her cheeks, but it was a good one. Her eyes sometimes wandered around Diana’s face. They looked at the nose, at the ears, they of course got lost in the eyes and they sometimes lingered on the lips.

How would a kiss feel like? Akko had never kissed anyone. She had heard a rumor that first kisses tasted like lemon. Or was it in a movie? Well, whatever. She could totally imagine Diana’s lips tasting like lemon. Was it because of her hair? Probably.

“Akko,” Diana said, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Are you ok? You’re spacing out,” she asked with some worry.

“Sorry, I was looking at you,” Akko said. Diana pursed her lips and looked down. Was her face red? Hard to tell in the lighting. _Crap,_ Akko thought. Had she said something bad? “Are you ok? Did I offend you or something?” Akko asked, placing a hand on Diana’s shoulder.

Diana looked up. She was definitely red. She gave Akko a strange look. Intense. Diana rarely looked like this. In fact, Akko didn’t seem to recall any time where she looked like this other than when piloting. “I’m fine,” she said in a hesitant voice.

“Damn Akko,” Barbara said from across the table. “You’re smooth as hell.”

Akko looked at her, confused. “Huh?”

Barbara winked at her. “Don’t look at me, look at the lady,” she pointed at Diana. Akko looked forward, noticing that Diana was still looking at her.

“You too are unfair, Akko,” Diana said. Akko cocked her head. Was she delusional or had Akko missed something. “You can say such things out of the blue…” her eyes were nailed on Akko’s. Her lips were slightly parted, she had put a hand to her chest and her breathing seemed to be slightly shallower than normal. She looked… hot.

“W-which things?” Akko asked, unsure of what Diana was talking about.

Diana closed her eyes and smiled. “Nothing,” she said. “Don’t worry about it.”

Akko still had her hand on Diana’s shoulder. She was tempted to bring it down and grab her hand, but she thought it’d be a little improper to do so when Diana looked so… weird. Wait, maybe she had a fever. But it had been too sudden for that.

She sat straight, taking a deep breath. “Well, who wants some dessert?” She asked.

Everyone looked at her with surprise, Akko included. It wasn’t exactly like Diana to suggest things like those.

Still, everyone agreed.

 

Diana’s heart still pounded in her chest as she ate her lemon ice-cream. _She was lost looking at me,_ Diana thought. Akko was so… direct. And she didn’t even realize it! Diana looked at the brunette, who had been kind of careful around Diana since that. Diana had felt so embarrassed when Akko had said that that she had lost strength and her entire body had grown hot.

Akko’s and Diana’s eyes met for a second, and Akko smiled, though she broke eye contact first. _Does she like me?_ Diana thought. What she had said earlier, the way she had been acting this night, it all pointed to it. But Akko… Well, she was pretty random. Maybe she had just felt like it. Maybe the way she had been looking at Diana wasn’t romantic. And why should Diana care that much? She was _not_ here to start a relationship! She just wanted to confess to Akko and make her situation clear, and then hold her hand and kiss her cheek and-

She sighed in frustration. It was _so_ hard to think about Akko and not start fantasizing.

“Ok,” Amanda suddenly stood. They had all been sitting around in the park area of Gold Deck. They weren’t very deep in, but it was pretty obvious this wasn’t a popular place, because the amount of people was exponentially lower than on Shopping Town. “Diana, I’m glad you’re ok and all, but after not-flirting for an hour I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest. If you excuse me I’m going to take a shower and a nap before going for some more practice.”

Diana nodded. “Thank you for being here,” she said, knowing that the actual reason Amanda had come was to interact with Hannah some more. But that was fine. Amanda waved goodbye and left, followed by Constanze and Jasminka, who also waved goodbye without saying anything.

“Oh, look at the time,” Sucy looked at her watchless wrist. “It’s time-to-leave-using-Amanda’s-leaving-as-an-excuse o’clock,” she stood and looked at Diana. “Be careful around Akko, she might break your leg with excitement,” she said and walked off.

“What’s up with her?” Hannah said. “She comes and eats saying basically nothing and then just… leaves like that,” she sounded annoyed.

“She’s being kind, in her own way,” Lotte said. “It’s already surprising enough that she agreed to come.”

“Yeah, it’s always like that with…” she sighed “Yes, I guess you’re right.”

Diana smiled. She really was making an effort to be kinder and understand others better. “And we should leave too,” Barbara stood, pulling Lotte and Hannah with her.

“Wait, what?” Hannah looked confused. “Why?”

Barbara deadpanned her. “Because I need your help in putting on some makeup, come on. See you Diana,” she said as she dragged her girlfriend and best friend towards the elevators.

Diana wasn’t stupid. She knew what Barbara had just done. She had given Diana the alone time with Akko she so much wanted.

Akko, who had been sitting at the other end of the bench, looked at her with inquiry. Diana moved a little bit closer, and Akko did too. And then a little more.

And then their shoulders bumped. Akko’s hand fell on top of Diana’s. Neither of them bothered to move them.

“S-so,” Diana said. Why was she stuttering? She had prepared for this. Yet her heart pounded, breathing became harder. “This was a fun time, I suppose.”

“Yeah…” Akko said weakly. “I’m glad that you enjoyed it.”

“Thank you for doing this for me,” Diana turned to look at Akko. Akko did the same. Their faces were so close, Diana could feel the warmth of Akko’s breath and smell the vanilla of the ice-cream she’d just had. She had the impulse to look away, but she also couldn’t stop looking into those big eyes, red with magic. “I… really appreciate it…” each of her words seemed to lose a little more strength, until she just… stopped. She just watched. Everything else seemed to slowly fade away. Only Akko and the loud pounding of Diana’s heart against her chest remained.

“Akko,” Diana whispered.

“Yeah?” Akko asked in a similarly low voice. Why did this felt so intimate, when they were out in public?

“Remember when you asked me if I liked anyone?”

“You said you didn’t know,” Akko answered. Was Diana’s face as red as Akko’s? It felt like that. Diana worried her heart would just pop out of her chest at this rate. Or _its_ rate. Stupid puns. Stupid Akko.

“I do now,” Diana slowly begun to turn. She wanted to be face to face with Akko. But… This wasn’t going at all like she imagined it.

“I think I know who I like too,” Akko said.

There was silence. It was obvious. For both girls. Diana swallowed, feeling as Akko’s hand slowly intertwined fingers with hers. _I’m not supposed to start a…_ Diana didn’t even finish that thought before realizing it was too late. She was in too deep.

And Akko was too close.

Diana leaned forward. She got so close to Akko’s face that her nose tingled. Akko was now the only thing she could see. The smell of vanilla filled her up. She wondered why she had ever considered putting anything before this. Why she wouldn’t want to leave Akko aside. Was the chance of this affecting her flying really that relevant? Diana just wanted to lean in those last centimeters. To touch Akko’s lips with hers. To feel her warmth and to embrace her.

She stopped.

She pulled back, leaving Akko with a slightly confused look behind.

“It’s you,” she said, looking down with guilt and regret. “I like you.”

“Really?” Akko sounded as if she’d just woken up. “I like you too,” she said, though her voice denoted that she found something strange in what was going on.

Diana looked up. She almost put on her neutral mask out of instinct. But no. She wouldn’t do that to Akko. She wanted Akko to see that what she was about to do pained her. Because what had just happened was just a confirmation of what she believed. “And you wouldn’t believe how happy that makes me,” Diana squeezed Akko’s hand. Just that seemed to make her feel like everything would be fine.

“I think I’d believe it, since it’s probably about the same amount of happiness I feel,” Akko said with a grin.

Diana gave Akko a sad smile. “But… I can’t take this further,” she let go of Akko’s hand, placing it on the bench.

“Oh…” Akko said. “Is it because of, like, social status or something?” she asked with caution.

Almost offended, Diana looked at her. “Of course not!” She exclaimed. “It’s… Because I like you, Akko,” Diana explained.

As anyone might expect, Akko failed to get it. “I fail to see your logic here.”

Diana sighed. “I like you, really,” she said. Akko was obviously flattered by the comment. “But… I don’t want to be distracted.”

While Diana had expected to have to explain everything, Akko suddenly made a face of understanding. “It’s the race, isn’t it?” Diana nodded, kind of surprised that Akko had understood it so easily. “You want to wait until it’s over.”

“I know it’s too much to ask,” Diana looked down again. “But it’s important for me that I…”

“I get it,” Akko said. Diana looked at her with some more surprise, maybe a little shock too. “I can wait.”

“Really?” Diana’s voice was hopeful.

“Of course,” with a perfectly happy smile, Akko took Diana’s hand again. “Because a month or two are totally worth it. I didn’t even know if you liked me back a few hours ago. Just knowing that is reassuring,” she explained.

“Akko…” Diana didn’t know how to express herself. Her gratitude, her love, her relief.

“Plus, I haven’t washed my teeth since this morning,” Akko laughed awkwardly. “Kissing you now would be weird, right?”

Diana let go of Akko’s hand and cupped her face. Her beautiful face. She leaned forward and surprising even herself, she kissed Akko. Well, it was more of a long peck. Diana’s lips touched the brunette’s, their lips parting slightly at touch, but it only lasted a second. A wonderful second.

“I hope that you can be my girlfriend once this is all over,” Diana said with a smile.

“Holy shit,” Akko said. Diana cocked her head as Akko frowned and put a finger on her lips. “First kisses really do taste like lemon.”

Diana was confused at first, but after a few seconds she noticed the faint taste of vanilla on her lips and she just chuckled.

Akko was Akko no matter the situation, after all.


	74. Chapter 74

“So,” Amanda said as they sat on the Shiny Rod. She was blushing slightly, recalling what had gone down just the day prior. “We’re alone now,” she looked at Hannah next to her. Would she be mad if Amanda reached for her hand?

“You were a little too mean with Diana,” Hannah said. She seemed to be in a bad mood. “I know you don’t exactly like her, but you could have been a little more sensitive.”

Amanda pouted. She didn’t want to be scolded right now. Hannah was definitely not up for flirting, though. “I just told her the truth. I don’t think she was mad or anything.”

“That's not the point,” Hannah had put on her g-suit again. Why did she do that recently? “You know, she’s definitely changed since you talked to her. She’s more expressive and emotive,” she said looking at Amanda with serious eyes.

“Well, that’s fine, but I don’t have to like her, do I?” Amanda looked away, unable to look into Hannah’s eyes for long without growing restless.

“Just give her another chance. Come on,” Hannah insisted.

“Eh…” Amanda hesitated. She couldn’t see herself becoming friends with Diana, really.

“For me?” Hannah suddenly leaned closer, placing her hand on top of Amanda’s. Amanda turned in surprise, freezing as she saw Hannah’s pleading expression.

“T-that’s unfair,” Amanda said, feeling her face starting to burn. Hannah’s lips were within her range. She could just lean down and…

“Please?”

Amanda had to look away, lest she do something she’d regret later. “Fine, fine,” she gave in. “Just… jeez, you’re one cute bastard, you know that?” she complained.

Hannah chuckled. “I do know, in fact,” she said with a satisfied tone. “You know, maybe you liking me isn’t all bad after all.”

“Oh, because you can try to seduce me to get to do stuff?” Amanda asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Correct,” Hannah said with a self-satisfied smile. It was a cute expression, though to be fair, everything Hannah did seemed cute under her enamored eyes.

“And it’s nothing else, I’m sure,” Amanda said, her own voice with a teasing undertone. Hannah seemed to miss it, for her snorted and nodded. “Which is why you’re still holding my hand,” Amanda said, pointing down with her eyes, where Hannah’s hand was still on top of hers.

Hannah’s smile collapsed into pressed lips. Her hand lingered in place longer than it needed to before she removed it. It had seemed like a reluctant move to Amanda, but she was probably biased.

“I just forgot I had it there,” Hannah excused herself. Amanda gave Hannah a cheeky smile but didn’t refute her.

To break the awkward silence, Amanda yawned. “So, anything you’re going to do once we back on Earth?” she asked Hannah.

“I’ll call my parents, but other than that I don’t really have plans.”

“Well,” Amanda fidgeted with the rim of her shirt. “Diana is back on her feet, which means we can probably do that thing of going to the tallest place and have a nice heart to heart…” she commented, looking for Hannah’s reaction.

“Oh, right,” Hannah said. “Forgot about that. Sure, we can do it.”

Amanda pouted. “If you don’t want to just say it.”

Sighing, Hannah turned to her. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I’m just thinking about other things,” she explained. Well, that may explain why she seemed to be in a bad mood.

“Like what?” Amanda asked.

Hannah hesitated. “I think Diana likes Akko,” she explained.

Amanda nodded. “They were all over each other at the Goodwill,” she recalled. “They’re totally into each other.”

Hannah gave her a flat look. “And I’m starting to worry I’ll end up alone and bitter at this rate,” she said.

“Then get a boyfriend,” Amanda nonchalantly said. “You’re pretty, you’ll probably pull it off easily.”

Hannah frowned. She seemed annoyed, now. “And what about you? Wouldn’t you be bothered by it?” She asked in the tone she often used with Amanda. Amanda looked at her with caution. That question gave her opening to a thousand way of teasing and flirting. But it also bothered her.

“Why do you care?” She asked with a slightly more serious tone than usual.

“Huh?”

“If you wanna get a boyfriend then go and do it. You don’t like me, right? Why worry about how I feel?” Amanda asked. She wasn’t trying to make Hannah feel guilty or anything, she was just trying to make her stop worrying about things so much.

“Well…” Hannah hesitated. “I don’t want to make you sad, you know? We’re supposed to be friends.”

“You and I both discussed what this ‘friendship’ would entail. Hannah, I already told you that even if you get a boyfriend I’ll be fine. Do whatever you want,” Amanda said with some annoyance of her own.

Hannah crossed her arms, almost as if she had found that offensive. “It just baffles me,” she explained. “I wouldn’t want the guy I like to get with someone else.”

“It’s not that I want it,” Amanda said. “I just understand you’re not into me – _yet_ – and until that changes, well, there’s little point in worrying too much,” she looked at Hannah, who had begun to swing her legs slightly.

Hannah remained silent, thinking. She had a look of concentration, and her leg movements didn’t stop. She was at the very least taking what Amanda had said seriously. Amanda tried not to show insecurity, but internally she was a little nervous. If Hannah did get into a relationship she would certainly be jealous. But she also didn’t want to force her hand. If she said something like ‘I won’t let you be with someone else’ she might just push Amanda away.

Plus, Amanda didn’t have the right to be possessive with Hannah. They were just friends, after all. Looking at her made her stomach fill with butterflies and her body feel weightless.

“You’re so pretty,” Amanda said on a whim.

Hannah raised her head, pressing her lips. “Flattery will get you nowhere,” she said. Her cheeks had gone red, though. Amanda knew she was being hopeful. Anyone would be embarrassed from such a sudden compliment.

 _Yeah, my ass,_ she thought. She’d never been embarrassed like that. She’d given a bunch of girls way spicier compliments too and none of them had taken them seriously or had reacted like Hannah often did. Amanda was skeptic of her own judgment for obvious reasons, but she also didn’t consider herself an idiot. Hannah was obviously receptive to her advances, even if she denied it.

Only problem was, if Amanda advanced too far too fast, she might fall off a cliff.

“I know, I just felt like saying it,” Amanda said. She dropped from the Shiny Rod. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going to have a piss.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Way to ruin the moment.”

Amanda smirked as she walked away. So Hannah had thought of that as a ‘moment’ too, huh?

 

“Be more patient,” Ursula said. “I know racing in so many different tracks is hard and annoying, but you need to think things through.”

Akko sighed. “I know, but what are the odds of this even being the actual race track? I feel like I’m wasting my time, I can’t grow used to anything.”

“Well,” Ursula sounded as tired as Akko felt. The entire deal with Diana had released a weight from her chest and now she just felt… relaxed. “Being a pilot requires that you be adaptable. Practicing is nice, but there are planets and places where any amount of normal training would be useless. For example, in Set, where earthquakes are as common as rains and sand shifts the landscape daily, it was essentially impossible for pilots to actually prepare.”

“Yes, yes, but…” Akko sighed. What would Diana do? She would suck it up and accept it. “Ok, let’s continue.”

The simulation changed once again. This time it was a simple, long track that spanned a couple miles before turning right for another couple miles. There were some curves here and there but it was nice and straightforward. Akko had already practiced in it a couple times, so she skipped right to the race part.

The road wasn’t particularly wide, so they used the standard two-lines start. Akko ended up near the end, while the daemons ended up front.

Three, two, one.

Akko accelerated. The armors, next to her, tried for a lunge for them, but Akko was so used to that movement that she casually jumped with the Rod and got over them. This showed her an opening between reptilians and shapeshifter to go forward, so she accelerated and took it. A few attacks came her way, but the shields protected her. She was determined to win every practice race, particularly against the demons, since Andrew had asked her to. She wondered what that was all about, but as she had said, the reason didn’t really matter.

Akko ended up being right behind the daemons. She was in fourth place, as the appali and the medusa were holding back the daemons. Akko started looking for openings, but there wasn’t one available.

She tried to advance a little. Create the illusion that she had maybe found one, make the daemons nervous. Could they even get nervous? Did they feel emotions like humans did?

Her tactic didn’t work, though, and so she was forced to go back to her previous position. The daemons were being aggressive, though, and attacked relentlessly at the two racers ahead of them.

However, that didn’t seem to work. It was then that the Noir Rod got red lines that started connecting all of its weapons. Akko knew what that meant, and she slowed down.

The black ship shifted. Its engine, split in two, slightly longer on the sides than the Shiny Rod’s, suddenly united, making it look pretty much exactly like the original. It was hard to see what was going on from her position, but Akko could’ve sworn the Noir Rod was becoming thinner. But it wasn’t bending, like the Shiny Rod did when transforming. It was more akin to it rebuilding itself. What was happening? Akko wasn’t happy about it, but she couldn’t deny she was kind of excited. Transformations were cool.

But then, the Noir Rod glitched. It shifted back to its previous form in an eyeblink, and while Akko was wondering what had gone wrong, the entire simulation suddenly collapsed and the Shiny Rod turned off, the lights going out and leaving the cockpit in darkness until the windshield went back to normal and the white light from outside started peering in.

“What… just happened?” Akko asked.

“I’m not sure,” Ursula said with a concerned voice. “If I had to guess, I’d say that transformation was too much for the current form of the Shiny Rod to process.”

“But how could it? It can recreate, like, the entire universe. Some shifting parts shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Ursula shook her head. “I don’t know, Akko.” She said. “Maybe we should let the Shiny Rod rest for a little. That seemed to take a lot out of it.”

Akko sighed, but she agreed. Something told her the Shiny Rod needed some time to reboot, though she wasn’t sure of what it was. Ursula followed her as they exited the cockpit.

Outside, Hannah and Amanda sat on the Rod, looking bored.

“Done so soon?” Amanda asked.

“I may have broken the Rod,” Akko said, smiling awkwardly. “So we’re leaving it to rest for a while.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow, but seemed to take it at face value and shrugged. “Ok, so we’ve got some extra free time? We’re getting a little lazy here. Could it be that going back to Earth is making us overconfident?

“Shouldn’t it do the opposite?” Ursula commented. “You do know about the home-race curse, right?

“Well, yeah. There’s the Grand Prix, Luna Nova has its own little stadium, some private teams have their own courses…” Amanda joked.

“Ha ha, funny,” Ursula said. “It’s something serious, girls. People get overconfident at home and they often make stupid mistakes. Don’t follow on their steps, ok?”

Amanda sighed. “I don’t know why you’re even telling me this. I won’t be piloting anymore, right?”

Akko was about to ask why, but then she recalled that Diana was on her feet again. Weird that she’d forget that when any time her mind got some spare time it drifted back to the blonde. “Actually,” Ursula said in a concerned tone, “I’ll have you race this time again. Diana still needs a couple days of rest and walking around and we’ll be landing on Earth on the same day she’ll be ready to go back to business. That won’t give her much time to practice, which in any other circumstance wouldn’t be a problem, but she hasn’t piloted in two weeks.”

Hannah frowned. “Diana knows about this?”

“I… will talk to her soon,” Ursula said, uncomfortable.

Amanda, on her part, looked excited. “Wonderful, then let’s get to- Oh, wait, right. Anyways, now I’m pumped up,” she nodded. She turned to Hannah. “Wanna go on a date while we wait?”

Hannah sighed. “I was actually thinking about going to sleep. I’m kind of tired.”

“Oh, right,” Akko looked at her watch. She was actually going to have to go to sleep really soon. She had kind of broken the schedule today to go to eat with Diana and all, so she had used her free-time hour before sleep practicing.

“Hannah, already inviting me to sleep with you?” Amanda asked with faked surprise. “You sure like to jump straight into action-”

“Oh, shut it,” Hannah dropped from the Rod and looked at Ursula. “Please talk to Diana, coach, before she gets her hopes up.”

“I will. Goodnight, Hannah,” Ursula waved her goodbye.

“I’ll escort her. See ya,” Amanda walked after Hannah like a lost dog. Akko, on her part, smiled as she imagined herself doing the same with Diana. Diana would probably want her to walk by her side, though.

Diana… “Hey, wait, Diana’s back on her feet, which means she’ll be on her room, right?”

“Uhm… yes?” Ursula looked at her with a confused look.

“Well, I’ll see you later, coach. I’m gonna follow Hannah too,” Akko said as she jumped off the broom and followed Amanda and Hannah.

Ursula was left on the broom, kind of confused as to why Akko had suddenly ran off.

 

Croix walked through the black corridors of the _Screech._ Or, at least, that’s what she’d dubbed it, since the word the world-hopper had as a name couldn’t be translated by her devices, so it always sounded like a mere screech to her. The place was lit with pipe-like lights that ran along the walls, giving very dim red lighting. Daemons had good night vision. While normal humans might have found this too dark to do something like reading a paper or recognizing each other fully, to daemons this was just about perfect.

Two figures followed her as she walked. One of them, a daemon with an unusual horn-like protrusion coming out of his forehead. The other, a daemon with an unusual white skin.

“You sure you don’t want some?” Horn offered her a piece of the black meat from some demonic animal.

“I would die if I ate that, but thanks for the offer,” Croix said. The narrow and low corridors of the _Screech_ annoyed her. Daemons weren’t bigger than your average human, yet they felt comfortable in these enclosed spaces. There were no doors anywhere, or at least not visible ones. A human lost here could wander for days until he died and never meet a single soul.

When Croix reached the end of the dimly lit corridor, she put her hand to the wall. It shifted, raising. The metal itself seemed to melt on the joints where it shifted. She had tried emulating this technology, but it required outrageous amounts of energy to pull off, and she had her mind on more important things.

The daemons didn’t really have a hangar. They always moved around on foot when in other planets. They didn’t like to move their stuff away from home. So the ‘hangar’ of the _Screech_ was just big enough to hold the Noir Rod and the Blood Sailor.

“So,” Deep Darkness said in his deeper voice, “what brought you here, again?”

“The alarm of the Noir Rod went off. Someone was trying to analyze its deeper functions,” Croix said, approaching the big black broom – Daemons didn’t like it when she called their current two ships brooms, but that’s what they essentially were – and climbing in it. The inside of the cockpit was very different from the Shiny Rod. It had no seats, just four holes and a waistband. The daemon would put his arms and legs on the holes and the waistband on, all of it would control the ship. Croix had initially designed it with a helmet, but the daemons actually controlled most of their bodies from the lower back. It was a  curious discovery, but it hadn’t been much trouble making the change.

She opened the panel at the back of the cockpit and pressed a couple of buttons there. She waited a few seconds, and then the Noir Rod seemed to vibrate for a few seconds.

“What is going on?” Horn asked. Croix was wearing earplugs, but the daemon voices still bothered her to no end.

“I activated the quantum field around the ship. Someone – or something – is trying to analyze it from afar and I don’t like that.”

“Who?” Darkness asked. Croix looked at them with annoyance. Why did they care? This had nothing to do with them.

“The humans and the Shiny Rod, probably. But don’t worry, with this it should be impossible for them to do it,” Croix didn’t mention that Akko and company were probably just simulating races, as Croix and Chariot used to do. They had probably been doing it for a time, but the Shiny Rod had been able to get past the first layer of defenses.

Yet, Croix had various levels. Transformations, particularly, had quantum barriers that when trying to be directly measured would suddenly settle for one value. When everything settled the ship detected something was wrong and activated the alarms. The Shiny Rod had probably activated that.

Croix had just made it so that the Rod wouldn’t be able to analyze any further changes within the Noir rod. If the Earth team wanted to practice against IPR regulations, then they would have to do it with an outdated version of their rival.

 

_Akko woke up in the Shiny Rod’s turret. She felt trembling all around her, and she was confused. “What just happened?” She asked to the air. She had been waiting for something to happen, and now she was just… lost._

_“I… think this isn’t a normal broom,” Chariot said. “Are you fine?”_

_“Why do you say that?” Akko ignored the question._

_“You were acting all weird. I dunno, like if you were half asleep or something,” Chariot explained._

_Akko paused to think. Had she fallen asleep? Maybe, but unlikely. She didn’t feel sleepy. Magically induced sleep, then? But why? She crossed her arms, laying back as she was, and started to think. Her glasses hadn’t fallen off, which was curious on its own right._

_“Did you crash the ship? How bad is the damage?” Akko asked._

_“It’s fine, I just bumped it,” Chariot replied, offended. “I know how to pilot, thank you.”_

_“Tell that to Miss Nelson next time she lets you into the simulator,” Akko sassily said. Chariot didn’t reply, which was weird enough, but then Akko felt the ship start moving again._

Akko woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. She grumbled something before she also noticed her alarm going off. Then she sprung up and  looked at it. She was up five minutes late already. “Akko?” Akko heard Lotte’s voice. She turned to face the girl, who hadn’t even put on her glasses yet.

“Yes?”

“Are you fine?”

“Yes?” Akko cocked her head.

Lotte gave her a weird look. “You looked kind of… weird,” she explained. “Thought you were having a nightmare, so I woke you up.”

Akko yawned. “Oh, thanks. I was just dreaming. Weird dream, though. I was flying in the Rod with Chariot… Huh, that’s weird. I was wearing glasses,” she realized.

“Just turn the damn alarm off,” Sucy said from her bed. Akko did it, and the sudden silence made her slightly uncomfortable.

Akko stood as Lotte walked away. She could remember the dream pretty well, but she couldn’t really give it much meaning. She had dreamt of flying with Chariot more times than she’d be willing to admit, after all. This one had been a little different, but that was normal, since so much had changed lately.

Without giving it much more thought, she ordered breakfast.

 

Diana was smiling.

She had been since the day prior. She had woken up with a smile. She had showered, brushed her teeth and eaten breakfast with a smile.

In fact, she had been smiling through the whole talk with Ursula, where she had been informed that she’d be skipping this next race too. Normally it would have bothered her, but maybe Akko had given her some of her optimism and energy through that kiss, because she accepted it with absolute ease. Truth was, she had been kind of expecting that.

Nothing could possibly ruin this. Akko liked her too, she had had her first kiss, her leg was fine now and everything seemed ok. So it was than when she opened the door of her room after the knocking, she was still smiling.

And when she saw who was on the other side, she dropped the smile and put on her neutral face. “Andrew,” Diana said monotonously.

“Diana, good to see you’re fine,” he said. He had his business face. Diana knew what that meant, and she sighed as she allowed Andrew into the room. Barbara had gone to the Red Team’s room on the other side of the hallway to have a chat with Lotte. She had made sure Diana knew that if she was bored she was always invited to come and chat with them. Diana, on her part, had been watching old videos of races on Earth to see if she could come up with some strategy for Akko and Amanda to use. Amanda would surely come up with one of her own, but Akko… well, she was a quick learner.

“Message from my aunt?” Diana asked with annoyance.

“Not exactly,” Andrew took something out of his pocket. A crystal ball.

Diana grimaced. “Urgent,” she said as the butterflies she had felt on her chest all day caught fire and died. “Give it to me, let’s get this over with.”

Andrew unceremoniously threw the ball at her. He knew how much Diana disliked her aunt. Most everyone did. Daryl hating her was nothing new.

“Oh my,” the voice at the other end of the line made Diana’s eye twitch. “Diana, is that you? You look fantastic!” Daryl said with a cheerful tone. Diana couldn’t see her, but Daryl probably had her own crystal ball connected to a holographic device to allow her to see who she was speaking with. “For someone who just spent two weeks in the hospital, at least.”

“What do you want, Aunt?” Diana said in her coldest of voices.

“Well, you see,” Daryl’s fake friendly tone made Diana want to throw the crystal ball into the floor and shatter it, “There’s something interesting about your inheritance. If I want to sell something, I can,” she said.

“No, you can’t without my permission,” Diana sighed. Were they going to have this discussion again.

“Well, but if you don’t directly oppose to it within thirty days of me putting it up for sale, then it’s perfectly legal!” she explained. Diana could hear some snickering in the background. Her cousins. She sometimes wondered who had been idiotic enough to marry Daryl. Well, not enough of an idiot to not realize his mistake and run away, that’s for certain. “So I was thinking, maybe I’ll put The Pony in a racing auction after, let’s say… you leave Earth to continue racing. It will surely earn a lot of money, isn’t that good?” She said.

“I’ll just make sure to leave my signed intentions for it to _never_ be sold down there,” Diana replied. She knew about that clause too, of course. Daryl wouldn’t catch her off guard.

“Well, but you need a week to do that, don’t you? And I’m fairly certain you won’t be staying for a full week here…”

Diana didn’t answer. She carefully handed the Crystal Ball back to Andrew, turning around and leaving her room. _Don’t panic,_ she told herself. Sure, she couldn’t think of one now, but this was too easy of a legal void. Her mother was also smarter than that.

But no one expected a sixteen year old to be _out of the_ _planet_ for so long.

Still, Diana had other ways to deal with that. She could have Akko teleport her back to finish he paperwork- No, she’d be legally outside the Earth. She wouldn’t technically be able to finish it even if she was physically present. Could they use teleportation as a part of all of this? It would probably have legal connotations all of its own. Long story short, no.

Daryl was one tenacious bastard when it came to trying to mess with Diana. Maybe if she asked for it, Diana could have the _Dragon_ stay a couple extra days. She was a pilot, after all. She was sure most people would rather be late than be completely disqualified if Diana threatened to quit the race.

Diana was still angry. She wanted to punch a wall, but she’d rather not break her knuckles. She wanted to scream, but she had too much self control to do that. She wanted to cry, but tears wouldn’t fix her problems.

She wanted to talk with Akko, but she didn’t want to put any of this on her shoulders.

Hannah and Barbara, though, already knew about her situation. She could probably talk to them about this. After walking around for a while, Diana took a deep breath and returned. However, instead of going into her room, she went into the red team’s. She was so distressed she forgot to knock. The door opened and when she entered the room, she found a half-naked Barbara jumping from one of the beds. She wore nothing but her underwear, and her bra was actually loose.

Diana took a second too long to realize what was going on. “Oh my god, I’m sorry,” she said with a deep crimson blush. She turned and left the room instantly, entering hers instead.

A minute later, Barbara came into the room. Diana expected her to be angry, but she instead looked worried. Her hair was a mess and her face was red. She was also wearing Lotte’s t-shirt, not hers, which was pretty obvious by the size difference. “Diana?” Barbara asked, concerned. “You _always_ knock, particularly when it’s not your room. Is something the matter?”

Diana had trouble meeting her eyes, but she did. She wanted to apologize for interrupting what she had going on with Lotte, but… “Yes,” she said. “It’s my aunt.”

Barbara frowned. “Again, huh,” she said with a growling tone. She moved and sat next to Diana, putting a hand on her back. “What is it this time?”

Diana closed her eyes. It was at times like these that she was glad to have Hannah and Barbara as her friends. Because, even if she had just blueballed her, Barbara still worried more about Diana than herself.

The story wasn’t long, luckily. Otherwise, Diana might have ended up crying.


	75. Chapter 75

Hannah was eating lunch while trying not to kill everyone in sight with her stare alone. She was inside a restaurant with views of the small event going on in Bronze Deck dedicated to Nightfall. Fans of the book certainly enjoyed their damn events. She looked at everyone who passed by. She tried to make eye contact with any and all guys who may have fit with her memories of the masked man, yet none seemed to pay her much mind. Just the normal oh-hey-that’s-the-gunman kind of mind.

When she had heard what Diana’s aunt was trying to pull off she had offered to buy The Pony off her aunt once and for all and then give it back to her once she was eighteen. Diana, of course, had refused. That would only give her aunt more satisfaction, making one of her friends waste such a large amount of money. An auction for the broom of a two-times world champion?  That could go up to billions. Hannah was rich, but that was a little too much. Unique brooms were kind of a big deal for fanatics of the sport.

Hannah didn’t want to leave Diana alone when she was in distress, but she knew she was a fiery girl and her anger wouldn’t help Diana feel better.

So here she was, looking hopelessly for a guy she didn’t know.

Amanda had offered to come with her, but Hannah had refused. Mostly because she didn’t want to  have to deal with her teasing and flirting. The requests were simple things – hold hands, kiss her cheek, brush her hair – but Hannah couldn’t really take them. Whenever something was going on the air around them got so… romantic. It was uncomfortable. Hannah felt a strange pressure, as if by the sheer act of that she would end up giving in to Amanda’s advances.

But what was she supposed to do? At first it was hard to get a grasp on it, but it was so clear that Amanda really, really liked her. Hannah had _never_ had someone head over heels for her, and she had the feeling Amanda wasn’t exactly a textbook example of that. She was direct and even aggressive with her advances. She wasn’t afraid of showing her feelings.

Hannah was starting to get confused, which was why she wanted to get a boyfriend once and for all. She wanted some stability, something to work with so that Amanda would… Well, not give up on her, but at least tone it down.

When Hannah finished eating, she gave up on this event. If the guy she was looking for was here then he either failed to recognize her or just didn’t care enough. Maybe that was it. Maybe it had been just a guy inviting her to dance because their attires matched and nothing more.

It was kind of painful to think about it like that, but whatever.

Why did she want to go see Amanda all of a sudden? Maybe she’d become a masochist or something.

And yet, when time came to go back to practice, she was almost glad to know that Amanda was there, waiting for her.

“I’ve thought about it and I think you need to be more aggressive for these races,” was the first thing the redhead said. “There’s little we can do with the terrain here, and racers here aren’t afraid of maybe going off the road because of our magic barriers.”

Hannah nodded. “I’ll try to,” she was plenty aggressive already, but if Amanda said she needed to be more she was probably right.

Their conversation ended pretty much there. Hannah had grown used to Amanda staring at her, so she just closed her eyes and let herself go. They would land in a day or so. What would she do when she arrived on Earth? Well, after calling her parents. Maybe she’d even go and visit. Akko would probably take her, if she asked nicely enough. Asking something nicely to Akko felt wrong, though.

“So, what’s got you so worried?” Amanda suddenly asked.

“Nothing you should concern with,” Hannah replied without giving Amanda a real answer. Amanda wasn’t happy with that, though, and she poked Hannah’s shoulder.

“Come on, you’re making your ‘I’m worried’ face. You can talk to me, we’re _friends_ after all,” the way Amanda pronounced friends made Hannah kind of angry. She was totally being made fun of.

“It’s about Diana, you probably don’t care,” Hannah explained.

At first there was no reply, which allowed Hannah to go back to her thinking. Didn’t last long, though. “Well, I may not care much for Diana, but I care for you. If it’s troubling you too then you can still talk to me.”

 _‘I care for you’._ Hannah seemed to spend so much time blushing lately, and this time Amanda hadn’t even done it on purpose. Why did such a simple phrase sound so important? Wasn’t caring for someone natural, if you were friends? But Hannah knew it wasn’t just ‘friendship’ care.

After some deliverance, Hannah spoke. “Look, Diana’s family situation is messy. I’m just frustrated because I can’t help her,” she summarized.

“Oh,” Amanda said. “Well, if you can’t help her, then worrying won’t do you any good anyways,” Amanda explained.

“I know, it’s just… Whatever, it’s Diana’s choice if she wants to tell you.”

Amanda hummed to herself. Hannah was kind of grateful when she didn’t insist, though another part of her was disappointed, even if she didn’t know why. Did she want Amanda to keep pestering her?

“So, I suppose you had no luck finding the guy?” Amanda asked. Hannah nodded, a little uncomfortable. Talking to Amanda about this was supposed to be a way of getting her to stop flirting. Now it had turned into something that kind of made Hannah a little guilty, despite what Amanda had said about how she should do whatever she wanted. “Well, since you’re not getting a boyfriend today…” Amanda used a playful tone. Hannah guessed what was coming, but let it happen anyways. “Can I see you with your hair down?”

Hannah paused. Had she heard wrong? She turned to Amanda. “What?”

“Can you undo the ponytail?” Amanda asked. She was looking at Hannah with a small smile. A genuine one, not cocky or sarcastic.

“Uhm… Sure,” Hannah shrugged, taking off her yellow ribbon and letting her hair fall. In comparison to all her other requests, this one was pretty tame.

Amanda stared at her. Her smile grew, and she seemed to be trying to engrave the sight into her memory. Hannah feared Amanda might compliment her out of the blue like the other day, but she just stared. Intensely, honestly. Hannah looked back at her, but it wasn’t as awkward as she thought it’d be.

“Can I touch it?” Amanda suddenly asked.

Hannah sighed. It wasn’t the first time Amanda asked. She had said no the previous times, but right now she could use some thing to help her relax, and she actually liked having her hair played with. “Fine,” she gave in. “But don’t overdo it,” she turned around to put her hair in full view – and partly to hide her embarrassment.

It took a few seconds, but she soon felt as Amanda carefully picked up a few locks here and there, brushing them with her fingers. “It’s so silky,” Amanda said. “You take good care of it.”

“As best as I can,” Hannah said proudly. She tried to imagine what Amanda’s hair could feel like. She couldn’t really get a feel for it.

The soft movement and light pulls of her hair sometimes sent shivers down her spine. When Amanda touched her head and ran her hand through the entire length of hair was one of the most satisfying things ever, and when she sometimes happened to brush her neck with her fingertips Hannah just closed her eyes and allowed the relaxation spread through her body.

Hannah was sure that sometimes Amanda purposely caressed her back or shoulders, or softly played with her ears. She wondered if she should set boundaries, if allowing this to go on would end up making it get out of hand. But she trusted Amanda not to take her elbow when she had just given her a hand. Plus, all of those gentle touches felt nice.

They spent a while like that. Amanda seemed to be counting her every strand of hair. She enjoyed the moment, and Hannah couldn’t say she wasn’t too. She had slowly begun to fall back, more and more, and without even realizing it she ended up laying her head on something soft.

When she opened her eyes, she could see Amanda’s chin. The redhead was looking up as she now stroked Hannah’s head, faking to not notice what Hannah had subconsciously done. Hannah was relaxed, so even if she realized what she was doing, she wasn’t sure of what to do.

Her heart seemed to skip a beat.

Hannah decided to close her eyes again and feign ignorance too. She had just fallen asleep thanks to Amanda’s slender fingers and surprisingly long nails, that now scratched her scalp cautiously, which only added to her state of mind.

In the end, probably thanks to a little tiredness and digestion, plus the peace she felt currently, Hannah actually fell asleep.

 

Akko flew under the Plants, using the side of the Rod to push their wing up. The normally pretty harmless maneuver became detrimental in a curve, where the sudden movement forced the Plants to dive nose-first into the magic barrier at the sides of the track, grinding it against pure, unaltered Magic. These barriers weren’t like the Shiny Rod’s shield, though. They only stopped bigger objects. Bullets, projectiles and anything smaller than a really big human could pass through the barrier without problem.

Accelerating, Akko took the curve left and made eye contact with her goal: The daemons. She was in second place, and as she moved around, the daemons tried to stop her from moving forward. If Akko went left, they went left, if Akko went up, they went up. With their ship being bigger and bulkier than the Rod, they had the advantage, since Jasminka couldn’t really shoot at them without risking hitting that split engine of theirs.

Akko was determined to win. She started moving erratically, looking for an opening, but the daemons were good at reading her. This was leading her nowhere. It was then that the appali caught up with her. Akko wondered if maybe she could use this. If maybe she could…

The Appali shot at her. A missile. A tracking missile. If she dodged it, it would just turn around and hit her.

Or whatever was in front of her.

Akko dodged the missile with a quick barrel roll. Of course, the daemons followed. Then, Akko stayed in place, waiting hopefully as the missile came back to face the daemons head-on. She expected them to dodge. Didn’t happen, as they instead just shot at it.

 _Yeah, of course,_ Akko thought with an internal sigh. Too easy.

She lost that race.

“Not a single opening. Either the simulation is wrong or the daemons are for some reason able to read my every move,” Akko lamented.

“You should allow other racers to come closer next time,” Ursula suggested.

“The daemons will still focus on me,” Akko said. “This time there’s some kind of bet between them and us. I need to start the race by getting ahead of them and not allow them to pass me once,” Akko tried to imagine what it would be like to do what Amanda had done on Poseidon. It seemed too cool to be something she could do easily, but… Well, it wasn’t impossible.

“It was a good run,” Ursula said, patting her shoulder. “Scenery changes can be pretty distracting.” Akko nodded.  She had wanted to win to be able to tell Diana how well she was doing. But this… This wasn’t doing well. “But Akko, you’re too eager to get ahead. I understand it, but trying to force it might come back to kick you.”

Akko pressed her lips and licked the inside of her cheeks. “Well, I’ll try. Let’s-” Right as she was about to continue, the alarm on her watch sounded. She looked at it. Break time. “Do nothing, I guess I’ll think about it for a while.”

She opened the cockpit. When she exited, she found Amanda sitting on the Rod, Hannah using her lap as a pillow. Wait, was Hannah actually asleep?

Amanda didn’t seem to notice the windshield opening or Akko looking. She had one hand resting on Hannah’s tummy, while the other softly stroked her loose hair. Akko had been made kind of aware of the fact that Amanda liked Hannah, but she hadn’t paid it much mind.

Akko felt bad for doing this, since Amanda looked to be enjoying it – even if her face denoted some kind of conflict – but she still jumped out of the cockpit, alerting her. Amanda looked at her with some surprise. She was a little surprised, and she took her hands away from Hannah, as if she had been doing something bad. She must have been pretty self conscious about how their situation looked.

“I thought she didn’t like you,” Akko whispered as she passed next to her.

Amanda hesitated. “Would saying that ‘we’re just friends’ make this situation any less awkward?” She asked with a sad smile. Shook her head. Hannah was so peaceful it was kind of surprising, particularly because sleeping on the side of the Rod seemed kind of uncomfortable, since it was more of a slope than a straight surface. “I don’t know, Akko. I think she may like me, but she still considers herself to be straight. As long as she does that there’s not much I can do.”

“Well… Good luck,” Akko said, starting to walk away.

“Hey, wait,” Amanda called to her. Akko turned. “Don’t tell her you saw us, ok?”

Akko shrugged. “Sure. See you,” she said and finally walked away. She grew a little excited at the prospect of seeing Diana. She wondered if Diana would let her sleep in her lap once they were dating. A nice Sunday afternoon, them laying on the grass on a picnic, Akko putting her head on Diana’s lap and relaxing… Seemed like a perfect date.

She touched her lips as she called for the elevator. She’d had to call her friend from Japan while on Earth, tell her that she’d finally had her first kiss. Now that Akko thought about it, she would probably mix well with Lotte, she was also a pretty voracious reader.

But she’d focus on that later. For now, all she wanted to do was talk to Diana.

 

Diana didn’t want to talk with Akko. Not because of the brunette, but because of herself. She wasn’t in a good mood, and she was afraid of driving Akko away with her current attitude.

But, when Akko knocked on her door, she couldn’t resist opening. And when she saw the brunette’s warm smile, her problems seemed to melt away. For the first time since receiving the news she allowed herself to smile, inviting Akko into her room. Barbara was still there, and Lotte had also come after a while. Diana had apologized profusely for interrupting them, but Lotte still had a little trouble meeting her eyes. It was impossible to blame her, though.

“Hey Akko,” Lotte said.

“Oh, hey Lotte,” Akko turned to her. She had been looking only at Diana and had failed to notice her friend. Diana tried not to be too happy about it.

Akko sat down in the bed Lotte and Barbara weren’t using. Diana sat down next to her, but keeping some calculated distance.

“So,” Barbara said with a cheeky smile, “what went down after we left?”

Diana didn’t get the question at first, but she realized what she was talking about and smiled. “Nothing important,” she said while looking at Akko from the corner of her eye.

“Hey,” Akko looked at her. “I’d say my first kiss is pretty important,” she frowned.

Losing her cool, Diana blushed. She had to look away from Akko, as the memory of what she had done while in front of her made her want to repeat it. But she had set the rules, and she was going to follow them. “It is, Akko, I just…”

“Oh my stars you kissed?!” Barbara stood like a spring, beaming. “How did it go? You have to tell me!” She looked as excited as a kid with a new toy.

Diana sighed. “This is why I tried to shrug it off,” she explained, accepting that her face was going to remain red for the rest of this conversation.

“I see,” Akko said in a weaker voice, slightly red too. Diana wondered how much time had to pass before they stopped blushing at these things.

“Who started it?” Barbara asked.

“Barbs, please, you’re making them uncomfortable,” Lotte pulled her back to the bed, though that did little to quell Barbara’s excitement.

“It was Diana,” Akko replied meekly. Diana blushed a little harder as she heard Barbara squeal like a toy at the information, and she looked at Diana with shining eyes.

“How did she do it?” Barbara asked, looking back at Akko.

“She… Well, she told me she didn’t want to date yet and then she kissed me to promise me we would date, or something like that?” She sounded kind of confused. “It felt nice, it’s pretty much all I remember. Tasted like lemon, too.”

Barbara’s expression shifted, and she looked at Diana. “Excuse me, what did she just say?”

“That her first kiss tasted like lemon?” Diana answered with uncertainty.

“No, no, the part about not dating,” Barbara was looking at Diana with a pretty abrasive look. Kind of like a mother catching their kids doing something bad. Diana had never felt intimidated by Barbara before, but she did now.

“Uhm…” She rarely hesitated when talking. Well, there was always a first time for anything. “I want to focus on flying, so I said we shouldn’t date yet to not get distracted and…” she trailed off as Barbara’s expression slowly grew more and more harsh. Diana wondered if she had said something that wrong.

“Diana,” Barbara said in a serious tone. Lotte looked at her girlfriend with some nervousness. “You’re the smartest person I know. You’re a genius, you’re a prodigy, and you’re one of my best friends,” she put her hands together against her mouth and took a deep breath. Even Akko seemed to be leaning back from the intensity of those eyes. “But that was the most _idiotic_ thing I’ve _ever_ heard,” she declared. “And I’ve had discussions with flat-earthers.”

Diana cringed at every new word pronounced. “I don’t think you understand where-”

“Oh, don’t try that,” Barbara stood, hands on her hips. “I understand _perfectly_ where you’re coming from and let me tell you that you’re going to become Akko’s girlfriend _right here right now.”_

It was hard to look at those eyes and not want to follow the command. But Diana was adamant about her decision. “Sorry, Barbara, but I can’t let myself be side-tracked…”

“Shut it,” Barbara said. Why was she so angry? “You’re always the same, depriving yourself from things you like ‘cause you don’t think you deserve them,” she said. “You already know you like Akko, you know she likes you back- Wait, you do like her back, right?”

“Of course,” Akko said with fear in her voice.

“There. You’re going to get distracted anyways, you moron. Might as well do it while enjoying it, instead of feeling guilty about it,” Barbara finished.

Diana grimaced. What she said made sense, but she wasn’t seeing things as Diana. “If we start dating, I’ll have to focus more on Akko and we’ll have to go on dates and-”

Barbara turned with an exasperated turn to Lotte. “Did she even hear what I’m saying? Am I talking to a wall?” She asked with annoyance before facing Diana again. She crouched to look Diana at eye level. “You’ll already waste time thinking about Akko, that’s how liking someone works,” she said as if she was talking to a five year old. “And of course you’ll go on dates… But that’s what your free time is for! Or do you plan on not having any, after giving Akko that schedule she follows as if it was her damn bible?”

“I plan on having a more rigorous training since I spent two weeks in bed and…” With each argument Diana felt her will faltering her. When had Barbara become so good at being scary?

“Stop being stubborn,” Barbara said. She pointed a Akko. “Tell her that you want her to be your girlfriend. Now.”

“But I don’t-” Diana shut up at Barbara’s stare. She was starting to understand why Barbara was considered a bully. With some hesitance, she looked at Akko, who seemed to be taking this situation as well as she did.

“H-hey,” Akko said.

Diana’s eyes flickered as she tried to keep track of both the brunette and Barbara, sometimes catching glimpses of Lotte’s red, worried face. “I…” She was just confused. Things had gone down too quickly. “I think I need some time to think about this?”

“No you don’t. You’ll just come up with more excuses. You know what? You don’t even have to say it, I name you girlfriends right now,” she picked up one of Diana’s hands and one of Akko’s, and she almost bashed them together. “Hold hands, be happy, and you Akko stop looking at me like if I was going to hurt you, I’m not.”

“Wait, Barbara,” Diana was struggling to set her thoughts straight.

“No, no waiting.”

“Barbara I need-”

“Diana…” Barbara’s low tone finally made Diana snap.

“Barbara!” she exclaimed. “This is _not_ your call!” Diana replied, making Barbara step back. “Just give me a second,” she finished with a sigh. Barbara crossed her arms, but she finally sat next to Lotte again, staring daggers at her.

Diana looked at Akko. Would she find it weird that she had raised her tone and spoken to Barbara like that?

“It’s ok, Diana,” Akko said instead. “You don’t have to push yourself,” she smiled.

Diana’s chest got all warm. It was likely that Akko just hadn’t been able to follow the conversation that had just taken place, but the force of her pure heart just made Diana look away, kind of ashamed.

“Thanks,” was all she could say.

Barbara groaned. “Don-” she paused, taking a breath. “So, you’re just going to ‘focus on your flying’ and… What? Ignore how you feel?” She asked in a more calm voice.

Diana shook her head. “It’s not like that. I just don’t want to have to bother about managing a serious relationship.”

“Fine, and when will you stop ‘focusing’ on your flying? When the race ends? Like, being on the podium after winning and holding the cup and then turning to her and saying something romantic and kissing her in front of everyone?” Barbara asked with a raised eyebrow.

Diana tried to imagine it, but she couldn’t picture herself doing something like that. “Of course not, I will just ask her normally.”

“And if we lose?”

“That wouldn’t change anything,” Diana said with certainty.

“Ha!” Barbara laughed sarcastically. “Think I’m gonna buy that?” She didn’t sound so angry now. She shook her head. “I know you well enough to tell what’s gonna happen, Diana, but if you insist…” she crossed her arms. “Then do as you’d like.”

That phrase had a feeling of closure to it. Diana knew she wasn’t getting anything better than that. Looking back at Akko, Diana found the girl giving her a confused look. Whatever was going through her head she didn’t say, but Diana now found herself wondering what Barbara had meant. What was so wrong with wanting to wait for a little? With not wanting to feel pressured and rushed? Akko seemed to understand it.

The conversation didn’t lose its hint of awkwardness after that.

 

“We’re the three musketeers of weird ass hobbies,” Sucy said as she sat at the edge of the pool where Constanze and Jasminka swam. She had thrown a chemical on the water to make it look like someone had peed on the pool – making it glow with magic - and leave it for the three of them alone. People around them watched with disgust, but Sucy was so used to such looks that she couldn’t have cared any less. Jasminka had only showed up like ten minutes ago, but it wasn’t like she made much of a difference by being or not there. Sucy supposed she shared the same quality, save for the part where Jasminka was at least doing something useful for the team currently. Constanze, of course, had basically redesigned an entire ship and was their security system. And Sucy… well, she was there. Even Lotte and Barbara had gotten to help with the Shooting Star 2.0, but Sucy had no real practical skills. “The creepy girl obsessed with potions, the quiet weirdo obsessed with machines and the fat girl who does nothing but eat,” she continued. “No offense,” she said to Jasminka.

The pink haired girl shrugged. Constanze was basically ignoring Sucy, so she was mostly talking to herself anyways.

Sucy only had her feet on the water. She didn’t feel like swimming. She had just agreed to help Constanze with carrying some things and the girl had wanted to do some testing of her stanbots. She had apparently been really focused on this lately. Sucy didn’t give a shit, but she had nothing better to do.

She wondered if the potion she had left brewing would come out fine. It was one supposed to be able to change hair colors. It was something that magic couldn’t really do unless it affected a person genetically, and it would take a few days to know if the effect was true or not, since new hair needed to grow, but she could always use Akko as her experiment. She would probably like having red hair, just like Chariot.

People avoided their pool like the plague. Sucy closed her eyes. The noises of the crowd bothered her. Maybe she could create a potion to leave herself deaf for a while. She wouldn’t have to deal with Akko that way. Akko… Sucy drummed her fingers. She was a great guinea pig, since she never got actually mad with Sucy. Even if she was blind, blue, glowing in the dark or unable to move her neck to the sides.

Sometimes, Sucy wondered if what she did was wrong. But she also sometimes messed up her potions. Mistakes were something common in her life.

Something poked her leg. Sucy opened her eyes to look at the metallic robot swimming between her feet. She looked up at Constanze, who was trying to get her attention. She was trying to show her something.

Sucy sighed but swam closer to her. In her screen, Constanze had a blueprint of the Shooting Star. She pointed at it. Sucy didn’t get it. “Listen, I’ve no fucking idea of what you’re saying. Write it out or speak,” she said. Constanze grunted, but she started to write on another tab.

 _‘I ask you if you think it looks fine,’_ Constanze wrote, then shifted to the blueprint again. Sucy cocked her head while looking at it. “Why ask me? I’ve no idea about mechanics. Looks fine, I guess,” she said, annoyed that she had gotten soaked for no reason.

Constanze shook her head. She pointed again, and Sucy rolled her eyes before paying closer attention to the screen. Then she narrowed her eyes. “Oh, it’s a… chemical equation?” Sucy recognized the element of magic and some others. Then she recognized what the equation was. “Wait, what is this for?” Without replying, Constanze changed tabs. What she showed was… Interesting, to say the least. “The equation is fine, but there’s no way in hell it’s going to work. You’re good with machines but engineers have been trying to figure this out for years.”

The tiny girl pointed again at her blueprint, insisting.

“Yes, yes, it looks fine, whatever, it’s still not so simple. Mixing such a large amount of magic with the human body just won’t…” Sucy trailed off, as Constanze was back to ignoring her. She sighed and sat on the edge of the pool again.

Next time she’d make Constanze go alone to do her shopping.


	76. Chapter 76

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: I upgraded the rating from T to M. It's mostly because I don't exactly know where to draw the line and I'd rather be safe. (nothing to do with the chapter tho. Don't forget to comment)

Akko wasn’t really thinking as she waited for the door to open. She had been doing averagely on the simulators. It had to had something to do with the way the daemons had glitched out the other day. She wasn’t sure of what had happened but something had definitely gone awry.

Then, Diana. Barbara’s explosion the day prior had been something to behold. Akko had kind of agreed with her, but it was Diana’s call. Akko was sure Diana did what she thought was best, and that was all she needed. She would be lying to say she didn’t want to be her girlfriend now, but what was a couple months in the big picture?

Well, Akko wasn’t exactly good at looking at the big picture, but she trusted Diana and Diana was the biggest picture of all. Figuratively. She wasn’t calling her fat or anything. Akko looked at the blonde as she stood in the back, Chatting with Ursula in a low voice. Diana had a slightly troubled face. The previous day, when Akko had gone visit, she had showed the same expression at first. Ursula nodded. She had a serious look on her face. Whatever they were discussing was probably important.

“So, you going to go visit your family or something, Akko?” Amanda asked her out of the blue. She used a low voice, so that even in the relatively small corridor they could have a private conversation.

Akko looked at her. “I thought about it,” she admitted in a similarly low volume. “What about you?”

“Not a chance,” Amanda laughed dryly. “I’d rather stay here,” she looked at the ceiling. “As far away from them as possible.”

“Wouldn’t you like them to see you race?”

Amanda paused. “No,” she concluded. Everyone had their own story, Akko figured with some sadness. Not liking your own family was something truly alien to her. How did she spend her Christmas? Did she even celebrate it? It was supposed to be all about family and love. Akko wondered if she could get Diana under some mistletoe with her. Though she supposed she didn’t need it to kiss Diana. How much longer until Christmas came around, though? Akko figured they must have been near the end of November, maybe even the start of December, but knowing with certainty would require her to figure it out on Earth. “Hey, you live in Japan, right?”

“Last I checked, yeah,” Akko nodded. Silence was made between them. Seemed like Amanda had just wanted to make some small chat. Akko wondered why, though. Amanda wasn’t really one to make small chat normally. “Are you ok?”

Amanda looked at her with surprise. “Yeah, why?”

“Dunno, you’re kinda weird,” Akko explained. Amanda stared at her for a few seconds before sighing.

“I’m fine. It’s just romantic angst,” she explained. Akko nodded. It had something to do with Hannah, then. “How about you? You’re into Diana, right?”

Akko nodded, smiling lightly. “Yeah. We confessed and all. She also likes me back,” she said proudly. Wait, was she supposed to say that? Was it ok for people to know Diana also liked her back? Was that a breach of privacy?

Amanda raised her eyebrows. “Well you’re bolder than I assumed. Must be nice getting a girlfriend,” she said with a hint of jealousy.

“Oh, we’re not a couple… yet. We’re, like, waiting for a while,” Akko said with some caution, hoping Amanda didn’t snap like Barbara had done.

She gave Akko a confused look, but after a few seconds she shrugged. “Rich people are weird,” Amanda sighed. “Still, your relationship is far beyond mine.”

“I’m sure Hannah likes you too,” Akko patted her back. “She’s just stubborn,” she deduced.

“Like we’re ones to talk,” Amanda said. Both of them chuckled.

“Everyone is stubborn, in their own ways,” Akko said. “But that’s fine. If you didn’t have anything to be stubborn about, it’d be the same as having no personality.”

Amanda cocked her head. “I can’t say I follow your analogy, but let’s say it’s ok and be on with it,” she pointed at the door. “Time to step in our own planet. Officially, this time.”

Akko turned to see the door slowly rise.

Outside, there was chaos. A circle of military stood holding back the crowds of people waiting for the team to step out of the _Dragon._ The big ship had landed in the middle of the ocean, of course. Why had all of these people decided that the best place to look at them was in the middle of nowhere? Akko was kind of scared they were angry at first, but then she realized they were excited and shouting. As they walked, Akko waved timidly, though most people looked at Amanda and Diana more than her. Cheers and chants in a lot of languages were heard among the crowd, and a hundred different types of camera spirits were sure to get close to them and take pictures and stuff.

“Wait here, a broom is going to come look for you and take you to the hotel you’ll be staying in,” Ursula said. “We’ll be here for three days, race will take place in the night of the twenty-sixth.”

“What date is it?” Akko asked.

“November twenty-fourth,” Ursula asked. She was looking at her wand, which had automatically updated. “We’ll leave on the twenty-seventh.”

“Do we really need to wait?” Amanda asked. “Akko can probably take us. It’s not like she has never done it before.”

“Wait until we’re officially settled this time, please,” Ursula said. She had the face of someone very busy. “I’ll be back in a while.”

Akko watched her with some concern as she walked into the _Dragon_ again. She had heard her name being cried among the crowd a couple times, and she made sure to smile at them, but she felt strangely disconnected. It was hard to think that she was becoming famous. She would be for the rest of her life, for better or worse.

She noticed that the one who took the reaction the best was Hannah. She smiled and waved as if she was born for it. The attention was definitely something she enjoyed. Akko wouldn’t say she didn’t want any of it, but… Well, she had to grow used to it. She was trying to become like Chariot. Chariot always smiled, so Akko put on her biggest smile when facing the crowd.

As she did, she made sure to check on Diana. Two weeks in bed and mostly alone surely had had an effect on her, so better to make sure she wasn’t getting overwhelmed. After just one look, however, Akko was certain she had nothing to worry about. Diana had put on her perfect neutral face and was waiting patiently. Akko didn’t really like how Diana refused to show her emotions to people, but it was part of her too.

It wasn’t long before the vehicle finally arrived. A special broom able to go over water. Akko wished she could just teleport to the place. The Earth’s ocean was boring. At least compared to Poseidon’s, where you could actually see the bottom. But, well, Akko had to admit that probably had to do with the fact that she lived there.

What surprised Akko was that inside the vehicle there were already daemons and appali. Horn waved at her, and while his face showed no emotion, as always, Akko could almost imagine him smirking. By pure chance, Akko ended up sitting next to one of the Appali pilots. The small, round one. What was his name, again? She seemed to recall it was something related to money.

She also recalled what she had seen them doing in the hangar. The alien looked at her with his heterochromatic eyes and smiled. “Hello. Nice planet you have here. Feels like ours,” he said. Oh, wasn’t his name Shill? Right, right.

“Yes,” Akko said, having some trouble to meet his eyes. Should she tell him she had seen them? “I wonder if we’ll get to see Appal soon,” she replied with some nervousness.

“Probably,” he said. “At least, depending on what you mean by ‘soon’. May be the next race, might be the last one. Worst case scenario you have to wait half a month.”

Akko found the timeframe weird, as he probably meant a month or so. Then she guessed that he had just said something in Appali and the translator had just spit it out like that. How did Appali measure time, then? One month for them was two or three months for humans? Maybe it was a matter of days. Maybe Appal had longer days or something.

As the broom moved through the ocean, Akko started to grow restless. If she had just used the Shiny Rod she could be already there. And she hadn’t even gotten to sit besides Diana. Not that sitting besides Shill was bad, but… Well, he just wasn’t Diana.

“So…” Shill spoke to her in a low voice, looking around. His teammates were in the back of the broom-bus. Akko wondered why he was so far away from them. He looked towards the other pilot specifically. “I heard… I heard this planet is like, really… Accepting,” he spoke nervously.

“Yes?” Akko replied, uncertain. “In which way, exactly?” Because Humans could be accepting, true, but that wasn’t really their natural state of mind.

He seemed uncomfortable. He kept looking back, at his group, as if afraid they might be listening. With all the conversations going on, it was unlikely. Akko wondered what had him so worried, but he finally looked at her and spoke. “In… relationships,” he said.

Akko took a few seconds, but she thought she had started to figure out what he meant. “Oh, like, same-sex relationships, you mean?” She asked in a low voice. Shill’s eyes widened, and he looked back in panic. No one had heard, though, so he relaxed a little and nodded to Akko. “Well, I mean, yes, a lot places on earth are accepting of them. Not every place, sadly, but most,” she said. Some countries still held to their millennia-old ideals, but every year there were less and less people willing to argue against just letting everyone be whoever they wished to be as long as they didn’t harm anyone.

Shill nodded slowly. “It must be nice,” he said with a sad tone.

Akko frowned. “It’s not like that in Appal?”

Shill shook his head. “Our planet is in constant wars with itself. Our population fluctuates rapidly. People who don’t show the desire to reproduce are… Well, killed. Whatever the reason,” he explained. The implication was obvious. Akko suddenly felt incredibly sad and impotent. Having an entire planet think you’re wrong… She couldn’t really imagine it. “Our people always criticize you humans. Your lack of order, your multiple languages, your cowardice,” he spoke in such a low voice that Akko had a little trouble making out what he was saying. “But I think that’s unfair. Sure, you’re kind of a messy species, and you’re going to run your planet into the ground if you keep exploiting it, but you’re… good.”

Akko was surprised by this. She had heard so many people say that humans were bad by nature – to the point where she sometimes believed it too, even if it was only when she was feeling blue – that hearing this outsider’s perspective was quite refreshing.

“You’re giving us too much credit,” Akko said with humility. “We’re like this now, but it took us quite some time to get here.”

“Appali are a race that predates humans by at least a couple thousand years,” Shill was quick to say. “And it doesn’t look like we’re making any progress on this regard.”

Akko pressed her lips. Now she saw why he was so nervous. If he was gay, then he really couldn’t be found out. “Have you considered trying to stay on earth?”

Shill nodded. “I did…” He looked to the back again. His teammates didn’t seem particularly focused on him. “I was actually going to use this chance to see how the planet is. Maybe… Maybe we’ll drop out of the race and stay here. I’ve heard of others who have done things like that in previous races.”

Akko raised her eyebrows. “Drop out of the race? Don’t you want to win?”

Shill shrugged. “I do, I guess, but… I want freedom more than anything else,” he looked down. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this,” he sighed.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Akko put a hand in his shoulder. She now understood why she had seen them doing… that, in the _Dragon._ They probably didn’t find many chances to do it anywhere else. “I’m sure that if you talk with someone on the planetary alliance committee they can help you,” she suggested. She heard that’s where alien investigators and other stuff had to go to gain access to the planet and stuff like that. Would they let people trying to escape an oppressive society in?

“I see,” he said with uncertainty. “Guess I’ll try that.”

Akko wasn’t sure of what else to say. Would it be insensitive to try and continue? He had obviously been thinking about this for a while. Would he have asked the same things no matter who sat next to him? Akko wished Diana would have been the one to sit next to him, she probably would’ve been able to help him out in a more meaningful way than Akko.

The rest of the trip, Akko spent it thinking that she was lucky to be able to be herself without fear.

 

Amanda looked at The Island, the third biggest stadium on Earth, and smiled. The place rose like a giant pillar out of the water. An artificial island created with the unassailable might of money and lots of Magic. It was an incredible structure. The outside walls were white, though decorated with black for the uncountable amount of window frames. The entire place was surrounded by so many different boats and brooms that it was hard to see the ground floor from the sea, and the sheer amount of people there made Amanda dizzy. It was a well known fact that Humans, Cyborgs and Appali were the races with more hype for the event, but Humans did take it to a whole new level.

The place was brimming with food stands. Many of them were probably illegal, but the different military and police forces around were already busy not letting people into the island. The race wouldn’t take place for another two days, yet people were already trying to get into the stadium. Part of the structure was a hotel, for obvious reasons, but Amanda knew it wasn’t big. She had been to The Island a couple times in her life, both of them for seeing World Cup finals. Being rich had its benefits, whether she liked it or not.

“Ok girls, since we’re on earth, we’re going to have a dinner with some executives from the IPR who stayed here on Earth,” Ursula said. “Until then, you can go set up in your rooms and the team is going to have a session on the gym. There’s one here on The Island, I’ll send you the map of the place later.”

Amanda sighed. She wanted to explore the place a little, but she suspected she wouldn’t have a lot of time for that. Well, at least now they knew where they’d be racing, so the practicing in a hundred different tracks was over.

“Ok, here’s how to get to your rooms,” Ursula tended them a paper. “There’s five of them, two per room. Set up however you want,” she said.

Barbara and Lotte instantly perked up. “ _However_ we want?” Barbara asked.

Ursula looked at them with a cautious look. “Yes,” she sighed and got closer. “Girls, I know you’re teenagers and I can do little to stop you,” she explained, “so trying to keep you separated would be like throwing a rock against a tsunami in hopes of stopping it. Come on, go. The team, we’ll meet on the gym in an hour or so. Whoever ends up alone, I hope you can bear sleeping with me.”

Amanda left the place looking at Barbara and Lotte. Lucky bastards. Amanda hadn’t been able to get laid in months. She was surely going to end up sleeping with Constanze or Jasminka, but she couldn’t help looking at Hannah with a hopeful look. Hannah didn’t seem to notice it, as she walked next to Barbara and Lotte and chatted with them.

The door to enter The Island was pure glass, and it led to a massive lobby that had a bunch of massive pillars every few meters. The floor and walls were made up of beige marble, while the pillars were white. Big, fancy chandeliers hung from the ceiling, giving warm yellow light to the whole place. There wasn’t a lot of people inside, in contrast to the outside, but it wasn’t long before people started noticing them. Some approached and asked for autographs. Amanda was surprised, but she smiled and signed at least five different bags. However, it didn’t last long, for the hotel staff soon came to rescue them.

They were guided to the elevators that led to the rooms. They had gotten rooms on a floor near the middle of the stadium, but it was apparently the top floor of the hotel itself. Their five rooms were all together, of course. The corridor had a blue carpet and the same beige walls as the lobby. The doors were made of dark wood, and the place smelled of… clean. It just smelled like a bunch of chemicals.

“Ok, Barbara and Lotte want to fuck, so one room’s taken care of,” Amanda said as everyone stared around. She earned some killing looks from both Barbara and Lotte, but she didn’t care. “How do we sleep otherwise?”

“Akko and Diana,” Barbara instantly suggested. Diana frowned, staring at Barbara. The black-haired girl shrugged. “What? You’re totally not dating, shouldn’t be much of a problem,” she said with a shit-eating grin. The kind of grin people with experience manipulating others had.

“I think everyone should have a saying on how things should-” Diana started to oppose, but she was promptly interrupted.

“I agree,” Sucy said.

“Me too,” Amanda said.

“I… Guess it’s ok,” Hannah reluctantly agreed.

“I think it will be good for you,” Lotte said apologetically.

Akko, conspicuously, said nothing. Jasminka and Constanze shrugged it off. Diana was left speechless and with no option other than to press her lips and sigh. She mumbled something, but Amanda didn’t catch it.

“I’ll sleep with Ursula,” Sucy claimed. Then she moved, took a key card from the guy who had accompanied them, and disappeared into one of the rooms.

“Oh no,” Hannah instantly said, realizing who were left. “I see where this is going,” she looked at Amanda, as if she was the guilty party.

“I didn’t do anything,” Amanda said. She had also noticed what was going on. It didn’t take long for Constanze and Jasminka to pick another card and disappear into a room of their own. _I owe them one,_ Amanda thought. “But I guess we’re sleeping together,” she said with a smile.

Hannah groaned. “Ok, whatever, I don’t even know what I expected. _Of course_ we were gonna end up together. Come on,” she almost tackled the guy with the cards on her way, taking one from him and entering the room it belonged to.

“Good luck,” Barbara said to Amanda, winking. Amanda gave her a thumbs up and entered the room behind Hannah.

The room was… red. Everything was red. Carpet, walls, sheets, curtains. Sure, it was different shades of red, but it was red nonetheless. “Wow,” Amanda said. “Romantic.”

“Don’t think of doing anything weird,” Hannah warned her. Amanda smirked. This chance was too good to just let it pass.

“I’m not the one who fell asleep on your lap,” she commented. Hannah started.

She huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms and blushing. “I- I was just tired, ok? Don’t think it means anything,” she said. Amanda smirked, stepping closer to her. Truth be told, Amanda didn’t know what to think of the event. Even if Hannah insisted it was nothing, you couldn’t just fall asleep on the lap of someone if you didn’t like them. Or at least trusted.

“Well… What do you want to do now? We’re all alone for like an hour…” Amanda made a suggestive movement with her eyebrows. Hannah’s eyes widened, as if she had just realized what the situation was. “I wonder if Lotte and Barbara are going to take advantage of it…”

“S-stay away, we’re on Earth, I can totally call the police here!” Hannah said. She didn’t seem actually scared, but some nervousness did slip through her voice. Amanda backed off and sat in one of the beds. They were separated by a meter or so. They were soft and bouncy. Comfortable.

Hannah, with some caution, sat on the other bed. “Please, don’t tease me all the time, ok?” She looked at Amanda with pleading eyes. “I don’t want to have to sleep with an eye open.”

“You really think I’ll do anything?” Amanda asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” Hannah admitted. “But… Well, you never know. I just want to be able to relax for a while, please.”

Amanda thought about it. “Well, I guess I can hold back,” she said. Hannah started smiling, but Amanda continued. “On one condition.”

“If you suggest we sleep on the same bed I’m going to slap you,” Hannah instantly replied.

Chuckling, Amanda shook her head. “No, no. It it’s far simpler,” Amanda pointed at the center of her forehead. “Just a small kiss.”

As expected, Hannah blushed. “W-what?”

“A little kiss in my forehead,” Amanda said, leaning closer to Hannah. “It’s not hard, is it?”

“W-wouldn’t you rather kiss m-my forehead?” Hannah said, stuttering.

Amanda shook her head again. “I already kissed your cheek. I… want to know what _your_ lips feel like.”

“Why the forehead?” Hannah asked.

“Because I want it,” Amanda shrugged. “I also think it means Friendship or something on those lines. Totally not-romantic, you know?” She said.

Hannah started fidgeting. She looked down, then at Amanda. She wet her lips a couple times before standing up and stepping closer. “Fine, but promise me you’ll tone down your flirting when we’re on the room.”

“Promised,” Amanda said, growing excited.

The air in the room stilled as Hannah slowly reached with her hands and softly grabbed Amanda’s head. She turned it slightly up and, with her eyes closed, she kissed Amanda’s forehead. The touch seemed to send a jolt of electricity through Amanda’s body, and she could feel her smile growing into a grin as Hannah stepped back and looked at her. “There. Now you better keep your promise.”

Amanda felt overjoyed, so she just nodded with energy. Well, coming back to Earth had certainly brought some good luck her way.

 

“So, we’re sleeping together,” Akko said as she left her luggage on the floor of the surprisingly red room. Diana wondered why the color. Sure, it made everything look fancy, but it was kind of repetitive.

“Yes…” Diana said without much energy. She didn’t have the heart to look at Akko right now. Or to tell her that she wouldn’t be around for the next few days, starting from after the meeting with the committee.

Akko sat in her bed. “It’s a fancy place. I wonder why they give us places like these now but not on the _Dragon,_ ” she said as she bounced a little. Diana finished leaving her things around and put a hand to her chest to try and control her racing heart. Being alone with Akko wasn’t good for her health.

“I believe it’s for security reasons. They don’t keep us in a single room for long in case someone tries to harm us. By varying the quality of the rooms they also throw off pursuers. It’s…” she paused. “It’s standard procedure.”

Akko chuckled. “You know everything, it’s really amazing,” she said. Diana blushed, slowly turning to look at the brunette. She was wearing a white t-shirt with some kanji Diana couldn’t read, and she was looking around curiously. Diana could imagine her walking and sniffing things, like if she was a puppy.

“It’s just something I learnt at some point, it’s nothing special,” Diana replied.

Akko shook her head. “No. Even if you say that ‘you just read it’ or something like that, there’s not a lot of people who would read about so many things, particularly at such a young age,” she looked into Diana’s eyes. “It _is_ special. _You’re_ special.”

Diana blushed under the intensity of the stare. “That last bit was a little too much, don’t you think?” She said while hiding behind one hand. “It’s hard to hold back if you just say things like that, Akko.”

Akko didn’t reply. When Diana finally looked at her again, she had a thoughtful expression. “Maybe…” she looked at Diana with some hesitance. “Maybe you don’t have to hold back.”

“How so?” Diana asked.

“Well, Barbara… What Barbara said is right, in a way. But I think that just holding back can also be distracting, don’t you think,” Akko explained. “If you want to do or say something, it’s better to just, well, do it. Even if you don’t want to officially date, as long as we’re both ok with it…”

Diana considered this.

Maybe it made sense, maybe she was biased, maybe it was a little bit of both, but she decided she could at least try, for now.

So, cautiously, she approached Akko. She stood in front of her, and with a hand, she softly brushed her hair. “You may be right,” Diana said. Akko was looking up, and Diana couldn’t help but notice that from this angle she could see Akko’s cleavage. Diana swallowed some saliva.

“So… what do you want to do?” Akko asked. She had gotten red too.

“I…” Diana couldn’t help but remember the bench on the park. “I want to kiss you again,” she admitted. She cursed Barbara internally. She probably knew this was going to happen. Other part of her thanked her, though.

Akko stood, to Diana’s surprise. “I… I’ve been wanting to kiss you again, too,” she admitted with a bit of a stutter. “If you don’t mind…”

Her face was so close. Their chests were millimeters away from touching. Akko was shorter than Diana, so she had to lean a little to… kiss her.

Akko was the one to initiate, even if it kind of felt like it should have been Diana. The brunette threw her arms around Diana’s neck, and Diana instinctively pulled her closer from the waist. Her throat had dried, her mouth had opened on its own. Akko smiled before pulling Diana down.

Their lips touched. Diana closed her eyes. The kiss soon turned into two. Then three. Then too many to count. _Don’t get carried away,_ Diana thought to herself while her lips moved. The thought, however, was lost in the sensation of Akko’s soft, warm lips as they sucked on hers. This was nothing like what they had done on the bench. It was far better. It was far more passionate.

When they separated, it was more because of having to take a breather than because they wanted to. “Is that what they call a French kiss?”

Diana’s mind was in a daze, but she managed to shake her head. “I think that’s when tongue is involved,” she explained.

Akko looked at the ceiling and pursed her lips, thinking. “How do you even use your tongue when kissing?”

“Why don’t we try it,” Diana asked. She didn’t even paused to consider what she had suggested when she leaned down to kiss Akko again.

It was more natural than she had assumed. With their lips parted, their tongues came out almost at the same time. Akko was pulling Diana as hard as Diana was pulling on her, and the point where their dancing tongues stopped and where the other one’s started became a blur, a steamy mess. Diana’s face was red, though at this point she could tell that the heat wasn’t just from embarrassment.

She caught herself softly exploring Akko’s back, feeling her muscles. When had she gotten her hands under the shirt? It was hard to tell, but she didn’t want to stop.

At that moment, Diana’s wand suddenly started vibrating, and she stopped kissing Akko in the spot.

When Diana looked at Akko, the brunette was as red as Diana felt. “That was a French kiss, then?” Akko asked, her voice kind of groggy.

“Yes…” Diana let go of her, stepping back. Akko resisted ever so slightly, but she let go of Diana too. “I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t-”

“Don’t apologize,” Akko wiped her mouth, and Diana did the same. “That felt… well, great,” she smiled timidly. “Though I’m probably not a very good kisser.”

“Neither am I, so it doesn’t matter,” Diana said while chastising herself mentally. She picked the wand, feeling like an idiot. She had totally gotten carried away. And if the wand hadn’t stopped her, she would have gone further.

She thanked that she wasn’t going to spend the next two nights with Akko, after all. She wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to hold back otherwise. “It’s the map to the gym,” she explained after checking her message. “We should probably get ready.”

Akko nodded. She was headed towards the bathroom before she stopped and turned around. “Diana?”

“Yes?”

“I said you could do whatever you wanted when you felt like it, but… Would it be ok for me to do the same?” She asked with nervousness.

Diana smiled. “Of course,” she said while feeling her chest warm up with Akko’s honesty. How would she have reacted if Diana said no?

Akko nodded. She came back across the bed, cupped Diana’s face and pecked her lips. “I don’t want to ruin the mood or anything, but I’m fairly certain this is basically the same as dating, then.”

Diana pressed her lips. “I suppose it’s like… half dating, maybe?” She said.

Nodding, Akko turned back towards the bathroom. “Half dating, then. Is that ok?”

Even knowing that she was kind of being a fool, Diana nodded. Akko left with a smile.

Each second, Diana’s determination seemed to crumble even further. She had really believed she could spend the next month or so without actually interacting romantically with Akko. Apparently, she had severely underestimated her teenage hormones.

Maybe she should’ve been thankful for them.


	77. Chapter 77

Hannah was a little surprised. Not only because the dining room was rather simple, just a long room with a table and a bunch of cushioned chairs, but because there were a lot of hot guys waiting for them. Most of them were adults – probably between twenty-five and forty – but Hannah had imagined just a bunch of old men. There were some adult women too, and she supposed they were fine too. The table had been prepared so that everyone could sit, and after the gym session and the nervousness of showering in their room – Hannah could totally imagine Amanda peeking through the keyhole or something to try and see her – it was nice to be able to sit down and relax. The members of the team were seated the closest to the group of executives, while the others far away. Hannah ended up sitting right next to a young man. There was no way in hell he was older than thirty, and he had short, golden hair that mixed perfectly with his deep blue eyes. He had a strong jaw line, accompanied with a perfect chin. All in all he was the textbook example of a handsome guy.

What was strange was that Hannah felt absolutely nothing when seeing him. She could tell that she _should_ be flustered, she _should_ be fidgety and happy to be next to him. Instead, what made her heart race was that Amanda sat next to her. Was she going to flirt with her in front of this group? She had said she’d tone it down in public but tone it down didn’t mean stop.

“Hello, Miss England,” the guy next to her said. “You look lovely,” he had a pristine white smile, like that of an actor. Hanna was wearing the same blue dress she had worn on the party back in Machina, but this time it did stand out like it should.

“Thank you,” Hannah said. She wondered if the guy was flirting, but when looking at him it was obvious that he had just politely complimented her. Should she be disappointed? She wasn’t.

The guy in the head of the table was Paul Hanbridge. Sadly, Andrew wasn’t there, though there was a free seat next to Paul. Maybe he was running late.

When Paul stood, he smiled. “Welcome home, representatives,” he said, nodding in respect to the team. “And welcome home, all of their friends,” he said to the rest. “We currently stand first in the leaderboard, and I believe that warrants a celebration.” He raised a cup. Hannah noticed that the cups of every minor were filled with orange juice instead of wine. Amanda didn’t seem happy about that. “To winning this race, and to the future of humanity,” he cheered, and then he drank.

Every member of the team frowned. Future of humanity? The hell was he talking about?

They drank, but the question lingered in the air. Hannah was surprised Amanda didn’t instantly reply to it. Or Diana, for that matter. Amanda was just looking down. Akko was kind of the only one who seemed to be oblivious to the whole thing, but the air kind of made her shut up.

The rest of the meal was… silent. Maybe it was because of how uncomfortable everyone was, but they barely spoke. Not only being in the room with a bunch of important people made them not want to screw up, the earlier comment was like a constant nagging on everyone’s side. Just how important was this race? It was just a sports event. Yet, she couldn’t ask. There was this… Pressure. She didn’t want the one to push against it. Everyone was in a good mood, what if it soured everything?

It ended before anyone asked the question. Hannah was a little disappointed Andrew never showed up, and she wondered what could he have been doing.

When everyone politely exited the room, the first thing that happened was that Amanda walked in the direction opposite of everyone else. Jasminka and Constanze looked at her, maybe considering following, but both of them ended up shrugging and walking away.

Hannah couldn’t help her curiosity. _I’m going to regret this,_ she thought as she followed Amanda. _I should be going to say goodbye to Diana. Though she’ll probably leave before I get the chance._

“Where are you going?” She asked the redhead. Amanda turned, surprised.

“I want to explore the place,” she confessed. “I doubt you’ll want to follow me walking on those,” she pointed at Hannah’s high heels. In them, she stood as tall as Amanda. Looking her eye to eye while standing was kind of empowering. It was enjoyable, at the very least.

“Oh, well…” Hannah hummed for a second. Then she decided to take off her shoes. “the entire place is carpeted and clean. There probably won’t be much problem if I walk around bare footed,” she said.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “You know, if anyone looked at this situation from the outside, it’d look as if you wanted to, like… spend time with me?” she smiled.

Hannah froze. “You know what? I’ll go back to the room,” she said with annoyance. She had just trying to be nice and not let Amanda go on alone, but if she was going to be like this then- Something grabbed her arm.

“Woah there, it was just a joke,” Amanda said. “You… You don’t have to go,” her tone probably came out a little more pleading than intended.

“Hmpf,” Hannah shook off the hand and turned around with an offended face. “Fine, if you want me to so badly I guess I’ll go,” she said.

Amanda smiled. “Thanks. Want to walk hand in hand?” She asked tending Hannah her hand.

“Oh fuck off,” Hannah said, walking around her and taking off on her own.

 

Amanda looked the door up and down. There were no cameras around, and it was pretty unassuming, but there was something about it that she just couldn’t ignore. Maybe its placing, in the middle of a corridor, all alone. Maybe its slightly more advanced key-card reader. She wasn’t sure of what had caught her attention but she was sure of it: This door held something important behind it.

“So… You just want to break into someone’s room?” Hannah asked from behind her.

“Yes,” Amanda said. She didn’t bother explaining that this was probably not a room. It was too big. If it was a room, then it was something like a presidential suite or something. “Though this…” she pointed at the reader. “Hmm…” She ran her own card through it, but as expected, it did nothing.

“Why are you so interested, anyways?” Hannah insisted.

“Because I want to find a nice, segregated place where we can have fun in peace,” Amanda said as she thought of how to open this. She was only going to be here for a day, and she had no time to analyze and plan her break in.

Hannah scoffed. “Like hell if I’d let you do anything to me,” she sounded offended.

Amanda took out her wand. Constanze had modded it for easier use, but Amanda wasn’t very good at using the hacking systems. Constanze already had a bunch of different small programs that worked for different locks installed, but picking the right one was the problem. If Amanda fucked it up, then they could be in a world of trouble.

But what was life without risks?

She took off the tip of her wand and connected it to the lower part of the lock. It didn’t have a jack or a port, but the good thing about magic was that it could create circuits even across solid surfaces, if you knew how to do it. “This lock is a higher security one than our rooms’, but not the most secure,” she explained to Hannah as she looked at the list of things she could run. They had different labels, but Amanda barely understood what half of them meant. She could, however, read ‘key-card’ and ‘medium.’ There were four programs with those tags, each with other additional ones Constanze probably used to differentiate them.

“Ok, pick one of these,” Amanda gestured at Hannah to get closer.

“Why me?” Hannah asked, suspicious.

Amanda considered her answer. “Because I like you,” she said.

Hannah deadpanned her. “That has nothing to do with it.”

With a smile, Amanda shrugged. “Just pick one. We’ve got a seventy-five percent chance of fucking it up. Good luck.”

Hannah looked at her with confusion, but after seeing that Amanda wasn’t going to give any extra explanations, she just picked one at random. Amanda closed her eyes, half-expecting an alarm to go off at any moment. A one in four chance wasn’t the worst she’d ever done, but it was still a one-in-four, which meant three out of four times they’d be screwed.

But the only thing that happened was that the lock’s light suddenly turned green. Amanda reacted quickly and opened the door. The inside of the room was dark. “You sure we should be doing this?” Hannah asked nervously.

“If you want to leave, go, I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble,” Amanda said with honesty.

Hannah hesitated. “Whatever, let’s just get in,” she said, stepping into the room.

Amanda smiled as she followed. The door closed behind them. Searching around, Amanda found the light switch, pressed it, and looked around. Both her and Hannah were astonished by what they saw.

It was a room full of… nothing. There was nothing in it. Not only that, it was small. Just a couple of meters wide and a couple of meters long. No bigger than the rooms they’d first gotten when leaving Earth on the _Dragon._

“What the hell is this?” Amanda asked, frowning.

“Maybe it’s some kind of janitor closet?” Hannah suggested. Amanda shook her head. Something like that made no sense, since the room had no shelves or, well, _anything._ It was surprising it even had a light.

“I was joking before when I said I wanted a place to have sex, but I honestly can’t think of any reason this would exist,” she approached the walls, knocking them with her knuckles. “Soundproof.”

Hannah’s expression slowly shifted to a grimace. “It can’t possibly be that. People would probably have sex on their rooms, why would they come all the way here?”

Amanda shrugged. “Rich people are weird like that. Maybe this is a rental room, like a small love hotel inside the hotel, you know? It feels like something I’d do if I was catering to a bunch of old farts that are probably cheating on their couples with every youngling they meet.”

Hannah shook her head. “Whatever it is, I think we’ve seen enough. We should probably leave this place,” she said. Amanda hummed. She was definitely disappointed, but what could she possibly do? Hannah was right, there was nothing more to see here. No secret doors, the ceiling was clear, nothing.

“Man, what a waste of time,” Amanda said as she opened the door again.

“Well, at least you’ve learned something,” Hannah said.

“That rich people like to waste space in useless shit?”

“That breaking into random rooms is stupid.”

Amanda chuckled. In a way, Hannah wasn’t wrong.

 

 

 

_The room was cold. It didn’t matter, since Chariot was warm and cozy between the arms of her ‘best friend.’ At this point, it was pretty clear they were more than friends, but they hadn’t made it official yet. “I hate this planet,” Croix said, still sleepy. “It’s way too cold.”_

_“It’s what happens when you barely receive any sun during two years,” Chariot replied, hugging her tighter. “Though I suppose we could use a heater,” she agreed._

_Croix was slowly brushing Chariot’s bare back softly. It sent goosebumps all the way up her spine, but they were enjoyable. With her head buried between Croix’s boobs, all Chariot could smell was… Well, Croix. The girl in question sighed. “Tomorrow’s the ninth race. Just two more and we’ll make it,” she said._

_Chariot nodded. “It’s thanks to you. Your upgrade really saved us…”_

_Croix chuckled dryly. “I know,” she said, though her voice already sounded as if it was far away…_

Ursula woke up with a sigh. To this day she still hadn’t made up her mind on whether she regretted what happened that night or not. She was angry about it, sure, but… She couldn’t honestly tell herself that she wouldn’t do it all over again, if she could go back in time.

She went through her morning motions as always before doing anything else. Then she got dressed, checked her messages, tried to shake off the awkwardness she still felt from the previous day and then did some stretching. Practice would start soon. Akko was probably up, and also aware of the fact that Diana was already gone. Ursula checked the messages on her wand. A message from the blonde had arrived. She was, indeed, already home.

After tidying up her room, always making sure not to wake Sucy up, Ursula exited and started her way towards the track. They would do some physical training, since they had the chance, rather than just using the simulator.

“Oh, the human coach,” suddenly, a screeching voice spoke from behind her. “What was it… _Ursula,_ I think?” The way he pronounced the name in his screeching voice instantly gave Ursula a chill. She wasn’t surprised to see Horn behind her. “Who would have thought they’d give us rooms so close to each other.”

“Hello, Horn,” Ursula took the hand he was offering. She could see in his posture that he was feeling confident. In fact, the slight way his shoulders seemed to drop indicated more of a cocky attitude, not just confidence. Daemons were just as expressive as humans, if you learned how their bodies moved. “It is strange, I believe.”

 “Well, I’m sure they’re just trying to prepare us for the next big trip, eh?” Horn said, his body shaking slightly with a chuckle. Ursula had heard of the bet going on, of course.

“I think you’ll be surprised,” was all Ursula replied before turning and leaving Horn be.

Horn didn’t say anything else, but Ursula wasn’t as confident as she wanted to be. Constanze had done some minor tweaks to the Shooting Star the last few days, so something could go wrong. And Akko was determined, but she just seemed incapable of getting used to flying on her own planet. Ursula wasn’t really superstitious, but the home-race curse was… well, it had a name for a reason.

Hopefully everything would be ok.

 

Akko woke up and Diana wasn’t there. She waited, but Diana didn’t appear. Had she maybe pushed it too far the previous day? Diana had made her desires clear, but Akko had pushed her to giving in to her desires. Maybe she hadn’t wanted that and she had decided to sleep elsewhere.

After dressing up, she went straight to Barbara’s room. She knocked with some insistence. The one to appear on the other side was Lotte. “Akko? Is something wrong?” She asked, rubbing one of her eyes. Akko tried to ignore the fact that she was wearing a t-shirt that was clearly bigger than her usual size.

“Diana left last night and she hasn’t come back,” Akko explained. “You… haven’t seen her, right?” She asked with some nervousness.

Lotte frowned. “Akko, she’s not going to come back so soon,” she said.

“Huh?”

Lotte seemed as confused as Akko was by the situation, until realization hit her. “Oh. Wait, she… didn’t tell you?” she asked with surprise.

“Tell me what?”

Lotte hesitated. “I… I don’t know if I should tell you,” she said. “If she didn’t, then…”

“Just do it!” Barbara said from inside the room. She sounded annoyed. “They’re a couple, despite what they say.”

Lotte shook her head. “Akko, Diana will be gone probably until we leave the planet,” she explained. Akko’s eyes widened. “She had some kind of family trouble and went to see them.”

“Oh,” Akko pursed her lips. “I wonder why she didn’t tell me…” So Akko was right, then. Diana was avoiding her.

“Because she’s a moron,” Barbara appeared on Akko’s line of view. She was covered with a towel. “If she hasn’t told you it’s because she doesn’t want you to worry. She’s got trouble at home, she’ll tell you when she’s ready,” she yawned. “Just don’t hold it against her if she’s snappy when she comes back.”

Akko pouted. “I see,” she said, feeling disappointed. “I… I guess I’ll continue with my day,” she sighed, leaving Barbara and Lotte to whatever they were doing.

So Diana had just… left? Akko felt her soul dropping to her feet. Why hadn’t she said anything? She had just mentioned having to do something, she never said she wouldn’t come back! Akko brushed her lips with a finger, remembering the feeling of the intense kiss they’d had the previous day. Diana had also enjoyed it, right? Akko wanted to see her. Ugh, this was the worst. She felt torn between going back and asking Barbara where Diana lived so that she could go see her or just leaving her be.

For now, she should probably go brush her teeth and all that before going to practice.

 

Diana entered the mansion through the backdoor.

“It was you, wasn’t it, Anna?” Diana asked as the door behind them closed. They were in an old stone room a set of stairs leading up to the mansion proper. Behind her, Diana heard some uncomfortable shuffling of clothes as Anna, their maid, moved.

“Was it that obvious, young lady?” Anna asked.

“No,” Diana shook her head. She was wearing her Earth Team’s g-suit. She wanted to make a point. “But Daryl would have never decided to make that call on her own. I thank you.”

“I was trying to stop her, but it didn’t work. I’m sorry,” she bowed in respect. Diana had been putting on her neutral face for hours now, mostly to regain the practice she felt like she had lost after all the emotions of the past few weeks.

“It’s fine,” she said. She looked around the room. There were a couple chairs and a lamp. Both of them were covered in spider webs. “I assume the little remaining staff we had left too?”

“There’s only five of us left, young lady,” Anna said. She wore her usual maid outfit, and she had her brown hair up in a bun. “I’m sorry, I should be able to-”

“Don’t apologize. You’re a single person. No matter how good you are, you can’t take care of everything…” Diana paused as she heard hissing. She looked down to find a white snake slowly approaching her. She scoffed at it, wanting to kick it, but the creature quickly felt her hostility and fled. It went upstairs, where soon footsteps arrived.

Wearing a night gown, a still relatively young woman stood in the set of stairs with her hair up in a ponytail. Her blue eyes were lighter than Diana’s, her tea-green strands of hair mixed with the almost white blonde more saturated, but she was without a doubt a Cavendish. 

“My, what is this,” Daryl said in her voice that was almost as revolting as her pet snake’s hissing, “When I heard footsteps I almost assumed it’d be a burglar,” she said with a smirk.

“I apologize for surprising you, Aunt,” Diana said with as much venom as she could. Her face remained perfectly unchanging, though.

“I didn’t think you’d actually come. You could have called,” she said. Her smiling face was something Diana had grown used to hating. “Particularly if you were going to arrive so early in the morning. Don’t you have a race to pilot in?” she asked while looking Diana’s attire up and down.

“I’ve come to take care of some things. You shouldn’t worry about me, there’s already a great pilot as a replacement for my absence,” Diana replied as calmly as she could.

“I see. I can’t express how happy I am to see you,” Daryl said. The sarcasm in her voice could have probably been heard all the way to Darkworld. “Plus, you being here, it’ll certainly make tomorrow’s dinner more interesting.”

“What do you mean?” Diana furrowed her brow.

“You’ll see, soon,” Daryl chuckled. Then, she slowly walked upstairs again, her snake following her. Diana wondered why the thing hated her so much. Diana had only been kind to her during her first years of life. Well, like mother like daughter.

And speaking of daughters, she wondered where the hell were her cousins…

 

Constanze finished screwing her last bolt and, with a sigh, she got out of the Shooting Star.

It had been arduous work. She had needed all of her stanbots, and even human assistants. Most of them had frowned upon the new changes to the Shooting Star, but all in all everything should be fine. Shields were upgraded, the entire structure had been strengthened, the weapons had been changed for ones with more power – being on Earth was convenient.

When everything was finished, she called her stanbots. They all turned into little squares and combined to make a big block of metal that no one dared move. She had also used this chance to make sure that none of her human assistants tried to mess up with the process. None of them had, though a couple of them didn’t like working under the command of a tiny sixteen year old girl.

It was a common reaction. Constanze did a final checkup of every system in the ship and, upon seeing that nothing was wrong, she nodded softly and gave her thumbs up to her helpers. They all sighed in relief and started walking away, ready to get a shower and a break. Poor guys had only gotten a couple breaks in the last week, one when Constanze had gone to the dinner with Diana and the other when she had gone to the pool to check the underwater functions of her stanbots.

Constanze exited the hangar of the _Dragon_ and looked around. There was a lot of people swimming on the ocean, since the whole place had a magic field around it to drive away fish or other animals. Constanze went to the closest bathroom, got rid of her utilitarian outfit and threw on her swimsuit. Then she exited the place, gave her clothes to a stanbot and exited the Hangar ready to take a bath on the ocean.

She often liked to use different kinds of floaters to make it easier for herself. She knew how to swim, and while she was no pro she also wouldn’t consider she was bad at it. She often preferred to just stay in place doing stuff, which was where floaters came in. A lot of people seemed to find them embarrassing, but Constanze couldn’t have cared any less.

Not that she had any on her right now, but she wished she had.

Swimming in the area that was brimming with people soon proved to be too annoying, as some people had started to look at her like if she was a lost child, so she decided to take it further. The magical field around The Island was of about five hundred meters away from the building, so she could totally do it. She made sure to bring some siren-stanbots (Working name) with her in case anything happened to her, though.

It was a good amount of time she spent swimming around. She had been already tired, and this session of exercise was more than what she usually got. Pilots and gunmen had to do some physical training to be able to withstand g-forces, but mechanics and different technicians like Constanze, Barbara or Lotte didn’t really have to worry much about that.

Constanze decided to go back in when she saw some clouds looming over the horizon. It would be a while since they got closer, and it wasn’t sure it’d be any kind of rain, but she was getting tired anyways. The feeling of being back home was a good one, but she was still more interested in her work.

A couple kids tried to take one of her two stanbots. When the stanbot kicked their legs and they ran away crying, the kids’ parents gave Constanze a angry looks. She shrugged. Their fault for trying to touch her things.

“You should be glad you got that permit,” the voice of the supervisor surprised her from behind. “If it was me, I’d take those little demons away from you in a heartbeat.” Constanze looked up at him. She brought up her wand menacingly. “See? This is what I mean, you can’t go around threatening people’s ankles like that.”

Constanze stared at him intensely. His balding head was probably one of the reasons he was always so angry.

Then she turned and walked away, as if he wasn’t there. The guy followed her, at a safe distance away from her stanbots. “I’m serious, kid. You modify a broom and mess up our contract, you make every guy in my team angry at you. It’s not ok, I don’t care if you’re a genius or not. The new broom arriving tomorrow is the symbol of our truce with the sponsors, if you mess with it…”

Constanze paused. She turned around with a confused look. They were already inside the hangar, and some people came and went, walking inside it. Some looked at them, probably thinking they were father and daughter. “Wait,” the supervisor said. What was his name? Constanze had never bothered learning it. “You don’t know? I told the guys to-” He stopped, smirking. “See? This is what I meant.” Constanze kept looking at him. The question in the air was obvious. “Oh, now you want to know, don’t you? Well, it would sure be a shame if…” he trailed off as he saw Constanze raising her wand again. “Put that down, come on.”

She waved it, and the two stanbots suddenly jumped and seemed to crash in the air. In truth, they were combining. Soon, a bigger stanbot appeared. It reached the height of Constanze’s mid-thigh, and it would certainly leave a mark if it hit something.

“O-ok, relax, fine, I’ll tell you. Fuck, you’re way too aggressive, girl,” he said. Constanze lowered her wand. Now, what was that about a new broom…?


	78. Chapter 78

Diana entered the big building next to the even bigger mansion. The mansion was old, really old. It was more of a castle, in actuality. The stone walls had battlements on top, though a roof had been built to turn the entire thing, that had at some point been a fortress into a big, stone cold house. The side building, on the other hand, was newer. Built next to the stables, it was no older than a hundred and twenty years. Old, sure, but it had been remodeled a few times and it held up pretty well. Flat roof, flat walls, small windows, only a wide, metallic door.

It was a garage.

Diana entered through the smaller door within the big one. The lights didn’t even work anymore, so she took out her wand to use as a light, since the morning sunlight streaming down the windows wasn’t really enough. And, under the green light of magic, she looked at The Pony. Her mother’s broom. Now hers.

Its design was old fashioned. The back wings curved like a crescent moon, having two vertical stabilizers, since it was a broom created for Earth piloting, and the engine had three small nozzles for the exhaust. The main body around the cockpit was thin, but it gradually widened until it bounced and ended in a wide, rounded nose. It was painted a vintage brown, almost as if it was made out of wood.

Diana felt nostalgic, and sad. She got closer to the broom, putting her hand in it. She could almost hear her mother’s voice as she took her into the cockpit and allowed her to drive the broom in the roundabout in front of the mansion. Diana had few memories from before her mother passed away, but most of them had her mother as the common denominator.

She was relieved to see the broom still there. Her aunt was dirty enough to try and move it away or something. Of course, sadly, it hadn’t received any maintenance for the past ten years. It was un-usable, and the magic inside it probably faded long, long ago. Re-making all the magic circuits would cost a fortune. The ship wasn’t valuable for anything other than its uniqueness and achievements.

Diana felt her heart ache. She didn’t want to think of the monetary value of the ship, but what could she do? She needed to talk to her aunt about this. She often won arguments against her, but if she went unsupervised for another month and a half…

Diana wished she had brought Barbara or Hannah- Well, no. She wished Akko was there. Akko’s energy would probably have helped clear her mind a little. But she was also distracting, and Diana wasn’t talking only about her hyperactivity. Having Akko in her house could lead to things Diana wasn’t ready to do. In fact, she was already starting to regret what had happened the day prior.

Would Akko recognize her mother’s ship? She had never raced Chariot, so it was unlikely. Her health had started to decline months before Chariot finally made her debut on the Inter-Planetary pilot tournament. Had Chariot known about the true nature of the Shiny Rod? Maybe that’s why she had disappeared. Diana had felt… betrayed, when Chariot vanished. Her mother had died so soon after that. Diana had lost her two idols in the span of a week.

She missed Bernadette so much that she had grown used to not thinking of her. It threw her off. It made her emotional. In other words, it was a weakness she couldn’t let others see. Barbara and Hannah kind of knew about it, though they didn’t really know to which extent it could affect her. Diana doubted she’d ever be able to tell them.

She climbed on top of the broom. It was easy to walk in it, since the top was mostly flat. She approached the cockpit. The windshield, as everything else, was covered in dust. Opening it proved to be hard, but she persevered and managed to do it after some struggling. The inside was also kind of dusty, though nothing Diana couldn’t handle. She sat on the pilot’s seat. There was some disappointment when the smell of her mother didn’t come to her nose, as it was something her brain had attached to the identity of the place. The seat was comfortable, more comfortable than the Shooting Star’s and even the Shiny Rod’s, though she was probably biased. It was a leather-lined seat, and Diana could see scratches here and there. She saw one she had done on purpose. It was a heart. Her mother hadn’t been angry about it.

Crying. How long had it been since she had cried? She couldn’t remember doing so during her adolescence. She had considered some kind of emotional blockage, something that just stopped her from ever overflowing with enough emotion to lead her to tears. She had never made time to go to an actual therapist, though. Maybe she’d have some time for that after graduating from Luna Nova.

Diana slowly drummed her fingers on the armrests of the seat – they could be retracted for easier flying – and thought. How to deal with her aunt? Give her something? Maybe Diana could give her part of the land so that she’d stop being a pain in the ass. Daryl had always been annoyed that she’d gotten the short end of the stick in the hereditary chain. But well, that was her fault. She had always been an annoying, selfish bastard. She had tried to get Diana’s grandmother declared crazy to get her stuff earlier. She had earned the hate of the entire family. The only person that had ever stood by her was Diana’s mother, Bernadette. And now she was dead, and Daryl was unchained. She had two daughters she wanted to leave stuff to. She hated Diana, and the feeling was mutual.

Diana wasn’t sure of when it happened, but maybe due to the exhaustion of the trip here and the emotional stress, she ended up falling asleep.

 

When the practice race ended, Hannah was kind of shocked. Apparently the modifications to the Shooting Star had been for more than just some extra shield time. In the simulator of the Shiny Rod her new weapons definitely had been kind of overpowered. There was no way in hell they had just suddenly gotten so much more powerful at no cost of energy.

But the Shiny Rod didn’t make mistakes, did it? This… “Ok, new strategy, just blast everyone away,” Amanda said from the cockpit. “Holy fucking shit that was…”

“Mind blowing?” Hannah suggested.

“Ship blowing would be more accurate,” Amanda said. Hannah couldn’t discuss with that logic. “Not even the daemons got such powerful weapons, right?”

“Well, the Noir Rod might,” Amanda said. “With how it likes to mix lasers and shit, you already know how it destroyed this Shooting Star’s wing back on Machina.”

“I think this would be able to cut the Noir Rod in half,” Hannah said with confidence. “It managed to chip away at the armors’ weapons. _The armors’ weapons._ I thought that was impossible,” Hannah said. “The faeries have way more control over magic than us, but they didn’t have this either, now did they?”

“Girls, I know this is exciting,” Ursula interrupted, “but I’d rather have you _testing_ this new asset before you decide to center an entire strategy around it. How about it?”

Hannah sighed, but Ursula was right. She prepared as Amanda commanded the Rod to start preparing the next race. The Island’s track was a messy one, but Hannah liked her chances, and that had been even before the new weapons.

Until the race started, Hannah took the chance and checked the movement of all her guns. Of course, the simulation never deteriorated, so that was not really an issue, but it was to keep up the habit, lest she grow used to not doing it.

When she was done, it was already time to shoot at things.

The race started with them near the back. This whole course was kind of a pain in the ass, being created with the sole purpose of annoying anyone who raced in it. Still, Hannah was optimistic. The daemons were behind her, and that meant they wouldn’t be able to use that barrier against them. She wondered if her new guns would be able to beat their strange charge thing, but she doubted it’d be the case.

Amanda, as always, moved fast and almost unpredictably. It was hard to aim at anything, but she was already having to deal with the armor trying to demolish them with its big stone ball. It was as good a chance as any to test things again.

Hannah shot at the big boulder the armor called a ship. They protected themselves, of course, but Hannah didn’t lose time using all four of their guns to aim at the same exact point. Then she switched to laser mode.

The result was beautifully shocking. The four lasers started to actually have an effect on the armor, who didn’t take long to catch on to what was happening and started panicking, bringing their other big ball to protect them too. Amanda took the chance to leave them behind amidst the apparently endless curves of the circuit.

Their position wasn’t good yet. In front of them, the medusa blocked two thirds of the space. If it flew through the middle of the road, it was basically impossible to do anything. No matter how powerful Hannah’s weapons were, it wouldn’t do her much good against something she could barely shoot at.

However, even before she could start to ask ‘what now?’, there was a sudden burst of speed. Amanda spun the ship around, and in a quick, precise and almost impossible move, she passed vertically through the narrow space between the medusa and the magic barrier. Hannah was left a little disoriented, since she hadn’t expected such a bold move, but she managed to regain her grip on what up and down meant as Amanda fought to leave the currently pissed giant jellyfish behind.

Bolts of lightning started hitting too close to them, but Amanda was good at predicting the timing of the attacks. It wasn’t long before the daemons also managed to get past the medusa, and surprisingly enough the reptilians and plants were ahead of them. Hannah shook her head. She was already starting to underestimate other racers just because they weren’t as prominent as the ones near the top. She needed to remember, even the ‘worst’ pilots in the competition were good enough to be part of the IPR in the first place. It had been the reptilians that had made Akko lose her first place on Trashcan. It had been the plants the ones that had tried to kill them.

Hannah didn’t need guidance to start attacking the daemons. The trip around The Island, at high speeds, could take about five minutes. It was a lot more than most people assumed. The magic projectiles bounced off the shield the Blood Sailor had risen. The Shooting Star’s fuel levels were mostly fine only one fourth spent and that was because of the four simultaneous lasers Hannah had used, though Hannah guessed Constanze had also upgraded that, because it made little sense otherwise.

Hannah stopped focusing on the daemons, as she was making no progress. She instead chose to attack plants and reptilians. She was a little surprised when she hit the reptilians with almost no effort, despite how mobile their ship was. It was as if they hadn’t even tried. The damage was bad enough to make the reptilians start to lose height, and, at that moment, the reptilians used their hook on the plants, hitting them.

Both ships soon crashed down towards them, and Amanda had to avoid them. One of them hit the medusa, that being so big couldn’t avoid it, and that left first place cleared up for Amanda, who just started to accelerate.

The Blood Sailor tried to keep up, but with constant pressure from Hannah and no way of using their special abilities, they ended up having to settle for second place.

“Nice shot,” Amanda said as the simulation ended.

“Thanks. Nice flying,” Hannah said, not letting on how disconcerted she was about how easy it had been to hit the reptilians.

“Hannah, next time don’t waste so much energy on the armor ship. You won’t be able to actually pierce through their defenses with speed enough to make it worth it,” Ursula said. “And Amanda, the way you passed the medusa was fine, but way too risky. You could have been crushed or attacked.”

“But I won,” Amanda replied.

“And next time you might as well destroy the Shooting Star. Be careful, life isn’t a simulation,” Ursula sounded serious.

Amanda sighed. “Ok, whatever.”

Hannah hadn’t really planned on trying to break through the armors’ defenses, she just wanted to test the strength of her weapons. Still, she understood Ursula’s concern.

“Ok, let’s continue. You’ve still got a while of practice,” Ursula prompted. Amanda and Hannah didn’t have to be told twice. As every other race, Hannah was determined to win this one.

 

Akko stretched a little as she prepared to start the race. Ursula had gone to the bathroom, so she’d do a run alone until she came back.

 _I wish Diana was here,_ Akko thought. _She’d probably give me some good advice._

It wasn’t as if Ursula’s advice was bad, but sometimes Akko felt like Ursula was… scared, maybe? Whenever it came to asking her to do/not do things with the Shiny Rod she would hesitate a lot. Akko guessed it had something to do with what she had told Akko, but she couldn’t say it because of the commands still left.

Akko suddenly got an idea. It was a five minute thing, so it wouldn’t take away much from her practice time. Still, she wanted to see how it worked out.

“Alcor, can you simulate Diana racing against the First Category pilots?” She asked. There wasn’t a reply from the familiar, but soon Akko’s entire field of view was taken by The Island’s track. She was getting an aerial view of the place, and she saw two lines of ships preparing to race. However, where the Shiny Rod should be there was instead a blue ship. “Alcor, make Diana race with the newest version of the Shooting Star,” Akko said, watching as the ship slowly shifted to account for Constanze’s modifications.

Diana – or, well, simulated Diana – had the Noir Rod in front of her. Akko worried about this for a second, but why should she? Diana was a great pilot.

The race started. The first thing Akko noticed was a misfire from the Shooting Star’s engine. Akko frowned, but Diana soon regained her speed, even if she had been left behind. The first curve was also strange, as the Shooting Star hit the barrier on the side. After thirty seconds of seeing nothing but sloppy piloting, Akko told the simulation to stop.

Akko tried to explain why Diana was suddenly bad at piloting. Thinking about it, there were probably a couple reasons. She hadn’t piloted in two weeks, and the Rod was probably using her current state as the example for the simulation. That, and the modified Shooting Star she wasn’t used to.

“Ok, Alcor, restart the whole thing, but put a Diana in peak condition as the pilot here, please,” she ordered this time. The entire scenario glitched. For a fraction of a second Akko thought she saw something strange, a blue ship that wasn’t one she recognized, but then everything was back to zero, including the Blue Star. It must have been a trick of her mind.

This time, when the race started, everything went smoothly. _Guess Diana really needs some days to readjust to piloting,_ Akko thought.

The Blue Star was smooth. Where Amanda moved quickly and erratically, Diana was more graceful and subtle. She didn’t need to constantly dodge attacks because she flew in subtle patterns that made it hard for others to predict her. Even when they did, her dodging was less flashy. She moved enough to dodge, never overdoing it. Each curve she took as close to the inside as possible, each straight she tried to gain speed. It was methodical.

When the daemons started trying to bring her down, the Blue Star started dodging seamlessly as a simulated Hannah – Akko assumed it was, at least – contra-attacked. It was easy to assume the old Shooting Star was outdated, but truth was that it was a perfectly functional ship. A great one, in fact. The best humanity had to offer, technically. Constanze had upgraded it, but it didn’t mean she could have built one from the ground up. Well, she probably could, but that was another matter.

The race went surprisingly fine. Akko was surprised at how well Diana handled First Category. Maybe even a little jealous. She made it look easy. Akko had been having real trouble, but seeing Diana do it was… something else.

The Blue Star won the race. Akko smiled, proud of Diana, forgetting for a second about the simulation part of it. _I sure hope Diana was here. Wonder if she’d find this strange,_ she thought.

Before resetting everything, Akko took a deep breath. She restarted the normal simulation for herself, ready to try and attempt this with a different mindset. She wasn’t comparing herself to Diana, but she could maybe learn a thing or two from her.

Right at that moment, there was a knocking on the windshield. Ursula entered the cockpit and Akko was ready to continue.

This time, maybe she’d try to think like a rich person.

 

“Oh please, Diana,” Daryl said as she handed Diana the papers. “Look, if we manage to sell it, we could gain great wealth!”

“Too bad,” Diana said. “You’re not going to sell it, and I’m going to make sure all of our bank assets are frozen until I come back. Which means, no buying, and no selling. Take out all the cash you’ll need for a month, aunt, because otherwise you’ll have to consider going out with the dogs for some meat,” her cold, calm tone was nothing but an act. Inside, she wished to just rip the paper to shreds and burn it. It was a list of how high of a price previous world-cup-winner brooms had. The Pony was listed at two million dollars, and auctions would surely bring it higher.

It wasn’t a price easy to ignore, which was why Diana was so angry.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to do it today,” Daryl smiled. Diana frowned, until she realized it was Saturday.

“I can do it on Monday before leaving,” Diana said, keeping her composure.

“No if you want to make it back in time for the _Dragon’s_ departure you won’t.”

Diana paused. It was true. The trip back to The Island was eight hours long. If she wanted to make it back she would have to leave before she could do anything about it.

“Then I guess I won’t be making it back in time,” Diana said, narrowing her eyes.

Daryl frowned, but Diana didn’t wait around, instead turning and leaving the dining room.

She paused once in the stone hallway outside. Had she really just suggested that? It had been a spur of the moment thing. She hadn’t been thinking rationally.

But… She couldn’t let Daryl unchecked. She couldn’t leave the memory of her mother on the hands of such a… fucking bitch.

Well, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about Akko distracting her anymore. She needed to contact Ursula about this.

 

When the training session ended, Amanda was exhausted. The day had been nothing but practice and more practice. That plus not being able to sleep the previous night… Yeah, space-ship lag was the worst. She liked it better when she could go to sleep whenever she wanted. Why was it that once back on Earth everyone tried adjusting to night-day cycles normally again? It was stupid.

She yawned as she and Hannah walked towards their room. Hannah didn’t seem particularly tired, but Amanda wouldn’t complain.

Once there, Amanda barely had energy enough to undress and go to the bathroom before diving towards her pillow.

“You _could_ wear a pajama, you know?” Hannah said, sitting on her own bed.

“What? Think anyone is going to ogle me? I mean, if you want to do it…” Amanda was too tired to think up a better joke. That one was good enough, probably.

“Last night you used one,” Hannah said.

“Last night I gave a crap. Now I don’t,” Amanda’s voice lost strength with every new word. “Why do you care so much, anyways? You’ve seen me in my underwear before.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Hannah paused. Amanda would have liked to look at her face, but she was too weak to open her eyes. “Whatever, I guess you can. Take it as a thanks for not doing anything weird last night.”

“I thought the thanks for that had been the kiss,” Amanda mentioned.

“That was more your condition,” Hannah said. “This is more… Wait, why are we even discussing this?”

“I dunno,” Amanda yawned again. “Maybe you want to kiss me again…” she sounded tired. She was tired.

“I do _not_!” Hannah exclaimed. Amanda didn’t even have the energy to reply. Still, after not hearing more from Amanda, she sighed. “Aren’t you going to eat? You need the nutrition to be able to fly properly,” she said.

“I know,” Amanda groaned. “Can you ask for room service? Wake me up when food’s here?”

“You expect me to stay here until they arrive?” Hannah asked with some annoyance.

Amanda shook her head weakly. “It’s fine, go do whatever you want. I’ll just have a bigger breakfast tomorrow,” she moved a little, looking for a comfortable position to fall asleep in.

Some time passed. She wasn’t sure how much. Maybe seconds, maybe hours. Next thing she knew, someone was shaking her slightly. “What?” She asked in the annoyance of someone just waking up.

“Food’s here, come on,” Hannah’s voice said softly. Amanda took a few seconds to process what was going on. Food? Yeah, it smelled like food. “Amanda, up.”

Amanda sighed, cracking one eye open. Hannah had changed to a comfortable pajama and she had her hair uncharacteristically down. It made Amanda’s heart race, which helped her fight off the tiredness. “You look great,” was the first thing she said.

Hannah blushed. “You said you’d hold back on the flirting while in the room,” she said. She got away from Amanda. “Come on, get up.”

Slowly, Amanda sat up. There was a small tray with food on the nightstand between beds. It had a big sandwich with stake and a bunch of vegetables and some fried potatoes, all next to a bottle of water. Her stomach rumbled. “Go on, eat, then sleep,” Hannah said.

Amanda didn’t need further prompting. The meal was delicious, and she ravaged it in two minutes, followed by her downing the water in one go.

“Thanks a lot,” Amanda said after she was done, sighing in satisfaction. She dropped down to the bed, now feeling a lot better. She looked at Hannah, who was staring at her. “Did you eat?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, don’t worry,” she nodded. “Though, are you going to sleep on that? Isn’t it uncomfortable? And I’m not sure wearing sports bras all day is good for you,” Hannah pointed at her, sounding slightly awkward.

Amanda rolled her eyes. “Fine, I guess you’re right,” Amanda sat up with some effort and took off her bra. Hannah’s eyes widened as she did this, and then Amanda dropped on bed again and covered herself with sheets. “There, now I’m safe,” Amanda said while half hiding her face under the sheets so that Hannah wouldn’t notice that she was actually red.

Had that been too bold a move? She was tired, she wasn’t thinking straight – in more ways than one. Hannah was definitely blushing now, though she kept her composure elegantly. “If you thought that’d change anything, you were wrong,” she said, though her strangled voice didn’t really help her case. Amanda opted for not replying, since her heart was beating a little too fast for comfort. “Though I have to say, they’re… Bigger than I expected,” she commented.

“I get that a lot,” Amanda said. Only after having said it she realized what it meant.

“What do you me… Oh,” Hannah also realized it. “Well, you look pretty… flat, most of the time,” she explained.

“Sports bra, or I usually wear loose clothing. I don’t really care for people ogling me.”

“I see. But then you just show them around?” Hannah raised an eyebrow.

“We both know why I did that,” Amanda stated in a lower tone.

Hannah paused. Her expression as she tried to come up with an answer was cute. “W-well, it’s n-not like I like boobs anyways,” she crossed her arms and looked away. Her pajama was big and loose, and the way her hair fluttered around her as she moved her head was hypnotic.

“You sure you don’t?” Amanda asked. Hannah had her eyes closed, as if by not seeing things they would go away.

“As sure as my name is Hannah,” she stated.

Amanda paused. “Well, then I guess you don’t mind if I sleep uncovered,” she made a rustling sound with her sheets, as if she had moved them away. The reaction was instantaneous, and Hannah quickly cracked one eye open and looked at the fully covered, smirking redhead. “You sure don’t like’em, I see,” Amanda said raising her eyebrows.

“I was just… It’s not that I wanted to see, jeez,” she said. “God, you said you’d hold back from doing this, did that mean nothing to you?” She frowned.

Amanda felt a stab of guilt. “Sorry,” she said. “I just… Come on, it was too good a setup.”

“Well, maybe, but being naked is…”

“You haven’t ever seen another girl naked?”

Hannah gave her a flat look. “Of course I have, but that was different.”

“Why?” Amanda asked.

“It was just Barbara. She’s my best friend,” Hannah explained. “You… Well, you like me.”

Amanda nodded. “So I do. It changes _my_ perspective, though, not yours.”

“I… Know you like me, so I know why you do it, which makes it different,” Hannah explained.

Amanda closed her eyes. “I can’t argue with that,” she said in a neutral tone.

“Wait, you gave up too easily,” Hannah said. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing,” Amanda said. “I’m just tired.”

Hanna hummed. She obviously didn’t trust Amanda. Of course, Amanda wanted to see what Hannah would do. She was sure Hannah was acting flustered because seeing a girl naked had suddenly started to _mean_ something to her. If she really didn’t think it was anything, then she’d let it go. If not, then… “I don’t buy it. You don’t believe me, do you?”

“I said I couldn’t argue, not that I believed you,” Amanda said.

Hannah grumbled something. “Fine, you know what? Sleep however you want, see if I care. Show your boobs, it’s not like I’ll be staring or anything,” she said crossing her arms.

Amanda smiled. However, before she decided if she was actually going to put Hannah’s resolve to test, there was a vibrating sound. Hannah walked to the nightstand and took her wand, making sure not to look at Amanda. She read a message.

Then her expression changed. Confusion, anger, more confusion, worry. Finally, she shook her head and started undressing. “What’s up?” Amanda asked, concerned. She had seen Hannah in her underwear before but it was too bold for her to simply do that out of the blue.

“It’s just… Something’s up. I’ll go talk with Barbara for a while. Sorry,” she said. The blush had vanished from her face, and once she had dressed in some shorts and a t-shirt, she walked out of the room, not even doing her hair.

Amanda was left a little disappointed, but slowly the embarrassment of what she had been doing slowly caught up to her, and she inherited Hannah’s beet red face. _Why is my flirting so awkward? I used to be good at this,_ she thought.

On the other hand, Hannah had stayed in the room, and she had even said ‘sorry’ as she left. As if she had wanted to continue. Amanda didn’t even think Hannah noticed how she acted. More and more, she was sure she wasn’t just reading too much into things.

But for now, she should probably go put a bra on and sleep.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of the batch!  
> Ok, so, next sunday will be the 6 monthaversary of this thing (When I started writing it, at least). 6 months. Half a year of almost daily 2k words (Usually more) and I know this isn't particularly popular, but asides from sheer force of will the only thing to keep me going is you. Particularly people who comment. Hits and kudos are nice and all, but it's the comments, the people who take the time to read and give their opinion, whether long or small, that really fills you up with determination and inspiration. On bad days where I didn't feel like writing, looking at comments really helped. It's that feeling of "someone cares about this" that makes it all worth it.  
> So, from next sunday, I'm going to begin with weekly updates (I'll actually post 2 chapters a week). Not for long, mind you. Maybe a month or so. It's not to take a break, either. I have to finish this shit before november (and taking breaks usually means losing your mojo). I just want to see how it feels. By june I'll probably go back to the batch releases.  
> Anyways, sorry for the rambling. Hope you enjoyed this!


	79. Chapter 79

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok listen I know what I said about weekly updates BUT today's Diana's birthday and I _can't_ let it go without posting this very relevant chapter.  
> Also thanks for all the encouragement last chapter.  
> See you this sunday.

“Akko, open up!” the banging on the door, plus the shouting, made Akko jump from bed and run to the door. She opened, scared, wondering if there was some sort of emergency.

Outside stood Hannah and Barbara. Hannah had her hair down and wore some shorts and a t-shirt. Barbara was wearing an oversized t-shirt and nothing else. Both of them looked worried. “What happened?” Akko asked, surprised to see both of them coming to _her_ of all people.

“Let’s talk inside,” Barbara said, entering. Hannah followed, and Akko closed the door behind them. It was obvious they were in distress. Akko waited until they settled down. Then, Barbara threw her hands in the air. “She’s an idiot, I swear,” she complained, talking to Hannah.

“Hey, what did I do now?” Akko frowned.

“Not you, idiot,” Hannah said, throwing her a look. “Diana.”

“Diana?” Akko cocked her head. “What’s she got to do with me being an idiot?”

Barbara looked at her, clearly lacking in patience. “Akko, Diana said she was going to drop out of the race.”

The comment came a little like a really bad punch. At first, nothing. Then it suddenly hits. Akko’s expression went from confused to absolutely lost in the span of a second. “What?!” She exclaimed, barely able to believe what she was hearing.

“Look, she…” Hannah stood, making sure to push back Barbara, who was pacing around. “She gets really emotionally unstable when she goes to see her family. She doesn’t have a great relationship with her aunt or cousins, and she gets really sad when thinking about her mother, even if she doesn’t want others to know,” she sighed. “We don’t know what happened, but… She’s not at her best right now.”

“O-ok,” Akko was slowly getting overwhelmed. “W-what can we do? Do I call her home and talk to her, do we send a message to her wand or-”

“We want you to go get her back,” Barbara said.

Akko paused. “Me?”

“Yes, you,” Hannah sighed.

“Why me?” Akko asked, confused.

Barbara stared daggers at her. “Jeez, I don’t know, it may just be because _she likes you,”_ she said with extreme sarcasm. Akko felt a little stupid, since it was kind of obvious.

“And also, you’re probably the only person hard-headed enough to get Diana to come back one way or another,” Hannah added.

Akko nodded slowly. “Ok,” she replied. She didn’t need to think about it. If Diana droopped out of the race, then Akko would never get a chance to prove she could be just as good a pilot as her. Well, that and she really wanted to spend more time together. Barbara and Hannah smiled. “Where does she live?”

The other girls opened their mouths, but paused. “I… Don’t know,” Barbara said. “We kind of hoped the Shiny Rod would be able to track her down or something.”

“Doesn’t work,” Akko said, shaking her head. “I’ve already tried it with Chariot.”

Both of them got thoughtful expressions. “Well…” Hannah said. “There is one person who probably knows where Diana lives,” she said. Akko looked at her questioningly. “Andrew, Akko. He’s kinda-sorta-maybe Diana’s childhood acquaintance or something. They were something like neighbors too, I think?”

“Ah, right,” Akko said. “Ok, wait here, I’ll go ask him,” she turned. Where would Andrew be now, anyways?

“Akko,” Barbara stopped her.

“Huh?”

“You should probably change,” she said. Akko looked down. She was in her pajamas, and of course, her hair was a mess. She smiled awkwardly as she stepped into the bathroom.

As soon as she was done changing she’d go see Diana.

 

Hannah returned to her room after seeing Akko run off into the hotel. She had been gone for like an hour, so she wasn’t surprised when in coming back she found Amanda sleeping. She had put on a normal bra, and slept only half-covered. Hannah prepared herself to go to sleep properly, sometimes looking at Amanda’s chest. She was recalling what had happened not long ago.

Her heart was racing.

 _She’s getting to me,_ Hannah thought. She tried to distract herself thinking about Diana, but she kind of trusted Akko to bring her back. Her movements were cautious, as she really didn’t want to wake up Amanda and let her see her red face. _It was just a couple breasts, come on,_ she had to remind herself. She turned off the lights of the room, and then she headed to sleep, but she paused in the space between the two beds. Moonlight slipped through the window. The moon was full, the light was more than enough to see. It bathed the room in silver light, and particularly Amanda’s bed, right under the window.

 _She’s pretty,_ Hannah thought. In the relative darkness, part of her embarrassment seemed to slip away. Her eyes could fall on the redhead more naturally, and she didn’t force herself to look away. Her body was ever so slightly toned, her face was clean and beautiful. Her hair always looked so… fluffy. With a trembling hand and too much curiosity, Hannah softly ran her hand through the redhead’s red head. Her hair was obviously clean. It was soft, though not particularly silky. She quickly retrieved her hand, making sure she hadn’t woken Amanda up. Then she finally settled down on her bed, tucking herself in and getting ready to sleep with a yawn.

It was hard to conceive why Amanda would fall for her. She had explained why, but it was still… unbelievable. They were so different. Hannah still wondered, sometimes, if maybe this wasn’t a really, really elaborated prank.

She didn’t know what she’d do if it was. Well, she wouldn’t really care, would she? That’s what she wanted to make herself believe, at least. But, the truth was, knowing that someone liked her – romantically – made her feel… good. A little more confident, a little more comfortable with the world around her.

If only Amanda was a boy, maybe she… Hannah shook her head. Silly thoughts. She didn’t like Amanda.

 _I definitely don’t…_ was Hannah’s last thought before she finally fell asleep.

 

Andrew was having a wonderful dream. He didn’t remember what it was, but when the banging woke him up, he was angry. Who the hell was bothering _him_ at this hour? He stood, threw on some pants, and went to the door.

“This better be important,” he said as he opened the door, his eyes half closed because of the tiredness. Akko stood at the other side, looking worried. “You,” Andrew said.

“Hello,” Akko waved at him. “Sorry to wake you,” she said.

Andrew connected the dots instantly. “This is about Diana, isn’t it?” he said with a low, grumbling voice. Akko nodded. “Look, my father is going to talk to her tomorrow at her place. We will do all we can,” he tried to be polite, mostly because he could see the concern in Akko’s face, but he was really annoyed.

“So you _do_ know where she lives! Please tell me so that I can go for her!” Akko grabbed his shoulders. He was tired, so he almost tripped by the sudden jerk.

“I can’t,” he said. “I’m not legally allowed to disclose any information about our pilots even to other members of the team. If she hasn’t told you, then I can’t help you,” he explained.

“Come on, I won’t tell anyone!” Akko said. “I just wanna bring her back, please,” she put on a couple of puppy eyes that was… well, compelling.

Andrew sighed. He was going to regret this. “I can’t disclose the information, but… Maybe I can _show_ you it,” he suggested. Akko cocked her head. “If you accompany us tomorrow.”

“Oh, you’re gonna take me?” Akko asked.

“It’s a long trip. Six to eight hours, depending on how the ocean is,” he explained.

Akko grimaced. “You sure you can’t just tell me where it is?” she said with a pained expression. Andrew shook his head. “Then I guess it’s ok…”

“Be here a nine in the morning. A minute late and I’ll leave you behind. Got it?” Andrew gave Akko a harsh look.

“I’ll be here,” Akko said with a strange mixture of determination and anxiety. “Thanks a lot.”

“Can I go back to sleep now?” Andrew asked, wishing to go back, maybe return to the dream he was having, whatever it was.

“S-sure, sorry to have bothered you,” Akko said, giving him an apologetic smile. “Thanks again.”

“Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow,” Andrew yawned, and before Akko could say anything else, he closed the door on her face.

 

Lotte woke up to someone softly caressing her cheek. She cracked her eyes open, and the familiar – though blurry – face of Barbara smiled next to her. “Morning, little cub,” she said. “Breakfast is going to be here in a short while. Thought you may want to dress,” she moved closer and kissed Lotte’s cheek softly.

Smiling, Lotte turned and reached for her glasses. After putting them on, the world finally became clear. She yawned as Barbara got out of bed and started changing. Lotte also got up, putting on her underwear before stretching and softly rubbing her eyes. “Are you ready to talk now?” Lotte asked as she sat down in bed again.

Barbara started, turning to her. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” she smiled nervously.

Lotte pursed her lips, getting a serious look. “You can’t tell me it’s nothing, Babs. Please,” Lotte used the nickname she only used on Barbara when they were in a seriously romantic mood. “You can talk to me.”

Hesitating, Barbara ended up turning around and sitting next to Lotte. Their skinship and intimacy had grown since they had started dating, and… Well, maybe it was because both of them had their minds kind of attuned to a certain type of relationship thanks to their shared interests, but being close to each other no longer felt like something special. Not that it felt any less meaningful, it was just… normal. And Lotte liked that. She liked that she could call being next to Barbara something ‘normal’.

“I sent Akko to try and bring Diana back,” Barbara finally said. Lotte raised an eyebrow, not sure of what she had heard. “What? You know they like each other.”

“Yeah, but Akko is…” Lotte tried to think of a nice way to put it. “… unpredictable.”

“It’ll be fine,” Barbara used one arm to wrap Lotte’s waist. “She’s also stubborn as hell. More stubborn than Diana, I’d say. If there’s anyone who can bring her back, it’s definitely her.”

Lotte stood, escaping from Barbara’s grip. The black-haired girl seemed disappointed. “I guess you’re right,” Lotte said, smiling. “But why didn’t you want to tell me?”

Barbara looked down, looking embarrassed. “I thought it’d make you worry about Akko and, uhm…” she started fidgeting. “Well… Maybe you wouldn’t be in the mood to… You know…”

Lotte laughed. She leaned forward, kissing Barbara’s head. “I’ll always be in the mood to love you,” she said. “Though I’d rather do it after taking a shower.”

Barbara looked up again, looking more relaxed. “I know. Want me to go in with you?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Someone has to receive the breakfast. We’ll have to do the shower scenes some other time,” Lotte reminded her. Barbara cursed, obviously regretting having asked for that breakfast.

With a smile, Lotte entered the bathroom. It’d be a lie to say she didn’t worry about Akko, but it was probably too late at this point. Hopefully everything would go fine.

 

Ursula woke up to the knowledge that Akko had apparently gone missing. Of course, she had no doubt where Akko was, so she didn’t worry. For now, however, she had one thing she needed to deal with.

New broom.

The contract with the company that made the Shooting Star had been shaky since the incident. But, after some kind of negotiating – in which, of course, Croix had certainly done something – they had ended up making a whole new broom for the team. It wasn’t exactly against the rules to completely change brooms mid-race. Modifications were frowned upon, but… Well, the rules on changing ships weren’t very clear. One Shooting Star _had_ blown up, though, so they were allowed to replace it. It just happened to be with another broom, though.

As she walked towards the Dragon, though, she noticed something. A small red thing floating in the air. “Oh no you don’t,” Ursula said in the low as the red thing slowly floated away. She chased after it, since it wasn’t moving too fast, but after a few turns and catching up to it she decided not to catch it. Maybe it’d lead her somewhere.

And it did. After a while, Ursula saw the thing enter a room. The door was suspiciously alone in the middle of a wall, as if the room behind it was absurdly big. _Maybe this is where…_ Ursula made sure to slip inside behind the roomba.

The room beyond was absolutely dark, and before Ursula found any kind of light, she felt the already familiar sensation of her whole body becoming weightless for an instant before she fell back into reality.

When she exited the room, she was now in Croix’s lab.

Again.

“If you want to see me, you can just call,” Croix was sitting by the table closest to the small room where her teleportation always lead. The roomba that Ursula had been following went towards the next room over, disappearing from sight. “No need to sneak around,” she was wearing an utilitarian outfit full of pockets everywhere and a pair of goggles. Her hair was perfectly styled, though.

“What were you up to?” Ursula asked, wary.

“I was just collecting data, nothing that different from when Akko was here a few days ago,” Croix wasn’t even turning to look at Ursula.

With a frown, Ursula stepped closer to the table, to see what Croix was doing. She seemed to be working on… a smartphone? Those things were so old though. “Why was your roomba near our rooms?”

Croix sighed, pausing. “I just said it. Collecting data. Not from you, though, or Akko. Or any human. Worry not,” she took off her goggles. “Now, right now you don’t really have a reason to be angry with me, so… unless you want to talk, I’m kind of busy.”

Ursula noticed the big bags under her eyes. A part of her instantly recalled that she often had those back then too. “You’ve been working nonstop for a few days, haven’t you,” she said. “What’s special about that smartphone?”

“It’s not just a smartphone, but not something you’d understand,” Croix shrugged. “Now, if you wanna get back to the hotel or the _Dragon_ or whatever just enter the room again, I’ll send you there.”

Ursula narrowed her eyes. Why was Croix being so… dismissive, suddenly? After being so flirty and flamboyant the previous times? Was it because this time she wasn’t expecting Ursula to show up? Or maybe because she wanted her to go away as soon as possible?

“You had something to do with the new broom given to us today, didn’t you?” Ursula decided to ask about it to gain some time, maybe figure something out.

“Yes, of course, I’m the head of the IPR, I had to approve it,” Croix said in a matter-of-fact way. “Also, stop stalling for time. You won’t figure out anything from asking asinine questions,” she turned around to look for a tool on her tool box.

Ursula frowned. “That means you looked at the blueprints, didn’t you,” Ursula said. “You plan on telling the daemons its weak spots?”

“Why would I do that?” Croix said. She didn’t even raise her head as she put back her goggles and kept working.

“I don’t know, why did you steal Constanze’s shield tech and gave it to the daemons?” Ursula asked with an annoyed tone.

“Because it was a really good scientific, engineering and mechanical invention. Your new ship is fine and all but it’s really basic human stuff, I hope that little girl does something to it,” Croix paused tinkering with her smartphone and instead looked at it, drumming her fingers in thought.

“So that you can steal her ideas again?”

“Yes,” Croix admitted without even an ounce of shame. “Her ideas mixed with advanced daemon tech allows me to take whatever she makes to the next level.”

“Aren’t you ashamed of copying a sixteen year old girl?” Ursula asked in disbelief.

“Nope. She’s a little genius. I’m sure she’ll grow to do some amazing stuff. I might as well use her while I can.”

Ursula froze. “So… That’s all, just using someone and then throwing them away?”

“Don’t,” Croix said. “You _know_ this conversation isn’t going to end well. It was ten years ago, let it go,” she wasn’t even looking at Ursula as she moved the smartphone to the side and brought up what looked like a camera spirit. She started dismantling it. “Just get out of my lab, Char- Ursula.”

“Why don’t you make me?” Ursula said in a dark tone.

“Because I know you don’t have your pills with you and if I decided to use the exoskeleton I have – which is the only way in hell I’m ever going to beat you physically – I would probably break all of your bones on accident,” Croix explained. The inside of the camera spirit was surprisingly dark. Spirits usually brimmed with magic when opened. It didn’t look old, so the magic had been purposefully removed.

“Oh, _now_ you don’t want to hurt me,” Ursula had her arms crossed. She hadn’t moved from the spot since the step she had taken earlier, but she really felt like punching something. “Real nice of you.”

“Look, you shouldn’t even be here. You followed my device on a whim, entering somewhere you shouldn’t – what a surprise, Chariot doing some impulsive bullshit – and now you’re pestering me.”

“So, the other times I’ve been here and you were totally fine with it, I should just ignore them? What’s different this time?” Ursula asked.

“That I’ve been working for days because my stupid clients – yes, the Daemons, don’t give me that look – are like a bunch of kids on steroids and their ships need constant repairs because they don’t know how to practice if they’re not trying to kill each other, so I’m tired, irritable and I don’t want to have this conversation right now.”

Ursula didn’t feel particularly inclined to take her seriously.

“So, when _do_ you plan on having this conversation?” Ursula asked.

Croix sighed, taking off her goggles again. She looked at chariot with tired eyes. “I already tried to have it. You shot me down, remember?” Croix said.

Ursula didn’t actually remember. Most of her encounters with Croix had usually been accompanied of a little rage and unstable emotions. “Well, why not now?”

Croix shook her head. “How do you think this’ll play out, Chariot?” She probably hadn’t even realized she had used Ursula’s old name. “When you feel like it we can talk, when you don’t not? Should it be different for me? And what are we going to talk about? So I cheated. You got mad. You pushed me away and I respected your decision and got out of your hair. What even is there to talk about, really? I’ve been pursuing my dream for the past ten years. You have been hiding because you didn’t have the guts to admit what happened to everyone. We got reunited by almost mere chance, but I can see it in your eyes: You still think as badly of me as you did back then, despite me working for the betterment of humanity,” every word Croix spoke made Ursula feel less determined to find out whatever she was doing. In the darkness of the lab, with only half of her face illuminated by the light of the monitors in the far wall, it was easy to see she had really worked hard to get to where she was, unlike Ursula. “So I don’t think there’s anything we should talk about. Just get out.”

Ursula was pressing her lips. Slowly, she turned around. “You really don’t regret it? Not even one bit?” was all she could ask.

“I won’t apologize for following my ideals, Chariot. See you later,” Croix’s sentence had a feel of finality to it.

Ursula stepped into the small room, deeply regretting following that stupid roomba. Croix had always been better than her at arguing. She was also good at reading her.

With her chest hurting, she stepped into the small room. Yet Ursula didn’t get that feeling she expected to have. It was actually taking quite longer than previous times.

“I regret one thing,” Suddenly, Croix’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“What is it?” Ursula asked, a little wary.

“Having met you.”

And with that, Ursula felt the weightlessness. She was now in her room.

She dropped to her knees. Ten years apart, and for the longest time Ursula though she had been the one to hate Croix. Yet she had never felt actual regret at having met her. She had expected a lot of things from her, but not what had just come out of her mouth.

Ursula cried.

 

“So…” Akko said, awkwardly stuck between Andrew and his father on the backseat of their broom. “Nice weather, eh?”

“It’s cloudy and about to rain,” Andrew said. He was right. The sky was grey and it was obvious that soon darker clouds were going to take over.

Akko laughed nervously. “I guess you’re right,” she said. She could feel Paul’s disapproving look on her. She should be training, not losing time going to see Diana.  Andrew had convinced him to take her, though, so for that she was forever grateful.

The trip was silent and really awkward.

 

Diana had gone out for a horseback ride with some of her hunting dogs. She should have been taking it easy, but she was rather stressed and she had always found that she relaxed more easily when she was with animals. Her aunt at least seemed to like animals too. She hadn’t sold off or tried to kill any of them, and the dog that had died a few months ago had done it because he had been really old. At least that woman wasn’t outright evil.

That didn’t mean Diana hated her any less. The fields that surrounded the Cavendish Mansion were big. There were some small hills here and there, too. Sadly, at this point, most of them didn’t really belong to the Cavendish Family anymore. And those that still did weren’t really being taken care of, so grass grew wild and trees were big and messy. Diana liked that, though, so as she trotted through the landscape she felt her mind slowly being put at ease.

She hadn’t told Daryl she had dropped out of the race. That would come as a surprise tomorrow when she didn’t leave to catch the _Dragon._ Of course, even if the human team dropped out of the race, the world-hopper would still continue its route. It was as much a cruiser as it was a method of transportation.

In a way, she felt relieved. At least this way she couldn’t mess up and let everyone down because of her ability. She had dropped out. She hadn’t failed, she had just… given up. Yeah, no, she couldn’t really rationalize it. She was feeling relieved because the pressure had finally gone away, but she knew she’d regret this down the line. But she would have also regretted it if she had let Daryl do whatever she wanted. In the end, it was about what she’d regret less. There would be other chances to participate on the IPR, but there was only one Pony.

When she was done riding, she turned around. The mansion was visible in the distance. Not that she could get lost. Even if it was a big expanse of nature, the place was still surrounded by society.

It was the sudden blink of a light that warned her. Midway through the mansion, she saw that, and while she couldn’t exactly see it, it had come from the road that led to the mansion. Visitors? Diana hurried up to the mansion, her dogs keeping up with her horse rather fine.

She was close to the mansion when she finally saw it. A long, black broom that she recognized rather well.

 _Should have guessed it,_ Diana thought, dreading what was to come. Her aunt was particularly annoying when rich or important people visited. Paul was both, as shown by the five servants of the house lining up next to the entrance. She was slowly going down the path towards the mansion when they started getting out of the broom. Paul, in his usual black suit, Andrew with a blue one, their driver in uniform, and someone else in casual clothing. “Isn’t that…?”

Diana blinked. Then she rubbed her eyes. Was she imagining it? Maybe it was Andrew’s girlfriend or something. But… Well, Diana couldn’t really mistake Akko even from a distance. Her body movements, her hair, the way she nervously carried around her backpack…

Diana frowned. What the hell was she doing here?

She hurried all she could on her way back.

She entered through the mansion’s main door, and as she approached the main hall she heard her aunt and cousins giving praises to both Paul and Andrew. Then she moved on to Akko.

“And, who might _you_ be?” Daryl said with obvious disdain in her voice.

“Uhm, I’m Atsuko Kagari,” Akko said. She bowed in respect, which made Diana grow angry.

“Akko!” Diana exclaimed from the doorway, looking angrily at her totally-not-girlfriend.

“Diana!” Akko exclaimed back with some surprise, looking her up and down. Diana was wearing her equestrian outfit, which was something certainly unusual.

“Is she a friend of yours?” Daryl asked with frown.

Diana ignored her. “What are you doing here?” She asked to Akko in an annoyed tone. It was either that or getting happy. This situation didn’t exactly require her to be happy.

“I want to talk to you!” Akko replied. “You don’t think I was going to accept it that easily, did you?”

 _Of course not,_ Diana thought. _I just didn’t expect you to come all the way here._ “It doesn’t matter whether you do or not. This has nothing to do with you,” Diana said. Then she stared daggers at Andrew. “And may I ask why is it that you’ve arrived?”

“Hello, Diana,” Andrew used his friendly smile, which was basically his equivalent of Diana’s neutral face. “It’s just hard to ignore the petitions of someone who annoys you for your help in the middle of the night,” he explained.

Both Diana and Akko frowned at this. Diana was about to reply, when suddenly Daryl clapped to call for everyone’s attention.

“Carter, please lead Paul and Andrew inside,” she said. The butler nodded and did as told. Andrew went away with a small wave as they disappeared into the side corridors of the hall. “And you,” she said to Akko. “Are you a friend of Diana’s or not?”

“I guess you could call me that,” Akko said happily.

Daryl disliked that, and it was visible. “My, low standards does Diana have for friends these days,” Maril said, standing to the right of her mother. Diana had to hold back from snapping at them.

“And Luna Nova for their students,” Merrill, standing on the other side, said.

“Maybe she’s just a fan of Diana’s,” Maril continued.

“Perhaps she’s come here to try and worm her way into the Cavendish Family,” Merrill gave Diana a cheeky look. Diana’s eyebrow started to twitch with annoyance and anger.

“Regardless, she’s an uninvited guest,” Daryl interrupted the berating her daughters were doing. “I trust you can find the door,” she said to Akko, pointing at it.

“Who the hell do-” Akko, who had grown in annoyance since the moment her cousins had started speaking, was about to probably say something extremely inappropriate, but Diana jumped in the way and stopped her.

“She’s my friend,” she claimed, holding back Akko with one arm. “And I won’t tolerate such disrespect for _my_ guest,” she threatened with narrowed eyes. Her aunt and cousins seemed a little baffled by her reaction. Before they could say anything else, however, Diana turned around. She grabbed Akko’s hand. “Come with me,” she ordered, and started dragging her towards her room.

“W-wait, Diana! You’re hurting me!” Akko complained, but Diana didn’t stop to listen.

Of all the people who could have come, it _had_ to be the one person who could make Diana’s resolution falter. Once they were on the hallways, away from her family, Diana finally let go of Akko. They walked in silence for a while before Akko started speaking again.

“What’s up with them, anyways? They’re like three times as bad as you were when-”

“Akko!” Diana turned around. Akko shrunk, obviously intimidated. Diana decided she’d rather not let Akko give Daryl an excuse to kick her out of the house. “You’re going back as soon as possible,” she said, though she noticed Akko was looking around the red carpeted hallways lined with old torches and ancient paintings, “so I’d appreciate it if you’d call the Shiny Rod and-”

“I knew you were rich, but this is a really nice mansion,” Akko said with a smile. Diana couldn’t really get mad at her for being herself. She was so darn cute.

“Miss!” Suddenly, Anna, who had been following them, called for her attention.

Akko straightened up like some kind of soldier. “Yes!”

“Please pay attention to the young lady,” Anna said with a harsh tone.

“Ok…” Akko looked down, then at Diana. She looked sad.

Diana wanted to repeat what she had said, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t send Akko away after she’d come all this way. Not so soon, at least. Instead, she sighed. “Ok, come,” she said. This was going to be a hard day.


	80. Chapter 80

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's been 6 months since I started writing this, huh?  
> I've been considering taking this off the 'anonymous' collection. I did it because hiding made me more comfortable with writing. It made it easier, since noone has much expectations from an anon. Do you wish to know my username? I've been at this for half a year. I think I can take you guys knowing what my username is at this point. Not like I use it anywhere else anyways. Also, I think it would allow for people with subscriptions to actually recieve notifications on their emails and shit. Please comment on this.  
> And, well, this is also the beggining of a weekly schedule. Just for a while, probably. I'll be posting on sundays and wednesdays through may. Hope it's not too much of a problem.  
> Welp, enough useless chat, hope you enjoy the chapter! (Also don't expect me to add notes to every chapter. I'm way too lazy for that)  
> Don't forget to comment, rate, leave 5 stars, give like, suscribe, hit that bell, donate to my patreon, back me up on kickstarter and send gifts to my P.O. Box!

“Ow!” Akko complained as Anna brushed her hair.

“This is rather anguishing,” the maid said, sounding disappointed. “We didn’t store this beautiful dress to let it be used on some no one from who knows where,” she said as she kept brushing Akko’s hair with force. Akko was barely holding back from screaming.

“I can hear you, you know,” Akko said as the brushing paused, annoyed.

“It was said for you to hear it,” Anna simply said.

“I don’t mind, Anna,” Diana said from behind. Akko could see her trying to keep a straight face, but she could swear the blonde was ever so slightly blushed. Akko was wearing a cute, simple pink dress that was too childish and didn’t fit her at all. Anna had also gotten rid of the tiny ponytail Akko usually had on the back of her hair. She felt weird without it.

Anna turned around to look at her, releasing Akko from the pain in her scalp. “Young lady, your mother prepared this dress specifically for your eleventh birthday, isn’t it…”

“Eleventh?!” Akko suddenly stood, surprised. It fit her so well! She couldn’t be that small, could she?

“I couldn’t wear it even if I wanted to,” Diana explained calmly. She still wore her equestrian outfit. In the meantime, Akko kept examining herself. There _had_ to be somewhere where she felt strain on the cloth or… “And we both know how my aunt would react if we let her roam around in shorts and a t-shirt,” Diana added.

“Well, but even if that’s the case…” Anna said.

“Just let her have it,” Diana interrupted her.

 _It really fits me perfectly,_ Akko thought with a sudden inferiority complex. She decided to take her focus away from something that obviously made her feel miserable and instead looked around. _So this is Diana’s room, huh?_

There was a fancy bed with a canopy, and every bedpost was carved into a fancy spiral. All adorned with fancy red curtains and sheets. On the other corner there were a couple of small libraries where every single space was filled with books, all old-looking and probably boring. Next to the libraries there was a small chimney that obviously hadn’t gotten much use in ages, and next to that a couple of red chairs that were… well, fancy. The floor was covered with an orange carpet, and on the side opposite to the chairs there was a small desk with a teddy-bear and something that kind of looked like a white music box, though maybe a little too big to be one.

 _Pretty much what one would expect,_ Akko thought, walking towards the desk. _Save for this._

“So you like cute things, Diana?” Akko asked with a smile, imagining Diana sleeping with the bear. She reached over to touch it.

“Don’t touch that!” Diana suddenly snapped. Akko was so surprised by her tone that she jumped back, looking as Diana quickly walked to the desk and took the box between her hands. Some kind of secret chest, then? That wasn’t what she was going to touch, though… “I’m going to prepare for tonight. Please take care of the rest, Anna,” Diana said, clutching the box to her chest and walking away.

“Oh no you don’t,” Akko walked towards Diana and put a hand on her shoulder. “We need to talk. _Now._ ” Akko said with a frown.

Diana turned, seemingly surprised that Akko would react like that. “Akko, please let me go, I have to prepare for…” she trailed off as she saw Akko’s intense stare.

“Missy, let the young lady go. You should be thankful for her kindness, not forceful!” Anna exclaimed. Akko almost let Diana go, but luckily her stubbornness prevailed.

“Yes, yes, I should be very grateful,” Akko said with annoyance. “So I’ll thank Diana in person.”

“Akko…” Diana’s expression made her look as if she wanted to run away.

“Please,” Akko said in a serious voice. That seemed to do it, as Diana relaxed her arms and closed her eyes.

“Fine. Anna, please leave us alone for a while,” Diana said.

Anna’s expression darkened a little, but she bowed respectfully and left the room without saying anything. Akko finally let go of Diana, who went back to the desk to leave the white box. Then she turned to Akko and looked at her with some shame. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

Akko walked closer to her. Diana backed up, but he desk was behind her, so she didn’t have where to run. “You already know,” Akko said with an offended tone. “Why do you want to drop out?”

Diana pressed her lips. “It shouldn’t concern you,” Diana said, looking down. Akko walked until she was right in front of her.

“Say it while looking at my eyes,” she demanded. Diana didn’t look up. “Diana,” Akko reached forth and grabbed her hand.

Diana bit her lip and looked at Akko. “I don’t want to tell you,” she confessed.

“Why?” Akko asked. Diana was so close. But, right now was not the moment for a kiss. Was it?

“I’m afraid you’ll change my mind,” she explained. Her expression, though neutral, seemed fragile. Akko could almost see Diana’s plea for her not to keep pushing.

Sadly for Diana, Akko wasn’t going to give up. “Talk to me,” Akko said with determination as she squeezed her hand. “Come on.”

“I assume you won’t allow me to go to the bathroom first?” Diana asked. Akko shook her head. “Fine.”

Diana took a deep breath. Then, she proceeded to explain what was going on. Well, mostly. In between explaining that her aunt was basically a caricature rich step-mother type of villain and why she couldn’t let go of that broom, Akko felt like there was something missing.

But what?

“I… see,” Akko said. She hadn’t let go of Diana’s hand through the explanation, even when they had moved to sit on the couple of chairs next to the chimney. “You can’t use teleporting to come here a couple days and…”

“I don’t know,” Diana said. She smelled a little like a horse, which made sense. Not a bad smell, just the smell of an animal. “I don’t… I don’t know, Akko. Space laws are kind of strange. And they do not take into account the possibility of teleporting. If you’re supposed to be in space and you’re not, then you’ve wasted _a lot_ of someone’s time for all the paperwork that’s required to get out of the planet. There is proof that you can teleport, but we don’t have the money to hire the lawyer that would be required to explain this to a court. I’ve already thought of everything,” she sounded hesitant. Then she looked at Akko, eyes intense. “Please don’t… Don’t hate me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was scared.”

Akko let go of her hand. Instead, she hug her. Tightly. “It’s ok, Diana. In a way, you’re kind of doing something like what Chariot did, don’t you think? Dropping out for some reason that you probably won’t disclose to anyone,” Akko said. Diana wasn’t returning the hug, but Akko didn’t let go.

It took a while, but Diana ended up putting her arms around Akko too. She rubbed her cheek on Akko’s, sighing as if she was relieved. “Even in these situations you can’t stop thinking about Chariot,” she said softly. “It makes me kind of jealous.”

Akko blinked. “W-what?” She suddenly pushed back to look Diana in the face. “It’s not like that! I- Well, I mean, I may have had a crush on Chariot at some point…” Akko laughed nervously.

“To no one’s surprise,” Diana added in a serious tone. Akko worried she was mad.

“B-but it was nothing like what I feel for you!” She said.

Diana smiled softly. “I know,” she looked down again. “I just wish that wasn’t the thing me and Chariot had in common. Dropping out of the IPR when in first place. Of all things…”

Akko leaned forward, touching her forehead with Diana’s. It was kind of hard, since Diana was taller. “It’s fine. I’m sure we’ll find a way.” She said.

“I was mad that you came here,” Diana said in a seemingly unrelated vein. “But you’re some kind of anger black-hole. It’s impossible to stay angry when you’re nearby,” Diana moved a little, rubbing the tip of her nose against Akko’s. An Eskimo kiss. “In a way, I’m glad I’m dropping out. It means I can focus on you a lot sooner,” she said, moving her face even closer.

Akko wished so hard that she could move forward. But she didn’t. “You’re not dropping out just yet.”

“Akko…” Diana said in a lower tone.

“Not yet. We leave tomorrow. We can still find a way to solve this,” Akko said.

Diana sighed. “You’re too stubborn,” she said. “But I guess I won’t complain if you want to stay a little longer,” she smiled. Backing away, she stood and stretched a little. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to take a shower and prepare for dinner. If you get bored, feel free to pick any of my books,” she pointed at the corner of the room.

“Thank you,” Akko said, though she was sure she wasn’t going to read any of those.

“Also, that dress looks really cute on you,” Diana added. Then she all but ran out of the room, leaving Akko no time to reply.

She still smiled.

 

The sun had set not long before Diana and Akko sat at the table in the Cavendish dining room. Once decorated with some portraits and displays over the various pieces of furniture surrounding the table, now it was mostly empty. Andrew and Paul were already there, along with Daryl and her daughters.

Diana had put on a sleeveless, light blue dress. It was kind of cold, since they were already in the second half of fall, but the house was warm enough. “Cheers, to a splendid night,” Daryl said after the food was served. Everyone had champagne on their cups. Including Diana and Akko. Luckily, there was also a cup with water for them. She didn’t plan to get drunk.

Akko was looking at the soup in front of her with doubt. She was probably wondering which of the spoons she should use.

Diana started to eat with the correct one. She didn’t make it obvious, but it wasn’t long before Akko saw her and mimicked. Diana had to wear her neutral face, because otherwise she would have probably looked angry. Not at Akko, but at Daryl. The purpose of this meeting was clear.

Still, everyone ate in silence. Diana ate while looking at Akko from time to time. The girl struggled with cutting her meat, and at one point she had given up on using the silverware meant for the food she was given. Still, she kept on eating. Even after finishing everything, when the butler offered her buns of bread, she took a lot of them and started shoving them into her mouth as if they were nectar. Diana had to stare daggers at her to tone it down and eat properly.

When everyone was finished, Paul spoke. “Now then, Daryl. I thank you for this invitation, but I presume you brought me to this manor for something else than mere dinner,” he said. He spoke in a slightly imperative tone. Diana was aware of the fact he wasn’t a big fan of her aunt, but he remained polite for convenience’s sake.

“You’re absolutely correct, Paul,” Daryl said, delighted. “That will expedite the process,” she then looked at Carter and clapped a couple times. The butler exited the room with two of the maids. The three of them came back carrying small carts. “I’m sure one of these will catch your fancy.”

Paul looked kind of confused. Diana sure was. What was under those clothes? “These are?” Paul asked with doubt.

“Just some items that I would appreciate you purchasing, rather than some random people on the internet,” Daryl said with a pleading smile and a gentle – obviously fake - demeanor. Diana couldn’t help the expression of confusion and surprise that came to her as she realized what Daryl was doing.

The first of the carts was taken off, showing underneath it a fish tank turned candle holder, where the candle was held in between a bunch of fish scales. Diana’s expression got serious. “This is the candle holder the seventh Cavendish head used to stay awake at night to cure patients,” Maril explained. “It was rumored to be made out of siren scales, even!”

The Cavendish family had once been a family of healers and medics. That had earned them respect and political power, long ago. Only problem was, they had always done it for free. That hadn’t exactly changed, as some clinics under the Cavendish name still existed, but with Daryl that was sure to end soon. Diana’s great grandmother had been really important in the magic medicine field, though her grandmother had decided to go for Piloting. Same for Diana’s mother, and… well, Diana herself. Still, the medical history of the Cavendish family was as important as anything else.

“Hmmm,” Akko looked interested in it as she kept eating. Maybe she actually had a black hole in her stomach.

“Weren’t sirens actually half bird, in the original myths?” Andrew asked.

Paul, on his part, didn’t look interested. At all.

Ignoring the question, though, another cloth was removed.

Underneath it, an open box laid for all to see a set of rather terrifying and pointy looking tools. Diana’s eyebrow started to twitch. “This is an eighteenth century medical toolset in pristine conditions! You don’t see this every day!” Merrill explained.

Diana had to grit her teeth. The value of those tools was mostly historical, but to the Cavendish family it also had a lot of personal meaning. Selling them would bring them barely any money in exchange for centuries of family pride.

Paul looked at Diana for a second, then at the box, then drank from his cup without interest.

And, when the final cloth was lifted, Diana couldn’t help but retract her lips, showing teeth in anger. She recognized the Certificate of Title of The Pony. “And of course,” Daryl said with a smile, “The one and only Pony, the broom that won two world cups!” Her overly sweet tone made Diana sick.

Paul, as he said he would, shook his head. “If this is all you wanted,” he said, rising, “then I see no need to overstay my welcome,” he turned around, ready to leave. “Miss Diana, I’ll be waiting for you outside. I feel like we need to talk,” he and Andrew both started to walk out.

“W-wait, can’t you at least take one?” Daryl rose too, her fake smile faltering, her voice turning up a pitch in her nervousness. Paul ignored her and kept walking.

“Want a ride?” Andrew asked to Akko as he walked next to her chair. Diana stared daggers at him.

“If I went with you I wouldn’t make it back in time for the race,” Akko explained. “I’ll go on my own.”

Andrew shrugged. “Ok then, see you. And you too, Diana,” he waved. His smile only made Diana angrier, even if it was irrational.

“Didn’t anything catch your interest, Andrew?” Daryl tried to insist. She was practically begging. Diana couldn’t take it anymore.

“Enough!” Diana stood, making the silverware and plates in the table tremble and clink. “You know for a fact you cannot do this while I’m in front of you!”

Daryl turned to her and scoffed. “Shouldn’t you go with them? And get in their car, too, I doubt you’ll make it back in time otherwise,” she said with narrowed eyes.

“This has nothing to do with you trying to trample over the memory of my mother!” Diana shouted while she hoped Akko wouldn’t be too scared of her anger.

“There you go again, it’s always about her, isn’t it? She used all the money she got as a pilot to keep up those stupid clinics,” Daryl said with disgust. “And how did that turn out for her? It’s thanks to _me_ that we can even keep this manor running,” she stated with full confidence.

“All you’ve done is sell priceless, ancient family history for fucking money!” Diana couldn’t hold back. She could feel her chest burning in rage. “Have you no pride as a Cavendish?!”

“Can ‘pride’ put food on the table?” Daryl asked with a cocky smile. Diana was taken aback. It wasn’t a bad argument. It was a good one, actually. “The era where our name meant something is coming to an end. We might as well take advantage of it while we can.”

Diana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I won’t let you do as you want, Aunt,” Diana claimed. “As I suspected, I can no longer leave you unsupervised to run this household.”

Daryl snickered. “And what are you going to do?” Daryl asked.

“Drop out of the race and start the process of gaining rights over my heritage, even before I turn eighteen,” Diana explained, looking at Daryl with intensity. It was unlikely she’d get the paperwork done soon, but in the meantime she’d just keep an eye over her aunt.

Unexpectedly, Daryl smirked. “Ah, so that’s how it is.”

Diana’s frown deepened. She tried to blink as little as possible. “What is?” Diana asked in a lower tone.

“You dropped out of the race because of the trauma the accident caused you. What a shame. Though the media is going to love it!” Daryl exclaimed. Diana’s eyes widened. Maril and Merrill snickered.

“I’ll make my announcement soon to tell the truth of what’s going on,” Diana explained. Daryl was trying to intimidate her.

“Sure, sure,” with a dismissive wave of the hand, Daryl nodded. “Though I wonder what story the media will believe. That Diana Cavendish, after her accident, decided to drop out of the race out of fear of it happening again – she just allowed it to go on because she had a suitable substitute that could keep it up for a few extra races – or that she dropped out for some family drama that’s been going on for years,” she would have had a hint of malice in her eyes, if not for the fact that every fiber of her body was malicious.

“Are you threatening me? The media will believe what I tell them, as I’ve no reason to lie.”

Daryl laughed. “Ah, for being so smart, you’re too naïve, dear.”

“They’ll go for the most heart-wrenching version of the story they can,” Maril explained.

“The girl who carried the weight of the world in her shoulders – but couldn’t bear it,” Merrill added.

Diana took a deep breath. They were trying to provoke her. She wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that. “She would even give up on her dream because of what happened to her,” Daryl spoke as if Diana wasn’t there. “Oh, how Bernadette would-”

“DO NOT-” Diana snapped, but she held herself back. “Do _not_ say her name. _You_ have no right.”

“And _you_ do?” Daryl’s cocky smile made Diana want to throw the silverware at her. “Your mother wished she could take part on an IPR, but she never got the chance. Yet, you…”

“Stay quiet, Daryl,” Diana warned.

“… would quit over a dumb broom? You’re just a coward,” Daryl finished.

“Hey!” Akko stood, pointing at Daryl with a finger. “You’ve no right to say that! What do you know about how she feels? What would _you_ do if Diana tried to sell your mother’s most precious thing to some stranger?!” She exclaimed. Diana was a little taken aback by her interruption, but she was also happy for it.

“Why, that’s exactly what I did with what little inheritance I had,” Daryl explained. Akko’s eyes widened, and she started opening and closing her mouth like a fish, not knowing what to say.

Diana sighed. “It’s ok, Akko. Let’s go,” Diana reached to her side and grabbed Akko’s hand. Gently, this time. She lead her towards the entrance.

“You can’t let her treat you like that, Diana,” Akko said as they walked. “I can punch her if you want.”

Diana shook her head. She would have smiled if she wasn’t upset. “Violence will solve nothing. But I hope that now you understand why I must stay.”

“Because your aunt is a jerk?” Akko asked, still sounding annoyed.

“Basically,” Diana agreed.

“Then I don’t agree with it,” Akko let go of Diana’s hand and walked ahead. “Give me a while to think, I’ll come up with something.”

Diana shook her head. “I’m sure you will,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. Luckily, Akko didn’t seem to pick up on it, and she kind of felt bad for looking down on her.

Outside, under the light of the lamps in the roundabout, Paul and Andrew were talking in the low while Carter waited by the door. When Paul saw Diana come out, he smiled – political smile, as always – and fixed his tie in place. He cleared his throat.

“Miss Diana,” Paul started, “while I understand your… qualms about continuing with this race,” he looked at the door, “seeing as Daryl seems to be as disagreeable as ever, I must implore of you to continue.”

“Sorry, Paul,” Diana shook her head. “I can’t leave this house under her care. Not anymore.”

Paul paused. “What if I offered to buy The Pony, promising to give it back as soon as this race was over?” He asked. He had the money to do that a hundred times over.

Of course, that wasn’t the point. “Sorry, but this is about principle,” Diana explained. “If you do that, then my aunt will just try to exploit it again.”

“I could give it back when you turn eighteen,” Paul offered.

Diana shook her head again. “I really am sorry for this, but…”

Sighing, Paul’s smile dropped. “Diana, listen,” he said in a more serious voice. “This race… It’s too important,” his green eyes suddenly were filled with something else than mere greed for fame or money. Whatever he knew that Diana didn’t was big. “You can’t even begin to understand how much-”

Diana showed Paul her palm to stop him. “Is this somehow related to this ‘grand prize’ I’ve heard so much about?” she asked. Paul seemed taken aback by the questions. “The Aos Sí themselves tried to bribe us out of this race. The entire atmosphere between racers and executives seems to be wildly different from previous ones – though that may just be the difference between being a mere observer and a participant – and while no one has died, things seem to be a little… tense.”

“Oh, well…” Paul was obviously nervous now.

“I don’t know why you can’t disclose it with me, but let me make it clear: Unless it’s a matter of life and death, I will _not_ be returning to the race,” Diana finished

Paul stared to look around, maybe trying to find another excuse. Then he shook his head. “I didn’t want to do this, Diana, but you leave me no choice,” he turned to the manor, and waved for Carter to get closer. Diana frowned, and when the butler came, Paul spoke to him. “Please, tell Daryl that I would like to purchase all of the items she offered me tonight, and any others she may want me to,” he said. Carter, in his ever immutable face, nodded and started walking away.

“Carter, wait,” Diana instantly replied, her face pale.

“You bastard,” Akko, even if angry, was a little too cutesy right now to be taken seriously. She looked at Andrew. “And what about you? You gonna let this happen?”

Andrew shook his head. “There’s nothing I can do. Sorry,” he said.

“I can stop this if I stay, Paul,” Diana said.

“You won’t be staying. Even if you drop out of the race, you have a duty. You’re legally bound to be aboard the _Dragon_ for the next forty-five days,” Paul had already dropped all pretense of cordiality, looking at Diana as he would any random stranger. “I _will_ get the police involved, if I have to. You _will_ race unless you’re physically incapable of.”

That had been an order. Diana slowly felt her heart sink. This wasn’t her aunt’s petty threats and repressed hatred. This was… Cold, calculated. This was a politician covering his ass.

Akko took a step towards him, but Diana extended her arm to hold her back. “I see,” Diana said, closing her eyes. “So that’s how it is.”

“Last chance. Race, or I will force you to come and sit in a room for the next month and a half while buying _everything_ your aunt may want me to,” Paul said.

Even Andrew seemed to be a little too bothered by that. “Father, that may be a little-”

“I do what I must,” Paul cut him off. He stared at Diana, expecting her reply.

What could she say? The answer was obvious. “Fine,” she said in her neutral voice. She had naturally fallen back into her neutral expression. Akko put a hand on her arm, obviously aware of how sick Diana was feeling right now. Paul dismissed his previous comment to Carter and hopped on his broom. “See you at the races, Miss Diana,” he said, closing the door.

Andrew, on his part, looked at her apologetically. “Sorry Diana, I…”

“Get out of my house,” Diana simply said. He waved goodbye before getting into the black broom too, and soon the thing was getting out of the property.

Diana had her fists clenched.

“Diana…” Akko stood in front of her now. “I… I didn’t… This isn’t…” She was having trouble finding what to say.

“You got what you wanted,” Diana said in her neutral voice. “I’m going back to racing. Now call the Shiny Rod, please. I’d like to have some semblance of practice before the next race.”

Akko sensed her inner turmoil and didn’t attempt to continue speaking. She went inside the house – where she had left her stuff – not before giving Diana a quick hug. “I… I’ll figure something out, ok?”

Diana didn’t reply as she walked away.


	81. Chapter 81

“Diana, you can’t do this,” Ursula was saying to her. Diana was barely paying attention as she prepared. They were in her room, and she was basically surrounded by the three members of the team that had stayed on the _Dragon_. “You haven’t been on a broom for the past two weeks. You haven’t even had the chance to try the new Shooting Star. Hannah’s been practicing with Amanda and she’ll be out of sync, I’m not going to let you do it,” she explained.

“They want me to race, I’m going to race. Rules are clear. If I’m willing to take part in the race and my physical condition allows for it, then I’m entitled to do so,” Diana replied, unfazed.

“Come on, don’t be an ass,” Amanda said. “Do you want to embarrass yourself this badly?”

“I am quite capable of performing at my best, particularly in my home planet, even if I’ve had to take a short break from my practice. And I am certainly capable of matching you,” Diana stated, looking at Amanda with a neutral look. She had arrived with Akko about half an hour ago. The race was only two hours away.

“Please,” Hannah also joined in the begging. “You don’t even know what the rules are,” she said.

“The rules for this race are essentially nonexistent,” Diana replied. She had already read them, since they were made public. “Which I suppose also means we’ll be allowed to shoot cockpits and engines, if needed.”

Hannah seemed horrified by what she had just said. “With more reason! Diana, there’s a real chance of danger during this race! You’re not-”

“I will race,” Diana calmly stated. “And I would appreciate it if you stopped _pestering_ me,” she looked at Hannah.

They wanted her to race? Well, she would race. She would be the best. She would win this damn event and buy back _everything_ her aunt had given away. She would become the world’s greatest pilot and earn enough money to keep her house, her name and everything her mother had worked for alive.

“Where the hell is Akko?” Amanda looked around.

“She was with me,” Diana looked at the redhead. “She won’t try to stop-”

Suddenly, the door of the room slammed open. “Diana, have you read the rules for this?” Akko entered showing her a wand. “The only rule is that the pointing system will be the same as the standard. It means that every other rule is invalid! This is too dangerous for you!”

Amanda smirked as she saw Akko panicking. Diana sighed. She didn’t feel anything. She wasn’t scared, she wasn’t angry. She couldn’t even feel happy that Akko was worrying over her. There was just numbness inside her.

Or maybe that was hate.

“Excuse me,” Diana didn’t answer to Akko as she finished putting on her g-suit and walked out of the room, with the four girls behind her following.

“You’re being an idiot,” Amanda said. “You’re going to fuck up, and then you’ll be angry at yourself.”

“I have confidence in myself,” Diana stated as she kept walking through the beige corridors.

“Confidence is good,” Ursula said. “But you can’t take this risk, Diana, please reconsider.”

Diana decided not to say anything else. It was obvious o her that they weren’t going to listen to her, and she didn’t plan to listen to them. “Fine, whatever,” Amanda scoffed. “Don’t come crying when you lose,” she said, turning and walking back towards the rooms.

Hannah hesitated, seemingly wanting to go after her. “Diana, you’re making a mistake,” she said as she decided to keep walking next to Akko.

Diana walked the corridors of the hotel and called for an elevator.

Akko stepped closer to her. “Diana, I know why you’re doing this, but _please_ ,” she pleaded, taking Diana’s hand.

Shaking the hand off, Diana shook her head. “Not now, Akko,” she simply said.

Akko seemed a little heartbroken by her reaction. Diana almost faltered, but the elevator arrived. There were already four people inside, son when Diana stepped in, it reached the limit. One of those people was Deep Darkness, the white Daemon of green, pulsing eyes.

“See you later,” she said as the elevator doors closed.

The ride down wasn’t long, but it was kind of awkward, as the other three humans tried to stay as far from the daemon as possible. “So, you’re going to race?” Deep Darkness asked, looking at her attire.

“Yes,” Diana confirmed.

“You’re not ready,” his grinding voice was as uncomfortable to hear as ever.

“Interesting, why are you so sure?” Diana spoke in her monotone voice.

“Human body language is plain. You’re stiff. You’re unsure. How is it that humans say it? Wearing your heart in your sleeve? All humans do it, at least to us,” he explained. Diana tried to see how _he_ was feeling, but it was impossible to read him. His expression was as neutral as ever, and his position seemed to be neutral too. “And, from what I can gather, you haven’t practiced.”

“Where did you hear it?” Diana narrowed her eyes.

“Nowhere. It was obvious from the way the other three up there were looking at you. You were in an accident, and you recovered a few days ago. Your coach probably decided you were going to take some extra days to rest, which meant that the other pilot used your practicing time to prepare for this race, therefore _you_ didn’t use it.”

“An observer, aren’t you,” Diana said. “Yes, you’re right,” she confirmed, “though it means nothing. I will still win.”

Darkness’ shoulders straightened a little, his arms now sticking closer to his body. The elevator door opened and as everyone stepped out, he put one of his three-fingered hands on Diana’s shoulder. “Don’t underestimate your opponents, _Diana,_ ” he spoke Diana’s name without the translation device. It made Diana cringe.

“I don’t underestimate you. I just trust in myself.”

Deep Darkness stared at Diana with his admittedly unsettling pulsing eyes for a few seconds before turning and walking away. Diana tried not to show emotions, but aliens… well, it wasn’t something she could grow used to quickly.

She directed herself towards the back exit of the lobby, which would eventually lead her to the bleachers in the stadium. She wanted to take a good look at the track before the race.

_I will win._

“Last chance to reconsider,” Hannah said as they were getting into the Shooting Star. “Amanda is prepared, she can still-”

“Be prepared to use the shields. Without rules, they’ll be more useful than ever,” Diana simply instructed, closing the windshield of the cockpit and waiting for Hannah to climb into the cockpit. She didn’t have a happy expression. Diana had been a little shocked that Barbara hadn’t tried to stop her too. In fact, she hadn’t seen Barbara since she’d come back.

Well, she had no time to worry about that.

Once ready, she turned off all communications on her helmet. She didn’t take t off for security reasons. Then she started the Shooting Star. She exited one of the many garages on the base level of the magically lit stadium, trying to get a feel for the new weight and ways of the broom. The basics were the same, though the system was slightly different in how it worked, it was intuitive enough. Diana recalled what her configuration was, so she tried to make it the same, but until she got some practice she wouldn’t know. Too bad she hadn’t gotten any practice. Akko had, of course, offered to let her use the Shiny Rod, but Diana didn’t have to deal with Ursula’s disapproving look over her.

She got to her place in the track without much trouble. Last place on the right. Good position to be in, as she wouldn’t be shot from behind at the start of the race. Now that her engine and cockpit were vulnerable, she needed to be extra careful. She’d look for an opening to get ahead as soon as possible, then keep her first place.

Next to her was the Shapeshifter. In front of her was the egg-shaped ship of the appali.

Humans didn’t mess around with starting a race. Just a small traffic light. When it turned orange they could get ready, when it went green it was time to go.

She wondered if everyone would be wishing her good luck. She somehow doubted it. Would Akko?

She hadn’t treated her very fairly these past few hours. The emotional shock wasn’t an excuse. She was being purposefully distant to avoid snapping at her, but she was also pushing her away and hurting her in other ways. Once this race was over she’d apologize for her behavior and try to make amends.

Maybe she’d kiss her. She had been hanging back in her room. She wanted another taste of Akko’s soft, pink lips. She wanted to-

The light turned to orange. She instantly stopped thinking about everything else.

Green.

She accelerated.

The first five seconds of race, as she built up speed, were perfect. She felt the rush of adrenaline, she felt as she always had when piloting. She could feel herself falling into her habits as any other person would, quickly readjusting in the dire situation. Surprisingly no one attacked, everyone seemed focusing on wanting to get out of the first segment first.

Then the first curve came, to the right. Diana steered as she had always done, and she tried to take the curve on the inside. However, the sensibility of the Shooting Star was different. Where she had aimed for the inside she fell short, instead going straight through the middle. The Shooting Star crashed directly against the appali ship in front of her, the fire from its engine blinding, which in turn made them both crash against the magical field on the outer side of the curve. The appali were quick to recover, but Diana took a full two seconds to process this before she could get back into it. Of course, she was now dead last. _The Star is heavier now,_ she realized, _which means my normal sensibility is actually too low._ How had she not thought of that sooner? It wasn’t just basic, it was a rookie mistake. She was in distress. _Nevermind. Focus. Win._

She finally got back into the race. She knew the layout of the track, and she could luckily catch up to those ahead of her. The armors had fallen to the end, and Diana could see one of their metal rings had been damaged. It spun slowly and out of sync with the other three. She smiled. They were losing speed. All she needed to do now was get ahead of them and find her way towards the first-

Why were the shields up?

Something hit the Shooting Star, throwing it against the magic barrier and grinding it to a stop right behind the armor ship. It shook the entire broom, made her almost jump out of her seat. She looked to the side. She had been hit by a stone ball from one of her blind spots. Why hadn’t Hannah…?

Diana’s eyes widened as another hit came. This time stronger. _I cut communications. She had no way of warning me,_ she realized with horror. The second hit had came from behind, and if not for the shield the engines would have probably been destroyed. Not that they were working right now, as one of the stone balls was making sure the Shooting Star didn’t manage to go at full speed anytime soon.

_They can’t keep this up for the entirety of the race. It’s just one point. They wouldn’t-_

The ball came from the front next time. Diana saw with horror at the rate her magic was being depleted, and she was starting to see one of two things were going to happen. Either she managed to get out of this strange ass grapple or she would have to find a new broom.

The armors came to a halt, and so did the Shooting Star. The bashing didn’t stop. Diana had to make a choice. She needed to… She…

She turned off the engine. The shield had been bettered in its efficiency, but it was still a huge waste. It wouldn’t be able to remain up, protecting their lives, if the engine was also working. Diana let go of the control joysticks and looked up, getting slightly blinded by all the lights. The night sky was blocked by the many layers of concrete of the circuit, though.

Somehow, her brain skipped all stages of grief and jumped straight to acceptance.

She had lost. In barely over a minute of race.

And she had ended up in last place.

 

Amanda wasn’t angry.

She was _livid._

She had to stay in her room, having asked Hannah to lock it up. If not, she would have gone out there to beat the shit out of Diana. She had seen the race.

“How in hell did you got hit, you stupid piece of shit?!” she yelled at the screen on the wall of her room. It had been such an obvious coming! Hannah would have seen it from a mile away! Had Diana just ignored her?

 _[It’s a shame, ladies and gentlemen. Seems like the prodigy wasn’t ready to come back just yet.]_ The commentator was as heartbroken as every human in the audience. Of course, they weren’t aware of how stupid Diana had been.

The race, of course, ended with her not being able to move. The bashing of the armor stopped after a couple minutes, but it was too late anyways. Diana had been scared out of even attempting to race. She had prioritized her safety, which would have been fine, “IF NOT BECAUSE YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT!” Amanda lashed out at the wall, knowing that no one was near enough to hear her screams.

Akko would race in an hour, the commentator explained. He did a few replays of some of the most intense parts of the race – the appali managing to hit the shapeshifters in the last instant and taking second place, the reptilians using their hook creatively to bypass the size limit of the barriers and push the octopuses into a barrier during a curve and giving themselves a speed boost, the medusas and cyborgs having an attack-dodge match for over thirty seconds – but Amanda didn’t care about any of that.

She watched as the Shooting Star finally released its shield and pathetically turned around to go towards its garage. Cameras followed it, and paparazzi, reporters and all else rushed to the garage. Seemed like Croix’s regulations weren’t very effective to those who had to remain back on Earth.

The cockpit of the Shooting Star didn’t even open. Instead, the first to come out of the broom after it parked in the garage was Hannah.

She smiled, but Amanda could see from a mile that it was fake. Still, she managed to put on her best self out for the people taking photos and recording her.

When asked about what had happened, she looked back at the Shooting Star with a sad expression and then forward. “This was Diana’s first race since the accident. She… may have been overwhelmed,” she excused. Amanda shook her head. That hadn’t been overwhelming, that had been sheer stupidity. “Sorry about this loss, but don’t worry! I’m sure we’ll win the next time! Diana _is_ the designated Second Category race and she _is_ up to the challenge!”

Then Ursula came along to take her away. Amanda kept watching, but the camera went away before the cockpit opened.

She started pacing. She needed to release all of this energy somehow, but she was locked. She was so damn angry. Punching walls wouldn’t really be good, and punching something softer like mattresses or pillows wasn’t satisfying. Stupid Diana, stupid family. What had pushed her to do that? Amanda made a sudden move, almost kicking a bed in an outburst of rage. But she wasn’t wearing any shoes. She wasn’t an idiot, she wouldn’t hurt herself in her rage.

She considered masturbating, but she was in too much of a bad mood even for that. Plus, Hannah could come back at any moment. Or not, she would probably stay behind to try and support Diana or some bullshit, as if this hadn’t been her fault.

All that practice, all that effort, everything thrown into the trash because the rich girl had decided to become all edgy or whatever. _Idiot, moron, piece of shit, daughter of a bitch,_ Amanda curse internally, and sometimes externally too.

Last place. Diana hadn’t even managed to get past the ship that had been brought down. It wasn’t just pathetic and pitiful, it was outright shameful. Maybe Amanda should’ve banged her head against the wall to forget about it. Would the Shiny Rod wipe out things from her if she asked nicely enough? It was worth a try.

Surprisingly enough, not ten minutes after the race had ended, there was knocking on the door. “Who is it?!” Amanda asked, not hiding the anger in her voice.

“It’s me,” Hannah said. “Just wanted to make sure you were fine with me entering,” she sounded tired.

“Shouldn’t you be down with miss perfect?” Amanda asked with almost hostility.

Hannah entered the room. She looked around, as if expecting to see something broken. Amanda hadn’t broken anything. Yet.

“She’s in the cockpit, we can’t get her out. We left Akko to handle it.”

“Yeah, sure, leave the girl who should be practicing to deal with the mess her girlfriend caused,” Amanda bitterly said. “And why the hell did you defend her? You should have-”

Hannah turned to her with anger. “What? Should’ve said ‘oh yes we lost because Diana is an _idiot_ who decided to race without even practicing, and she turned off communications because she didn’t want to hear any of us saying stuff to her so I couldn’t warn her of the incoming attack’, right? Because making half of the planet hate her more than they do now would _totally_ help us!” She lashed out.

Amanda felt strangely calmed down after seeing Hannah’s anger. As if all the one she’d been feeling had been now distributed between the two. She finally managed to take a calming breath and huff. “Piece of shit,” she mumbled. “I should have knocked her out, locked her in our room and race myself. And the daemons came first, they’re definitely getting first place on the leaderboard now.”

“Akko can still save us,” Hannah said. “If she does good and the daemons do bad…”

“You really think Akko’s gonna win this?” Amanda asked. Hannah hesitated, but she shook her head eventually. “I don’t want to be mean, but she did say she wasn’t doing great in practice, and this damn place… it’s a mess. It’s a constant stream of loops, curves and I’m getting sick of just thinking about it,” she said.

“Not that we had the chance to do much in it, didn’t get out of the second curve,” Hannah lamented, pacing. “I think I’m going to sleep,” she said, entering the bathroom.

“Aren’t you going to watch Akko’s race?” Amanda asked.

“I’ve had enough disappointments for one day,” Hannah said from inside. Amanda heard the shower turn on, and she sighed. She kept staring at the now muted screen. They were interviewing the white daemon with the edgy name Amanda couldn’t remember. She sat on her bed, feeling the anger from what Diana had done slowly dwindle. Akko could still win, right? Maybe she wouldn’t get them to first place, but it would allow them to catch up eventually.

Amanda turned off the screen. She was not in the mood for seeing a replay of the race and hearing the commentator and his guest cry over Diana’s idiocy. She decided to lay down. She’d watch Akko’s race, but maybe taking a quick nap to sleep off the anger wasn’t a bad idea.

A while later, Hannah came out of the bathroom. She was covered in nothing but a towel, her wet hair going straight down towards her back.

“You always come out of the bathroom dressed,” Amanda commented. She couldn’t hide, in any way, that she was staring at Hannah intensely. Her thin figure wasn’t anything new to her, but the amount of leg shown, the way her shoulders still showed droplets of water…

“I forgot my clothes,” Hannah explained. She was red, though that might have been from the hot water.

 _Yeah, sure,_ Amanda chuckled. Hannah looked at her, but Amanda didn’t give away why she was doing it. “You’re really cute,” she said.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, try to flirt while I’m naked, I’ll jump right into your arms,” she said as she picked up a small bundle of clothes.

“I mean, if I get naked too we can have some fun,” Amanda winked at her.

Hannah paused for a second before shaking her head and moving on, closing the door of the bathroom a little louder than needed. Amanda managed to keep a smile for a minute before her previous hang-ups came back.

_I hope Akko does ok._

 

Akko knocked on the windshield for the fiftieth time.

“I’m not stopping until you open!” she said, looking at Diana, who was just reclining on her seat, eyes closed. She continued ignoring Akko, which made Akko angry. She had also gotten sad when she had lost, but at least she’d had the decency of running away to ignore everyone instead of just staying there. “I know you’re not asleep! No one can sleep with me screaming next to them!”

She knew that from experience.

Diana still didn’t react. Akko kept knocking from time to time, making sure she didn’t actually fall asleep. She had locked the windshield from the inside, so there was no way of opening it, and the emergency exit was also a one-way door. Akko had tried everything. Pleading, bargaining, being sexy – though she wasn’t sure of how to do that, even threatening to stop liking her if she didn’t come out of the cockpit. Nothing worked. Maybe she was asleep. Maybe the windshield was soundproof enough to stop her from being too annoying.

Curiously enough, it was after she stopped knocking for a while that Diana finally moved her arm. She pressed a button, and the cockpit opened, almost pushing Akko down.

Diana didn’t open her eyes as Akko sat with her legs hanging inside the cockpit. “How are you feeling?”

“I did a stupid thing,” Diana said. “But I think I learnt something.”

Akko waited for a while, seeing if she would continue. She didn’t. “And that thing is…?”

“Practice makes the athlete, not talent or knowledge. I was arrogant to think I’d handle things right without it,” Diana said. She sounded surprisingly calm.

“Well, you’re right,” Akko nodded. “But you didn’t really answer my question. How are you feeling?”

Diana opened her eyes. Beautiful eyes. Like looking at the sky on a nice sunny day, even in the middle of a rainy night. Good thing the stadium had a dome to cover all spectators.

“Tired,” her answer was… lacking. But Akko decided not to push it.

“There’s… Someone else who wants to talk to you,” she said, looking down at Barbara, who stood patiently next to the wing of the Shooting Star. “Can she…?”

“Yes.”

Akko didn’t need to tell Barbara. She had heard. Barbara climbed on top of the broom and looked down into the cockpit, where Diana just nodded in acknowledgement.

Barbara sat right in front of Diana, looking at her with a frown. A few suspenseful minutes. Diana had been using her neutral face for a while now, but Barbara was certainly giving that neutrality a run for its money.

“I don’t know what happened,” Barbara finally said. “But you can talk to us,” she stood, turning around. Then she looked at Akko. “Thanks for bringing her back.”

Akko shook her head. “I didn’t…” she paused. “Well, Diana will tell you, eventually.”

Barbara nodded, jumping off the broom and walking away.

“You should talk to them,” Akko said. Diana nodded.

“I will. But for now, I wish to be alone. I want to think. And you should go do a few extra practice runs before the race begins.”

“Will you be fine?” Akko asked, a little concerned.

“Yes,” Diana nodded. She seemed fine enough.

“Ok then, see you later.”

“Good luck,” Diana said.

“Thanks,” Akko smiled to her before finally getting off the broom.

Well, a couple extra practice rounds would probably serve her well, since she hadn’t gotten much of it today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I posted it a little early, but I'm tired and I'd rather post it sooner than later.  
> (Also, if anyone's suscribed, tell me if you got an email from this one)


	82. Chapter 82

“And remember, you need to be _extra_ careful,” Ursula was saying. “No telling what they’ll do during this race. Watch your back, your engine isn’t a free shield anymore.”

“I know, I know,” Akko repeated as she put on her helmet and climbed into the broom. “I’ll watch my back. Jasminka will, too.”

Jasminka, who was ready, nodded and crawled under the broom. She hadn’t complained about having her memories of the turret deleted. She was a normally quiet girl, though.

After climbing on the Rod and getting ready, Akko took off towards the track. She would never admit it, but she was actually kind of glad of what had happened to Diana. That quick loss meant she hadn’t had the chance to have an accident. Akko would rather lose one race than lose Diana.

When she finally reached the track, she frowned. “They took my place,” she said.

Ursula didn’t reply immediately, but when she did, she sounded resigned. “No rules. Of course they’re going to do whatever they want. First come first serve- Oh no.”

“What is it?” Akko looked around. There were ten ships already on the track. Everything normal.

No, wait. _She_ was supposed to be the tenth racer. Then who…

“The Blood Sailor,” Ursula said with shock. It was true. The Noir Rod and the Blood Sailor had taken the two front spots for the race. Akko had to settle with picking a place that wasn’t even designated behind the plants. “No rules. They can race with two ships, though it’s hard to say if they’ll earn any points.”

“Maybe we can call Amanda, she can still-” Akko suggested.

“No,” Ursula cut her off. “She wouldn’t make it in time. And I have the feeling all other racers are having the same problem. Only… Only the daemons seemed to be self-centered enough to plan this.”

Akko’s heart started racing. She hadn’t been doing great on the simulations. She always had trouble with the Noir Rod. That wasn’t taking into account it’s younger brother. The Blood Sailor was also a scary ship that was certainly enough of a random element that Akko could feel all her hours in the simulator slipping away.

A race with eleven racers, two of them working together.

Akko bit her lip. This… wasn’t going to be easy.

 

This time, only Lotte and Sucy wished her good luck. Amanda and Hannah were in their room, Diana was probably still thinking, and Barbara was probably in a bad mood. Of course, Constanze was checking on the Shooting Star.

 _I’m dead last, but at least this means I won’t get attacked from behind right away,_ Akko thought. The light hadn’t turned orange yet. On the right line of ships there was the Blood Sailor, the shapeshifter, the appali, the cyborgs and the plants, all in front of Akko. On the left line, the Noir Rod, the medusa, the reptilians, the octopuses and the armor.

She was trying to keep a positive mind. She hadn’t been doing great in the simulators, but maybe a new random element thrown in would spice things up and actually make it easier for her. The Island’s track was a mess, but it offered plenty of opportunities for… Yeah, sure. She couldn’t be optimistic.

But what she _could_ be was confident. Who cared about simulations? This was the real deal. She would take it on with all she had, and if that wasn’t enough, she would go even further beyond. Because she believed she could do it.

“A believing heart is my magic!” She yelled, trying to pump herself up.

For a second, she thought she had seen something pop up. Like a warning, or an advice, or something. She didn’t get a chance to look at it, though, because the traffic light turned orange.

And then green.

Jasminka instantly brought up a shield, protecting Akko from the sudden attack from the armors, but it meant that Akko wasn’t able to actually accelerate until a while had passed. After everyone had gotten a head start. She saw the daemons already going over the small bridge going over the finish line as she was only getting to it. They shot at her. The inferno projectiles were small enough to get through it, though they were more of a mockery than actual attacks.

Akko frowned. So this is how it was going to be.

She threw caution to the wind. She accelerated at the top gear.

The first loop to the right she took without trouble, maybe because no one was there. But, after bridging over the finish line and entering the second curve, this one to the left, she saw the plants.

They were slow. Or maybe Akko was fast. The curve ended, having been of a hundred and eighty degrees, leading into a small straight that gained some altitude. It led to a couple of sharp turns to the left.

Akko made use of them. The first one she was on the plants’ ass, her shield protecting her from the attacks coming her way. A less pronounced curve before it led to the second sharp turn, a segment higher than the previous ones going above a couple of other parts of the road and under many, many others. She used this part to get right next to the plants.

Then, right before the turn, she charged at them. Maybe they panicked, maybe they realized they weren’t going to win against the ship with the shields up, but Akko got what she wanted. Instead of letting her collide against them, they jumped over the Shiny Rod, maybe expecting her to crash against the barrier. Akko, however, had calculated it. The sudden movement allowed her to take the curve from the inside, and as she passed Jasminka made sure to give them a piece of magic for their efforts.

After the sharp turn to the left, though, came a small slope down and an even sharper turn to the right, a U turn that Akko had hated the first time she’d practiced here. She put the Shiny Rod vertically to take it better, all the while Jasminka was protecting her from the plants, who didn’t seem to have the same drive as Akko to go at full speed. Or maybe they just weren’t crazy enough.

The armor appeared after the curve, though it didn’t actually end, it just became less pronounced. Akko dodged the giant stone ball coming at her, and she shook her head. _Not again,_ she thought as the curve pronounced again, always to the right, and led to a fair rise of the road as it reached new heights. Akko used these heights and the fact that the stone ball was big enough to be stopped by the magical barrier to get ahead. The armor couldn’t use their weapon effectively, which meant she had a chance. The next curve, again to the right, would lead to a slightly sinuous segment that went not only left and right, but down and up, all the while other layers of the circuit intertwined with each other. It had almost been nauseating the first time.

But it was perfect for this. Akko had barely slowed down since the start of the race, and if she wanted to ever catch up to the daemons and win, she needed to keep this up.

Dodge. She barrel rolled, and for a split second she pressed nitro. The burst of speed was enough to get her past the armors, who had probably just seen how she essentially blinked out of their field of view to get ahead, leaving nothing but a trail of green light.

Right. Down. Left. Up. Slightly longer right. Down. The distance Akko managed to put between the Shiny Rod and that stupid rock of a ship seemed to be enough as she kept going down and down. This was kind of a trap, however, as she aimed the nose of the ship upwards for the steep part of the road that was about to come. Going under one segment of the race while going right over the next one, the sudden rise had taken her unexpectedly the first times and she had had no choice but to reset the simulation because of a bad crash.

As she got over the short steep she found herself behind reptilians and cyborgs fighting. The reptilians had hooked on to them. _They sure like their stupid hooks_ , Akko thought bitterly. Then, she got an idea. “Jasminka, attack the reptilians’ engines,” They were hard to hit for many reasons, not only their ring like ship. Their engine was a pain in the ass too, the way it seemed to be constantly changing as the rings spun. But this was a race with no rules, and she was going to do what she needed to win. Except taking a life, of course.

Jasminka got to it. They were now in a large, long curve to the left, the biggest on the whole race – besides the loops towards the end. This meant a moment to think and not be constantly worrying over left and right.

The reptilians were hard to get to. Their ship was fast and maneuverable. Maybe not as much as the shapeshifter’s but it was still a pain in the ass. The curve wasn’t infinite, and these two ships were slowing her down.

What could she do? If shooting them wasn’t an option, then maybe…

“ _Phaidoari Afairynghor_!”Akko shouted. _Just for a few moments,_ she thought. The Shiny rod shifted, turning into something akin to an axe head, and as the long curve ended it led to a somewhat lengthy straight sloping slightly downwards that crossed about three fourths of the stadium, then into a loop.

She pressed nitro and started spinning the rod like crazy going forward, hoping the speed would protect her from attacks. She thanked the Daemons for the idea. She apologized to Jasminka, who was confused and probably bouncing around in the turret, grunting as the broom spun.

The Shiny Rod passed between the two ships. The cyborgs managed to get out of the way in time, but in passing the broom not only released the hook but also destroyed one of the rings of the reptilian ship, that stopped moving and fell to the concrete, grinding for a distance until it crashed on the barrier of the small loop. As Akko turned the Rod back to its normal form while steering to the right – just in time for the shields to rise ad protect the engine from the attack of the cyborgs – she used the momentum of the small nitro burst she had gotten and didn’t really slow down, since now came a straight – that bridged over the previous one before going downwards in a more steep descent.

The small breather this offered, Akko used to check the minimap. The daemons were still in first place, obviously working together. Kind of unfair, but whatever, it was too late to think about that.

Akko, on her part, had a strange feeling. She was in a hurry, in a way, but she wasn’t rushing it. She had never felt so sharp before. Not even on Poseidon, where she had done great. Not a single time during the simulations. Maybe it was the anger of what the daemons were doing, or what the armors had pulled off at the start of the race, but for the first time since she started practicing for races on earth she finally felt like she understood the track.

What followed was a small curve to the left, in which Akko found a mess. Appali in their conical ship, Octopuses in their trash pillar fighting them, and the medusa in front of them stopping them from getting ahead with its big bubble. Akko didn’t reach them before the next turn, which was another left, but then a straight going up followed.

The Rod instantly started getting attacked. Pilots had no chill this race. It was inviting one to be aggressive. Missiles flew her way, along with what looked like cannonballs. However, those split in the air soon, turning into dozens of smaller projectiles.

As Akko moved, Jasminka attacked. For good or bad, neither the appali nor the octopuses seemed to have good weapons to deal with the medusa. Missiles stayed floating in the water and the medusa kicked them away, and the projectiles shot by the octopuses seemed to lose all their momentum before reaching the medusa.

Akko didn’t get to do much in the straight. She considered doing the same as before, but turning off her defenses with all the possible attacks coming was too much of a risk.

Curve to the left was next. The barrage of magic projectiles coming out of the Shiny Rod had somewhat damaged the appali ship, but they were still going strong, even when a lot of those hits had come from the octopuses reflecting them.

But then, Akko noticed something. “Jasminka, point at the engines of the octopuses,” Akko said. The focus of the attack instantly went that way. And, as Akko expected, _a lot_ of the arms instantly fell into position. In fact, all of them did. Each arm protected a different engine. Or excuses. No, wait, the word was exhaust. _Focus,_ Akko shook her head as a curve to the right started, a loop.

And right on cue, the medusa attacked them. Unable to protect from the two attacks, they prioritized the more damaging one, moving their shields away to reflect the medusa’s lightning bolt.

The reflection hit the appali, the magic projectiles hit many of the octopuses’ engines.

Both of them started to slow down. Akko put the Shiny Rod in vertical to pass in between them, silently apologizing to the appali. Maybe if their ship was badly enough damaged Hud and Shill would have a good enough excuse to stay on Earth.

The loop eventually went under itself, and rose again with a sharp turn to the left. Akko waited behind the medusa, trying to find a way to get ahead. It was such a big bubble, it occupied so much space. It was a pain in the butt.

Another left, which in turn led to another sinuous path which again turned left at the end. Then began another long curve downwards, though slightly shorter than the previous one.

What to do? Akko needed to get past them somehow. She was currently focused on dodging lightning bolts. If only she could… Wait.

She could.

“Jasminka, laser at the water bubble, constant, though try not to hit the medusa,” Akko ordered.

As expected, the magic - a beam of liquid-like energy in laser form – quickly made the medusa go to the side, since this time there was no restrictions as to where in the water to shoot. If Jasminka had kept that up for much longer then the medusa wouldn’t have been able to keep flying. Maybe it wouldn’t end I last place – Akko was sure the reptilians would get that spot – but their best bet was to at least keep up their current position.

Akko got past the medusas right as the long curve ended, which meant a small straight and a u-turn to the right that in turn led to another, though less pronounced, turn to the right.

Taking these, Akko prepared for what was to come. No one ahead of her in the long straight up, though the medusa was still visible behind, getting further away. She had been going so fast this whole time, but she had started ten to fifteen seconds late. The daemons were also probably going fast too, with no one to bother them ahead. With about half the length of the track already covered, Akko started to worry she’d never catch up.

The long straight ended without her seeing anyone, even as she turned right. Next came the little couple of loops she liked to call ‘the pretzel,’ for how they looked when one saw them from above. She steered to the right, following them. The second loop’s curve actually was inclined, as if to help cars or wheeled vehicles to steer, but that was just so that the segment of the track wouldn’t touch another one on the other side. After the second loop there was a steep, ascending piece of concrete even sharper than the one before.

Then another curve, left.

She finally saw them. The daemons, fighting to keep the shapeshifter behind them. Both of them attacked occasionally, though as always, hitting a shapeshifter was really, really hard. The Noir Rod and the Blood Sailor moved side by side, blocking the way horizontally.

After the curve followed a small straight downwards, which Akko used to get closer to them. “Mind if I join the party?” She asked out loud, even if no one could hear her.

Right at that moment, the Blood Sailor started to glow. Akko hesitated, wondering if maybe they were planning on using that dash thing. But it had another ability, did it not? One that was more dangerous in this situation. _Oh no you don’t,_ Akko thought about to press nitro.

But something stopped her. She didn’t do it, and the blood sailor dropped that stupid barrier right before the next curve, this one to the right. “Jasminka, give it all you’ve got!” Akko said as Jasminka turned to lasers and started to dig into the shield. The shapeshifter did the same, and for a moment there was a ceasefire as they tried to break the damn thing.

If Akko had gone nitro, she would have more than likely crashed against it. Probably, in all her previous races, she would have done that, which would have led to her losing.

But not anymore.

And, as the barrier finally broke, Akko accelerated. She checked her energy output, and she wasn’t doing great. Nitro, constant attacking and defending, full speed the whole race… She was at three fourths with at least one third of the race to go.

U turn to the right, then straight up. Another five seconds lost in the race, and now Akko had to also deal with the shapeshifter _and_ the medusa that had caught up to them right as they were getting back on the race. Akko felt like she had juggle with the joysticks. Move slightly to the right, avoid the smoke bomb of the shapeshifter, go up to avoid a lightning bolt, then down again because the shapeshifter tried a lounge at her, then to the left to avoid yet another lightning bolt while tilting the nose of the Rod up lest that other, subtly fired smoke bomb hit her, all of it in the span of the straight.

Now began the ‘snake’, a long, big sinuous path that reminded Akko of one when looked from above. Right first, and as Akko took the curve from the outside, as she had no choice thanks to the shapeshifter, a lightning bolt hit her. It threw the Rod off balance, making her hit a barrier and grind against it for a second. She was trying to not use the shield, and the broom probably sensed it, but it was costing her. Luckily she didn’t lose a significant amount of speed, and as she came out of the curve she was still ahead of the medusa.

On the next straight she decided not to use nitro. As much as she wanted to, she didn’t have the energy. If she wanted to get ahead, she needed to stop getting attacked so much. She was now the focus of two different racers. It was hard to think.

 _Patience,_ Akko said to herself. Ursula had been insistent on that one lately. She was right. If Akko lost her cool she got desperate, if she got desperate she did stupid things.

She got closer to the shapeshifter again during the next turn to the left, but it wasn’t enough. They were fast, swift and could outmaneuver Akko ten times before saying ‘Chariot’. How did you deal with something so fast and agile?

 _Like Amanda did,_ Akko realized. She recalled what Amanda had done on her race back in Trashcan, right at the end. This straight was a perfect chance.

She set herself and dodged as little as possible. She was in a straight line between the shapeshifter and the medusa. And, as the medusa’s bubble started to lit up with small jolts of electricity, Akko prepared.

Maybe time slowed down, or maybe it was because she had been expecting it. But for a second, Akko could’ve sworn she saw the electricity leave in slow motion the bubble, right as she barrel-rolled to the right. She saw the spear of lightning get past her and, in a glorious moment, hit the shapeshifter on the back. The damage slowed it down, and Akko was finally allowed to go full speed as she took the following loop to the right, which then turned into another straight. This one went up and down across the different straights from the previous segment. Akko could see that the daemons were already on the loop at its end, taking what was the longest sinuous segment of the race, though her vision was blocked by the road itself going up and down.

They were going fast. As fast as the Shiny Rod. Which meant there was no way of catching up to them unless she got serious. Four fifths of the energy. “Please,” she whispered. “Hold on.”

Nitro. She got past the straight in an eyeblink. There was a difference between patience and passiveness. Akko couldn’t afford to be passive now. She used the momentum from the nitro to keep up a good speed for a while, taking on the big loop to the right and the first few curves of the sinuous path that also had decided to go up and down, probably to try and make her nauseous or something.

During this segment she didn’t catch a glimpse of the daemons either.

However, at its end, and as a curve left led her up into a new height and a new straight, she saw them. They weren’t that far, but their difference in speeds was almost none. Akko wondered if she was only going slightly faster because her feet was pushing on the pedal with so much strength. She barely felt it anymore. She saw her goal ahead. The Noir Rod, a cheap ripoff of the best ship on the universe, but nothing to underestimate. The Blood Sailor, a dangerous ship that was in no way easy to deal with, though Akko hadn’t had many exchanges with it.

Akko got closer bit by bit. The straight ended, and then a big, wide curve to the left. Another straight, where Akko saw how the Shiny Rod kept getting closer. And closer. Five sixths of her energy output limit. _Don’t think about that._

And then, a loop, to the right.

Akko was knocking on their doors. And whether they asked or not, she was going to kick it open.

At the end of the loop, there was a short straight up. The summit of The Island. The highest point, from where Akko could see the thousands of spectators, from all races in the planetary alliance, though most present were human. The sky above was cloudy and raining, reflecting the lights from the stadium.

Akko reached them. She shoved the Shiny Rod in between the two ships. This was when she would surpass them.

Then the descent began. The big, long loop that circled the rest of the track ten times over. Nothing complex, in practice barely different than a straight line.

At that point, this stopped being a race. It became more. _I’m not going to lose. Not again. Not when I’m so close._

_Not when…_

Forget humanity. Forget everything. She wasn’t going to let Diana down.

Being so simple, the loop allowed both Akko and the daemons to go as fast as they could. Wide, relatively open, the three ships went downwards. Akko had to jump and barrel roll at the same time as the blood sailor, from the right, charged at her. Now on the right side of the road, Akko was actually on the inside of the loop, so she would gain an edge.

She went up when the blood sailor tried to charge at her again, and then dropped, trying to push the ship below the flight minimum to make it stop. If it worked like a broom it’d go into emergency mode and shut down. That didn’t happen, though, for instead of trying to fight it they just moved out of the way, almost making Akko commit that mistake.

Lights flashed from the side, all the spectators getting their best chance at taking photos during this trip down. Luckily it wasn’t too distracting, though Akko wondered if she looked good on camera. After all, there were two layers of glass-

She stopped thinking about stupid things, mostly because she had to dodge again. This time, however, both daemon ships tried charging at her. Akko would have to jump over them again, but that would leave her on the outside.

Better that than lose speed. She dodged, the daemons gaining what they wanted, pushing Akko to the left side. Two of the circles were done, eight to go. The daemons were putting intentional distance between the Shiny and Noir Rods, though Akko wondered why. Did it even matter? Jasminka protected her from attacks. No shields, though. Maybe the daemons were also low on energy – very unlikely – because they weren’t using those lasers they were so fond of. They used simple projectiles, all of which Jasminka could deflect with her own.

Akko didn’t panic. She decided she wasn’t just going to react to whatever the daemons did. She charged in, her goal to make the Blood Sailor try to dodge her by going either above or under her. When it did that, she would go up or down accordingly and completely throw them off balance.

Curiously enough, that’s kind of exactly what they did, trying to dodge her by going down, but right before Akko could go make her plan come true, the Shiny Rod shook as the Noir Rod pushed it out of the way. Both ships lost some balance, but Akko was the one with the smaller ship. She lost the exchange and was pushed to the left again. Seven circles to go.

Ok, new plan. Akko barely had energy available left. She decided this was no time to worry about it. Either she won or she was going down. No middle ground. She took a deep breath and charged once again. This time, however, when the Noir Rod tried to push her back, she jumped and tried to fall on it. Her engine definitely hit the dark ship, but the only effect was to throw the Shiny Rod off balance more than everything else. Luckily Akko already knew how to handle her balance issues, so she regained control of the broom in a second. How had she ended in the middle again?

The Noir Rod was on her left, the Blood Sailor on her right. Back to the beginning. Six circles to go.

Now Jasminka had to defend both sides of the Rod, though Akko started to notice some hits getting through here and there. _Not good enough,_ she though, angry. This was starting to be a pain in the ass. She wanted to use nitro, but that would just make the Rod drop dead in a second.

She tried charging at both ships, but whenever she did, the one on the opposite side would mimic her movement. If she did what she wanted she would only trap herself against a barrier without the option to suddenly change directions, meaning that she would basically be at the mercy of the two ships, therefore she didn’t get the chance to do anything. Five loops gone, five to go.

Then, lights on the control board started turning off. She was really hitting the energy output limit. The Rod was starting to turn off the less relevant functions. The communication channel to the turret shut off. Akko was out of time. Jasminka kept protecting her but she was under the relentless attack of two powerful ships. Each new hit made the Shiny Rod shake, each new hit was more dangerous than the last.

When the sixth circle was over, leaving only four ahead, Akko had already lost all light sources on the cockpit. She needed just one final push.

_I just need to find a chance. They’ll get distracted. They’ll run out of energy. Something. I just got to…_

_Be patient._

And time slowed down. Or maybe Akko had just perceived it like so. Whatever it was, for a second, Akko felt like she wasn’t moving anymore. Words appeared in front of her. Words in an incomprehensible language.

A new command.

She didn’t know what it did. She didn’t know what repercussions it would have. She didn’t even know why the hell she had gotten it. But she knew one thing.

It was using it or lose the race.

“ _Mayenab Dysheebudo!”_ She shouted, her voice desperate.

Suddenly every light turned on again. The energy output dropped to zero, as if the ship had turned off, but it didn’t. However, a sudden barrage of shots got to her from both sides. The crystal balls had turned off, as they did with the axe transformation. Akko feared, for a second, that she had messed up. She could see on the report that the damage was on the verge of being too much, and when attacks stopped for a second, Akko knew it was because both daemons were shifting to lasers. They wanted to rip the Shiny Rod apart.

Then, every glass sphere in the Shiny Rod’s body popped out, starting to float. Akko frowned. She hadn’t seen the broom do this with Chariot. Every sphere started to… orbit around the Rod. Each in a different direction. Each speeding up. Each starting to glow. Three loops to go.

The daemons attacked, but there was suddenly a new shield up. Both of their lasers met an invisible barrier, a protection delineated by the orbiting spheres. This went on for another full circle. Akko wondered if she had discovered a new shield. Maybe this was the form. An impenetrable shield or something.

But she was wrong.

It was a lightshow. There was no other way of describing it. Every sphere around the Rod’s body suddenly started glowing so brightly that Akko had to turn on the polarized windshield. Every sphere started to shoot lasers. But not lasers of normal magic - the kind that reacted like a liquid, that was relatively slow in comparison to other means of attacking – but true, science fiction lasers. Potent, precise, in a straight line, amazingly destructive. Pressure shot magic.

Both Daemon ships suddenly raised their shields. The glass balls of the Shiny Rod kept orbiting at incredible speeds, all shooting lasers outwards. Akko could see each laser leave a trail of melted, red hot concrete where it passed. They weren’t getting past the magic barriers, luckily for the audience, but while they lasted, the daemon shields stood no chance.

When the second to last loop started, the Blood Sailor’s shield exploded. It took about an extra second for three different lasers to rip through the black ship, completely destroying it. Akko saw that, curiously, the cockpit had been left untouched as it fell to the ground, no longer connected to anything else, and grinded against the melted concrete for a while.

She wasn’t even sure of what was going on, but slowly, the lasers started to slow down. She worried the Noir Rod might have been powerful enough o withstand the attack, but a second after thinking that its shield also disappeared, the energy scattering in the air.

For an instant, Akko saw something amazing. The lasers seemed to phase through the Noir Rod. They hit, but did absolutely nothing. This didn’t last, though, and when one of the lasers completely severed the ship’s engine from everything else, the Noir Rod suddenly extended its wheels to fall and start rolling around.

Akko left if behind in an eyeblink, with only one loop left.

The new form started to turn off. Akko could see the energy output slowly growing again as the spheres slowed more and more. The lasers lost strength, first returning to the normal magic-laser fashion, acting like a liquid, sticking to surfaces for a little while before scattering in the air.

Akko also started to slow down. For a second, she worried. She worried the rod would turn off before she finished, she worried she’d lose again. She imagined the Noir Rod passing by the side of a dead Shiny Rod on its wheels. Why didn’t the Shiny Rod have wheels?

But she didn’t need to. When the crystal spheres returned to their places and the magic output reached its limits again, when the lights on the cockpit turned off and she felt the Shiny Rod start to lose strenght, she crossed the finish line.

First.

 The Shiny Rod dropped dead. As others had done during this race, she grinded through the concrete, the rod vibrating for a few seconds before coming to halt by hitting the barrier that led to the first curve.

Akko was dizzy. Her breathing was out of control, her heart pounded against her chest louder than it had ever done before. She looked back to see as the shapeshifter crossed the finish line before the daemons, who were still moving around the loop on their wheels. The shapeshifter stopped next to the Shiny Rod. The pilot exited the smoky ship and nodded to Akko in respect, though Akko was a little too disoriented to return the gesture.

The one who followed next was the medusa, who had barely managed to get ahead of the cyborg behind it.

Finally, the daemons reached the finish line, the Noir Rod stopping mere centimeters after crossing it.

Akko exited the Shiny Rod. It was leaning on one of its sides, of course, and Jasminka had managed to get the door to the turret just open enough to get out with some struggle.

If Akko wasn’t watching the screen atop the finish line so intensely, she would have certainly gone back to help her.

It took an eternity. Longer than Akko had lived. Longer than anyone had lived, or that’s how it felt. Each excruciating extra second it took for the leaderboard to appear made Akko want to bang her head against something. Or maybe for the ground to swallow her once and for all.

The next ones to cross were the armors, quickly followed by the appali, though Akko wondered what had happened for that to be the case.

The screen changed. She held her breath. The positions appeared.

First place.

Twenty points.

“First place!” Akko shouted. Suddenly, her chest stopped feeling so heavy. The world, seemingly silent before, burst into cheers of excitement as all humans in the stadium chanted for Earth. Akko turned to Jasminka, who was also smiling broadly. “First place!” Akko repeated, running to hug her, mostly because she was the closest person in sight.

Jasminka hugged her back. With strength. Too much strength. Was she half bear or something? Damn it hurt. But Akko was too happy to feel the pain. When she turned around, she saw Lotte and Ursula running, followed by Barbara. On the distance, Sucy walked, though slightly faster than normal, ahead of Diana.

Lotte reached first, hugging Akko. “That was incredible, Akko!” She said with a big smile. Akko blushed smiling nervously.

“Nah, I just-”

“Of all times to be humble, this isn’t one of them,” Ursula patted Akko’s head. “Akko, that _was_ incredible. Where were those moves during the simulations?”

Akko laughed nervously. She didn’t know how to react to the praising.

“You were great,” Barbara finally reached. She patted Akko’s back somewhat awkwardly. They weren’t exactly friends, but Akko had grown to be ok with her. She looked at Diana, who was smiling, but she looked sad. “Diana told us what happened about twenty minutes ago. She’s in an unstable emotional state, so take care of her,” Barbara whispered. Akko nodded, patting her back awkwardly in return.

Sucy finally reached the circle of friends. She looked at Akko with the hint of a smile on her face. “Who would have known, you can actually pilot,” she said in her usual mockery tone.

Akko hugged her. “Thank you,” she said, knowing that was the Sucy way of saying that she had done good.

And, when she released Sucy, she found herself face to face with Diana.

Akko stood, not knowing what to expect. She didn’t think Diana to be in a good mood, so her expectations weren’t very high. Diana’s smile was strange. Sad. Akko supposed it was because of how she had lost. She was probably feeling like Akko had done the other times she had lost.

“You’re a great pilot, Akko,” the blonde finally said.

Akko smiled. She couldn’t hold back as she stepped forward to hug Diana too. “Thanks,” she said. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Diana said. She wasn’t returning the hug. “It was all you.”

Stepping back, Akko nodded. Diana was still smiling, though it didn’t really feel right. But that was ok. All Akko needed was to give her some time.

Plus, maybe Diana would feel better after what Akko had planned for later.

For now, however, Akko looked with some fear at the sea of reporters that seemed to be waiting for her near the pits. This was going to be harsh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry this is late, I kind of got caught up making a new summary. Someone suggested it not long ago and I've been thinking the current one sucks ass since I made it, but I just really suck at this.  
> Do you guys think this is good?  
> [What if LWA was about races in alien planets?  
> When a child Akko sees her first race in person and is amazed by one of Earth’s designated pilots for the Inter-Planetary Race, Chariot and her broom-racer, the Shiny Rod, she decides to become a Witch.  
> But her plans of getting through Luna Nova’s piloting education may get thrown off course when Amanda, pursuing a place in the next IPR, leads her into the Planetary Alliance’s base on Earth.  
> Like this, Akko is thrown head-first into the biggest sports event in the explored universe. Along with the newly-found and, according to her, best ship to ever exist, the Shiny Rod, she’ll have to face the other designated pilots of ten different sentient races alongside Amanda, Diana and Hannah, guided by their coach Ursula.  
> Will she be able to win in planets that glow by night, seem to be made of metal, or lack gravity? Will she be able to make friends with Diana? Will Hannah and Amanda ever stop fighting? Will she be able to uncover all the mystery seemingly surrounding this edition of the Inter-Planetary Race?  
> Only one way to find out!]  
> Please leave a comment! Be harsh if needed.


	83. Chapter 83

Wrapped in a full shield, the Shiny Rod charged at the Plants, who moved out of the way, letting the Rod take the curve from the inside. The speed at which it was moving was rather incredible, a constant maximum speed. She barely held back.

Next it had a few exchanges with the armors, who had been the ones guilty of Akko’s late start. After one particular attack, the Shiny Rod barrel-rolled out of the way and instantly blinked into nitro, leaving behind the alliance’s cameras. It took a second for them to catch back, passing quickly next to the Armor. Amanda watched with wide eyes. “Is this Akko?” She whispered, since Hannah was sleeping. She wished she could hear what the commentator was saying, but she had also turned the volume off.

Akko passed some more curves and a particularly tricking steep ascend before finding the cyborgs and reptilians, the latter of which had the former hooked. Amanda was a little worried as she saw that Akko tried attacking with no luck.

And then the Shiny Rod started to shift. It transformed into that stupid axe, and Amanda pursed her lips. What was Akko…? The Shiny Rod spun, and blinked out of the cameras again. The broader cameras around the stadium showed the scene as she completely ran through a piece of the reptilian’s ship, turning the Rod to normal almost instantly after.

“Oh shit,” Amanda couldn’t help but saying. That had been great.

“Shut it,” Hannah said. Amanda cringed, apologizing quietly, but not moving her eyes from the screen as Akko kept moving at an incredible speed. She was moving as fast as the daemons – no, more and they had practically nothing to worry about, save for the pesky shapeshifter behind them.

Akko kept moving at that speed until she found a small barricade of octopuses, appali and medusa fighting each other. Akko joined in, attacking and dodging up and down. Amanda was, for some reason, starting to get hyped up, though she doubted Akko would find an easy way out of this situation.

Her mouth was starting to open on its own as she saw how the Shiny Rod’s attacks started to focus on the Octopuses. Particularly on their engines. They had to redirect their mini shields, and it was at that moment that the medusa decided to attack. The octopuses, probably in a panic, redirected most of their shields to stop the lightning.

Jasminka hit the octopuses, the reflected lightning hit the appali. Akko got past the both of them.

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit!” Amanda stood. Akko had done that on purpose. There was no way in hell she hadn’t seen it coming. It was…

“Look, I don’t care how badly Akko is doing, Diana just broke some fucking awful news to me and I’m not in the mood, let me sle-”

“She’s doing great!” Amanda exclaimed. Hannah opened her eyes, raising an eyebrow. “Look!”

Hannah turned to the screen. “She’s fourth? I guess that’s not bad.”

Then, the Shiny Rod started to laser the fuck out of the medusa. The jellyfish quickly caught on to what was happening and allowed Akko to pass, not bothering to return the attacks. “You should’ve seen her,” Amanda said as Akko went on for a while. “Well, you can still look,” Hannah had barely lifted her head, but now she sat properly in bed.

“She’s going fast,” Hannah noticed. “She didn’t go that fast during our trainings in the track, right?” Amanda silently shook her head. After a while, Akko finally managed to catch the leaders group. Hannah rose from bed, frowning. “Why are there two daemons?”

“Suckers took advantage of the lack of rules. None of us thought about this. Actually, I could have substituted Diana without problems,” Amanda explained. Anyone could have been piloting, since there were essentially no rules.

Both of them stood watching, then the Blood Sailor started to glow. “They gonna use that fucking barrier,” Amanda grit her teeth.

“Akko’s going to try to get past it and she’s gonna crash, I can already-” Hannah started to complain, but when the barrier was dropped Akko had actually managed to stop. She and the shapeshifter quickly got to getting past it, but in the meantime the daemons kept getting further.

Now Akko had to deal with the medusa and the shapeshifter, and she seemed to be trying to hold back from using her shield. “Energy problems?” Hannah asked, surprised.

“She used the shield a lot, and some nitro too, not to mention the constant speed,” Amanda explained.

“Oh my god,” Hannah said as both of them saw Akko almost seamlessly dodging everything that was coming to her from both the medusa and the shapeshifter. Why were they focusing only on her? “Is this really Akko piloting? This is… good,” she said, frowning.

“I know, right?” Amanda watched. Then, subtly, Akko put herself in between the shapeshifter and the medusa.

“No way,” Hannah said, probably noticing the same as Amanda had. “She’s not going to-”

The medusa shot a lightning bolt. Akko perfectly dodged and the stream of energy hit the shapeshifter. This allowed Akko to finally go at full speed again.

“She did!” Hannah and Amanda cried at the same time.

“She copied you!” Hannah said.

“That was even better than what I did! Dodging a lightning with that close of a timing isn’t easy!” Amanda praised. When had she started smiling?

Hannah stepped next to Amanda, getting closer to the screen. “Why did she just use nitro? Isn’t she having energy problems?”

“She needs it if she ever wants to catch up,” Amanda said. Hannah agreed.

Almost like if it was planned, as if it was destiny, Akko caught up to the daemons right at the peak of the track. She shoved herself between them, almost like a challenge. Amanda tried not to blink, lest she miss something.

Then it started. Akko dodged a charge, getting into a good position going down. “I can’t believe it. She’s gonna-”

“Sht,” Amanda slapped her shoulder, “don’t jinx it!”

Hannah didn’t reply. Akko kept going down. Jasminka was holding off the attacks with her own. Well, the Shiny Rod, not really Jasminka. Poor girl would have no memory of how great she was doing. “That’s so frustrating,” Hannah commented. Amanda smiled even further.

The daemons tried to push Akko into the barrier, but Akko jumped out of the way. She was left on the worse position now, though, and both her and Hannah grunted.

Akko tried charging in, but she got baited and then pushed back again. “She’s not gonna win trying a pushing match against the Noir Rod,” Hannah complained, though Amanda could hear the hope in her voice.

Akko then seemed to try the same thing, but at the last moment she jumped. Below her, the Noir Rod didn’t hit anything and got to the left side, while the Blood Sailor dodged the falling Shiny Rod to the right. Again, Akko ended in the middle between them both.

Jasminka couldn’t handle attacks from both sides. The Shiny Rod started getting hit.

“Come on…” Amanda said, feeling her heart beating faster.

“This is two against one,” Hannah complained. “So fucking unfair.”

Amanda agreed, but that was the nature of a race without rules. Then, Amanda noticed the light on the cockpit turning off. Jasminka stopped attacking, too. “Fuck, she’s out of energy,” she said. Hannah stomped the floor with her foot, about to say something, but paused.

The weapons of the Shiny Rod popped out of the main body. “What the fuck?” She asked instead. They started orbiting around the white broom. Glowing. Suddenly all attacks seemed to be stopped by a shield.

And then, lasers. Bright, beautiful.

Powerful.

“Fuck yeah!” Amanda exclaimed, grabbing Hannah’s shoulder out of instinct, feeling her legs start to weaken.

“Ohgodohgodohgod!” Hannah joined in on the surprise, taking Amanda’s arm.

The daemons tried protecting themselves from the lasers, but it was futile. The Blood Sailor was the first to go. It was completely obliterated, its cockpit falling to the ground with an almost audible noise. “Shiiiiiiiit,” Amanda said, hyped, shaking Hannah slightly.

Not long after, the Noir Rod’s shields dropped too. For a second, though it wasn’t clear, it looked like it managed to _somehow_ avoid a couple of the lasers, but then the engine was completely severed off the ship and it fell on its wheels to try and keep moving. It fell behind spectacularly. “She’s gonna do it!” Hannah said.

Amanda didn’t say anything. She held her breath. _Come on, come on, come on,_ she thought as the Shiny Rod slowly went back to normal.

And then, it finally did. It crossed the finish line, then almost instantly shut down, falling to the ground and moving a good number of meters before hitting the barrier at the end of the straight. Almost a full minute passed before all the racers able to make it to the finish line made it. A horribly suspenseful minute.

The results were finally shown.

“She won! She actually won!” Amanda exclaimed, looking at Hannah with a smile.

“She did!” Hannah was also smiling.

In the spur of the moment, with all the excitement – excitement that Amanda hadn’t even felt when _she_ had won – both of them hugged. It was a friends hug, something normal to do when in a celebratory mood.

But neither of them let go. “That was so fucking hype,” Amanda said, her voice now lower, since she didn’t want to scream into Hannah’s ear.

“I know. Now I regret not watching the whole thing,” Hannah said. Why were they still hugging? Amanda didn’t want to ask. She liked it.

“Akko had a late start. I was sure she wasn’t going to make it,” Amanda said. She looked at the lap times on the information chart. “Three minutes fifty five seconds,” Amanda pointed it out. “She would have done it in three forty if not for the late start. Which was the Armor’s fault, by the way.”

“I have to see the entire thing later. It felt way longer. That was…”

“Hype?”

“Yes, yes, hype.”

They stayed like that for a while. Amanda smelled the really nice scent of the flowers shampoo Hannah had used. Then, maybe because both of them knew they couldn’t keep that up without it starting to become awkward, they separated. Amanda was still smiling.

“I just hugged you in the spur of the moment,” Hannah made sure to clarify. “Don’t get weird ideas. It’s not that I like you.” Amanda smirked. “Yes I know I sound like a tsundere, shut it.”

“Can I do it again?” Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hannah blinked. Then she frowned. “Seriously?” she asked. Amanda nodded. Hannah shook her head, slowly, as if disappointed. “Fine, whatever, but just for a minute.”

This time it was Amanda that blinked. “Really?”

“Do you seriously want a second answer?” Hannah asked with narrowed eyes.

Amanda shook her head as she moved forward, hugging Hannah. She was wearing her pajamas, and they weren’t thick. Amanda could actually feel the bra under it. She could also feel Hannah’s boobs pressing against her. She took in a deep breath.

The weirdest thing about the experience was that Hannah reciprocated the hug. Not only that, but she put her face in the nook of Amanda’s armpit. Amanda thanked the universe that she had had the idea of taking a shower after Hannah had left to talk to Diana.

“So, did Diana tell you why she was so hell-bent on fucking up the race?” She asked.

Hannah sighed. Amanda expected her to push away. Instead, even if subtly, she tightened her grip around Amanda’s waist. Amanda had the feeling that she needed the support, so she made sure to hug tighter too. She wanted to kiss her, but that would have been taking it too far, probably.

“Yes,” Hannah confessed. “Though it’s a bunch of family and political shit I can’t help her with,” she sounded sad. “I feel like I’m useless.”

With some hesitance, Amanda patted her back. “You’re not useless. Everyone’s got family issues.”

“I don’t,” Hannah said.

“Well, most people do, jeez,” Amanda said. “Though maybe you should take me to meet your family, just to confirm.”

“It’s not like I would present you as my girlfriend,” Hannah said.

Amanda pressed her lips. “That’s not it,” she pushed Hannah away. The girl seemed surprised. “You’re… actually hugging me.”

“I just didn’t want it to be-”

Amanda put a finger in her lips. She blushed. “What really set you off? You’re not just angry. And feeling useless, knowing you, would probably just make you try to find a way to help. No, you’re… upset. For something.”

“As if you… You _have_ been watching me closely, I guess,” Hannah sighed. She looked down.

“What is it?”

Hesitating, Hannah looked at the screen. They were showing some replays of the race. Akko was, obviously, getting all the focus. “It’s… Andrew.”

Amanda cocked her head. “Did he do something?” she asked cautiously.

“No,” Hannah said. “That’s the problem.”

Not knowing what to say, Amanda raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I know you want him to take you to bed, but you can’t-”

Hannah stared daggers. “Ok, if you’re not going to take it seriously I might as well shut up.”

“No! No, I… I’m sorry, please, continue,” Amanda said. She put her hands together and tried to smile. Hannah rolled her eyes, but seemed to give in.

“Look, I don’t want to give you details, but… He was there when Diana was given a few options. He could have helped her, but he didn’t do anything. I… I saw him as someone noble. But…” She didn’t seem to be able to find what to say.

“But he’s a selfish asshole?”

Hannah got angry for a second, but after a moment, she relaxed and shrugged. “I guess. I expected more from him. I don’t know. I… I don’t like him anymore, do I,” she sounded almost disappointed.

Amanda pursed her lips. “Maybe not, but you’ll find someone else you like soon, don’t feel sad. Who knows, maybe…” Amanda made a suggestive movement with her eyebrows.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “I already have someone else I like. I think.”

Amanda paused. “The masked guy from the party that you’ll probably never see again.”

“That one,” Hannah replied with complete seriousness.

Amanda started screaming on the inside. Great, now the girl she liked had her sole love focus on her, but it wasn’t actually her but an alter-ego from a random ass party where she had acted like a man. She was so tempted to tell her, but… It didn’t seem fair. She didn’t want Hannah to fall for her because she had first seen her as a man. She wanted Hannah to fall for her for who she was.

An awkward silence followed. It was broken when Hannah stretched, yawning. “Ok, Akko did great, but I am really tired. You should go and congratulate her, though.”

Amanda nodded, standing up. “I should. But before I go, one thing.”

“I’m not giving anything else,” Hannah said with narrowed eyes.

Amanda smiled. “I _really_ like you,” was all she said. Hannah seemed surprise by the phrase, but before she could try to brush it off, Amanda turned off the lights and walked out.

She couldn’t say it to her face, but the news made her happy. It meant she no longer had real competition for the spot of being Hannah’s couple. For now, at least.

But, what else could she really ask for?

 

Hannah woke up to someone softly shaking her. “Hannah, if you don’t wake up, I’m gonna kiss you,” Amanda threatened.

Hannah was too tired to react. She decided to ignore it. Amanda wouldn’t actually kiss her. She trusted her that much, at leas- Suddenly, a pair of lips pressed against her temple. Hannah froze. The soft brush of the lips had felt… relaxing, good. “Come on. We’re gonna go on adventures and shit.” Amanda continued.

Hannah felt overly aware of Amanda’s touch on her shoulder. Then, another kiss. This one on her cheekbone. Hannah should have opened her eyes, or show that she was waking up. But she really didn’t want to.

Because she didn’t want to wake up, not because she wanted more kisses.

The next kiss came on her cheek. Hannah understood the warning. It was coming lower, closer to her lips. Would Amanda actually do it, if she thought Hannah was asleep? Surely she wouldn’t- Hannah felt warm, soft breath – smelling like mint toothpaste – on her lips, and she opened her eyes wide.

Amanda was smirking as she looked at her. She was wearing an oversized jacket and jeans. Why had she changed her clothes? “Hello, sleeping beauty. I can still give you the wake-up kiss if you close your eyes,” she winked.

Hannah groaned. “What do you want?”

Amanda pointed at the door. “Akko’s waiting outside. She figured, since Diana is awake, that we could go back to doing that thing we did back on fairyland and Machina.”

Hannah hesitated for a second. “That thing about going to high places? I completely forgot about that.”

“Are you coming or not?”

Sighing, Hannah nodded. “Give me a second to get changed.”

So she did. Five minutes later, she was outside. Akko was waiting with Diana, who still looked down in the dumps, but if she had agreed to come it was probably a good sign.

They didn’t talk as they walked through the surprisingly quiet hotel towards the Shiny Rod. They got in as they had done previously. Had the turret shrunk? Hannah felt as if she was more pressed up against Amanda than before. Their faces were so close…

Luckily, again, the trip only lasted a second, and they got off in an instant. Hannah was blushing, though.

As soon as Hannah put a feet on the ground, she noticed it was concrete. She also noticed it was wet. The air was cold and windy, and she wasn’t wearing particularly warm clothes. “What the fuck?”

“Sorry, it’s wet, gimmie a sec,” Akko said from the cockpit. The Shiny rod elevated, allowing Hannah and Amanda to walk. The place was dark, and it was raining, but the Shiny Rod’s shield was up acting as an umbrella. Akko and Diana got out of the ship and came down, the Shield still active.

“Where are we?” Hannah asked. It looked like a road.

“Top of The Island, of course!” When Akko said it, it became obvious. Yes, they were at the peak. If Hannah strained her eyes, she could see other parts of the track in the rain, reflecting the green, dim light of the Rod’s shield.

“Not bad,” Amanda nodded in approval. “And the rain gives it a good touch,” she looked up, where the dome had been shut off and the rain freely allowed to fall into it, probably to clean the road a little or something. Akko looked around awkwardly for a while before Diana approached her.

“Akko, can we talk for a moment?” She said. She looked serious, and sad. Not a good sign. Akko nodded, looking kind of nervous, and followed Diana, who went to the edge of what the shield covered. Both of them were still wearing their g-suits.

Hannah was about to go with her, but Amanda put a hand on her shoulder.

“Let them sort it out by themselves,” she said.

Hannah supposed she was right. She and Amanda walked off in the opposite direction to offer the pair some privacy.

“How are you feeling after the nap?” Amanda asked. She didn’t need to clarify she was obviously asking about the Andrew situation.

“Did I sleep for long?” Hannah evaded the question.

“Not really,” Amanda confessed. “For an hour and a half or so. I was talking with Akko about her race and-”

“Oh my god!” Hannah exclaimed, surprised, in a low voice.

“What?” Amanda asked with concern, looking around.

“Akko can _talk?”_ Hannah asked with an expression of utter shock.

Amanda paused. Then she started laughing. “Damn it girl, you scared me.”

Hannah chuckled too. She stopped when a sudden burst of wind – the shield didn’t protect them from air, apparently – made her start to shiver. She hugged herself in an attempt to be warm up.

Amanda looked at her for a few seconds. “I’m not going to hug you to warm myself, don’t suggest it,” Hannah was quick to shoot down any weird ideas that may be forming on Amanda’s head. The redhead, however, took off her jacket and offered it. “Oh, yeah, offering your jacket, another romance cliché. Not gonna happen,” Hannah stubbornly refused. She was cold, though not freezing. It was mid fall, after all.

Amanda stepped closer, right in front of Hannah, and with a movement that made Hannah think she was going to hug her, she forced her to wear the jacket. “It’s ok if you don’t like me, but I still like you. If I offer you something, take it, I don’t do it expecting anything in return,” she said with a serious face. The way the green light reflected off her face was reminiscent of how the green light of the Seelie Court at night had done it back at the top of the Central Tower.

With the jacket now over her shoulders, Hannah felt better. She stared into Amanda’s eyes. Also like back then, the way the green magic reflected off them, making them look like actual emeralds.

Why was she blushing?

“Thank you,” Hannah said, looking away. _She really likes me, I guess,_ she thought while trying to hide her blush. She didn’t exactly make too much of an effort, though. Somehow, no longer liking Andrew made her less reluctant to go along with her games. Or maybe she was getting used to them. “Amanda?”

“Yeah?” Amanda looked at her. Hannah hesitated, and another gust of wind came. This time, Amanda was the one to shiver.

“You acting though, eh?” Hannah smirked.

Amanda shrugged. “Maybe,” she said. Another gust of wind came and she reflexively hugged herself like Hannah had been doing not long ago.

Hannah bit her lip. She didn’t want Amanda to get sick or anything. “Come here,” she said, giving the jacket back.

“But now you-” Amanda started to complain, but Hannah just hurried to put it on. Before she closed it, however, she stopped her. Hannah then proceeded to step right in front of her, facing the other way.

“That jacket is a couple numbers too big, so either you were fat not long ago, which I doubt, or you have a horrible fashion sense,” Hannah explained as she took Amanda’s arms and put them around herself. Then she opened the front of the jacket, putting it around her body as if she was going to wear it, covering her shoulders and sides, and with Amanda’s hug and her body heat, she was now pretty warm. “Also, touch my boobs and I’ll kill you on your sleep.”

Amanda wasn’t speaking. Hannah didn’t mind, though she had expected some kind of snarky or sassy retort to what she had just said. Not that it mattered. Hannah enjoyed the sound of the falling rain, the calmness of silence. Some drops of water reflected the green light of the Shiny Rod, giving the night an eerie air. It was relaxing. Hannah yawned, feeling really tired. She was going to sleep _a lot_ when they came back.

“Am I dreaming?” Amanda finally spoke.

Hannah wasn’t sure of why, but the question made her smile. “No. Though we are pretty high.”

Amanda paused. “Did you just use essentially the same joke that _I_ used back in Sídhe?”

“Yes,” Hannah confirmed. “It was a good one, I guess.”

Amanda chuckled. She hugged Hannah more tightly. Hannah didn’t mind. “I… Don’t want to screw this up,” the redhead said. She was fidgeting with her fingers, which lowkey tickled Hannah. “I don’t know why you’re doing this. Is this teasing? Are you playing with me? Testing my resolve, maybe?”

Hannah could hear a strange vulnerability coming from Amanda’s voice. “No,” she reassured. “I just found a solution for both of us being cold. It’s not…” She trailed off. Yeah, no. That answer was kind of bullshit.

Why had she done it, then?

“Now that I think about it, I never asked you what I wanted,” Hannah changed topics wildly.

“You never answered mine, either,” Amanda replied.

Hannah sighed. “I do feel better. Andrew is an idiot, I’ve already accepted it,” or she wanted to believe that, at least. She didn’t like him anymore, but to say she was no longer attracted to him was another matter entirely.

“I see,” Amanda said softly. “Ok, your turn.”

Hannah sighed. She was relieved Amanda hadn’t pushed her to speak more deeply about her feelings. “Amanda, why… Do you like me? Last time I asked you weren’t in a precisely good emotional state.”

Amanda took a second to think. “Because you’re fun. You’re smart, witty, you don’t really know how to take a joke and that’s cute, but when you do jokes you really enjoy them. You’re cute, pretty, beautiful. You look great in whatever you wear, but whatever you wear also tends to be something cute and that fits you, and that’s also part of it. It’s also cute how you usually take things very seriously even when they’re not, and I can tell you really care about your friends. Though you could work on being kinder to your not-friends.”

“I’m not here to hear about my flaws, thank you,” Hannah said. “Keep calling me cute. I like that.”

“I just… well, my chest tightens when I see you. Each time I touch you in any way – no double meaning intended – it’s like electricity runs through my veins. You don’t run from me even though you know how I feel. You don’t even treat me that differently, save from the warnings not to do weird stuff. I…” she hugged Hannah even tighter, pressing her head against Hannah’s, as if trying to stop her from running away. She stayed silent for a few seconds. “I think I might have fallen in love with you.”

Hannah, who was already blushing from everything Amanda had been saying, paused. “You ‘think you might have’?” Hannah asked, not knowing what else to do.

“I wouldn’t know. I have never felt like this before. Even now, if you focus, you could probably feel how fast my heart is beating,” Amanda explained.

And she was right. On her back, if she focused, Hannah could feel Amanda’s fast heartbeat.

“I… see,” was all Hannah could say. “Thank you.”

Amanda laughed dryly. “That’s a sad reply. Don’t say thank you, I’d rather you said nothing.”

Hannah sighed. “Look, I’ve never been confessed like that before. I thank you not as a way of rejecting you, but because it makes me happy,” she confessed. She… hadn’t really wanted to speak about this, but how could she not when Amanda was opening her heart to her? “It makes me feel… well, liked. I know I give you a lot of crap, but you still like me. It’s amazing. So I thank you. Thanks, Amanda, for liking me. Even if I may not be able to reciprocate your feelings.”

“Well, if you put it like that,” Amanda’s tone was now a lot more normal. “Can I give you a little kiss?”

“I guess you’re not asking for the lips,” Hannah said.

“Just… your nape.”

“Nape?”

“Yeah.”

Hannah frowned, but shrugged. “Sure,” she answered. It didn’t seem like a big deal.

But it was. Amanda gently moved aside her ponytail, staring for a second. Hannah could feel how her heart started to go faster too. And then, the touch of a couple of cold lips. It gave her goosebumps. It felt good, too. Like… well, she didn’t really know what to compare it with. Amanda had said small, yet she left her lips on Hannah’s nape for a long time. Her breath tickled, but it was also warm. Hannah didn’t complain.

When she got away, Hannah almost wanted to ask her to do it again. “Thank you,” Amanda said, sounding happy.

“N-no problem,” Hannah stuttered, unable to hide how… good that had felt.

They stayed in silence for a while. Enjoying each other’s company. Hannah wondered if this was how it felt to have a boyfriend. Just… with a girl.

Maybe…

“We’re leaving,” Akko’s voice suddenly came from behind them. Both Hannah and Amanda jumped away from each other, as if ashamed of what they were doing.

“It’s not what you think!” Hannah quickly said.

“So… you weren’t hugging?” Akko raised an eyebrow.

“No, uhm… Yes, but… Whatever. You look sad. Did something happen?”

“No,” Akko was clearly lying. “Come on, I’m tired,” she turned and jumped into the Rod. Diana had already gotten in, apparently.

“Guess autistic rich bitch gotta be autistic rich bitch even with her girlfriend, huh.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Shut up. Let’s go,” she said. Though she _was_ a little sad that the nice atmosphere they had going on had been killed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may notice the new summary! Thanks to Jayilyse for making it more pleasing to read.  
> Anyways, don't forget to comment and stuff!


	84. Chapter 84

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what day today is?  
> The day I say "fuck weekly releases."  
> I don't know how you people do it but damn it was a test to my patience just doing so for two weeks.   
> Batch releases come back right now, look forward to a week of daily chapters.   
> Please don't forget to comment and enjoy.

“Akko, can we talk for a moment?” Diana asked, looking serious.

Akko got kind of nervous, but she nodded. Diana walked off, until she reached the limit of where the shield covered. Under the green light, Diana appeared to be almost a ghost. A beautiful ghost, but a ghost.

Akko stepped next to her, looking out towards the dark night. No light had been left working on the stadium. She wondered if Diana would get mad if she took her hand. She wanted to get closer to her. But how? Diana looked so serious, so gloomy.

“Is the Shiny Rod ok?” Diana ended up asking. “I saw how it completely shut down after the race.”

“Yeah,” Akko said. “It just needed some rest. It rebooted after an hour.”

Diana stayed silent again. Akko pressed her lips, shuffling in place. Why was she being so awkward? “Uhm… I guess that’s not what you wanted to talk about?” Akko asked. Maybe it was, though? Maybe she really was worried about the Shiny Rod. She was up to date with what it was, after all.

“You did wonderfully today,” Diana said.

“Thank you,” Akko smiled.

Diana paused. “You… really made my heart race. For a couple minutes, even if the entire world seemed to be against me, your race made me feel excited. And happy, when you won,” she turned, looking at Akko. “The way you climbed from dead last to first was incredible.”

Akko blushed, smiling awkwardly. Diana was praising her, how could she not?

“And I realized that I’ve been slacking off,” Diana continued.

“What?” Akko frowned.

“Akko,” Diana turned to her. “I appreciate your efforts for cheering me up. And I really enjoyed those kisses,” she spoke seriously. When mentioned, Akko couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. “but I also believe I was being complacent. I should’ve been training, not enjoying myself.”

Akko started to understand where Diana was coming from. “Diana, you can’t blame yourself for what happened today. We’re still in first place, nothing big was lost.”

“We’re tied to the daemons thanks to my failure,” Diana shook her head. “If it hadn’t been for you…”

Akko stepped closer to her, taking her hand. Diana didn’t take it back, but she didn’t shake it off either. “And if it wasn’t for you and Amanda, we wouldn’t be on first place anyways.”

“Yeah, but you know, Akko… You’re going to go down in history,” Diana finally closed her hand around Akko’s. Akko cocked her head. “You broke the curse. You’re the first pilot to break the home-race curse. Even if you disappeared now like Chariot did, you’d be documented in the history of the sport.”

Akko had completely forgotten about it. “You’re right,” Akko said. “But Chariot would have done it too, she just never got the chance, since her IPR didn’t have Earth in the rotation.”

Diana sighed. “You really need to stop looking up to Chariot,” she said. “But I guess I can’t change that.”

“Well, maybe if you tried hard enough…” Akko got a little closer.

Diana stepped away. “Akko,” she said in a more imperative voice. She let go of Akko’s hand. “I want to go back to our previous agreement.”

“But…” Akko started to complain, but Diana looked at her with a very scary look.

“I need to know something good will come of this,” Diana explained. “And I don’t want to hurt you with my bad mood and humor,” she took a deep breath. “Akko, just… try not to talk to me. For a while. I just need to get my thoughts together. I won’t stop liking you, and I hope you won’t stop liking me, but if you do I won’t blame you.

“Then why not-”

“I’ve thought about this,” Diana explained. “I want to deal with my problems before starting to date you. And if I give in to my desires I won’t make it. I already faltered on our hotel room, and again back at home,” she spoke of these events as if they were negative, which kind of hurt Akko. “I won’t falter again. Or, at least, I don’t want to. Which is why I want you to do this for me.”

Akko pressed her lips. “I don’t think this is the right way to deal with this, Diana.”

“Please, Akko,” Diana said.

Akko hesitated. She could see how hurt Diana was. Her family seemed to hate her, Paul Hanbridge was a piece of shit, and now she had messed up a really important race in an impulsive move she didn’t want to repeat. Maybe Akko was being a bad influence or something.

But if Diana thought that was for the best, who was Akko to say no?

“Ok,” Akko said. “But if you ever feel bad, promise me you’ll talk about it. Doesn’t have to be me, just… do so. Got it?”

Diana nodded. Her neutral face was… indiscernible. Akko couldn’t beat years of practice with some love, sadly.

“Then do I just, like… stop talking to you or…?”

“I didn’t mean it literally,” Diana sighed. “You can talk to me, just for basic stuff.”

Akko nodded. “Nice weather, eh?” She tried to make conversation.

“Akko, don’t,” Diana simply said. Akko pouted.

They stayed in silence. Akko was trying to figure out a way of helping Diana still. If she could only stop Daryl from trying to sell that ship. But she knew nothing about paperwork or any of that stuff. She was useless in that regard. So what was she supposed to do? She could try to break Daryl’s legs, but she hadn’t brought a bat with her. Plus, even if she broke her legs, she could still sign stuff. Maybe she should break her hands! She could do that with a rock.

But Diana wouldn’t approve, and she didn’t really want to cause anyone harm. She just wished Daryl would stop being so mean. She was Diana’s aunt, after all. Family was supposed to be… Well, family.

Each silent second, Akko felt more and more the need to turn and hug Diana. But she didn’t want that. Or, well, she did, but she wanted to not do it to be motivated. Or something like that. Akko hadn’t exactly understood, but whatever.

Each silent second, too, Akko felt like the distance between her and Diana grew, despite how close they were to each other. Akko wanted to tell Diana how much she wanted to hug her. But that was kind of exactly what Diana had asked her not to do.

“Oh, and Akko?” Diana said.

“Yes?” Akko looked at her, hopeful.

“Please don’t tell Barbara about this.”

Akko paused. Then she smiled. Well, she could definitely tell why Diana would ask her for that. “Ok.” She said, smiling.

When Akko got bored of standing in the cold night – though she barely felt it with her g-suit – she turned to Diana. “Should we go?”

“I suppose,” Diana said. “Thank you for this. It was a nice outing.”

Akko smiled, but Diana didn’t even look at her as she turned around and walked towards the Shiny Rod. With a sigh, Akko walked up to Hannah and Amanda. They were… cuddling, or something. Amanda was definitely hugging Hannah from behind, and Hannah was half-hidden in Amanda’s oversized jacket. They looked good together, though Akko was starting to be confused by their relationship. Were they a couple or not?

She also got a hint of jealousy. She wanted to do that with Diana. Well, Diana would probably be the one hugging her from behind, since she was taller. “We’re leaving,” Akko said, causing the two of them to jump away from each other as if they’d gotten burned. She hadn’t really wanted to scare them, her footsteps had been quite audible.

“It’s not what you think!” Hannah said, looking desperate.

“So… you weren’t hugging?” Akko raised an eyebrow. Maybe it had been a perspective problem.

“No, uhm… Yes, but… Whatever. You look sad. Did something happen?”

“No,” Akko lied. She really didn’t want to talk about it with anyone. Plus, if she told Hannah, she’d tell Barbara, and… Yeah, better not to. “Come on, I’m tired,” she turned and jumped into the Rod. Diana had already gotten in, though she was clearly trying not to look Akko in the eyes.

After Hannah and Amanda got in, Akko took them back to the hotel.

 

Diana woke up when a message arrived to her wand. The first thing Diana noticed was how awful she still felt after what she had said to Akko. Sleeping on the same room as her didn’t help.

She took the wand, careful not to look at Akko’s bed, and read it. Ursula wanted her on the hangar of the _Dragon_ as soon as possible. Diana stood, going to the bathroom and going through her morning motions before putting on her g-suit and walking out of the room, all without once looking at her brunette roommate. Knowing that she wasn’t strong enough to resist Akko, her only way of dealing with everything was… Well, staying as far away from Akko as possible. Metaphorically, at least.

Diana was in a bad mood. And she’d be for a long time. Her aunt had gotten away with it. Paul, a person she kind of had at least considered reasonable, proved to be just as bad as every other politic. Though deep down she had already known that, hadn’t she. She had messed her race in such a shameful way, too. Daryl would laugh for years about it.

This is why she wanted to distance herself from Akko. Even with the flying, she didn’t want Akko to have to deal with the worst side of her. Once everything was solved they could go back to being all lovey-dovey. Until then, Diana had to keep away from things she could strangle, just in case.

The hotel was now bustling with activity. As Diana walked, the number of people exiting their rooms and getting in and out of the elevators was rather overwhelming. When going down Diana had to deal with two crying babies and one dude that smelled like had eaten nothing but garlic in his life. He was probably the reason the babies cried.

Coming out of the elevator, Diana sniffed herself to make sure she hadn’t caught that dude’s smell, then moved on to the outside. The skies had cleared, though some clouds remained here and there. She recalled last night. Akko’s hand on hers, the coldness on her face, the _need_ to kiss her, to let her problems blow away for a few moments and melt into Akko’s arms… She had done the right thing. Wanting to escape her problems using Akko wasn’t fair. For neither of them.

The _Dragon’s_ hangar was rather busy too. People coming and going, mostly the ship’s staff, moving in supplies and some other things. Diana walked up to where the Shooting Star and the Shiny Rod were parked. Ursula was waiting there.

“Hello, Diana,” she said with a smile. “How are you feeling today?”

Diana looked down, ashamed. “I’m sorry for what I did yesterday.”

She felt a hand pat her head. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Come on, I have to show you something that will surely cheer you up,” she spoke kindly, as always. Diana had expected her to be mad, or at least to scold her. Instead, she… was being the same as always.

Diana followed, feeling a weight lift off her chest.

Ursula led her to the end of the hangar, where the garage was. The door was wide open, which was unusual, and unside, many different ‘rooms’ stood. One of them was exclusive to the team’s brooms. Diana recognized it quickly, as she saw Constanze standing next to it. She looked angry.

“Hello,” Diana said. Constanze was staring daggers at her. “I… presume you weren’t happy with what I did last night.”

The girl shook her head. Diana looked down. Of course not everyone was going to forgive her so soon. Still, Constanze turned around and crossed the black curtain that covered what was being held in the room.

Diana hesitated, but Ursula gave her a gentle push. With that, Diana entered the place, wondering what was so important.

She was left speechless. It was a broom. A new broom. But not just that. On the side of the rooms there were metallic walkways to see the broom from above and probably work on it while it was on the air. Diana used them to see it from above, feeling a sense of urgency.

It was… like The Pony. The back wings looked like a crescent moon. Instead of having three nozzles, it had just a big one, which was the more modern approach. It didn’t have the vertical stabilizers, which meant it was a broom made not only for Earth, and the cockpit area was ever so slightly wider than The Pony’s. Still, it had the same shape, progressively getting bigger towards the front until suddenly bouncing back. However, this time, instead of ending in a rounded up nose it also curved outwards, ending in a long spike, kind of like a horn. The ship had three weapons, two on the sides and one on the downside of the front. The Pony hadn’t even had a turret, since it had been created for normal races, not IPR ones. But the inspiration was obvious.

The ship was painted an electric blue, with darker hues for the details. The front horn had its borders painted white. It kind of made it look like a blade, too.

“This is The Unicorn,” Ursula said, catching up with Diana.

“It’s like my mother’s broom,” Diana pointed out.

“I know. The company wanted to make amends after what happened to the Blue Star. They were planning on making this on a few years, but they accelerated the process and got it done in a couple weeks. They hadn’t actually planned to give it to you so soon, but since we’re on Earth, they decided to do it.”

“Is it even legal?” Diana looked at her. “We can’t just change…”

“If your ship is completely destroyed, you have the right to make a new one. Previously most just used the same design, but in no place the race rules stipulate that you can’t do it with a different ship,” Ursula explained.

“I see,” Diana was amazed. “Wait, is this on the level of the Shooting Star?” She asked with some skepticism.

“According to them, it’s a ship straight out of the future,” Ursula chuckled after saying it, as if it was some kind of inside joke.

Diana felt strange. The Unicorn, huh? In a way, it was exciting. In another way, it only reminded her of The Pony. And that hurt. Still, if this ship was better than the Shooting Star, then…

“We need to wake up Akko. I have to test it in the simulator,” Diana said.

Ursula nodded. “I agree. You will resume your training starting today, after all.”

Diana didn’t reply. She kept watching The Unicorn. She needed to get back to practicing. Now.

Maybe the explosion of the Blue Star hadn’t been so bad, after all.

 

 

Constanze was annoyed. For many reasons. First, she hadn’t gotten to actually test the new modifications on the Shooting Star thanks to Diana’s stupidity. Next, the new broom was… Complex. If she wanted to do anything with it she’d need to plan for a long time, like she’d done with the Shooting Star. Even then, she wasn’t allowed to touch it. She was the Shooting Star’s mechanic, not the Unicorn’s. Not to mention, the manager was smug. Really smug. Not even threatening him with stanbots got any reaction. He _always_ had someone keeping watch on The Unicorn, too, so Constanze was stuck waiting by the Shooting Star. They had received the new ship a couple days ago and Constanze hadn’t managed to plant one of her analyzers on it. She also had no idea where the blueprints were being kept.

She didn’t know what to do. So she decided some help was needed. When she messaged Amanda that she needed help, it took the redhead less than fifteen minutes to show up in the hangar. She looked strangely happy, so Constanze figured something had gone particularly well on their nightly escapade yesterday. What did they do on them, anyways? Probably make out or more. No other reason for teenagers to slip away on the middle of the night.

Constanze didn’t really care anyways.

“So, Cons, what’s up? What’s the emergency?” Amanda asked. She was practically beaming.

Taking out her tablet, Constanze started explaining. Her signs had to be particularly flashy today, because Amanda seemed to have trouble focusing. It took a while to explain, but by the time she was done, the redhead looked excited and nodded.

“Ok, gimmie a day or two,” Amanda said. “And if you can, tell me the password to access the garage, it would really help.”

Constanze nodded, telling her on the spot. Amanda took the info and nodded. Then she looked at the door at the end of the hangar. “So a new broom, huh. I doubt it’ll be half as good as what you did with the Shooting Star though, eh?” She said with a smile.

Feeling confident, Constanze led Amanda to the garage. When they reached The Unicorn, Amanda looked it up and down. “Not bad,” she said. That was a severe understatement. Constanze had barely gotten to look at it, but she could tell how good of a ship it was. Probably even better than the Shooting Star. “I can see why you’d want…” she trailed off as a tall guy, a member of the engineer team, approached them both. He was the one keeping watch right now.

“What are you doing here?” He asked with hostility in his voice. Constanze prepared her wand, just in case.

“Checking the new ship,” Amanda said. “Pretty cool, huh?”

The guy was obviously suspicious of them. He couldn’t be older than twenty five. He had probably just gotten out of college. “Well, you’ve looked enough, now go away,” he ordered.

Amanda narrowed her eyes. “Who gives you the right? I’m part of this team, you know,” Amanda said with a low tone. The guy eyed Constanze with anger. Most of the engineers on the team kind of hated her. She was used to their jealousy, though.

“Well, I…” He obviously didn’t have the authority to kick anyone out of anywhere. He still tried to look menacing, though. It didn’t work. Amanda wasn’t scared of anyone and Constanze had lived most of her life with people bigger than her. This guy was _nothing_ compared to her father. “We’re working on it, it’s dangerous.”

Both Constanze and Amanda looked at the ship. There was no one working on it. Constanze thought this’d be a great time to bring in one of her stanbots, but there was a magical jamming barrier around the room, so none of her devices could get close to it.

“Ok, whatever,” Amanda shrugged, turning around. Constanze knew Amanda had probably already gotten what she wanted, so she followed. After they were outside of the garage, Amanda nodded. “The supervisor was in the waiting room there, playing cards. Not much of a worker, is he?” She asked. Constanze nodded. The guy was pretty lazy. “Well, if the supervisor has the blueprints, I’ll get them, don’t doubt me,” Amanda said with confidence. Constanze didn’t. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m gonna go back to bed. God I’m tired,” she said with a yawn, though she didn’t look so.

Well, whatever. Constanze just wanted the damn blueprints.

 

Ursula was finishing some paperwork for the use of The Unicorn when suddenly, the lights on her room went out. She had probably been too still for too long, though it really didn’t feel like it. She also believed she had put them in switch mode, where she would have control over them.

She turned to go turn them on, but then they did.

And Croix was standing in the middle of the room.

Ursula yelped, jumping back. “What the hell are you doing here?” She asked with anger.

“Your student just unlocked a new word,” Croix was wearing her fancy outfit, though she added sunglasses to the mix for some reason. “She almost destroyed everything I’ve worked for with that stunt, you know? Luckily the engine of the Noir Rod wasn’t damaged,” she spoke in a serious, almost angry voice.

“Get out of here, Croix, I don’t care about your rambling.”

“Well you should,” Croix said, surprising Ursula by stepping closer. “That makes four words. At this rate this girl will unlock them all before the race is finished.”

“And you wouldn’t want that?” Ursula raised an eyebrow.

“Of course not!” Croix snapped. “I didn’t expect her to actually unlock the sprinkler! She’s even more hyperactive than you were!” she pointed angrily at Ursula. “And that way of flying before unlocking it… You told her the password, didn’t you, the one you never told me,” she narrowed her eyes.

Ursula’s eyes widened. “Oh god,” she whispered. “You’re right. It all makes sense now,” she started to think back. “Of course she’d unlock it sooner or later, even without my help.”

Croix looked confused. “So you _didn’t_ tell her but she still figured it out?” She didn’t sound like she believed it. To be honest, Ursula found it hard to believe too. On the other hand, it made perfect sense for Akko to have unlocked it. Chariot’s catchphrase was probably ingrained in her memory at this point. Ursula was surprised she hadn’t heard it from her lips before.

“A believing heart is your magic,” Ursula said. “Or, well, for the password I changed it for ‘my’, but you get the point,” she looked up. “Akko must have said it to motivate herself or something. I wonder if she even noticed that she got weeks worth of training in seconds.”

“She’s dangerous,” Croix frowned. “Now that she knows the password she has access to every piece of data from the Rod, to every system and modification. You’re an idiot, who the hell uses their catchphrase as a password?”

Ursula stood, looking Croix in the eyes. “I do, and it sure stopped _you_ now didn’t it. But why am I talking to you? I don’t even know why you’re here. Get out.”

“Oh, now you have the right to-” Croix shut up as Ursula took her by the collar of her cape. Ursula brought her very, very close. Croix’s eyes widened with surprise and maybe even some fear.

“Not long ago you basically said you hated me. Now you come rambling to my room uninvited as if we were teenagers again. Get out of here, Croix,” Ursula pushed her back. Croix stumbled over her own feet. Grasping for something not to fall, she grabbed on to Ursula’s shoulder.

They both fell to the ground. Ursula, almost instinctively, managed not to fall in a way that would actually hurt Croix. When everything was done, she was atop Croix, on the floor. “Who would have thought, you’re the protagonist of a harem, Ursula,” Croix joked. She had a curious look on her eyes. Almost as if she enjoyed this. She certainly had, once. “Well, almost, your hand didn’t fall on my boobs, but… Why do you look so sad?”

Ursula wasn’t sure. She just felt so… melancholic all of a sudden. “Why did you come here, Croix?” She asked, this time without any anger.

Croix paused. “Because you’re the only one I can talk to about this,” she confessed, all of her masks vanishing, leaving behind only something that looked like… tenderness.

“You still need to ramble when you’ve got too much going on in your head?” Ursula asked, to which Croix nodded. “You haven’t changed.”

“Now you, on the other hand…” Croix looked Ursula up and down. “I’ve been meaning to ask, do you dye your hair?” She used her hand to softly brush some of the locks that hung over her shoulder. She did it gently, almost afraid of it.

“Yes,” Ursula admitted. Croix raised her hand. She brushed softly Ursula’s cheek, but moved further than that and touched her head. “Your roots are also blue, though,” Croix pointed out.

“It’s… magic dye,” Ursula explained.

Croix raised an eyebrow. “Of all the things you could do with the knowledge you’ve gained from the Rod, _that_ is what you chose?”

Ursula nodded. “I needed it for hiding,” she paused. Then, she stood, leaving Croix free. “Hiding I had to do because of you.”

Croix’s expression hardened again. She stood. “You should teach your student what the Shiny Rod is,” Croix said, “Before she manages to make the same mistake you did.”

Ursula pressed her lips. “It was an accident.”

“It’s ok, I don’t care. That accident expanded my comprehension of the world,” Croix said. “But… Well, whatever. I’ve had enough ranting. I’ll let myself out,” she turned around, her cape flaring behind her. Ursula wanted to make her stay, ask her what she was planning. But she didn’t say anything.

Croix left, leaving Ursula with a lingering feeling of loneliness.


	85. Chapter 85

“I think I have a problem,” Hannah said, pacing around Barbara’s and Lotte’s room. Both of them had obviously had a fun night, as evidenced by the clothes on the floor and one of the beds being perfectly made, or in other words unused.

“Yeah, I guessed that when you banged on our door insistently,” Barbara yawned, rubbing her eyes. She was in underwear. She never slept in underwear. Normally, at least. Her hair was a mess, and she really looked like she wanted to kill someone. “So, what is it?”

Hannah thought of a good way of explaining what had happened. “When I woke up, Amanda wasn’t there,” she started.

“Did you try messaging her?” Lotte suggested.

“That’s not the issue,” Hannah said, rolling her eyes. “The problem is that I felt _disappointed_ when I didn’t saw her there. As if I wanted to see her,” she explained. She had woken up, looked at Amanda’s bed, and felt a stab of sadness when she wasn’t there.

Barbara deadpanned her. “Have you considered that maybe it’s because you _want_ to see her?” She asked.

Hannah instantly shook her head. “No, no. She’s just getting to me. She’s confessing constantly and showing me affection and it’s all piling up and making me have reactions I wouldn’t otherwise have,” she concluded while she walked back and forth across the room.

“Hannah,” Barbara said, though Hannah barely paid attention.

“I give in to her requests because it’s not that big a deal, but since she takes them so seriously it transmits the mood to me, making me kind of take it seriously too,” she thought back to the kiss on her nape. Why had it felt so good? Well, the obvious answer was, of course, that Amanda was being so clingy that it had put Hannah into a clingy mood too.

“Hannah,” Barbara repeated, but Hannah ignored her again.

“But if I start suddenly saying no to everything she asks she’ll think I’m mad or something, and that’ll mean she’s won, because she actually _did_ get to me. Maybe this is all just because of Andrew, I mean, I found out he’s an actual ass and now I’m looking for-”

“Hannah!” Barbara suddenly took her shoulder and made her turn around. She was close, really close. She stared straight into her eyes, as if trying to see her soul. “I love you,” she said in a soft, loving voice.

Hannah frowned. “Eh?” she looked at Lotte, who seemed confused too. “What’s gotten into you?”

Barbara stepped back. “I just wanted to test something. You’re not reacting to my confession like you seem to do with Amanda’s,” she explained.

“Well, of course, you’re not her,” Hannah said, failing to see the point.

“Which means,” Barbara continued, “That it’s not about mood or whatever. I’m in a perfectly loving mood,” she winked at Lotte, who smiled.

“Ok, then what’s your take?” Hannah asked, annoyed.

Barbara looked at Lotte. “You know how I said Diana was stupid? Well, I’m surrounded by idiots, apparently,” she complained. Hannah frowned. Barbara looked back at her. “You like her, Hannah. It’s not _that_ hard to figure out.”

Hannah was dumbfounded. “But I’m straight,” she replied almost automatically.

“So are noodles, until they get wet,” Barbara said. “Those requests you mentioned, what does she ask for?”

Hannah paused. “Well, like… she asks me to, like, kiss my cheek, or touch my hair…” she replied, blushing slightly.

Barbara snorted. “Jesus, and you’re still in denial? Girl, you don’t just let any girl do that to you! Come on.”

“But it’s no big deal! It’s just small kisses and touches, it’s nothing big like a real kiss or…” Hannah shook her head. She’d rather not think about _that._

“Ok, then sit down, let Lotte and I kiss you and touch you, since it’s no big deal,” she pointed at the bed.

“What?” Hannah stepped back.

“Come on, prove it,” Barbara insisted. Hannah looked at the bed. She imagined Lotte and Barbara kissing her on the cheeks or nape, or them touching her hair.

It didn’t sound appealing. “I’d rather not,” she said, taking another step back. Barbara sighed, sitting next to Lotte.

“See what I mean?” She whispered to her girlfriend. Then she looked at Hannah. “Ok, miss totally-not-in-love, what do you want to do?”

Hannah crossed her arms. “You’re not taking me seriously,” she complained.

Barbara laughed. “Of course not. You know, finding out if you like Amanda or not is pretty easy. Just let her kiss you.”

“I’m not going to give her my first kiss!” Hannah exclaimed, outraged.

“Why not? You like her!” Barbara insisted.

“I don’t!” Hannah said.

“Ok, let’s do this. Close your eyes,” Barbara said. Hannah was reluctant to follow such a suspicious advice. “I’m not going to do anything to you, I just want to prove a point. Close them.”

Hannah rolled her eyes, but did so. In the darkness of her eyelids she waited for a while. “So what now?” She asked, impatient.

“Relax. Sit down on the bed,” Hannah felt a hand guiding her, and she ended up sitting on the unused bed. “You’re just… walking through a field of flowers.”

“Why?” Hannah asked.

“Because it’s supposed to be relaxing, but fine, you can walk through a toxic wasteland if you want, I don’t care, just do it,” Barbara snapped. Hannah obliged. She focused, imagining a field of green spotted with colorful flowers. “Ok, now stay there for a few minutes. Forget about everything else.” Hannah did so. She tried not to talk. She still failed to see the point of the exercise. “As you walk, you son find a hole. You enter, curious, and end up in a dark cave.” Barbara continued. Hannah visualized it. She imagined a humid, rocky cave with the sound of water dripping down stalagmites – or was it stalactites? “You walk down the cave. It’s dark. It’s scary. You start hearing weird noises.”

Hannah imagined it. Maybe steps in the dark, maybe a gust of wind where there should be none. A distant, faint voice to creep her out. Some chains for a good classic ghost measure. The darkness, in her mind, extended for kilometers.

“As you walk, scared, cold, lost in the dark, you suddenly feel something on your shoulder. You turn around in surprise. Someone’s there. Who?”

Hannah tried to see it. Walking on a dark cave and suddenly someone touched her shoulder and scared the hell out of her. Well, who else to be a dick like that but Amanda? No one in their right mind would suddenly touch someone in a dark cave unannounced.

“Amanda,” Hannah said with a low voice. “Probably trying to prank me.”

Barbara didn’t reply. “Ok, open your eyes now.”

Hannah did so. Barbara had a smug smile on her face. “What?” Hannah asked.

“In this little exercise, the idea is to get your mind to feel the need for some company. Usually, someone you like,” Barbara explained.

Rolling her eyes, Hannah stood from the bed. “Save for the fact that in my imagination she was trying to scare me?”

“You came up with that excuse, yet, of all the people you’d want to see on a dark, mysterious and creepy cave, you chose the girl you totally don’t like,” Barbara raised an eyebrow.

“This was rigged, we’ve just been talking about Amanda, of course I’d be thinking of her,” Hannah refuted.

Barbara sighed in exasperation. “Ok, whatever,” she then smiled. “But if you really don’t like her, why don’t you go talk to her about this?”

Hannah paled. “I… Don’t think that’s…” she bit her lower lip, trying to imagine having that conversation with Amanda. Having a small heart to heart, like last night. What if Hannah had been facing the other way? What if instead of her nape Amanda had just looked into her eyes and slowly leaned?

“You’re red,” Lotte said with a smile. Hannah noticed that, and her heart had started pounding too.

“I’m hot,” Hannah lied.

“Yeah, Amanda noticed that,” Barbara snickered.

Hannah frowned. “You know what? I’m going to talk to her and prove it, you’ll see,” she turned around, walking to leave the room.

“Make sure to keep your pants on!” Barbara advised before Hannah closed the door behind her.

 _Stupid Barbara, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. I don’t…_ Hannah paused in the middle of the corridor.

_Oh god, I may like her._

 

After waking up and packing everything – Diana had apparently already done it – Akko walked to the door of her room. She was tired and her inner emotions were in turmoil. On one hand, she had won a race, finally. She had stayed up for a while seeing commentators analyzing her flying, and apparently she’d done amazingly.

On the other one, Diana. And she still hadn’t figured out how to help her…

Well, still. She opened the door, ready to go get some breakfast.

And she jumped back, as two figures suddenly barged into the room. Akko yelped in surprise, worried for a second, before she recognized the figures. One tall, timid, with square shoulders and a pointy chin. The other short and round, but not fat. “Oh, it’s you,” Akko said with relief. “What were you doing there?”

Hadroin opened his mouth and spoke very softly, but the words to come out of his mouth made no sense. Akko facepalmed, raise a hand to make them wait, and put his translator device on. Then she gave him a thumbs up.

Again, Hadroin spoke. “We didn’t want to wake you up,” he explained.

“Oh… how long were you guys out there?” Akko asked, cocking her head.

“About twenty _minutes_ , maybe? We waited for Miss Diana to leave, watching from the corner,” Shill said. Akko had heard minutes, but given how the translator worked, the measure of time was probably different. It could’ve been longer or shorter. She wondered if she should try to learn the appal language too. She was already occupied with the cyborg, though.

“Ok, what did you need?” Akko asked, noticing that both of them were kind of fidgety and nervous.

“We want to stay,” Hadroin was the one to speak this. “We got to watch a lot of human TV these past few days. Earth seems to be a wonderful place,” his yellow eyes looked directly at Akko. “But we can’t do it without your help.”

Akko cocked her head. “How so? Did you try to…?”

“We investigated. The planetary alliance only allows planetary immigration if the heads of both planets agree,” Shill explained. “They won’t let us get out of Appal,” he said with a grimace.

Akko paused. “What do you want me to do?” She asked, troubled.

Shill took a deep breath. “We would like it if you kidnapped us,” he said in full seriousness.

“Aha, aha,” Akko nodded. “I don’t get it at all.”

Hadroin took out a small paper. It had things written in it, but Akko couldn’t read them. “Your ship has the ability to teleport, so our plan is that you, once we’re off the planet, will teleport into our intergalactic ship, let us board it with you, and then you’ll take us back to earth.”

“Why don’t you escape now?” Akko frowned.

“If we disappear _while_ we’re on earth, they will know we’re here,” Shill explained. “But if we disappear _after_ everyone has seen that we’re on space and we suddenly disappear…”

Akko opened her mouth. It made sense. If they disappeared in the middle of space then at best they could’ve assumed they jumped into the void. Well, kind of a grim way of lying to you family and friends, but who was Akko to judge?

“And are you sure you won’t regret it? How long have you been together?” Akko asked, making sure they weren’t just teenagers with hormones.

“Four years,” Hadroin said. Again, Akko wasn’t sure what a year was in Appal, but she figured it’d be a decent amount of time. “Since we met at the beginning of the pilot program.”

Akko nodded. “Ok… Then I’m going to need a picture or something of the place you want me to teleport to,” she explained. “I usually have to visualize the place.”

Without delay, Hadroin took out a big envelope. “Here. It’s a series of pictures from every angle possible of the hangar,” he handed it to Akko. Akko opened it, and indeed, it was a hangar, though not as big as the _Dragon’s._ She could see both of the Appal ships in it. “W-we won’t do it for free, of course. We have information we can share with humanity, technology, things like that,” he also explained.

Akko smiled at them. “It’s fine. So… When are you guys leaving?”

“At about the same time as you. Here,” Shill gave her a clock. Or something like that. It had a countdown, but it wasn’t exactly timed in human time, though it had human numbers. “We want to wait a day, to not make it too obvious.”

“Please, don’t speak about this with anyone,” Hadroin said. “If word reaches our coach…” he shivered.

“No problem,” Akko agreed. “Ok, I’ll see you guys-” suddenly, Diana barged into the room. She looked determined.

“Akko, I need to use the-” She paused, noticing the couple of Appali in the room. “Oh. Hello,” she said, obviously confused.

Both of them patted Akko in the shoulder as a thank you. “Nevermind us, Miss Diana, we were just congratulating Miss Atsuko here on her victory last night,” Shill said. “Please continue, we’ll leave.”

“Uhm, sure,” Diana obviously didn’t quite believe it, but she let them leave the room. Both of them looked at Akko with one final smile before closing the door.

Akko and Diana stared awkwardly at each other for a moment. Diana eyed the envelope, but she said nothing of it, instead shaking her head. “Akko, come on, I need to use the simulator,” she extended her hand. Akko supposed that meant she wanted the Shiny Rod’s key-wand.

“Is something wrong?” Akko asked. She wasn’t sure of what was safe to talk about and what wasn’t, but she needed to ask.

“Quite the opposite,” Diana answered as Akko finally handed her the broom. “Though I guess we shall see.”

 

“I know nothing about her,” Amanda opened her eyes with the sudden realization. She had come back to the room not long ago to find out Hannah had already left. She had gone back to bed, but she was unable to sleep. So she decided to imagine what a date with her would be like. But then, it hit her.

What was Hannah’s favorite color? Amanda assumed yellow, but maybe she hated it! What about food? Her hobbies? What did she want to do with her future? She was training to be a gunman but maybe she was being forced on it by her family. What was her birthday? No, wait, she knew that from the party, nevermind.

 _Oh, I know, I’ll have Constanze get me the info!_ She thought with energy. _I’ll just get her the blueprints asap,_ she decided. She checked the hour. They were meant to board the _Dragon_ in about three hours. Training would resume after that, which meant Amanda had about that time to prepare and maybe even get the blueprints, though if they were so important they would probably be on a safe or something alike.

She dressed quickly, already running through her mind a few ideas. She needed to find out where the blueprints were, first, but she doubted the supervisor would tell her if she asked. She would study the layout of the hangar to see if there was somewhere where they could be hiding them, then she’d follow the supervisor to his room, wherever it was. Maybe one of the members of the team had them, an engineer or a mechanic. She’d need to find out their rooms too. There was probably a list somewhere on the garage.

 _Ok, I’ll go down there, try to stay hidden. There’s not a lot of people there, and the one watching was inside the Unicorn’s room. When I see no one in the common room I’ll slip into it and take a look. Or maybe I should follow the supervisor first, assuming he’s still there,_ she started planning as she finished preparing and decided to exit her room.

However, before she exited, Hannah entered.

Amanda panicked for a second. “Oh, hey,” she said. _Just because you realized you don’t know her favorite color doesn’t have to mean you treat her differently,_ Amanda chastised herself. “Slept well?”

“Yes,” Hannah said. She looked at her attire. Amanda had chosen grey clothing that would let her blend better with the metallic walls of the dragon. She also had a hat to hide her hair. “Where did you go this morning?” Hannah asked.

Amanda found the question curious, but she was in kind of a hurry. “Constanze needed my help with something, and I actually gotta get back there,” she said in a hurry.

“Can’t it wait for a few minutes? I want to talk about something,” Hannah said.

“I have to go,” Amanda insisted.

Hannah put a hand in her arm. Amanda paused. Hannah looked… needy? Her heart started to pound. _She always wears that yellow ribbon, it has to be her favorite color, come on,_ she thought, looking at her ponytail. _I need to find out!_

“Sorry, this is really important,” Amanda said, walking around Hannah but pausing. “I can give you a goodbye kiss if you want,” she said.

Hannah frowned. “Ok, whatever, go,” she said, crossing her arms, obviously mad. Amanda wondered why she seemed angry that she was leaving, and what was that look about.

“I’ll do whatever you want when I get back, as an apology,” Amanda winked at her. She enjoyed seeing Hannah’s angry face slowly turn into one of confusion. Maybe that’d get her into a better mood. “See you!” she said, leaving.

_Ok now, wonder if the supervisor will even be there…_

The Unicorn was… Incredible. Diana had been flying it only for a while, but the difference with the Shooting Star was clear. The blueprints only were already quite incredible, but the systems were a thing from the future. She could _feel_ the magical field around her, with how intense it was. The world seemed to be going slower than it was normal for any reflex enhancements from normal brooms, even slower than in the Shiny Rod. The control system was something completely new, too. It was like a VR helmet that replaced her witch hat. She sat comfortably and controlled the ship with her mind.

It was pretty instinctive, but the truth was that she still needed to adjust. Some of the things she’d never be able to do with just her hands and simple controls were possible with this. Diana needed to study how the system worked, and probably ask for Barbara’s help on it, since she was the expert, but the basis was that it reacted to the brain’s activity with magic. It was enough to read her mind, in a way, but not so much to fry her head.

The weirdest part of it was when it responded _too_ well. Diana thinking about doing something that with the Shooting Star would be impossible but the controls picking up on it and doing it anyways. She needed to start training her thinking, start separating at which point her thoughts became too surface level. _If I’d had this ship yesterday…_ Diana thought with a sigh.

Still, it was surprising that the Shiny Rod could produce a replica of The Unicorn’s cockpit, including controls. How did that work? Maybe Akko could actually use this type of piloting too, though Diana wouldn’t recommend it. Akko was too easily distracted, she was better working off muscle memory than knowledge.

Diana really wanted to start practicing for real, but the _Dragon_ still didn’t leave earth, so it would be a while before they knew where they were going next. It was hard to believe that five races had already gone by and only five remained. In a way it had felt like so long, yet also so short.

Still, five races Diana had to win. She stopped distracting, getting back into the simulation. For now she was using a simple circuit, a lesser broom stadium where curves were few and the important part was to keep focus on the other racers. She was practicing without Hannah, for now, but she’d bring her in soon. Ursula wasn’t there with her – she had told Diana to readjust a little before she’d come to help her out – which meant that until she grew used to the controls she’d better use simple tracks where her mistakes were obvious to her.

Yet, she noticed her flying style being basically the same. Maybe it was force of habit, but she’d expected that controlling things with her mind would make everything snappier. She had almost expected to fly like Amanda, but it wasn’t anything like that.

She was just… herself. It seemed stupid, but with everything going on in the past few days, this felt like a bucket of cold water.

She ended some few extra practice races. For now she only used four other racers, but she’d move on to ten soon. How would Akko fly with these controls? She seemed to have such good instincts. Maybe Diana wasn’t giving her enough credit. Maybe she’d actually be way better. She was such a beaut- Good pilot. Good, not beautiful. Well, beautiful too, but that was irrelevant. She was such a good pilot after so little time, she had obliterated her rivals yesterday… Maybe she would benefit from this. She’d talk to Akko about this later, probably with Ursula too.

For now, however, she’d focus on gaining back her own flying.

 

Roberto was a simple man, his only goal in life being to make enough money day to day to be able to play videogames and help his girlfriend back at home. He had worked as an engineer since getting out of college twelve years ago, and he’d been lucky enough to have a father that was a able to get him a job with a prominent pilot from back then. From there he’d gotten a job being part of the engineering team during the previous IPR, and after ten years of hard work he’d finally been appointed supervisor over the entire team. Both the previous Inter-Planetary Race and this one he’d been annoyed at the Shiny Rod. That broom usually took all of the spotlight, and having no need of maintenance no one in the engineering teams got any kind of usable thing for their curriculums out of it.

That was why he was so excited, first by the Shooting Star and now by the Unicorn. And this time he wasn’t going to let some sixteen year old mute prodigy steal his spotlight. The Unicorn was too much of an important ship. He always carried the blueprints with him. He knew the tiny girl would be after them. She’d probably try to sneak around again to mess with the newer broom too. But it wasn’t going to happen. His team member better not be slacking off or he’d fire the fuck out of them once they got back from the race.

He, now, was just resting. He hadn’t done much in the day but being in charge of a bunch of morons was tiring.

The waiting room of the garage was his small paradise. It had a mini fridge where he kept beer, sofas and couches all around, it had a desk where he could keep some paperwork that he didn’t feel like bringing to his room, a dining table where he and some of his subordinates played poker once a week and of course, the holographic screen with the almost infinite amount of movies and series to watch.

The _Dragon_ would go into space in an hour or two, he wasn’t sure at this point. Once in space he’d probably go to his room to take a nap. He probably could get away with doing it now, but he wanted to make sure no stupid tourist tried to sneak into the ship by hiding in the garage. Sure, there were security cameras everywhere, but the guys checking those out were just a bunch of lazy bastards.

With his ass on a couch and his feet on top of a small table, Roberto read the news on his wand. Nothing of great interest for him was going on, save for a few races where he had placed bets and lost horribly. No news outlet had gotten their hand on the information about the new broom for the human team, which would make it even more exciting when it finally appeared on a race.

A lot of news were talking about the First Category race this time, though. They spoke about how everything had seemed grim at first, another victim to the home-race curse. Atsuko Kagari, who hadn’t won any race save for the preliminary one in Sídhe, and had in fact gone a couple of them without earning a single point, had surprised everyone with an incredible comeback. She had showed hidden skills, and when the excitement of the win died, a lot of people had started to wonder when had she suddenly gotten so good.

Rumors about Chariot cheating her way to the top on the previous IPR weren’t few, and now some people were starting to suggest Kagari had found whatever cheat codes Chariot had used. That attack at the end of the race wasn’t normal, and transforming our ship mid-race should totally be considered a violation of the rules.

Roberto himself didn’t think it was. Rules said nothing about transforming ships and similar things. He had seen the race the day prior and while he wasn’t a big fan of the current team, he had to admit, it had been a rollercoaster of emotions.

However, as he recalled it, he realized one thing. In a quick movement he took the blueprints of the Unicorn out of his pocket. Paper blueprints, unhackable. He checked them out, and as he guessed, they lacked shields.

He puffed his cheeks in annoyance. Should he? Asking the tiny demon to help him out would be humiliating. Cavendish had fared pretty well without shields before, what would change if they didn’t add them? Sure, she wouldn’t have _one_ feature, but the Unicorn was already so damn amazing. He stared at the blueprints for a while. He had helped install the shields on the Shooting Star – well, kind of – and he had gotten an idea of how they were supposed to work. The Unicorn had a few spots where one could be installed. Maybe if they took them out of the Shooting Star and installed them on the Unicorn… Assuming Constanze would let them. He somehow doubted it.

Suddenly, he saw some movement to his right. He turned, expecting to see one of his subordinates, but found no one. He cocked his head. He had probably imagined it. Still, slightly paranoid, he put the blueprints back on his inner pocket. As long as he kept them there they would be safe. And when he was in his room he used the small safe in it, since he had gotten a decent gold-tier room. He also had access up to Platinum Deck, though not Magic Deck. Not that he cared for it too much, since it was just a spa, and he didn’t really have interest in that.

With a sigh, he went back to reading the news. Oh, a new VR movie with the actress he liked so much…


	86. Chapter 86

“We’re finally back to our usual setup,” Barbara said with resignation.

“That’s too bad, we never found out how the punishment ended,” Lotte said with a suggestive look. She had left her luggage on the red team’s room, but she was more than likely going to sleep with Barbara. Barbara stopped taking out of her bag the things she needed to put in the laundry – thanks to Lotte and the privacy of their room, the amount had basically doubled – and turned to face her. “Hannah was still in her hotel room when we left, and I doubt Diana will come back anytime soon…” she raised an eyebrow. While normally a meek and soft-spoken girl, when they were alone Lotte truly… unleashed.

Barbara smiled and took a step towards her. “So, the little cub hasn’t gotten enough…” Barbara used her soft, smooth voice, meant to imitate Edgar’s. She took Lotte into her arms, leaning. She pressed her lips together, and Lotte instantly opened her mouth.

Barbara was just starting to use her tongue when suddenly the door to the room opened. This was a bigger room, where the door wasn’t in direct line of sight with the interior, but in a corner. Hannah entered, and Barbara saw her troubled face. _Not this again,_ she thought with resignation.

Hannah didn’t even seem to notice that Lotte and her best friend were all over each other as she huffed in annoyance. “So, I tell Amanda I want to talk with her, and then she just… walks away and doesn’t let me because she has something more important to do! I’ve been waiting for two hours already!”

Barbara sighed. She kissed Lotte’s forehead before walking away and taking Hannah’s shoulder. “Please sit, your pacing makes me nervous,” she said. Hannah did as told. “What’s the problem now?”

“If she likes me,” Hannah said, “shouldn’t I be her first priority?”

“So you’re jealous,” Barbara said, “and you want to rant about it with us.” She wasn’t teasing Hannah, just stating the facts.

“I’m not jealous! Just… Ugh,” Hannah crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks.

 _Why can’t she just admit it?_ Barbara thought with frustration. If she’d known her friend was a tsundere… No, she’d always known she had the potential, but she’d always figured out she’d fall for a boy and would give in without _this_ much trouble.

“Ok, look,” Barbara put her arm around Hannah’s shoulders. “Amanda likes you, but her life doesn’t _revolve_ around you, understand? Just because someone finds you important doesn’t mean you’ll _always_ be their first priority. Do you know what she’s doing?”

“She just said she was in a hurry, then she promised she’d do whatever I want and ran off,” Hannah said.

Lotte suddenly stepped forward, eyes sparkling. “Oh god, whatever you want?” She said with excitement. “That has so much potential!” she exclaimed. Well, she herself had written a fanfic with a similar premise, though Barbara doubted this situation would end up as sexual as it had there.

Hannah looked at Lotte with some disgust. “What do you mean?”

Barbara shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she said. If Lotte explained what she meant Hannah would probably just get up and leave the room. “But if you don’t know what she’s doing, then what is the problem? As far as you know she’s preparing a birthday party for you.”

“It’s nowhere near my birthday,” Hannah complained.

“She may not know that,” Barbara suggested.

“She was there when I said it outloud for everyone to hear!”

Barbara had forgotten about that. “Right. Well, my point stands,” she continued. “If you want her to pay attention to you, you just should say it directly.”

“I don’t-” she stopped herself. Then, she blushed, to Barbara’s surprise. “You think if I message her she’ll come?”

Barbara blinked. “Wait, did you just-”

“Yes!” Hannah stood, grabbing her head. “I admit it! I may like her, ok? Leave me alone!” she said, clearly flustered. “I… felt disappointed when she wasn’t there, I let her hug me and kiss me and I _like it,_ I got mad when she left despite me asking her to stay! I…” she stopped, her hands dropping. “I just want to figure this out. I feel like my mind is being torn apart. How do I figure it out? I don’t want to just let her kiss me, what if I do and I find out I don’t like her?” she crossed her arms. “Just… want a way to know that’s not some psychological trick,” she said with a really troubled voice.

Barbara was surprised by her outburst. She was having trouble finding what to say.

“If I may,” Lotte put a hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “Why don’t you try going on a date?”

“Huh?” Hannah looked at Lotte. “But we’re not going out.”

“You don’t have to be ‘dating’ to date. Many couples first go on a couple dates to get to know each other before actually getting together,” Lotte’s kind smile was so trustworthy and her soft voice sounded so reasonable, it was impossible for anyone to ignore it. Barbara couldn’t help but feel her chest warm up at seeing her girlfriend helping out her best friend. “It’s a good way of figuring out how you feel. Just go out, have some fun, learn about each other.”

Hannah’s troubled expression slowly disappeared. She started nodding, first slowly, then progressively gaining energy. “Yes,” she mumbled. “Yes, yes, that’s a good idea,” she said. “I can tell her to go on a date with me and I’ll talk to her there. I can figure out how I feel and then… Well, I’ll see from there.”

Barbara stood. She approached Hannah and hugged her. “Just know, whatever answer you come to, it’s ok. It’s part of who you are.”

Hannah hugged her back. “Sorry for interrupting your sex,” she said. “You’re the best of friends.”

Barbara blushed slightly. “I know,” she said. “But we really need a way of communicating when we’re doing these things.”

Both of them stepped away from each other. “How about Lotte leaves one of her spirits in front of the door? I’ll know not to bother you,” Hannah suggested.

“Hey, not a bad idea,” Barbara nodded.

“Got it,” Lotte nodded.

Hannah seemed way more relaxed now. “Ok, I’ll go to Amanda’s room to wait for her, or worst case scenario I’ll see her when we’re training. Until then, have fun,” she winked. Then she turned and left the room.

Lotte instantly moved one of her spirits to follow her.

“She’s such a handful,” Barbara said, turning to Lotte.

“Not as much of a handful as I’m going to be,” the redhead took off her glasses. She had such pretty blue eyes. Barbara smiled. It was great being in love. Hopefully Hannah would find out too, soon.

 

Amanda finished writing on her wand’s notepad all the info she had managed to get. The supervisor had the blueprints always with him, apparently. Amanda even thought it was possible for him to sleep with them. Better to let them wrinkle a little than to let them be stolen. She took note of where his room was and also chuckled at how much of an idiot he had been. Now all Amanda had to do was make sure to learn his sleep patterns and what he did once inside his room, but for now she’d have to wait for him to leave. Once that was done, she’d plant a camera inside it, study him and then go in for the desired item. This had been so much easier than she’d expected, it was exciting.

 _Hannah wanted to talk with me,_ she recalled. Should she go and to do it? She wanted to see her.

She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but how could she not, after last night? Hannah had been so… permissive. The hugs, the way Amanda had slowly worked through her own feelings with her between her arms, everything. Her heart still hurt with happiness every time she thought about that. How could anyone ignore how beautiful Hannah was? How could she have gone sixteen years of her life without a single boyfriend or a first kiss? It was destiny, it had to be. Amanda was way too lucky for it to not.

And Hannah had to like her. The way she’d acted was totally unjustifiable by any other means. Sure, she had given a stupid excuse, but that was it, just stupid. Amanda smirked as she walked towards their new rooms.

After taking a couple sets of stairs – the supervisor’s room wasn’t far from their own – she walked across a couple of metallic corridors before reaching the place where their new rooms were. One of them had a small spirit in front of it. Amanda cocked her head, wasn’t that the blue team’s room?

Well, she’d ask later. For now she’d go put on some decent clothes. She went past the door with the spirit and entered her room. It was relatively big when compared to everything previously. The center of the room was wide and spacious, enough to, for example, play some twister comfortably. There were two relatively big closets, and the desk was big enough for two persons.

While inside, she started undressing. What should she wear? She normally didn’t worry about such things, but she’d try to look cool, she had the feeling Hannah liked her best when she looked cool.

She was halfway through undressing, having already taken off her shoes and t-shirt, that she noticed someone was in one of the beds. She thought it’d be Jasminka or Constanze, but she froze when she realized it was Hannah. _Did she mistake the room?_ She questioned, very slowly approaching the bed. She hadn’t seemed too tired earlier, but they had done a lot of shit last night, so it made sense for her to be sleeping again.

Amanda watched her. _So cute,_ she thought. Hannah looked peaceful, and didn’t have that edge of don’t-fuck-with-me she always seemed to have when awake. She was looking up, and Amanda looked at her completely unprotected lips. _It’d be so easy,_ she thought. _I’d just have to lean down and…_

But she wouldn’t do it. Had she become a softie? She was sure that, before, she would have done so without even hesitating. Curiously enough, it seemed that the more she liked someone, the more reluctant she was to actually push boundaries.

With a sigh, she extended her hand and touched Hannah’s shoulder. “Hey, you’re in the wrong room,” Amanda said.

Hannah’s eyes snapped open. “I’m awake,” she claimed. She looked confused for a few seconds until she saw Amanda. “Oh, right. No kiss this time?” she asked with sarcasm.

Amanda smiled. “Want me to?”

She expected Hannah to refuse, of course. Act angered, stand up, maybe explain what she was doing in the room. Therefore, she waited. A second, two. Five. Ten? Hannah seemed to get redder every second. And, once Amanda caught on, she got flustered too, her heart starting to beat faster, flushing. Hannah seemed to notice the change, looking at the wall. She had her hands linked over her belly, and her thumbs were fidgety.

“Y-you serious? I can?” Amanda asked. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was definitely reading the mood wrong. There was no way…

“Just do it and shut up,” Hannah ordered.

Amanda’s breath was now faster too. She felt like she was in some kind of dream. Again. Two days in a row. Maybe this was just one big hallucination and she had actually been on an accident and was in bed.

But she’d enjoy the hallucination anyways.

She leaned. She kissed Hannah’s cheek. Slowly. It was hot, and red, and Hannah was closing her eyes with strength as if she expected it to be painful or something. Amanda finished her kiss, and Hannah relaxed visibly. But then the redhead got an idea. “I love you,” she whispered to Hannah’s ear. Hannah’s eyes opened, and she stopped breathing. Amanda herself felt a rush of warmth through her whole body. She had never imagined it’d feel so good to be open with one’s feelings.

However, she also sensed Hannah’s uncertainty. She stepped back, and Hannah slowly sat up. She put a hand to her ear, her face beet red. “I-I wanted to talk with you,” she said, completely ignoring what had just happened. Amanda smiled. That was very like her.

“Ok, then talk,” Amanda said.

“But,” Hannah stood. “I’ve reconsidered. I think I have a better idea,” she looked Amanda in the eyes. She was so beautiful. Particularly when she was still red. “Let’s go on a date.”

Amanda froze. “D-date?” She asked, confused. “As in…?”

“Yes, yes, don’t act so surprised. I want to go out, ok? Let’s go shopping and watch a movie or something,” she said that more as an order than a petition.

Confused, Amanda nodded. “O-ok, of course! When?”

“Tomorrow, I guess. Once we’re in space. We can probably take a break from practicing for half a day or so and have some fun,” Hannah spoke.

Amanda smiled. No, she beamed. “Where did this come from? Do you maybe-”

Hannah raised a hand, stopping Amanda. “Don’t say it. Don’t get your hopes up. I don’t know, ok? It’s what I want to figure out. So let’s go on a date,” Hannah looked excited. Actually excited.

Ok, this was a hallucination after all. Maybe she was dying. So she _had_ actually raced yesterday and probably gotten into an accident, she just didn’t remember it. Maybe what had happened to Diana happened to her, but the shield had broken and she was now with half her body crushed on a hospital bed, her brain putting her in a hallucination so that she wouldn’t have to suffer from struggling to grasp every breath.

Or, well, maybe Hannah had actually fallen for her.

“Ok,” Amanda said, happy. “Ok, nice, a date with you, I’m looking forward to it.”

Hannah stood there, slightly awkward. “And… Well, in the meantime, you did say that you’d do whatever I want you to do, right? And going on a date doesn’t count, you accepted on your own!”

“Uhm, right,” Amanda said.

“Then no teasing!” Hannah pointed at her. “No flirting, no insinuations, not _anything_ until the date, got it?” she demanded. “You do anything and the date is cancelled!”

Amanda smiled. “Oh, ok,” she said. “Now, I was in the middle of changing…” she pointed at her half-nakedness. Hannah hadn’t even noticed, apparently.

Hannah paused. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ll go now,” she said, turning around. “See you later,” she waved goodbye as she left the room.

Amanda didn’t get back to changing. Instead, she dropped on the bed Hannah had just been using. It smelled faintly of her shampoo. _I should buy her something,_ Amanda thought. _What would she like?_

 _I’ve no idea,_ she realized. _I really need to get those blueprints._

“You’re too confident,” Ursula explained to Diana after the virtual Unicorn got completely annihilated. “I know the headset controls are good, but don’t get carried away. You should’ve taken the curve from the outside. Going inside is faster but you’re not immortal.”

“Sorry, I didn’t actually mean to do that,” Diana explained. “I just considered it a possibility and it happened on its own.”

Ursula nodded. “Separating surface level thinking from everything else isn’t easy, is it?” she patted Diana’s shoulder.

Diana shook her head. “I’m getting the hang of it, though. I’ll have it perfectly under control by the end of the day.”

Ursula chuckled. “If the reports are right, this is something they’ve been working on for a couple years now. Took them their best pilots half a month to fully adapt,” she explained.

Diana narrowed her eyes. “They weren’t in this situation,” she said with a dark expression.

Ursula paused. Should she say something? Diana hadn’t told her anything of why she’d acted the way she’d acted, but it was easy to see she was being a little too intense. “Ok, let’s just keep practicing, ok?”

Diana nodded. They set up another race. Simple, just five racers. Daemons, shapeshifter, medusa and armor.

The race started. Diana flew wonderfully, save for a few strange movements, like dodging non-existent attacks – since Diana was practicing without gunmen – and some sudden changes of position, probably from her getting distracted. It wasn’t easy to control something just with your mind, despite what science-fiction might tell you.

Most of the time, Ursula was just a decoration. Diana didn’t really need her tips, she was already a wonderful pilot. It was more than just talent. She had practiced, a lot. Sometimes, Ursula wondered what Diana would’ve been able to do if she’d gotten to the Shiny Rod before Akko. If she was this good with mundane brooms…

Not that Akko was bad, but it was hard to ignore the facts. She wouldn’t have gotten to the point she was without the Rod, and that would have repercussions in her future, as it had for Ursula. Give a person the power of a god and then strip it away. Watch them strive for that power for the rest of their lives, instead of being satisfied with standard power, like everyone else.

Ursula still felt it. The weight of the Shiny Rod on her shoulders. The knowledge that she would never again pilot it. In some ways, a bliss. In others, a curse.

Diana suddenly went down. The virtual unicorn crashed against the road nose-first, making the simulation end. “Damn it,” Diana cursed on the low.

“It’s fine,” Ursula encouraged. “Try again.”

Diana sighed. “I’m distracted. I need to stop thinking about unnecessary things,” she explained. “Each time my mind just so much as goes anywhere it shouldn’t the ship takes it as some random command and goes nuts.”

“Well, you could try meditation before a race. Leave your mind blank,” Ursula suggested. “It’s impossible to be one hundred percent focused on anything all the time.”

“I should be able to do it. I’ve always done it,” Diana said with a grim expression. “I’ve just lost practice,” she closed her eyes. “Let’s keep going.”

Ursula pressed her lips. There wasn’t much she could do for Diana right now. The best she could do was try to support her.

That’d hopefully be enough.

 

Sucy took a deep breath. She looked at her wand, now charged with a medical cartridge. One she couldn’t use, since she had barely seen Akko in the last few days. Or Lotte, for that matter. Not that she cared, she actually enjoyed the peace, but it was a pain in the ass not to have a guinea pig.

But now, Akko was in the room. She was wearing shorts, too. She had her eyes closed, and she seemed to be focused in thinking. Sucy looked at her wand. Her new potion was created to change some of the chemical processes in the brain. It was supposed to suppress mostly sadness, like an anti-depressive. Magic anti-depressives were a thing already, but Sucy’s version was meant to take that to new heights. It wouldn’t just help, it would completely destroy it. If it worked with no side effects maybe she’d become famous and rich.

She was about to stick the wand in Akko’s thigh when she hesitated. _Akko isn’t really depressed, she’s not a good test subject,_ she thought.

Instead, she decided, she stuck it in herself. Worst case scenario she’d have to be taken to a nursery.

The change was almost instantaneous. She started feeling more uplifted. The world stopped sucking, and people stopped being idiots. Akko wasn’t so much an annoying guinea pig and more of a friend, and for a second, Sucy actually started feeling like she could maybe fit in with the rest of the world.

The effects faded as quickly as they came, though, and she soon was back to her gloomy, self-centered self. _God, that was awful,_ she thought with a shiver. She took note never to test it on herself. Ever. But at least it kind of worked.

“Akko,” Sucy called to the brunette. “What the hell are you doing?” She asked, annoyed at how… quiet the girl was. It felt wrong.

“Oh, I’m just… thinking,” Akko said, sighing. “I’m trying to figure out how to help Diana with her problems.”

Sucy rolled her eyes. Of course it’d be about Diana. “I’d like to think she can handle her life,” she said.

Akko pressed her lips. “She can, but… We all could use some help from time to time, don’t you think?” Akko looked at her.

Sucy shrugged. “Most of us aren’t trying to be perfect,” she said.

Akko frowned. “Sucy, Diana isn’t like that. You should try to get to know her better,” she said. Sucy turned back to her experiments.

“No thank you,” Sucy said. “I think I’m going to get to know Diana plenty well once you start fucking like rabbits,” she said. Akko really failed to understand that sometimes people didn’t like each other. It wasn’t a big mystery or something to be changed, it just happened.

Akko, blushing, crossed her arms. “Well, do whatever you want. You’ll see one day,” Akko insisted. Sucy shook her head, saying nothing. She focused on her work.

_Now, how do I make it last longer…_

_“What the fuck…?” Croix whispered, looking up at the broom. The inscriptions in the dome above had been weird enough, but this was…_

_There, in the middle of the strange, abandoned building’s basement, a white ship floated. Chariot’s mouth formed an O in awe. The thing, slightly triangular in shape, had something like a massive engine on the back. It was white, though it had a bunch of things that looked like crystal balls all around it._

_Croix instantly started to consider what this could be. Were they in some kind of secret military grounds? No, impossible. A hologram? No, there wasn’t even energy in this place. But that thing was floating, so it had to-_

_“This is so cool,” Chariot said. “I told you, exploring abandoned buildings is always fun,” she walked towards the broom._

_“Chariot, wait,” Croix walked forward. However, before she could reach Chariot, she tripped on the uneven stone floor that had, over the years, been destroyed by the roots of the trees around it. She managed to not damage herself too much with the fall._

_Chariot climbed on the broom, that was floating about a meter over the ground. She walked over it, making it wobble ever so slightly, and approached the windshield of the cockpit. It opened up for her. Croix followed, fearing for Chariot’s life, but before she could say anything the stupid red haired girl had already jumped inside._

_Croix jumped on top of the broom and crawled to the cockpit, not trusting herself to keep balance, and kind of dived into the cockpit before it closed. “Chariot are you mad?!” she exclaimed as she scrambled over herself on the floor of the cockpit._

_A pair of hands helped her get up. Chariot was already on the pilot’s seat. “Look, it’s an actual, functioning broom! Who do you think it belong to?”_

_“I don’t care. Look, we don’t even have a key-wand, we can’t…” Suddenly, Croix noticed Chariot had something in her hand. “What is that?”_

_“It was on the seat,” Chariot showed her the white key-wand. “Pretty neat, huh?”_

_“Pretty suspicious. This smells of trap,” Croix pressed her lips._

_Chariot snorted. “Chill, it’s just a broom,” she turned, shoving the key-wand in the hole it belonged. “Now, let’s see what this can do…” she trailed off as, suddenly, the ceiling – both the ground floor and the dome – started moving. Opening. Giving a away._

_“Oh god,” Croix said. “Chariot, this is wrong, don’t you-” Croix started, but suddenly the entire floor trembled._

_“Let’s see what this thing can do…” Chariot said as the broom rose in the air…_

Croix suddenly sat up. Where was she? She looked around. Her cheek hurt. Everything was dark. It took her a few seconds to realize she was in her lab. She had fallen asleep on her desk. Again. And over her wand, too. She took off her goggles, rubbing her cheek as she did so, and yawned. At least she had gotten started on the blueprints.

Being around Ursula so much was starting to affect her. Or maybe it was the Shiny Rod. That cursed ship always liked to mess with people’s minds.

She stood, taking a deep breath, and stretched her shoulders. How much time had she been asleep? Enough, according to her body. She walked to the back of her lab, where her monitors showed her various things: The main bridge of the _Dragon,_ all of the team’s rooms – save for one, that she had turned off since she wasn’t interested in horny teenagers going at it – and various locations across all the Planetary Alliance where she had her many teleport stations as a way to quickly access any planet she could need.

She stepped to the side, opening a small secret door on the wall, and slipped into a really, really small room that held nothing but a bed and a small nightstand, both of them cramped and made to fit the room. She stripped completely, dropped onto the bed and sighed. She was too tired to go back to the _Dragon_ or to the Planetary Alliance’s mother ship.

Hopefully she wouldn’t dream again…


	87. Chapter 87

Diana was struggling to keep up with the others. Her physical condition wasn’t bad, but after two weeks of inactivity, even with magic helping to keep her body strong, it was hard to compare herself to Akko, Amanda, Hannah and even Jasminka. Jasminka didn’t need to do this anymore, but maybe she had taken a liking to it, because there she was, jogging on the treadmill, looking perfectly happy despite all the sweat running down her face.

Diana couldn’t be so happy. She was struggling to finish her own set of exercises. She had gone for the ones that didn’t require equipment first, but leaving the stationary bike for the end had definitely been a mistake. Still, it was just an hour of exercise a day. She’d grow used to it in no time. Akko and Amanda seemed fine, and Ursula looked as fresh as could be, as if exercising this much meant nothing to her. Hannah was on the same level as Jasminka, maybe struggling a little but not looking exhausted.

When Diana finished, everyone was already picking up their things to go shower. The gym had showers, but Amanda was the only one willing to use it.

Diana did notice that Hannah was looking at Amanda as she walked towards the showers. She was blushing slightly. When had she started to like Amanda? Diana thought she wasn’t interested. Did it even matter to her? No, the answer was no.

“Well, this is it for today. Akko, you’re back on schedule. Come train when the clock tells you,” Ursula said. Diana looked at Akko from the corner of her eye. She hadn’t even realized, but she was still wearing the clock Constanze had made for her to follow Diana’s schedule. _She really respects me that much,_ Diana thought with a stab of pain in her chest. “Amanda, you…”

“Sorry, I’m busy!” Amanda shouted from the changing room. “It doesn’t even matter who’s in the turret anyways, just have Jasminka do it,” she said. Soon after, a shower was heard.

Ursula shook her head, but she didn’t seem to object to the claim. “Hannah, you’re going to start practicing with Diana in a short while. You’ve got much to learn about the Unicorn.”

Hannah cocked her head. Akko frowned. “The what?” Both of them asked at the same time.

Ursula’s eyes widened. “Oh, right, you don’t know…” Ursula pressed her lips. “Go take a shower and come down to the hangar,” she ordered.

Akko and Hannah both nodded, taking off, though Hannah took one last look towards the changing rooms, and Akko – as subtly as centipede wearing tap shoes – looked at Diana. When she was gone, Diana bit her lip. Akko hadn’t said a single word to her since this morning. She looked like she wanted to.

It was harsh, but Diana knew what she was doing. Particularly now, when she had to keep her single-minded focus on racing, or the controls of the Unicorn wouldn’t work.

Ursula also left the gym, followed by Jasminka, while Diana was picking up her things. She did it slowly, since she was tired. And, after everything, she walked towards the exit.

There, walking in, was Andrew. He looked at Diana with a natural expression and waved. Diana replied with daggers. She exited the gym without saying a word, and he didn’t dare say anything either. Why was he on the gym? He probably only wanted to work on his shape. Couldn’t be the son of a two-faced politic without it.

Diana sighed. She knew she shouldn’t have been so angry at Andrew specifically. He was raised a certain way and it wasn’t his fault. On the other hand, he was raised a certain way so he’d probably end up being the same as his father. Somehow, Andrew’s situation resembled Marian’s, from Emotions. Though at least Marian had the guts to stand up to them. Why was she comparing reality to a book?

Whatever. Diana needed to take a shower and get back to practice. The good thing about it was that she wouldn’t have to see much of anyone, particularly Akko, during it.

Assuming that could ever be called a ‘good thing’.

 

Amanda was busy with a small console she had taken from Constanze. The tiny girl would certainly get mad later, but Amanda needed it not to end herself while waiting for the stupid supervisor to get up and leave his room. Stealing something wasn’t as simple as sneaking in, looking through some clothes and then getting out carefully. Amanda wanted to know if there were cameras, safes, the size of the room, where one could hide things. She would also ask Sucy for a sedative later, to use on the guy when he went to sleep for real. She would plant a camera inside – provided by Constanze, of course – and if there was a safe plant a device that would pick up on the electronic combination.

_She likes fancy clothing, maybe I should get her a dress,_ Amanda thought as she played the game. ‘Cave Story’ it was called. Hundred years old or more, though this was like its fifth remake. Apparently really influential in its time. Amanda liked videogames but she was a casual player so she didn’t really care much for that. The game was fun, though she preferred fighting games and shooters. The current boss she was facing was a real pain in the ass. How could such a cute rabbit-dog-thing become a monster? Maybe she should’ve paid more attention to the story.

She kept playing until, at one point, she finally heard a door open. She carefully turned to see around the corner, and luckily for her, the supervisor himself was leaving the room, going the other way.

Amanda didn’t lose any time. She quickly walked up to the room. The door was a manual one, which was always nice, and she opened it.

The inside of the room was relatively fancy. It had a big closet on one side, a large desk, and a single bed. It had a screen and even a gaming console. A relatively high-end room for this looser? If Amanda actually cared for most of this she would’ve probably been mad.

First things first. The room didn’t seem to have any cameras, which was perfect. Amanda quickly checked the drawer on the desk, but it was empty. Then she moved on to the closet. It had clothes, of course. A bunch of them. Some stained in oil, some casual. Nothing fancy. And, in one corner of the closet, there was a small safe. Amanda smirked. The guy had probably taken the blueprints with him now, but he’d leave them here during night. At least, that’s what Amanda would do. Why risk having them stolen while you’re asleep? Nothing like a good, trusty safe.

Except, this one wasn’t trusty at all. She recognized it. It was a low-tier safe, the kind you’d find at a hotel. Sure, it did the job for basic stuff, but it wasn’t particularly hard to open if you knew what you were doing.

Amanda quickly set up the camera in such a way that it would allow her to see the guy putting in the combination next time he used it. It was small, almost invisible. Unless he was expecting a camera, he shouldn’t have been able to notice.

After a quick look around for anything else that may have looked suspicious ending in nothing, Amanda finally nodded and ran away. _Ok, now I just gotta wait._

Akko set the Shiny Rod to look for the next planet while she still thought about how amazing the Unicorn was. And it fit Diana, somehow. Akko wasn’t sure of why, but it felt like a broom that had been made just for her. She would have gone to congratulate her, but she wasn’t sure if that was off limits, so she hadn’t done it.

When the Shiny Rod finished searching, Akko frowned. “It’s a broken planet?” she asked, looking at the cracked surface of the planet that looked like a broken wasteland.

“In a way,” Ursula said. “This is Vorago, the Armor planet. It’s a hard place to race on,” she explained.

Akko slowly nodded, starting to understand. It was a relatively famous place, its never-ending meteorite showers being one of the wonders of the planetary alliance. Super dangerous, but super pretty. Akko wondered if she’d be able to see them. Would the Shiny Rod be able to withstand the impact of a meteor? Hopefully.

“Alcor, simulate a race on Vorago,” Akko ordered. Alcor did so, and everything went dark. Akko took a second, expecting something to appear, when she realized it already had.

They were in a cave. Or, not? The walls were straight, and didn’t seem to curve a lot. It was a narrow place, and if she looked down she wasn’t able to see the bottom. “What the hell?” Akko asked, turning the Rod around. The cave – or, maybe… chasm? Sure, the sky wasn’t visible, but if they were deep enough… – seemed to have no bottom. At all. “Why am I flying?”

“Oh, what a weird place to start,” Ursula said. “There are certain chasms in Vorago that go so deep into the planet that even the hover systems of brooms end up recognizing the density of the planet even if they have nothing directly underneath. They’re few and far apart, though.”

“What would happen if the Rod ran out of energy here?” Akko asked, looking down with worry.

Ursula laughed. “It’s highly unlikely one of these will appear on the race. They wouldn’t want to risk the lives of pilots so much,” she explained. Then, however, she paused. “Or, well, that’s what I would normally say…”

“After what we’ve seen from this race I think we shouldn’t discard the possibility quite yet,” Akko said.

Ursula nodded. “If you fell down there then you’d probably die. Not only we don’t know how deep these chasms are, they’re so far down that every device malfunctions far before reaching the bottom, no matter which race explores them. Superstitious people say they’re cursed – including the Armor – but truth is they just have unusually strong magnetic fields. Falling down there means that no one would be able to rescue you, your ship _will_ malfunction, and all communications will be lost.”

Akko gulped. “I sure hope nothing like that happens,” she said, starting to feel kind of nervous. She stared at the abyss. Luckily, it didn’t stare back.

 

“So…” Hannah sat next to Diana on the Shiny Rod. Diana had her eyes closed. She looked like she was meditating or something. “How does it feel being back to practice?” she asked.

Diana shrugged. She really was focused. A little too much, in Hannah’s opinion, but she was biased. Even with her eyes closed Hannah could sense the intensity of her… what? Aura? Whatever it was, it made Hannah slightly nervous. She wanted to help Diana feel better, but she knew there was nothing she could say that would make Diana stop wanting to murder her aunt and family. Not that Hannah blamed her for that. They probably deserved it.

“I noticed that you didn’t speak much with Akko, did you guys have a fight or something?” Hannah asked. That got a reaction out of Diana, a falter in her neutral expression, a twitch of her eyebrow. Hannah wasn’t thrilled that Diana liked Akko, but she was her friend and she’d support her even in falling in love with an idiot.

“Nothing of the sort,” Diana replied. “Now, Hannah, please, I’m trying to focus,” she finished. Hannah pressed her lips. Diana was in one of her dark moods, where she closed the door to most feelings, where she single-mindedly pursued a goal until she was ready to accept that she deserved to be able to feel human emotions again. All Hannah and Barbara could usually do during these periods was trying to be supportive, but Diana was rarely receptive of their words.

She had been rather emotive lately too. Hannah pressed her lips, hoping this wouldn’t set Diana back too much. Akko, whether she liked it or not, had done wonders for Diana. Too bad Diana was who she was. Unforgiving of herself. Of her mistakes, of the things she perceived as weaknesses.

Hannah wanted to give her a hug. She probably needed one, but as she was right now, she’d probably push Hannah away and tell her not to bother her. Akko should be giving her a hug, but for some reason she was being distant. Had Diana said something to push her away? Akko didn’t seem mad. She looked at Diana longingly enough. Maybe Akko had already tried something and was now giving Diana some distance. Maybe she had even given up… though, that was highly unlikely. If there was something in this world Hannah believed in, that was Akko’s stubbornness.

Hannah decided to lay on her back. Should she tell Diana about her date, to help her keep her mind off things? She would most likely ignore it.

_A date,_ she thought. She was… excited. She wanted it to be tomorrow, she wanted to go shopping and maybe try a bunch of clothes, show them to Amanda and see her reaction. She wanted Amanda to react, to be there. Did she like her? Maybe she had just grown used to her, or maybe she was an self-centered jerk who just liked having someone to worship her. Maybe that’s all this was. Hannah getting high on all the affection Amanda was showing her, rushes of dopamine that made her feel funny but would eventually fade away as Amanda’s attention grew old and boring.

Or it could all just be excuses she was making. She’d have to see. What was sure was that she was relaxed right now. She wasn’t worried about Amanda appearing and teasing her. Or flirting. Did she dislike it? No, but it was kind of exhausting, to always be on edge, waiting for the next insinuation or the next compliment.

Amanda O’Neill. Of all the people in the world, probably the one Hannah least expected to ever come to be able to like. Rude and ill-mannered, a by-the-book tomboy. Not to mention the fact that she was a girl. Hannah wondered if she was bisexual or if Amanda just had something special. She had never before even considered liking a girl. She had been with Barbara for years, she had seen her naked, and she had never once gotten embarrassed by romantic subtext or dirty jokes, even if she found them distasteful.

_She said she masturbated to me, once,_ Hannah recalled, blushing slightly. It wasn’t hard to imagine Amanda naked, mostly because she had already seen her with nothing but her panties. Hannah had already been able to admit this from before, but Amanda was quite beautiful. Maybe not enough to get Hannah aroused, but she hadn’t ever gotten aroused with a girl before so it wasn’t particularly telling.

Too bad Amanda never dressed in fancy clothes. She’d probably look good on a suit.

 

Lotte walked hand in hand with Barbara through the park of the third deck. It looked like a normal park, save for the sky being only five meters above.

The park was full of people. Some walked, some lay on the grass with picnics. It was a lively place, though not overwhelming like the constant stream of humans on the streets of Shopping Town. Lotte was enjoying the scenery while thinking about how she hadn’t really gotten to do much despite having been back on Earth. A little disappointing, really.

Well, not that she had wasted her time. She squeezed Barbara’s hand with affection, and got a squeeze back. This was a sort of date. They were planning to sit down and start re-reading nightfall from volume one, together. Some people thought they were obsessive about it, but it was hard to find people as invested in something as Barbara and Lotte were in Nightfall. Having someone to talk about the longer-than-life series was something Lotte had only ever experienced through internet forums and in some conventions.

But then, on Sídhe, Lotte and Barbara had gotten time alone to talk. They had discovered their mutual interest and had built a relationship around it. It had been really fun, even if they’d been kind of awkward at first. Barbara was a really good person, Lotte had come to learn, she was just used to being in a position of power over others, which had lead to her bully tendencies. She had been working on those because Lotte had asked her to, and Lotte was really glad she was being heard.

No one looked at them. Lotte was happy about that. Whenever she went out with Akko or any members of the official team they drew looks from everywhere, and that made her nervous. But when it was just her and Barbara no one bothered with them.

“What a beautiful day,” Barbara joked.

“I dunno, it’s kind of gray, it may rain,” Lotte added. Both of them chuckled.

After a while, they finally sat together under a tree that hadn’t been occupied by others. It wasn’t ‘sunny’ per se, but the lights could be quite annoying, so sitting on the shade was relaxing. Barbara instantly leaned, putting her head on Lotte’s shoulder. Lotte put an arm around her, feeling blessed for being able to have this be her life.

“I’m going to stalk Hannah tomorrow,” Barbara confessed.

“You sure you’re not a stalker?” Lotte asked.

Barbara sighed. “I’m worried. She’s never been on a date before.”

“It’ll be fine,” Lotte reassured. “What’s the worst that could happen?

“Hannah fucking up in a big way and getting Amanda to hate her,” Barbara said. “She can be real troublesome when she’s nervous. I don’t want her to mess up.”

“She won’t,” Lotte patted her. “They like each other. Even if the date goes wrong, they’ll end up fine.”

Barbara cuddled against Lotte with more strength. “You sound like my mother.”

“Well, you can call me mommy,” Lotte said.

Barbara paused. “We said no sexual innuendo during this date,” she complained.

Lotte blushed. “Sorry, I just…” suddenly, she felt a pinch in her butt. “Hey!”

Barbara chuckled. “Anyways, do you want to come with me in stalking my best friend?”

Lotte shook her head. “It’ll be easier if you go alone. Plus, I think Sucy’s been kinda lonely recently. Keeping her some company will be good.”

“You’re too nice,” Barbara said, sighing. “But it’s fine. That’s why I love you.”

“Love you too,” Lotte replied. She turned to kiss Barbara’s head.

This would be a nice day.

 

When they took a break for lunch, Ursula took the chance to go back to her room and asked for food there. She needed to talk with Akko later. She was getting overconfident, since being able to map Vorago and its labyrinth-like chasms was making it easy for her to always pick the right path to victory.

But Ursula’s main focus was Diana, for now. She was a good pilot, but Ursula was worried. She had the same aura Akko had before Diana made that schedule for her. It was a dangerous aura, particularly for Diana, since she was someone who believed herself to be an adult. She believed she knew what was best for her in all situations.

Ursula had trouble connecting with her students. She was afraid of Akko’s fanatism towards Chariot, she had a severe inferiority complex that made her almost see Diana as her superior, she couldn’t ever tell what Amanda was thinking, Hannah was a world of personality, and the others had kind of grown used to being alone. Hell, she had barely exchanged any words with Sucy during the time they’d spent together in that room. She wondered if Sucy was ok. She didn’t seem to mind being alone, but it was hard to tell if it was because she was an introvert or just because she didn’t have the confidence to actively spend time with others. Constanze spent most of her time nowadays with the Shooting Star, and then there was Lotte and Barbara, who had basically formed a life on their own.

And Jasminka… Well, she was there. Probably the only one Ursula didn’t have any kind of trouble with, if she thought about it.

Was she a bad teacher? Was she a failure? What would Croix say? Why did she care about what Croix would say? Her thoughts were a mess. Doing paperwork bored her to no end, and led her to think. And thinking under her circumstances led to troublesome thoughts. Problems. Repressed feelings. Croix… what was she playing at? Becoming the head of the IPR… it was hard enough for an old person or alien. She wasn’t in her thirties yet. Ursula was sure she had to use some kind of manipulation to get where she was, and given the fact that ninety percent of the members of the IPR were alien Ursula doubted that manipulation had been done with her womanly attributes.

Technology. It had to be that. Had she sold human tech, maybe? But, what could human tech offer to most other races? It made little sense, so it couldn’t be that. Unless… Croix had access to a pool of knowledge no being on the universe had. Knowledge gotten from the Shiny Rod. Knowledge Ursula had bestowed upon her by accident. Was she using that? She was certainly using it for the Noir Rod.

Ursula bit her lips. The implications of that were too big for her to fathom.

Hopefully they weren’t the bad kind of implications.


	88. Chapter 88

Amanda slipped into the supervisor’s room twenty minutes after he had gotten in. Her camera showed her the guy had already left the blueprints on the safe, and her instincts told her he was already asleep. So, when she opened the door, carefully, she wasn’t surprised to see the guy sleeping, wearing nothing but his boxers and only half-covered by his bedcover.

She approached him, taking out Sucy’s wand. Sucy had gleefully offered her a sleeping potion, but Amanda’s wand wasn’t a medical one. Amanda took Sucy’s wand and, in a simple motion, she injected the potion straight into the guy’s thigh. He seemed to notice the touch, and his head moved to look around, but in a few seconds he was back to sleep.

Amanda moved to the closet, no longer worried about making noise, and opened the safe. She took out the blueprints, spread them out on the desk, and started analyzing every one of the paper sheets with her own wand. It took her about a minute, but the AI of her wand quickly made sure that the blueprints were digitalized and sent to Constanze in perfect shape.

Smirking, Amanda slipped the blueprints back into the safe, closing it, and then got out of the room.

Mission complete.

 _‘Now that this is done, Cons, I have to ask you a favor…’_ Amanda started writing.

 

Constanze would’ve helped Amanda with her request whether she sent her the blueprints or not. The fact that she had done so, and in barely a day, was just something Constanze was really grateful for. Hannah’s data was extensive. Constanze not only kept files about every Luna Nova student, she had also taken a special interest in the Blue Team. At first she’d planned on using the info to blackmail the bullies, but now she didn’t really care about that anymore.

Knowing Amanda had a date, though? Now that was quite something. Constanze knew Amanda was one to get girls constantly, but going on a date was something very unlike her. She’d probably plant a bug on Amanda, or maybe follow her, to see how she acted. It was worthy of study.

For now, what she really needed to do was study the blueprints. Just one look at them showed her just how much of a leap in technology the Unicorn was. The way magic was transformed into energy was probably the most amazing. It was far beyond the current performance capabilities of even the Shooting Star. Constanze couldn’t help but feel defeated. She hadn’t even imagined such a system possible.

The controls were incredible too, but Constanze didn’t really care much for them. It was something that had been already created with VR, in a way. It didn’t work exactly like it, but Constanze had a much better plan for a way to control a ship.

These blueprints, however, were still amazing. The way magic circuits had been connected with each other to increase efficiency was outright genius, and the hovering system had been optimized to the point where the Unicorn should be able to even go above water. In a way, the ship seemed to approach more the ideal of the Shiny Rod.

Constanze studied the blueprints carefully. She took notes, too. Of course, she planned on installing shields on it. But some of its designs… well, she’d put them in the Shooting Star. Probably no one would care. And after everything was said and done she’d have Akko simulate what she wanted for her. Would Akko transform the Rod for her? Constanze wanted to see exactly how it worked. And, if no one was going to care about the Shooting Star anymore, she’d also like to try some experimental stuff, though that’d take her a good while to finish. Sucy had said it was crazy, but not impossible.

The Unicorn. The more she looked at the blueprints, the more jealous Constanze was. Because she didn’t have the resources to make something like it. Because she didn’t have the talent, too. Sure, this had probably taken a dozen different engineers to figure it out, but Constanze wasn’t satisfied with that. She had always worked on her own, alone. The problem was, if she wanted to work alone, she also needed to be able to figure things out on her own. Teamwork was fine, but the leader…

Teamwork. Constanze paused. She had gotten an idea.

A crazy idea.

She smiled, taking notes.

 

Amanda exited the shop and thanked the shop owner, walking with her box in hand. The info Constanze had sent her had come in handy. Was it stalking? It felt like stalking. But whatever, if Amanda had access to actual Internet she probably would’ve been able to check Hannah’s social media and- _Wait, wasn’t I on Earth when I…_

She decided to ignore that fact to not feel like an idiot.

Still, Amanda had been sure Hannah’s favorite color was yellow. Well, she’d been wrong, apparently. Hopefully she’d like the gift, though. It was simple enough, and if she didn’t like it then Amanda could always keep it as a grim reminder of how bad she was at picking gifts for people.

The date wasn’t really going to start for another couple of hours, but Amanda was excited. She didn’t really like to go shopping, but catching a movie meant being on a dark place together with Hannah for two hours.

A date. A date with Hannah. It was still hard to believe. Did Hannah like her? She had to. There was no other explanation. Amanda smiled as she walked, her confidence growing by the second. Oh, if only she could make time go faster…

Wait, she was wearing stupid clothes. What could she wear for the date? Should she go for something elegant? They were going shopping and to the movies, so she wasn’t going to wear a suit or a dress. But just wearing sports clothing like she was now seemed a little inappropriate. The info said Hannah liked fancy clothing, though. Well, Amanda could’ve guessed that on her own, but that was besides the point.

Hmm… well, she could always find a middle ground…

 

“You look beautiful,” Barbara said from behind Hannah, who was in front of a mirror. “It really suits you.”

“Yes, yes,” Hannah was looking herself up and down. She had let her hair down, but now she was wondering if maybe it was too much. The light yellow dress she wore was proof enough that she was looking forward to the date, but at this point it felt like she was preparing for a party. She didn’t want to give Amanda the wrong idea.

But what was the wrong idea? She wasn’t even sure.

She hadn’t put make-up on. That was definitely going overboard. But she also wanted to look her prettiest. Should she wear heels? She had decided not to, for comfort’s sake, but maybe if she looked taller Amanda would pay more attention to her. But Amanda already paid lots of attention to her! Yeah, no, heels and make up were a rotund no. Though maybe she should wear another dress. Barbara had said it suited her, but who knew? Truth be told, Hannah was too nervous to look at things without bias.

She was going on a date. Her first date. With a girl. She blushed only thinking about it. “I made a mistake,” he suddenly said. “I need to tell Amanda this is cancelled, we’ll go back to how things were before and-”

“Oh shut up,” Barbara interrupted her. “Also, here,” she handed Hannah a couple of earrings. Simple pearl ones, but they added a nice touch to her face. “Now go.”

“There’s still half an hour left,” Hannah said, turning.

Barbara rolled her eyes. “And I bet Amanda’s ready too. Now _go,”_ she said, taking Hannah by the shoulders and pushing her out of the room and onto the gray, white-lit and boring corridor outside.

Hannah felt her nerves growing as the door closed on her face. The hallway should’ve been empty, but she perceived movement from the corner of her eye. She turned to see who it was.

She almost didn’t recognize Amanda at first. The redhead had combed her hair back, so it appeared to be darker than it usually was. She wore black jeans and shoes, but the part that popped out the most was her shirt, long sleeved but with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, with the top three buttons undone, accompanied by a neat black waistcoat. Her look, half-casual and half-elegant, really, really suited her. With her hair back like that her eyes popped out more, their green a brighter contrast against the darker orange. “You look amazing,” Hannah mumbled.

Amanda, who had been staring wordlessly at Hannah, shook her head. “You too,” she said. “You’re beautiful.”

Hannah blushed. Amanda was blushing, too. “It’s a little early, huh?” Hannah pointed out.

“Guess we were looking forward to it,” Amanda said. Both of them chuckled nervously. Hannah couldn’t stop staring, though. The way the waistcoat fit her made her look really… handsome.

“Yeah, we were…” there was an awkward silence for a while. “So… should we go?”

“I see no point in waiting. Where do we go first?” Amanda asked.

“I guess we can go shopping,” Hannah said. Amanda nodded and started walking. Hannah followed. Both of them walked rather slowly, almost as if making things last as much as possible.

Amanda looked at Hannah with intensity. She usually did that, but this time it was clearly different. Hannah blushed only from the stare alone. Well, she _did_ look beautiful.

“H-Hannah, wait,” Amanda suddenly stopped. Hannah turned, looking at her. Amanda was beet red. For no reason. What was this about? “I… have something for you,” she said, reaching into her pocket. Hannah cocked her head as Amanda smiled nervously. “I… I don’t know if you’ll like it but…” she took a deep breath, giving Hannah a small black box. “Here.”

Hannah took the box. It was the size of her palm. She opened it.

Inside it, there was a bracelet. A simple silver bracelet, save for the fact that it had small amethysts embedded into it. Her eyes widened. She took it out of the box. “It’s… beautiful,” she said, looking at it. “I love it.”

Amanda seemed relieved. She sighed. “Thanks lord, I wasn’t sure you’d like it. You like purple, right? I picked it because of that,” she explained. Hannah tried it on, but it worked with a small screw.

“You know I like purple?” she extended her left hand so that Amanda would help her put it on. “I don’t remember telling you.”

“I figured,” Amanda explained.

Hannah pressed her lips. “Most people assume my favorite color is yellow,” she explained. “Because of my ribbon.”

Amanda faltered, failing to put the bracelet on. “Ha ha, well, I guess I can see why they would think that…” she said. Obviously she had thought so at some point too.

“I actually kind of hate it,” Hannah continued.

Amanda finished putting the bracelet on, and then eyed Hannah up and down. “I mean…”

“Yes, I know I’m wearing a yellow dress. Yellow looks good on me, doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Hannah said in a bad tone. She looked at how the bracelet fit her. It made good contrast with the dress. “Thank you,” she said with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile. Then they started walking again. Hannah’s wrist felt weird, but she would just deal with it for the duration of the date. They walked side by side for a while, not really saying anything. Hannah was a little surprised at the fact that she was smiling, if slightly. Was she being bought by gifts or was the fact that Amanda had given her the gift what made her happy?

She doubted so much about everything. It was annoying, even to her.

They reached the elevators and Amanda pressed the golden button. “Do you have a specific place in mind?” Amanda asked as the elevator moved.

“Not really, no,” Hannah admitted. “But that’s better, right? That way I’ll be surprised,” she said.

Amanda didn’t seem like she really understood, but she nodded. When the elevator doors opened, they were thrown into the center of Gold Deck, with Shopping Town in front of them and the park behind their backs.

“God it’s full of people,” Amanda complained. It was true, as always, though today it seemed to be worse than normal, with people walking shoulder in shoulder, the sea of people looking particularly thick. “Maybe it’s the time. Do you want to come back later?”

Hannah hesitated. “Actually, yes,” she admitted.

“Then let’s go catch a movie. They replenished during the landing, there’s bound to be something we can both enjoy.”

Hannah nodded. Both of them went back into an elevator and took a short ride to Platinum Deck. Luckily, this place was far more tranquil. The cinema was one of the bigger buildings, but not many people went into it. They played a bunch of movies in two different rooms.

“One action flick and one romance movie right now. Guess you’ll want to see the romance-”

“Action,” Hannah said, pointing at the poster and interrupting Amanda. Amanda raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing, I just…”

“I like romances, but I also love that actor,” she explained. Amanda looked at the poster. The guy in it was handsome. Amanda’s expression twisted into one of disgust. “You jealous?” Hannah smirked.

“Yes,” Amanda admitted. “But come on, it’s starting in ten minutes,” she walked ahead to go and buy tickets. Hannah smiled. Truth was, she didn’t even know who that actor was, she just wanted to see Amanda’s reaction. Worth it. Plus, she also didn’t want to admit she had already seen the romance movie the weekend before leaving Earth for the IPR.

And, of course, it was obvious Amanda had wanted to see the action movie, so why not?

 

“So…” Barbara and Constanze had been sitting a few rows behind Hannah and Amanda for a while now, completely uninterested in the movie. “You think they gonna be fine?” Barbara asked the tiny girl.

Constanze nodded. She didn’t look worried, just curious. Barbara had thought she may like Amanda, but after watching her behavior she obviously wasn’t jealous. Well, everyone had their reasons to do whatever they wanted to do. Even if those reasons were questionable, Barbara wasn’t one to judge.

She watched Amanda and Hannah carefully. She expected something to happen. They were in a dark place, even if there was a lot of people around. Amanda had to make a move. Hannah was too awkward to do it, but Amanda had experience.

Barbara leaned over Constanze and the tablet she held. There was a small spirit floating over Amanda and Hannah so that they could watch them better. But nothing was going on. In fact, Amanda was grabbing her legs, as if stopping herself from doing anything on purpose. They hadn’t even bought snacks or drinks. They weren’t planning on actually watching the movie, were they? That would be a completely new level of idiocy for both of them.

But, as the movie progressed, nothing was happening. It was a stupid movie, too, about a guy with a bigger-than-life ego that saved the world from terrorists. Nothing interesting was going on either inside or outside the big screen. She had left Lotte alone for this? What a joke.

 

When the movie ended, Amanda sighed in relief. _I didn’t do anything!_ She congratulated herself. This way, Hannah wouldn’t think badly of her. It had been hard. Hannah’s dress showed some thigh when she was sitting, and her hand had been right there for Amanda to carefully place hers above it. But she hadn’t done so, and she was amazed at her self-restraint.

“What a shit movie,” Amanda said.

“Agreed,” Hannah sighed.

“I mean, come on, dude should have died four times in the first five minutes. No one can survive from such heavy magic exposure,” Amanda kept saying. Honestly, she’d rather have watched the romance movie.

“You didn’t do anything,” Hannah said as they exited the cinema. “I’m surprised.”

Amanda started, taken off-guard by the sudden change of topic. “You wanted me to?” She asked.

Hannah took a second to answer. “I guess I wouldn’t have minded,” she explained. Amanda’s heart stopped for a second. Was fate spitting on her face? No, it wasn’t fate. She had just screwed up. “But I suppose you restrained because of me.”

“Yeah…” Amanda said, sounding defeated.

Hannah hummed. “Well, I guess then I can give you a reward of some kind, eh?” she suggested. Amanda perked up, raising an eyebrow. “Give me your hand.”

Amanda gave her left hand. Hannah took it with her right. She was getting red, but she kept her composure. She intertwined their fingers, never stopping. “Oh, you just wanted to hold hands,” Amanda pointed out.

“I… just wanted to see how it feels,” Hannah said in a serious tone, though she looked the other way to hide her embarrassment. Amanda smiled. Well, maybe she hadn’t screwed up as badly as she thought.

Happily, both of them kept walking. “Want to eat something?” Amanda offered.

“Not right now,” Hannah said. “Though if you’re hungry we can go.”

Amanda _was_ hungry. But not starving, it could wait. “It’s fine, I was just offering. So, want to see if Gold Deck has cleared up a little?”

Hannah nodded. They walked, hand in hand, all the way to the elevators. However, when they opened and Hannah saw there was people inside, she let go of the hand. Amanda felt disappointed, wanting to feel more of her warmth, but obviously Hannah wasn’t used to things like showing affection in public.

Was ‘affection’ even the right word? Amanda pressed her lips. Her brain always felt like a jumbled mess when it came to Hannah. It was a short ride down to the third deck.

Gold Deck was… not much better than before. The streets were still flooded with countless people, so many that it was hard to see what was what. “Fucking hell,” Amanda cursed. “What now?”

Hannah stared and sighed. “Let’s go eat, then. Maybe by the time we come out of a restaurant things will be better,” she said.

Amanda sighed. “Yeah, let’s do that. Where do you want to go?”

“Mc Donald’s,” Hannah replied almost instantly. Amanda looked at her with some surprise. “What? I just want a simple meal.”

“I’m just… I dunno, doesn’t look like the right place for a date,” she explained. She left out the part of ‘with you, at least’. “You sure you want that? There’s bound to be some restaurant where we can get a better quality burger.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “I don’t want a quality burger, I want a shitty Mc Donald’s burger,” she explained. Amanda looked at her up and down.

Then she shrugged. “Welp, if you insist…” she said. Hannah nodded, and they started walking.

When they hit the main street of Gold Deck, moving started to become more a thing of careful observation and less of putting one foot in front of the other. Amanda moved through it with relative ease, but she noticed that Hannah was having trouble with it. She always seemed to have trouble in crowds. She looked really uncomfortable, bumping into people constantly.

“Here,” Amanda offered her hand. Hannah took it without even hesitating, and Amanda helped her move through the crowds. It was kind of surprising, just how inept Hannah seemed to be when moving in large groups of people. Back in the dance floor of Machina, in the Nightfall party and here.

It wasn’t long before they reached the fast-food chain in question.

The place was… surprisingly empty. It had people, of course, but for one of the biggest chains in the world, and for the amount of people outside, Amanda expected it to be completely full. They got their food relatively quick and found a table for both of them alone.

“You look really handsome,” Hannah said as they ate. “Did you know that I like suits too?”

“I guessed it,” Amanda said. “I mean, you did have a crush on Andrew. If nothing else, he knows how to dress.

Hannah smiled. “Well, I guess it was obvious,” she said. “Though I think the half-style you’re wearing probably suits you better than a full on-suit. I mean, I’m not sure, but it does go better with your personality.”

“How flattering,” Amanda said taking a bite out of a burger. She had said that with a nonchalant tone, but she was really happy for the compliment.

As they ate, relatively in silence, Amanda started feeling slightly… uneasy. As if something was off. Hannah looked fine, for the most part. But she also looked bored. Same for Amanda, really. She was glad to be with Hannah, but this whole date thing wasn’t really working as she’d expected. It wasn’t romantic, it was… well, they had watched a movie and hadn’t spoken for like two hours. That wasn’t how dates were supposed to go, right?

It was awkward. Not romantic awkward, just forced awkward.

“Ok, gimmie some of that,” Amanda reached over the table and took a sip out of Hannah’s drink.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Hannah said, outraged.

“I just wanted some,” Amanda smiled. Hannah frowned, reaching over the table and grabbing Amanda’s drink. She took a sip too.

“They’re both coke. What the fuck?” Hannah asked, confused.

Amanda smirked. This was more like it. “Now I can say we exchanged some spit during our date,” she winked.

Hannah looked at the coke in her hands flat-looked Amanda. “Good grief, you’re an idiot,” she said, taking another sip out of Amanda’s drink. “I don’t know why I agreed to this date.”

“You _suggested_ it,” Amanda said, taking another sip. Was this an indirect kiss? She considered that concept stupid. She shared things with friends constantly, it was never weird.

“Shut up,” Hannah shoved a piece of hamburger in her mouth. Amanda smiled.

They finished eating with only some more light banter. After they were done they exited the building and found a relatively emptier street. As relatively as a swarm of bees might be relatively less dangerous with a dozen of them missing.

“Ok, let’s just go shopping. It’s going to be like this all day. If Gold Deck is like this I don’t want to imagine how Silver and Bronze decks are,” Hannah said. Amanda nodded. Those two would probably be equally horrible. She started walking, but suddenly jerking back as Hannah grabbed her arm. “Hey, don’t leave me like that!”

“What?” Amanda cocked her head. “Oh, right. Here,” she offered her hand. She refrained from making the joke about holding hands again. Didn’t want to be repetitive. Hannah took it. But, as they walked, she suddenly pulled Amanda back again and completely hugged it. “Wow, you feeling lonely?”

“I feel less like a five year old like this,” she said. However, she was also resting her face against Amanda’s shoulder, which she had no need to do, and her breasts were pressing against Amanda’s arm and it was making Amanda kind of confused. Amanda had showered luckily, so she probably smelled of deodorant. Hannah, on her side, smelled a little bit like…

“Shit, you use perfume?” Amanda noticed. “I knew I was smelling something weird on the cinema, but I thought it was the floor cleaner or something.”

Hannah seemed mortified. “I smell like floor cleaner?”

Amanda chuckled. “No, you don’t. You smell great,” she reassured.

“You’re just saying that,” Hannah said.

Amanda turned, sniffing her with an obvious movement. “Nope, I’m serious. If you want I can do it some more,” she teased. Hannah blushed.

“Cut it out, people are gonna think I smell bad,” Hannah said, looking around.

“Which will make them try to investigate you and see how great you actually smell,” Amanda explained.

Hannah slapped her arm slightly. “You sound like a pervert,” Hannah said, though Amanda could see the corner of her lips turning upwards. They walked for a while more, Amanda guiding Hannah through the crowds. “Oh, let’s go there,” Hannah pointed at a deviation from the main street. It was a relatively empty, small corridor in between two buildings. “It leads to a good street to do some shopping on,” she explained.

Amanda went there. It was kind of going against the flow, but she managed.

“Ok, here we are,” the alley-like corridor didn’t see many people, if the amount of trash in the ground was anything to go by. It was still passable, though.

“You’re so good at that,” Hannah said.

“At what?” Amanda asked as they started moving. The street Hannah mentioned was almost as full of people as the last, but the small breath of fresh – well, ‘fresh’ may have been an overstatement – air was something welcomed.

“At moving through people, through crowds. I seriously don’t get it.”

“You’ll learn, if you go out more,” Amanda said, though she puffed her chest out with some pride.

“Right, you like going to night clubs and such,” Hannah said. “Can’t say I’m into that.”

“Well, it’s not for everyone. It’s a way of letting go and being yourself for a while, with no peer pressure,” Amanda explained. With no family around, she could be… well, herself. “Though I wouldn’t ever force you to go to one, if you don’t want to.”

“Thanks,” Hannah said. They broke out of the alley and into the other street. “Where to now…” she mumbled, thinking.

Amanda watched her subtly. The way Hannah’s hair flowed down was captivating, and the little pearls she had on her ears made her look kind of… perfect. Amanda felt her heart accelerating, if slightly. It was hard to believe Hannah was actually holding her arm like that. Her tits weren’t very bug, but Amanda could feel them still. She actually hoped Hannah decided for a place soon, since at this rate she was going to lose her mind.

“Oh, here we are,” Hannah suddenly stopped, almost making Amanda trip. They were in front of a store that, even from the outside, looked fancy. The interior was lit with chandeliers that gave off warm lighting, the walls were a welcoming pink and the floor was covered in a white carpet that had to be a pain to clean up.

Hannah pulled Amanda inside it. The dresses on the mannequins gave away the fancy nature of the place. Some were frilly, others, apparently in fashion – if the signs were to be believed – were a little more strange, with lots of intertwined strips of different fabrics.

The place also smelled like… something. Sweet, mawkish. The kind of scent you’d smell everywhere in high-class parties. The kind of scent Amanda had grown to hate. But, seeing as Hannah let go of her arm to go look excitedly at dresses, she realized she liked Hannah more than she hated this place’s smell.

“May I help you?” suddenly, an employee asked Amanda, almost making the redhead jump in surprise.

Amanda looked her up and down. She was a tall brunette, probably in her late twenties, stacked and with long, silky hair. “No, thank you, she probably knows what she’s looking for,” Amanda said, unable to stop herself from looking at the woman’s low neckline. Maybe she should go shopping a little more often…

“Amanda,” Hannah spoke from behind her. She spoke in a low voice. Angry voice? “Come here,” she grabbed Amanda by the arm, forcing her to turn. She was staring daggers at the woman, who just smiled kindly.

Amanda smiled as Hannah dragged her all the way to the other side of the store, a corner almost surrounded by colorful dresses, where they were out of sight from the employee. It was hard to focus on a pair of big tits when the girl you loved was obviously getting jealous over it. She looked through the many hanged dresses, though she clearly knew which one she was looking for.

“You sure liked those tits, huh?” Hannah asked, her expertise in shopping showing as she swiftly moved sorted through the many hangers.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “If you’re getting jealous…”

“I’m not!” Hannah claimed, finally picking up the dress she wanted. It was a very light pink with darker details on the hem of the skirt, waist and neck. The sleeves were long, and from below the elbow they got wider and had three layers of fabric. “It’s just… you’re on a date with me, shouldn’t you pay attention to me?” she looked at Amanda, body half hidden behind the dress.

“Listen, I’m probably always going to be looking at big tits, ok?” Amanda confessed. “I like them, that’s it,” she explained. Hannah pressed her lips, looking at herself. Amanda moved her hand, picking up Hannah’s chin and forcing her to look up. “But you don’t need a pair of Bs for me to like you. I like you for who you are, not the size of your chest, waist or hips,” she said, staring straight into her eyes.

Hannah blushed. “F-fine, I get it,” she stepped back, hiding her face behind the dress. “What do you think of this?”

“Those sleeves look incredibly impractical,” Amanda opined, her eyes picking up on more details, like the subtle way in which the waist area was actually a separate one from the hips, which got ever so slightly wider as they went down.

“Just tell me if you think it looks pretty,” Hannah complained, lowering the dress and deadpanning Amanda.

“Ok, well… I guess, though I’m not sure if it’d suit you. Maybe it’s the pink, but it kind of feels childish,” Amanda gave her honest opinion.

Hannah looked at the dress with some disappointment. “I see,” she said, putting it back where it was.

“W-wait, don’t do that,” Amanda said. “If you like it you should try it on. I mean, I don’t know anything about dresses, you can’t trust _my_ judgement of all things,” she desperately tried to not make Hannah look sad.

Hannah shrugged. “It’s just a dress. I can find other ones that aren’t…”

Amanda picked the dress and almost shoved it on Hannah’s face. “Go try it. Now. Do it and I’ll give you a reward,” she said in an imperative voice.

Hannah took the dress, looking at Amanda with surprise. “And what’s the reward?”

Amanda paused. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Uhm… Whatever you want?”

Hannah gave her a flat look. “You’re not very creative, are you.”

“Shut up and go try it,” Amanda said, taking her by the shoulders – with care – and pushing her towards the small dressing rooms at the side of the store. Hannah complained all the way, but the employee had already lost interest in them, and was now sitting behind the counter reading a book.

Amanda shoved Hannah inside one of the rooms and took a deep breath. Good, crisis avoided. Next time she wouldn’t be _so_ straightforward.

 

“They seem to be doing better,” Barbara said to Constanze. The mechanic was still following the pair around with a small spirit, and they hadn’t noticed it. They had been doing good since lunch, so that was calming.

Constanze nodded, looking with interest. Her point of view allowed her to see inside Hannah’s changing room too. Barbara would have been a little more protective of her friend’s privacy if not for the fact that Constanze was clearly uninterested. She took notes from time to time, and Barbara wondered what was the point of this.

“Wait a second,” Barbara said, smiling. “You act like you’re doing some scientific research or something, but in truth you’re just worried, aren’t you?” she nudged Constanze.

The tiny girl paused, looking up at her. Her expression was unchanging, but she did blush slightly. “God, so we’re just a couple friends who are worried about how this exchange between idiots could scar them both emotionally, huh?”

Constanze hesitated, but ended up nodding in agreement. Barbara smiled, looking at the screen again. Hannah was already coming out of the changing room…

 

Hannah finished putting on the dress and stepped forward from behind the curtain. She was a little embarrassed. Amanda had been right, it kind of made her look younger than she was. When she came out Amanda had been turned around, looking around, but when she finally looked at Hannah her eyes widened.

“It looks beautiful,” Amanda pointed out. Hannah wasn’t sure. Maybe if she tied back her ponytail, but she’d left her ribbon back at the room. Amanda must have noticed her hesitance, because she stepped forward, getting really close. Though, it wasn’t awkwardly close anymore. Just… intimately close. “It really does,” she looked at Hannah intensely.

Hannah stepped back, feeling like she wasn’t ready for what could’ve happened if they stayed at that short distance. “Thank you,” she said. She looked herself in the mirror again. Amanda was right in that the sleeves were impractical, but other than that, Hannah did like the dress. She liked the way the different shades of pink blended with each other. It was a soothing dress to look at. “Ok, I’ll take it. Let’s go to another shop,” Hannah said, nodding.

Amanda cocked her head. “Wait, so soon? Don’t you want to look as some more?”

Hannah shook her head. “One dress per store. That way you really think about it, you know? And it also makes it more fun.”

The redhead was clearly unconvinced, but she shrugged. “Fine, if you say so.”

Hannah felt slightly bad for pushing Amanda to do something she didn’t enjoy, but maybe she’d learn to enjoy it next to Hannah. And if not, well, at least she’d tried. Hannah could appreciate that.

They bought the dress and moved on to another shop. Hannah took Amanda’s arm again as they moved through the crowds. She blushed slightly when doing so. She had said to Amanda that it was to not feel like a kid, but truth was, this probably made her look more childish.

She just wanted to hug Amanda, but didn’t have the courage to fully do it. Why did she seek Amanda’s warmth? The answer was obvious.

For some reason, though, she didn’t want to think about it.

The next shop they went in was one Hannah had already been to. The woman on staff waiting for them recognized Hannah and smiled. She approached, looking with curiosity at how Hannah was hugging Amanda’s arm. Hannah let go in a slight panic, not wanting to give the woman the wrong idea. It was already too late, though.

The store itself was a little less pristine than the last. He chose dark colors over bright ones, the walls being blue, the carpet being of a deep crimson. Most dresses had darker colors too, with pinks, yellows and oranges being mostly missing. Not a hint of white in sight.

“How many dress stores can a ship need?” Amanda asked, grimacing. Hannah smiled.

“Here,” she took Amanda’s hand. Amanda seemed surprised that she had done so actively. A good reaction. A… cute reaction. She guided the redhead through the shop, leading her up to a series of clothing that would probably suit her better. Longer dresses, but made to fit more tightly. With her figure, Amanda would probably rock one of these. Hannah started to sort through them, wondering which one should she pick for Amanda.

Amanda’s red hair and green eyes really allowed her to put basically anything on. Red, orange and yellow combined with her hair, green with her eyes, blue made a good contrast for both of them, so did purple. Black and white were colors anyone could wear. It was hard to look at a dress and not think it’d suit Amanda, who was also pretty tall and with a beautiful body.

But then, Hannah found it. _The_ dress. She paused a second, awed at it. “Here,” she took it out of the lineup and handed it to Amanda, who looked at it with hesitance. “Ask for one of your size.”

“I don’t know,” Amanda said. “I’m not a big fan of-“

“Ok, then this’ll be my reward,” Hannah said. “Now go ask for one of your size and put it on.”

Amanda looked at her. “Wait, that’s not what I meant with-” she started complaining.

“Shut it, you said you’d do whatever I wanted. I want you to try the damn dress,” Hannah crossed her arms, staring Amanda without an ounce of hesitance. She noticed it, for she presser lips and sighed.

“You want to laugh at how silly I’m going to look,” Amanda said. “Also, undressing is a pain in the-”

“ _Go,”_ Hannah pointed, tired of excuses. Amanda grimaced, but finally did as asked and went to ask the employee for a dress of her size, then going to the changing rooms of this place. While she got changed, Hannah imagined how it would look. With her hair back and looking darker than normal it would draw attention to the brightness of her eyes. But with her hair down it would make a better contrast with the dress.

It took a while. Hannah took the chance to look around the store. She saw a couple beautiful dresses she wanted to buy, but first she’d see how Amanda’s would look.

She went through half the store, the employee sometimes looked with curiosity at the changing room. Hannah started getting impatient too. She approached the changing room, with its dark blue curtain, and spoke. “Amanda? You fine there?”

“Yeah,” Amanda said. “Look, it doesn’t suit me, I’m just going to-”

Hannah opened the curtain, not giving Amanda a chance to get undressed. The redhead turned to her in surprise, embarrassed.

Her heart skipped a beat.

The dress was green. A dark, forest green. It was a strapless dress, not showing much cleavage but exposing her pale shoulders and slim, slightly toned arms and going all the way down to Amanda’s knees, all formfitting, highlighting her bust and hips. But what made it all come together was the intricate, wonderful embroidery in golden thread that covered most of the dress in a pattern of clovers. It felt Irish.

It was as if it had been made for Amanda.

“All these seamrógs look silly,” Amanda looked down, looking ashamed. “Who am I, Saint Patrick?”

“You say _seamróg?”_ Hannah couldn’t help but ask, holding back a laugh.

Amanda sighed. “Yes, I do, so what? My mother was into trying to learn the old way of pronouncing things in Irish, as if anyone cared. If she heard me say shamrock she’d wash my mouth with soap…”

Hannah chuckled. Amanda frowned. As she looked at her, Hannah got an idea. “Hey, care if I try something with your hair?”

Amanda hesitated, but shrugged. Hannah stepped forward, touching her head. She started to slowly comb it with her fingers, bringing it down, and down, and down, until instead of going everywhere it just fell down, straight to her shoulders. The unusual hairstyle made her look a lot more feminine, and while Hannah would have expected that to make it less impactful for her, it instead made it harder to focus.

“I look stupid,” Amanda said after looking in the mirror, obviously upset, moving to close the curtain.

“No you don’t,” Hannah said calmly, grabbing Amanda’s wrist before she could close the curtain. “You look… beautiful,” for some reason, the word seemed to take Hannah’s breath away.

Amanda looked at her with doubt. “Dresses don’t suit me,” she insisted.

Hannah stepped forward. Closer. “They do,” she said. “At least, this one does, and I’m sure probably all do,” she assured. Amanda pressed her lips. They were so close, again. So, so close… “Really, it suits you,” Hannah said in a whisper, feeling her heartbeat go faster and faster. She was blushing, though she wasn’t even sure why at this point. A force was driving her keep going. Like a magnet, she couldn’t seem to pull away, no matter how fast her heart was, no matter how much she wanted to.

Amanda stopped looking unsure. She gently put a hand on Hannah’s waist, looking slightly confused by the situation. Hannah couldn’t complain about it. With her hair down like that, a lock fell in between her eyes. Such pretty eyes. So close.

So close…

Hannah paused. She wasn’t sure of why, but something took her out of the spell. Amanda hadn’t been the one leaning down, Hannah had been the one slowly going up. Hannah’s face had stopped merely centimeters away from Amanda’s. She could feel Amanda’s breath coming out of her slightly parted lips, she could make out every detail of her expectant yet hesitant face. Their chests were pressing against each other, their accelerated heartbeats pounding together, making it hard to know who’s was who’s.

Hannah dropped out of her tiptoes, stepping back. “Just buy it, ok?” she said, flushed, her own voice sounding as if coming from far away.

Amanda seemed to be in a similar daze, because she nodded, closing the curtain.

Hannah felt like her body didn’t even belong to her anymore.

 

“You have got to be shitting me,” Barbara said from one of the alleyways close to the store Amanda and Hannah were now in. “They were so close! It’s not physically possible for two people to be so awkward. For fuck’s sake, Hannah got cold feet at the last second!”

Even Constanze looked upset by the sudden retreat of the girl. She growled in the low, almost like an animal, while looking at the screen.

Barbara was tapping her feet. “And it was a dress that did it, not a suit. I didn’t expect that.” She closed her eyes. She had seen Lotte in both suits and dresses, and she loved her both ways. It was probably something like that.

It didn’t take long for both girls to come out of the store with the green dress. Hannah took Amanda’s arm almost automatically, which was nice. At least she wasn’t in now-I’m-awkward mode. They walked together, and Constanze and Barbara started moving behind them too. Where would they go now?

The answer was, of course, another store. This time both of them tried on a couple dresses. They were acting differently. More friendly than normal, but not in a strange manner. They were… natural. Amanda smiled instead of smirking, Hannah didn’t react outraged so often.

Amanda even seemed to be enjoying putting new clothes on, to the point where she was getting faster and faster at undressing.

“Well, at least they made _some_ progress,” Barbara said. Constanze nodded in agreement. “God, that kiss would have settled the deal. I hope Amanda takes the reins for the ending, or we’ll have another few weeks of idiocy.”

Constanze, again, nodded in agreement. Both of them went back to watching how the date went.

The next store was one aimed towards men. This didn’t stop the hopefully soon-to-be-couple, who entered. The staff inside, comprised of two slender men, were quick to catch on to what the girls wanted. They gave both of them a couple of suits to try on. Hannah cocked her head at seeing Amanda in a white suit, and Barbara wondered if she recognized her mystery guy.

It didn’t seem to be the case. Hannah also tried on a couple suits, and Amanda was certainly impressed, though Hannah wasn’t a big fan of it. Hannah didn’t like to look boyish. A

After the suit store – Amanda decided to take one of the ones she’d tried on, though Barbara wasn’t sure of which – they stopped for ice-cream. Barbara thanked Ursula for having them doing exercise every day. Hannah never had problems with her weight, but she also rarely had infinite food available to her.

They seemed to have a fun chat while sitting on a bench in the park. Amanda stole a bite of Hannah’s ice-cream, then offered Hannah to do the same. In the end, who’s ice cream was who’s became a blurry thing. “God, they’re totally acting like a couple. They better start accepting to like each other or I’m going to lock them in a room until they fuck their brains out.”

Constanze seemed a little surprised by Barbara’s words, but she shrugged them off. Barbara had maybe gone a little overboard, but it was so frustrating seeing people who liked each other completely oblivious of their situation.

At least, Barbara figured, this would be the end of it.

 

“God no, I hate math,” Hannah was saying. She and Amanda had been talking about which subjects they liked or disliked. “I’m more into arts.”

“Those are _boring,”_ Amanda said. “At least with math you have to think for a while. Same with physics. But art or history or shit like that, those are all about memorizing things no one cares about.”

“Art is about creating!” Hannah complained in an outraged tone, though she wasn’t offended.

“Yeah, sure, and in between creating you better learn all about the lives of these famous dead artists that cut their ears off or were just nuts or whatever,” Amanda complained. “Why do I care about how they lived? They painted pretty things, whatever.”

“It’s not about that! It’s about understanding the meaning behind their art, what they wanted to convey and…” Hannah pause, noticing the look Amanda was giving her. “What?”

“Nothing, you’re just cute,” she said.

Hannah gave her a flat look. “If you’re bored just tell me,” she said.

Amanda chuckled. “Also, you have ice-cream on your face,” she said. Hannah’s eyes widened, and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth.

“Where?”

Amanda took her hand and slowly moved it away. It was a gentle motion, and for a second Hannah felt naked. It was weird. She was blushing. Again. “Here,” Amanda said, cupping her face, running a dumb down her cheek and softly brushing the corner of her lips.

“D-did you get it?” Hannah asked.

“Yeah,” Amanda said, still smiling, though now with a more… passionate expression. She reluctantly let go of Hannah’s face.

The air became slightly awkward. Hannah wasn’t sure of what else to talk about, so she stood. “I… guess we should be going back, huh? We’ve got practice and stuff.”

Amanda seemed disappointed, but she stood too. “You’re right,” she said unenthusiastically, and both of them picked their bags and started walking.

The trip back to their rooms was… silent. Not out of any kind of bad mood. In fact, Hannah would argue the opposite. The date had been fun. Really fun. Sure, the movie had been bad, but whatever, not everything could go perfect in life.

The elevator, then walking through corridors, they did everything slowly, trying to make most of their time together. Hannah still wore the bracelet on her left hand. It was really pretty. She’d be sure to wear it whenever she could.

They reached the corridor where their rooms were rather quickly. The first one was the blue team’s. “I’m gonna go change and then I’ll head to the hangar,” she said.

“And _I_ am going to sleep,” Amanda said. She did look kinda tired. What had she been doing before their date today?

Despite their claims, neither of them moved. Hannah looked up at Amanda. She held her hands behind her back, feeling like if she didn’t she’d become fidgety. “So… Uhm…” she said. “I guess this marks the end of our date.”

“Yes…” Amanda confirmed. Both of them sounded awkward.

They looked at each other. Amanda was now back to her attire from before, the shirt, waistcoat and jeans. However, one thing was different. She had kept her hair down, like Hannah had put it. It made her look so much more mature. Like an adult, somehow.

And again, Hannah felt it. The strange force, the thing that pulled her forward. It seemed to be affecting Amanda too, this time, because they both moved in sync. Closer. Both of them dropped their bags on the floor.

Hannah felt Amanda’s arms slowly go around her waist, pulling her up. Her own arms slowly crawled up Amanda’s sides until they were behind her neck, pulling her down. Towards each other. Amanda’s face was so close. Hannah’s heart was pounding in her chest like thunder, the rush of blood through her ears sounding like the wind during a storm. Amanda was red. Hot. Hannah felt hot.

Pretty. Beautiful. Handsome. Amanda was… all of that. And it was ok. Hannah was ok with it. She closed her eyes, too embarrassed. The soft brush of Amanda’s breath against her lips was the first thing to come. Then, a soft, gentle feeling as their lips met. Her first kiss was warm and fuzzy. For a second, Hannah felt happy, fulfilled.

And then, something in her head changed. She couldn’t help realizing where they were. A cold, evenly lit gray corridor, no different from the hundreds of others across the _Dragon._ It was a generic place. A boring place. An unmemorable one.

She opened her eyes, suddenly stepping back, pushing Amanda away. Both of their breathings were faster, shallower. Hannah felt like she had just done a hundred meter dash. She could see Amanda’s confused look. Maybe even hurt look.

But she couldn’t go back.

“G-good night,” she mumbled before hastily picking up her bags and almost running into her room.

She let the bags on the floor. She sat on her bed.

 _What is wrong with me?_ She thought, grabbing her head. The question was no longer about whether she liked Amanda or not.

_Why did I push her away?_


	89. Chapter 89

_Diana was in her hospital bed, leg up in a sling. The room was dark. Was it night? Was it day? It didn’t matter. She had been there weeks, months, years. Eternally. The place smelled strangely. Of sweat, of smoke. Yet those melted with scents of humid dirt and wildlife._

_The room was suddenly illuminated by a glowing white figure that had appeared next to Diana’s bed. A girl, pale and brunette, with a couple of eyes like rubies, a smile that blinded Diana’s weak eyes. The room was made of wood, and through the windows Diana could see tree branches. It was a tree-house, the planks of dark wood and even moldy on some places. Diana had been there so long, the wood had started to become putrid on its own._

_The girl moved, and Diana finally recognized Akko. Her hair was way longer than usual, reaching down to the middle of her back, her clothes were just a loose-fitting white dress that flowed with inexistent wind, and her expression calm and serene, very unlike Akko’s._

_“It’ll be fine, Diana,” Akko said, though she didn’t have her usual voice. The voice was deeper, kinder. Diana recognized it. She wanted to cry when hearing it. “It’ll be fine…”_

_Then, from behind Akko something appeared. It was rough and grey, like rock. Diana realized it was starting to surround her, at first kind of looking like an Armor’s carapace, but then completely encapsulating Akko and making her fall through the floor._

_Diana’s bed rocked, the entire tree house giving up. She dropped. She was going to die. She was-_

Diana hit the floor and her eyes opened. For a second, she was confused. She looked around. Her eyes were humid, and her hip hurt in the place where she hit one of Barbara’s shoes. Wasn’t Barbara sleeping with the red team today? Why had she left her shoes there?

The lights of the room had turned on with Diana’s fall. Hannah noticed this, raising her head slightly, only one of her eyes half-open and looking at her. “Diana? You fine?” she asked in a slow manner.

“I just fell,” Diana said, embarrassed. Why had she fell? She knew she almost never moved in her sleep. Usually, if she closed her eyes in a position, she opened them in the same position. She climbed back on bed, hefting what she had seen in the dream. Dreams didn’t mean anything, but it was hard to ignore them. Diana was obviously still wary of the situation she’d been in during her stay at the hospital, and the tree house was probably there because it had been a key place in Emotions, which she had read during that time. Akko had been there too, quite literally as a beacon in the dark, which would fit in with Diana being the protagonist of the book and Akko her love interest. But the length of her hair, her clothes, her expression, her voice… All were from Diana’s mother.

Diana didn’t really like the implications _that_ could have if the dream was supposed to be a romantic one. And what about the part where she was covered in stone?

Still, eventually, Diana fell back asleep. Dreams were dreams, no use worrying too much.

 

The training session was going poorly. Akko couldn’t focus, constantly checking her counter. She was supposed to go ‘kidnap’ the appal pilots in a few minutes and she had _no_ idea of how to get Ursula to leave. She couldn’t tell anyone her plans, so what to do?

Ursula kept correcting her stupid mistakes, but Akko was barely paying attention.

“Akko, is something wrong?” she asked at one point. There was barely five minutes left until Akko had to leave. Akko was about to say ‘no’, but then she got a better idea.

“Well…” she said, slowly coming up with a lie. “I feel kind of bad.”

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “How so? Are you sick?”

Akko nodded. “I may be. I feel really heavy, and my stomach’s kind of upsetting me.”

“Hmm, did you get breakfast?” Ursula asked, pressing her lips. She had the look of a concerned mother, and it fit her rather well.

Akko had gotten breakfast, but this was a great chance. “I forgot,” she lied. “Uhm… would you call some for me? I don’t really feel well enough to go all the way to my room to eat.”

For a few seconds, Ursula seemed to weight her options. In the end she sighed, nodding, and opened the cockpit, leaving Akko alone. “For now just do a few warm-up exercises. I won’t take longer than half an hour. Is there something specific you want?”

“Nope,” Akko shook her head. “Just don’t bring coffee,” she added. She’d already had one cup this morning. Any more of those and she’d be unable to sleep properly. Ursula nodded, finally leaving, and Akko checked her clock. Two minutes left. Good, good.

She prepared, taking out all the pictures of the Appali’s ship. Or its hangar. It looked awfully similar to the _Dragon’s,_ save for size. Still, she was able to make a pretty good 3D image of the place in her mind. Hopefully the Shiny Rod would know how to interpret it.

Akko waited until she saw Ursula get in the elevator. She then looked at her countdown. Crap, she was already ten seconds late!

“Noctu Orfei Aude Freator!”

The Shiny Rod lurched for a second. Akko wasn’t sure if it needed to move or not for the teleportation yet, but she always felt at least something. Whatever the case, she looked outside the cockpit. The ceiling was a lot lower now, and the metal darker and less well illuminated. She opened it, looking around and finding unfamiliar ships lied in the smaller hangar she was on, save for two of them: the egg and the cone. The lights illuminating seemed to be electrical, though they gave off warm lighting, and the place looked a lot less nice than what Akko had first assumed. Stains of some kind covered the wall, and the floor was muddy and dirty.

She noticed some movement, and when she turned, she saw two figures moving towards the Rod. For a second she worried, but it became clear quickly who those were, as the round and square silhouettes of Hud and Shill were kind of unmistakable.

“Miss Akko, you’re here!” Shill spoke, a wide smile on his face. He had shark-like teeth. Akko hadn’t noticed that before. “I feared you wouldn’t come!”

“Sorry,” Akko said. “I had a little trouble. Come on in.”

Both Hud and Shill climbed on the Shiny Rod. They didn’t even ask about getting in the turret – which would have been impossible anyways, since Akko didn’t want to wake Jasminka up – as they dropped their luggage and somehow managed to fit in behind Akko. They obviously didn’t mind being so close to each other. Akko, for a moment, tried to imagine what it would be like to be that close to Diana.

She decided to stop imagining, for her own sanity.

“Come on, let’s go. We managed to get our coach and partners away but they could be back any second.”

Akko nodded, saying the words again. The Shiny Rod teleported again, and Akko found herself back in that beach she’d already been to two times. This time, at least, the sky was clear and sunny. “So you have no interest in the race anymore?”

“At first, maybe, but at this point it’s impossible for us to win,” Shill said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Ok, where on earth do you want to go? I know there’s an appal colony somewhere in Russia, if you guys are interested.”

Shill shook his head. “We left Appal for a reason. We’d rather live… free of all that.”

Akko nodded. “Well, I don’t really know where you could live…”

“Any place would be fine,” Hadroin said. “We know how to hunt, we can cultivate. We can eat all human foods and more. As long as you don’t drop is in the middle of a desert we should be fine.”

Akko frowned. “Wait, you don’t want to live in a city?”

“Of course not,” Shill said, as if it was obvious. “We’re tired of civilization, and it’s judgments. Maybe they wouldn’t judge us for being a couple here, but they’d still judge us for being appali. Don’t get us wrong, we plan on being _close_ to civilization. We’re not doctors and human and appal physiology are close enough, but… Well, at least, if we’re discovered here on Earth, we won’t be killed on sight.”

“Also, we heard you can make babies artificially. Maybe we can try that, one day,” Hadroin said, smiling to Shill.

Akko couldn’t help but be a little surprised at their resolve. She tried to imagine what it would be like, to live in a world where she and Diana would be frowned upon, maybe even executed, for liking each other. She couldn’t.

“Oh, I read there’s this real nice place called the ‘Amazon forest,’” Shill spoke that without his translator. His accent was weird, but understandable.  “What about going there?”

“It’s a dangerous place.”

“I doubt most human animals would be a danger to us,” Hadroin said. “Our bones are stronger than humans, and we’re immune to most of your poisons and venoms.”

Akko was impressed by that. She knew appali were kind of extreme humans, not only in appearance but in attitude, but they also seemed to be in acting. “Ok then. Alcor, take us to a relatively uninhabited part of the Amazon, but that’s not _that_ far from civilization, just in case. Noctu Orfei Aude Freator.”

The rod lurched, and in a blink, Akko found herself surrounded by green and brown. Shill and Hadroin looked around, gawking. Didn’t they have jungles and things like that in Appal? Maybe they just hadn’t seen one. “Look, that’s a snake, isn’t it?” Shill asked, pointing to a nearby stream of water, where a long, thick snake snaked around.

“I think that’s an anaconda, though don’t quote me on it,” Akko said. It looked like some of the ones Akko had seen in pictures. It was dark brown with darker spots around its body.

“Kinda looks like _urstilch,”_ Hadroin said. Akko had _no_ idea what that was.

“We’ll find out once we eat it,” Shill said. Akko tried not to be too disgusted. She opened the cockpit to let the appali out while checking the map of the area.

“The nearest city is that way,” Akko pointed. “Well, it’s more of a town than a city, but you get the point. Seems to be a day away or so.”

“Miss Akko, please come down here. We want to thank you,” Shill said, already from the ground. He had dropped his luggage in the spot, not bothered by the muddy ground.

Akko hesitated. This place was supposed to be dangerous. But… well, the Shiny Rod was right there. Worst case scenario she could teleport to a hospital in a literal blink. She stepped out of the ship and went down. Shill, looking up at her, extended his hand. Akko shook it.

“It was nice meeting you, Shill. I might drop by some other time to check on you… if I remember,” Akko said.

Shill shook his head. “Don’t worry about us. You’ve done plenty. Though, please make sure you don’t tell _anyone._ If they find out you did this it could be a world of trouble for you.”

“I see,” Akko nodded, then she proceeded to give Hadroin her hand, though he was obviously uncomfortable. He kept looking at Shill, as if expecting him to say something, but whatever it was, he didn’t.

Then, he suddenly grabbed Akko’s wrist and pulled her close. He put his lips against her hear and spoke in a low voice. “You can still drop out, too,” he said. “The Grand Prize isn’t something other races will let you have that easily. Getting into the second half of this race, those who weren’t able to reach a good spot will get desperate.”

Akko frowned. “You know what the prize is?” she whispered.

“Not exactly. But we know it’s powerful. Powerful enough that it could start a war between every planet in the alliance.  Be careful, miss Akko.”

“Hud!” Suddenly, Shill called to him, and he let go of Akko. Akko hadn’t noticed how tight his grip was until he let go, but “Look at this. Interesting, right?” he was pointing at a yellow fruit Akko thought she recognized but couldn’t really name.

“Take care, Miss Akko. Thanks for your help. We’ll be forever indebted to you,” Hadroin bowed slightly, then walked off to see the fruit. The way those two interacted made Akko really jealous. She’d get to be like that with Diana, right?

Akko was left confused, but she figured Hadroin wouldn’t be able to tell her much more. She climbed on the Shiny Rod – noticing that being on the ground had kind of made her really nervous – and she prepared to go. “Good luck, Miss Akko!” Shill waved at her. “If you come back, remember to bring a translator with you, or we won’t understand you!”

“Ok!” Akko waved back. “Good luck you two, don’t die!”

“We won’t!”

Akko smiled, feeling more comfortable now. Though, what Hadroin had said… she pressed her lips as the cockpit closed. The appal couple opened one of the suitcases they had brought. Inside it they carried an axe. It was kind of strange, but she didn’t think much of it.

“Noctu Orfei Aude Freator.”

Akko appeared back on the hangar of the _Dragon._ It was a little surreal. She had just helped a couple of people she barely knew escape from home, basically. It was a strange thing. The Shiny Rod really was powerful. She had never actually considered it like that, but what could bad people do if they got their hands on it? The ability to pop in and out of any place with just a few words… Maybe that’s why Chariot had disappeared. She couldn’t bear the pressure anymore and decided to hide the Shiny Rod away.

She didn’t have much more time to feel dazed, though, because soon Ursula came back with her second breakfast.

Surely nobody would notice that the appali were gone from the race until they arrived, right?

 

“What do you mean, they’re not there?” Croix asked, pinching the bridge of her nose, trying not to take the communicator and smash it against a wall.

“It’s _not there,_ ” the voice at the other side said. Or, well, the translated voice at the other side, for it was Horn she was talking to. “They’re gone, both categories. We just finished one race, started the next, and they were no longer there.”

Croix sighed. Either the translator wasn’t catching the right translation of the idea the daemon was trying to give or somehow the appali had suddenly disappeared from their intergalactic ship, stopping the many sensors Croix had put in there from perceiving them.

Or…

“I’ll see what’s going on,” Croix said, cutting off the communication. She seriously had trouble with Horn. He acted high and mighty around other pilots, but he wasn’t nearly as good as he thought he was. Croix just had rewired his brain to be prepared to deal with most things the other pilots could do. He still managed to lose even then. If he was half as good as he _believed_ he was then he’d have never dropped from first place.

Atsuko Kagari being a complete wildcard didn’t help, though.

Croix walked to her many monitors. She took a remote control and shifted some of them to point at the Appali’s hangar. Those idiots barely had any security in place, but Croix had sneaked some of her own.

The ships were still there, at least.

She then proceeded to run checkups on the whole ship, looking for the team. The coach and gunmen were there, as they popped up almost immediately. Croix drummed her fingers as the checkup kept going. Nothing, nothing, nothing. The intergalactic ship didn’t have Appal’s pilots inside it.

Croix took a deep breath. She looked through the records to the last time they had been detected. It hadn’t been long ago, just fifteen minutes. She then moved on to the camera where they had been detected. The hangar? She went through the recordings.

Then, she paused. It couldn’t be.

But it was.

She closed her eyes. That was the Shiny Rod. What was the Shiny Rod doing on the freaking appal intergalactic ship? She took a deep breath. Why were the pilots hopping in with suitcases?

“I swear to god, this girl will be the end of me…” Croix said as she stood, ready to go dig a little deeper on this.

 

Training was being hard. Not because of Vorago, but because Diana just couldn’t focus. Her mind just kept going back to Akko, her dreams, her mother, her aunt. That dream seemed to have unleashed something within her, and she was starting to be really, really annoyed. “I think it may be best if I take some time to train with the Shooting Star,” Diana said. “I’m obviously having trouble with this.”

Ursula shook her head. “We’ve already done the paperwork. The Shooting Star is no longer your ship. Sorry, Diana.”

“What? But we’re allowed to keep two ships!” Diana complained. She didn’t even know why she had raised her voice. She was just tired. And frustrated.

“Two ships of the same kind. The Shooting Star and the Unicorn are years apart in tech level. It’s either one or the other,” Ursula explained.

Diana wanted to complain more, but she was a rational girl. She understood it wasn’t Ursula’s call, and she could see that Ursula was probably as frustrated as she was.

“Maybe I need a break. I didn’t sleep too well,” Diana suggested.

“Hannah should take one, too. I notice her being sloppy today,” Ursula added.

“I can hear you!” Hannah said through the communicator.

Diana exited the rod, looking at Akko as she did. Their eyes met, and though she wanted to, Diana couldn’t look away. Or maybe she didn’t want to, and that was the problem. “Your turn,” she said as a way of hiding the fact that she had no reason to look at her. Save for the fact that she liked her. But that wasn’t a good enough excuse, not right now.

Akko nodded. It hurt Diana that Akko was so scared of actually talking. She hadn’t expressed well enough, it seemed. The brunette climbed into the cockpit, giving Diana one last shy look.

Diana sighed.

“If it bothers you so much then talk to her,” Hannah said, coming out from under the ship. Jasminka, who had been waiting outside, started to crawl under it..

“You seem to be bothered too,” Diana said. “Is something the matter?”

Hannah, wearing her g-suit, grimaced. “I don’t really know,” she said, sitting down on the Rod. It was kind of uncomfortable, but she seemed used to it. Diana was having a hard time adjusting. “I… I’m a mess.”

“Does it have something to do with Amanda?” Diana guessed.

Hannah nodded. “I thought about talking to Barbara, but I think she already knows. She glared at me the whole time before we went to sleep. It was really awkward.”

“That doesn’t tell me much,” Diana said. “You had a date yesterday, did you not?”

“Yeah,” Hannah pressed her lips. She blushed. “I…” she bit her lip, and Diana got the impression that what she was about to say was hard, for some reason. “We… we kissed,” Hannah said, covering her face in embarrassment. “I can’t believe I did that! But I was so caught up in the mood, but then I pushed Amanda away, but then I regretted it, but then I ran away…” Hannah sounded kind of desperate.

Diana raised an eyebrow. “I seem to remember you being very adamant about not giving your first kiss to her,” she commented.

“I know!” Hannah suddenly looked at Diana. “But… I like her, I think…”

At a loss, Diana hesitantly patted Hannah’s back. It was hard to give dating advice when your own experience could be summarized in ‘we kissed a few times and I pushed the girl I like away in two different occasions’. “But if you like her, then why do you look so troubled?”

“Because my first kiss was in… some random, cold, metallic corridor!” Hannah explained. “I… I don’t know, I expected it to be more romantic. It was just so… fast! Like I couldn’t think! And when I realized that I pushed Amanda away, and she looked hurt, and now I’m scared she may be mad,” she covered her face again.

Diana paused. Hannah and Amanda’s relationship was so different from hers and Akko. Akko was so… patient and understanding. Diana only worried about taking too long, about making Akko think she didn’t actually like her.

Well, thinking about it better, maybe it was similar. The only difference was that Diana had done it intentionally.

“It’s not about the where, but the who,” Diana said.

“What?” Hannah asked, confused, voice muffled by her hands.

“It doesn’t matter where it was, does it? If you like Amanda, then it’s fine,” Diana said.

“I guess you’re right…” Hannah shook her head. “Which only makes it worse! If I explain my reason to Amanda she’s going to be so mad…”

“She won’t,” Diana asserted, surprising even herself. “Just talk with her.”

“But what if she is?” Hannah’s voice was worried.

“Then apologize for what you did.”

Hannah paused. “You’re way too rational about these things,” she complained, though she let go of her face. “I… should, shouldn’t I?” she looked down.

“Yes,” Diana nodded.

“Then what about you?”

“What about me?”

Hannah hesitated. “About you and Akko. You didn’t do that thing about ‘I want to focus on racing’ and shut, right? Diana, you really need to let go of your stupid idea that dating Akko will be a distraction and-”

“It’s not…” Diana interrupted her friend. “It’s not about that. Not anymore. Listen, I am aware my motives seem silly at best, but I assure you I can handle this on my own.”

Hannah crossed her arms. “You’re not trying to punish yourself or something, right?” She asked. “You tend to blame yourself too much. It’s not your fault that your aunt’s an evil bitch.”

“I know, don’t worry,” Diana said. “I’m not doing such thing. It’s… different.”

Hannah didn’t seem convinced, but she sighed. “We’re both hopeless, it seems. The only one who seems to know how to handle a relationship here is Barbara,” she said.

“To be fair, she _is_ dating Lotte. She doesn’t look like too much of a problem,” Diana said.

Hannah nodded. “True. They’re so in sync, it’s annoying…”

A long silence followed. Diana tried to get her mind off everything, meditate like Ursula had adviced. She failed, she was too hung up on everything, and the chat with Hannah hadn’t helped. What could she do to stop thinking about Akko? Whenever the girl appeared in her mind her chest felt like a storm, fighting to make her feel guilty or happy at the same time.

A touch, a hug, a kiss… or more. All of them crossed Diana’s mind. All of them made her feel happy. But not now. She could wait. She could wait until it was over. Everything.

But would Akko?

Somewhere in her heart she knew that the answer was yes. It didn’t help her guilt.

This meditation thing was definitely not working.

Hannah suddenly stood. “I’m going to go talk to Amanda. I won’t be able to focus until I get this off my chest. See you in a while,” she waved and walked away.

Diana saw her go with a slight sense of jealousy. She wished to just go and talk to Akko.

But she wouldn’t. Because she was a woman of principle, and because she didn’t want Akko to hate her.

 

“It makes no sense,” Ursula said, tapping her finger against the back of Akko’s seat. “Why would they suddenly be gone? I hadn’t realized,” she sounded worry. “Wait here, I need to go check something,” Ursula said, exiting the Rod and taking off towards the elevators.

Akko released her breath. _That was close,_ she thought, feeling like her heart was going to leave her chest.

Akko looked outside. Diana was alone. “Where’s Hannah?” she asked.

“She went to talk with Amanda,” Diana replied, not looking at her. Akko should’ve closed the cockpit and continued with her practice, but she wanted to look at Diana, if just a little longer. She had tied her hair. She looked really cute. Talking about Hannah wasn’t against the rules, right? Nah, it couldn’t be.

“Ah, she had a date yesterday, right? How’d it go?” Akko asked.

“Well, apparently,” Diana simply replied. She didn’t sound cold, just… stern. She was obviously being cautious.

Akko didn’t even know what to say anymore, so she just kept on staring. Diana wouldn’t mind, right? She was wearing her g-suit, unlike Akko. They were comfortable, sure, but Akko found them a pain in the ass when she needed to go to the bathroom.

It did help her imagine Diana _without_ a suit. She gave up on not doing that, since it was easier. Diana was so beautiful, it was hard not to want to see more of her. Akko wondered if Diana felt the same way. It was hard to tell. Akko wasn’t as beautiful as her. The only thing she may have going for herself was her red eyes, but even those were relatively common nowadays with all the magic in the world. Plus, Diana was already familiar with magic mutations. Her hair was inherited from one, after all.

“Don’t you have to go back to train, Akko?” Diana asked, not looking up.

Akko started, caught off-guard. “I… do,” she admitted. She wanted to flirt a little and say to Diana that she was looking great, but she suspected that would be off limits. “Sorry,” she said, sitting and closing the cockpit. Then she stood again, trying to get a look at Diana through the windshield.

Diana was looking up. Their eyes met. Akko smiled awkwardly. She expected Diana to look mad, but instead she looked hesitant. Sadly, she looked away, as if afraid.

Akko closed a fist. She really wanted to go out there. Sit next to her. But this wasn’t like last time. Akko could feel that if she did that she’d just make Diana feel like she didn’t care. It wasn’t easy to explain exactly why she felt like that, but… she did. Maybe she understood Diana’s situation. Or maybe she was just a coward. Either way, she sat back down. Would Ursula find out about what happened with the appali? Hopefully not.

Akko was about to get back into training when someone knocked on her windshield. She looked up, hopeful to see Diana. What she saw instead was a woman with lavender hair, a stupid hairstyle and a useless cape. Akko opened the cockpit. “Hello,” Akko greeted.

“Akko, can we talk for a second?” she asked. Last time they’d talked Akko had fainted, if Akko recalled correctly. Maybe Croix had finally been able to find Chariot?

Akko was careful not to look at Diana on her way out, but she could feel the curious gaze on her back. Was she jealous? Why would she be? Akko had professed her love already, she had no reason to be. Plus, Diana was too smart to think that Akko would talk to Croix about something like that. Would she be jealous if the older woman was Chariot? That would be a different story.

When Croix was far enough that Diana wouldn’t be able to overhear them even if they spoke normally, she turned and narrowed her eyes. She looked serious.

“Akko, I need to ask you a very serious question, and I expect you to answer truthfully,” she said. Akko nodded, starting to feel anxious. “Where are the appal pilots?” 

Akko froze. “Uhm… how would I-”

“I’ve got you on camera. Don’t even _try_ to deny it,” she said in a very serious tone.

Akko started to fidget with the hem of her shirt. How long had i “I… well, just…” she didn’t know what to say. “Why do you want to know?”

Croix raised her eyebrows. “Do you really need to ask?”

Akko felt stupid. “Sorry, I just… I promised not to tell anyone,” she explained.

Croix examined her for a second, as if measuring something. Then she looked at the ceiling and breathed deeply. “I see. You’re an honest girl, aren’t you,” Croix said. “I could threaten to throw you out of the race, but the cameras showed that the appali clearly did whatever they did willingly. Why did you teleport them away?”

“I can’t tell,” Akko explained. How much did Croix know?

Nodding, Croix sighed. “I knew those two would be trouble, eventually. Young love can be quite annoying, can’t it…”

Akko cocked her head. “How so?”

“Well, they ran away from the chance of a lifetime to be in a relationship they’ll probably regret in a couple years. Teenage romances always end up badly,” Croix explained.

Frowning, Akko narrowed her eyes. “That’s not true,” she said. “And even if it was, they deserve being able to live however they want.”

Croix shrugged. “In any case, I guess this is a nine-teams race now. Smart move, Akko.”

“I didn’t do it because of that!” Akko said defensively. “They just wanted to live in peace! What’s so wrong with that?”

Croix looked at her. Then she shook her head. “You really don’t know, do you,” she said. “I guess it’s better that way. In any case, I’ll see you later. You should probably get back to practice. I need to do a lot of paperwork now,” she sounded tired. She probably was. She turned around, and Akko was left confused, watching her go.

Why did it feel like _everyone_ but she and the human team knew what was going on?

“Croix!” Akko ran behind her. Croix turned with a raised eyebrow. “What _is_ the grand prize?” she asked, feeling like that was the source of her problems.

Croix seemed a little surprised, but she ended up smirking. “Well, you’ll find out soon enough,” she winked, then pointed back. “I think your coach is back.”

Akko turned around. She looked towards the Shiny Rod, but Diana was still sitting there, alone. Akko turned, frowning, opening her mind to ask what Croix meant.

But Croix was no longer there.


	90. Chapter 90

Amanda laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. She tried not to think, she barely blinked. All she wanted to do was sleep, but she had already slept for a long time, so she couldn’t. No matter how exhausted her mind was, her body was full of energy.

Somehow, Amanda felt empty. She had wrecked her brain trying to see where she had gone wrong. Maybe suggesting that Hannah put on a suit had been too much. Maybe her breath stank. Maybe she had forced the kiss upon Hannah and she had completely failed to read the air. Whatever the reason, the face of desperation Hannah had when pushing her away… It had been like a stab at her kidneys. It hurt like hell. And then Hannah had just ran away. There was nothing more to do. Maybe Hannah had fallen for her at some point, but she probably held no longer feelings.

She wouldn’t go practice. What was the point, anyways? She would perform just as well as she always had whether she did or not. Let Akko use another brain for her turret, it didn’t seem to matter whose it was. Akko was one lucky bastard. Even if she had trouble getting through Diana’s rich-girl-logic, at least she had the certainty that Diana liked her.

Amanda replayed the kiss in her head. Had something gone wrong?

She couldn’t see it. Hannah had moved towards her. She had put her arms around her neck. Both of them had kissed, and for a blissful second it had been like heaven on earth. Or, well, on space. Just what had changed?

I was when thinking about this that a knocking came at the door. Amanda didn’t bother replying. If it wasn’t one of her teammates, she didn’t really want to talk with anyone.

But it seemed like she wouldn’t get the choice. The door opened a few seconds later, and the light of the room suddenly turned on, making her cringe. Amanda expected it to be Ursula, maybe Akko. Her teammates wouldn’t knock, and everyone else would probably just assume she was gone or whatever.

However, the figure that entered the room had auburn hair. Beautiful auburn hair tied with a yellow ribbon.

“Hey Amanda,” Hannah said, sounding timid. “How… are you feeling?”

Amanda couldn’t look at her. “I’m fine,” she lied.

Hannah stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. “Can you… uhm… come down here?”

Amanda pressed her lips, but did as asked, dropping from her bunk-bed and giving Hannah a discerning look. Was she here to complain? No, she wasn’t angry. “What is it?” Amanda asked in a dry voice. She hadn’t said anything since the previous day.

Hannah seemed to notice her blue mood. “Well, it’s about yesterday,” she said. She had a hard to read expression. Pity? Embarrassment? She was blushing, too.

Amanda grimaced. “I imagined it would be.”

Hannah hesitated. “More specifically about… uhm… you know…” she looked away, and though she had her hands behind her back, as if trying to appear naïve or innocent, she was clearly uneasy with the situation.

“The kiss,” Amanda finished the sentence for her. Hannah nodded, looking back at her. If Amanda wasn’t so worried she may have given her a compliment, but it was hard to focus on how cute Hannah looked when she was probably about to tell Amanda how it had all been a mistake or something.

“Look, I’m sorry for what happened,” Hannah said, looking regretful. “I hope you aren’t mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Amanda looked away. She couldn’t bear look at her. “And you don’t need to apologize. It was my fault, probably.”

Hannah cocked her head. “Fault? What do you mean?”

“I…” Amanda pressed her lips. “I’m sorry for taking your first kiss.”

“Oh, that?” Hannah chuckled. “It’s… It’s fine, I’m not mad. Plus, that barely even counted as a peck,” she said, though Amanda could tell she wasn’t being honest with herself. “But you looked hurt when I pushed you away.”

Amanda would have acted tough, but she honestly didn’t have the energy to do so. “I was hurt,” she admitted.

Hannah looked down, putting her arms at her sides, fists closed. “Then sorry. Look, I really didn’t mean that, I just panicked.”

Amanda hesitantly patted her head, almost on instinct. She stopped herself when Hannah looked up. “I shouldn’t have kissed you without asking.”

Hannah shook her head, looking at Amanda. “I was caught up in the mood too, I kissed you as much as you kissed me,” she explained.

 _Caught up in the mood, huh,_ Amanda thought bitterly. “And I guess you regretted it and ran away.”

Hannah hesitated. “Not… exactly.” Amanda raised an eyebrow. “I just… realized that my first kiss was being taken on a random place and… I kind of felt like it was wrong, I just…” she looked down again. “It’s silly, I know.”

Amanda had to think for a moment to get what Hannah was saying. “Sorry I couldn’t take you to the top of a mountain during a perfect sunset,” she teased, but mostly out of a lack of anything else to say. However, mixed with her bad mood, it ended up sounding like actual mockery.

Hannah pressed her lips. “I know I had unrealistic expectations, ok? I shouldn’t have pushed you, but… My head’s a mess.”

Amanda took a deep breath. She sat on Jasminka’s bed, under hers, and she patted her side. Hannah, surprisingly enough, didn’t hesitate to sit down next to her. Their shoulders touched. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Hannah nodded. Amanda allowed a small smile to appear on her face.

“Look, I don’t know if I like you or not,” Hannah said. Then, her mouth twisted. “Scratch that. I probably like you.”

“Probably?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Hannah repeated.

“Feelings aren’t quantum physics, you know,” Amanda replied, slightly irritated by Hannah. She always hated the will-they-won’t-they kind of stories, and this was starting to feel an awful lot like one. “You’re not a box, your feelings aren’t a dead cat. Either you like me or you don’t, there’s no middle ground.”

“I can like you as a friend,” Hannah said.

“I’m talking about romantic love,” Amanda clarified. She looked down, where Hannah’s hand and hers were awfully close to touching. She extended just her pinkie, brushing Hannah’s. She didn’t move the hand away, so she linked their little fingers. “Hannah, I really need to know. I’ve been stressing over that push all day,” _and night,_ she thought, but no need for Hannah to know that. “Do you _like_ me? It’s a simple enough question.”

Hannah bit her lip. She didn’t answer for a minute, but Amanda let her think. She was cute, but her worried face made Amanda want to just tell her to not stress over it. Problem was, she _needed_ that answer.

“I think I have my answer,” Hannah finally said suddenly with a smile. Amanda looked at her, expectant. Hannah just looked Amanda up and down and stood. She looked smug. That couldn’t be a good sign. “But I won’t give it to you just yet.”

“What?!” Amanda stood too, almost in a desperate motion. “Why not?!”

Hannah stepped closer, making Amanda lose some focus. “Because I want you to do something for me,” she said, voice suggestive. Amanda frowned. Was she going to say yes and make it all worth it or say no and just trying to abuse her power?

It wasn’t like Amanda had any real choice here. “What?”

“Ask Barbara who the masked guy was,” she said. Amanda blinked, dumbfounded. “I won’t give you a full answer until I find out.”

Amanda paused. She wanted to laugh, cry, and punch something. She was about to exclaim that _she_ was the ‘guy,’ but then she hesitated. Maybe it’d be too sudden to break it like that. Maybe talking to Barbara about it was actually a good idea.

“Fine,” Amanda said. “Where is she now?”

“In my room. If you see one of Lotte’s spirits outside, don’t bother knocking, they won’t answer.”

Amanda understood what that meant. Her stare lingered on Hannah, who smirked, obviously proud of blueballing Amanda like she was doing. However, Amanda couldn’t even be mad. She was just trying to figure out what level of irony was it that her alter-ego was stopping her from receiving an answer that would finally put an end to all her troubles.

“Ok, wait here,” Amanda said, ready to go.

“Actually, I gotta get back to practice. We’ll talk when I come back,” Hannah said, cocky smile growing. Then, she turned around and left the room, winking to Amanda one last time.

 _Well, at least I don’t feel like dying anymore,_ Amanda thought with a sigh.

 

Diana turned right, her eyes darting across the road as she tried to keep tabs on both daemons and shapeshifter, all the while dodging attacks from the medusa. It was hard enough to fly normally, but this precise combination of ships was essentially hell. Sure, spectators would be thrilled, since this was the combination of the four strongest racers in the race, but for those actually involved few situations were more stressful.

The chasm split going forward, which Diana thanked. The Unicorn’s systems, sadly, weren’t even _near_ the Shiny Rod in terms of mapping, so she still couldn’t have a map of Vorago. Akko had it easy on that regard. Of course, there were many paths that never reached the surface, underground chasms, so looking at the planet from above wasn’t an option. Still, Diana wondered if it would be _at_ _least_ something half good.

When the fork was upon them, the armor had been left behind and no one could follow them for directions, so each racer kind of went where their gut told them to. Diana wasn’t any different, going left because it felt right. It was hard to explain it, but even though she was essentially striving further away from the finish line, the path to the right hadn’t seemed correct. Too narrow. Now, at least, she had to deal only with the daemons, who attacked relentlessly. They had been way more aggressive since last race, which probably made sense. Still, sometimes Diana wondered if the Blood Sailor was even the right ship to be simulating. It had been torn to pieces pretty heavily.

The distraction cost her a sloppy dodge, which ended up her ship losing balance and almost hitting the chasm wall, with its glowing purple moss. Diana grunted, but at least Hannah seemed to be back into the game, her aiming being as good as ever. Whatever she’d talked about with Amanda had worked to put her at ease, and now they could at least act like they were a functional team.

Diana didn’t trust herself quite yet, though. She was being more daring than usual. She had found that being more aggressive in her flying made it harder for her to distract herself with nonsense. If she couldn’t focus, then she just needed to be in situations where she just didn’t have any option but to pay attention to what was going on in front of her.

The daemons kept attacking, and Diana was starting to get frustrated. Not because of the attacks, but because the race seemed to never end. The Unicorn, at least, had way better efficiency than the Shooting Star, which wasn’t an easy feat. Still, the finish line had seemed so close in the map, yet none of these chasms seemed to go towards it, all of them going horizontally instead of vertically in respects to the big red dot Diana was aiming for.

 _At least I’m not the only one who failed,_ Diana thought with a grim expression as she moved through the relative darkness.

“Diana, behind,” Hannah suddenly warned. Diana looked, finding that the medusa and shapeshifter had appeared behind them on the chasm, though they were far. So they had run into a closed path. Good, though now they’d be more desperate and therefore more aggressive. That was never good, in the long run, because desperate racers did some crazy shit.

Diana paused, noticing another fork was coming. One of the splitting paths, however, required her to do a really hard, almost absurd, turn to the right, a U… no, a V turn. Sharp, dangerous.

That _had_ to be it.

She did it. With the Unicorn and the new control system it was almost a piece of cake. Diana relaxed a little at seeing that all four of the racers present had the same idea, which meant that either they were all stupid or maybe she wasn’t as crazy as she felt. The Blood Sailor, however, started to glow. Diana didn’t hesitate to accelerate, putting herself next to it right as the black ship released its cursed barrier.

Shapeshifter and medusa were left behind yet again as Hannah seemed to get  a small fieldtrip with the daemons. They had noticed this already, but after doing their abilities the daemon ships seemed to run out of effective energy for a small while. It was hard, but if you could get close to them after they did them, you’d get a good chance at taking them out.

Hannah didn’t hesitate to go for the body of the ship. Attacking the wings had proven to be ineffective already, so they could always try to just damage the inner systems.

Diana took a deep breath. She counted the seconds and right when the daemons got back their energy she charged them. One interesting feature about the Unicorn’s horn was that it was made of magically reinforced steel. The daemons didn’t seem to know – or care – about this, so they stood there, deciding to take the blow head on, probably trusting their own ship to be able to withstand the attack of a puny human.

However, right before hitting, Diana hit nitro. Both the Unicorn and Blood Sailor became a blur for a second as Diana _impaled_ the ship. And then Diana did something that would have been impossible to do with any other ship, maybe even the Shiny Rod: She spun. And not like a barrel roll, but like a beyblade. The engines of the Unicorn stopped for a second to allow for the maneuver, and once the Blood Sailor was off the horn of her ship, Diana faced forward once again. The Blood Sailor was left behind, unable to recover from the damage.

Diana moved forth, all other racers long surpassed. And, finally, she managed to reach the finish line with a sigh of satisfaction. The simulation ended, and with it, Diana took off the helmet and took a deep breath. She had managed not to think of Akko during the entire thing, which was an accomplishment in itself.

“Well done,” Ursula complimented. “A little weird on a couple parts, but not bad enough that it would cost you a race. Though, be careful when using the horn of the ship on others that aren’t the daemons, one bad movement and you may end up harming the engine o and getting yourself disqualified.”

Diana nodded. It was lucky that the Blood Sailor lacked an engine, but it had been a risky move. A carefully calculated one, but risky nonetheless. Good thing the Unicorn was such an amazing ship. The only thing it lacked was shields, but Diana was sure Constanze could fix that, assuming they’d let her. Now that she thought about it, the Shooting Star had been in the hangar for a day now. What was going on there?

“Using the helmet can be tiring,” Ursula said. “Like in VR, if you use it for too long you may get magic poisoning. You’ve been at this for an hour, maybe you should take a break.”

“No thanks,” Diana said.

“Yeah, VR helmets don’t become dangerous until the three hours, right? We can probably use it some more. Akko won’t mind,” Hannah added. She sounded happy. Had her talk with Amanda gone _that_ well?

Well, in any case, Diana wasn’t ready to leave, so this worked out just fine.

 

 _I can’t believe I did that,_ Hannah thought, smiling to herself. Well, she could believe it, she had just done so, but it was still hard to. She was so used to being on the end side of the tease that when the opportunity presented itself she couldn’t let it go. Now she’d get to say to Amanda that she liked her _and_ find out who the masked guy was. Assuming, of course, that Barbara cared enough about her romance to answer.

What would Hannah do when she found out? At this point it was just the sheer curiosity of it. He could be the most handsome man in the world and Hannah wouldn’t – probably – fall for him. Would Amanda come running to the hangar to get her answer sooner? Or would she wait, too nervous to want to rush it?

Hannah did feel ever so slightly guilty about what she was doing, but I was just some harmless fun. Amanda could probably feel the answer anyways. Why would Hannah bother with all of this if she _didn’t_ like her?

Liking a girl. It was… a strange realization, to know that she could do that. But on the other hand, Hannah wasn’t even sure she was actually bisexual or such. She liked _Amanda._ Just Amanda. She had never felt like that with any other woman, and she didn’t feel like she’d ever find another woman attractive. Amanda had just managed to dig her way through Hannah’s brain.

And straight into her heart.

But she should probably start focusing more on the race. She moved her hands across the control panel of the turret and changed two of the guns to single-shot, keeping the one alone at the top in laser. This way she’d have a quick way of causing damage.

Her mind still wandered, though. It felt good, somehow, to be able to finally admit to herself she liked Amanda. She no longer felt like if her brain was trying to torn itself apart by contradictions. She was able to close her eyes and think of a kiss with her without feeling guilty, she was able to look forward to talking with Amanda without being nervous about her possible flirting.

She barely noticed when the race ended. She got no complaints, so she was probably doing fine. “Ok, one more and…” Diana started.

“That’s enough for me, actually. Plus, Akko needs her practice too. Sorry!” Hannah kicked at the floor to open the turret, slowly climbing out and barely acknowledging the existence of Akko and Jasminka as she happily walked towards the elevators. An hour and a half was probably enough teasing. Time to go see what the answer was.

 

Amanda sat in front of Barbara, having just explained the situation.

“You can’t tell her,” Barbara said, concerned. “She won’t believe it.”

“I can put on the disguise to prove it,” Amanda said.

Barbara shook her head. “No no, you don’t understand. You _can’t_ tell her, Amanda. She won’t believe it. She’ll probably even be offended by it. She’ll ask you why you didn’t tell her sooner.”

“Oh, you’re exaggerating,” Amanda said. “She won’t get mad over such a stupid-”

“I’ve known her for years, I know how she thinks. She’ll get mad. Maybe you should lie. Tell her that it was a random dude that ended up getting off on Earth,” Barbara suggested.

Amanda pressed her lips. “I don’t want to lie, though,” she said. “Look, what’s the worst that could happen? She’ll get offended for a while, but then she’ll get over it.”

“You don’t get it,” Barbara sighed. “She could, in the spur of the moment, change her answer, and then both of you will be too awkward to talk about it. Hannah will regret it heavily and it’ll take me _weeks_ to get you two back to the point where you are now.”

“Barbs, you should be a little more sensitive,” Lotte said in a low voice. “It sounds like you’re considering this a game,” she spoke in her ever kind voice. Amanda could see why Barbara liked her, though she liked girls with a little more spunk to them.

“I’m not gonna lie to her,” Amanda said. “do you remember how much trouble Hannah just _thinking_ I was lying caused? Yeah, no.”

Barbara sighed. “Fine, whatever, but don’t come crying to me when everything’s said and done. I still suggest you tell her I didn’t tell you. It’s technically true.”

“But then she won’t tell me if she likes me or not!”

Barbara deadpanned her. “Gee, I wonder what the answer is,” she said sarcastically.

Amanda cringed. Barbara had a point. She was being paranoid, what Hannah’s answer would be was pretty obvious. Still, Amanda didn’t want to disappoint her. What should she do? “I’ll think about it,” Amanda said, standing. “See you later,” she said, walking out of the room in a thoughtful mood. She really needed to think of a way that didn’t involve lying. But if Barbara was right – and she probably was – then telling the whole truth wouldn’t be ideal either.

The wait back in her room was almost painful. It was hard enough to think when trying to do so about Hannah, but this was a problem Amanda had just real trouble figuring out. She liked Hannah, didn’t want her to be mad, but also didn’t want to lie to her either.

 _I’m just going to tell her the truth. She likes me, she’ll forgive me,_ Amanda thought. Yeah, it wasn’t that hard. Save for reaching that ‘simple’ conclusion.

It was a while before someone knocked on her door. Amanda didn’t say anything, again. Her hear began to race. Maybe it wouldn’t be Hannah, but who else would be knocking? And indeed, a few seconds later the auburn haired girl stepped into the room. She wore a satisfied expression and she looked at Amanda on the bed. She had probably done well in training, she had a proud air to her. She looked beautiful, as always.

Amanda dropped from the bed. “Ok, I talked to Barbara,” she started.

Hannah nodded. “Then you know who the guy is, right?” she asked. She sounded… excited. Amanda looked into her eyes. She was starting to get jealous. Of herself. Damn that was stupid.

“Well…” _just say yes,_ Amanda thought, but something was stopping her. “I… well, Barbara didn’t actually tell me,” she said. It wasn’t a lie, right?  She still felt guilty. Why wasn’t she telling the truth? Had Barbara’s words gotten to her? “Uhm… Sorry,” she said, looking down.

Hannah looked at her with clear disappointment. “Maybe she doesn’t want me to doubt about this or something,” Hannah suggested.

 _Well, she’s not wrong_ , Amanda thought with a grimace. “So, uhm… Are you really not going to tell me the answer?” She asked trying to put her best puppy eyes. Being taller and stronger than Hannah probably didn’t really help her with it.

Hannah’s disappointment transformed into something else. Her face became hard to read, her expression almost like stone. “No, I won’t tell you,” she declared.

Amanda pressed her lips. “Then what?” she asked. Should she keep flirting? Stop? She wanted to know what Hannah thought first. Even if everything told her Hannah did like her, her current face made her doubt.

“Then…” Hannah said, stepping forward, standing on her tiptoes, and pecking Amanda’s lips. “I’ll just show you the answer,” she said, redness starting to climb up her face and all the way to her ears. “I’m sorry I teased you like that. It was kinda cruel.”

Amanda was stunned. She forgot about all her doubts from before, her mind going blank. Then, slowly, she smiled. All her worries were gone, replaced by a rising feeling of happiness.

“It’s fine,” Amanda said, regaining her smirk. She hadn’t done it since yesterday. It felt good to do it again. “Though now you owe me something,” she reached forward, taking Hannah by the waist and pulling her close.

“W-wait!” Hannah said, though she didn’t really struggle. “I’m not ready to go that far!”

Amanda cocked her head. “Huh?” She asked. When she realized what Hannah meant, she laughed. “I don’t mean sex!” she said with a hearty chuckle.

Hannah seemed relieved. She relaxed, letting her hands climb up Amanda’s arms and rest on her shoulders. “Then… a kiss?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Amanda didn’t answer, leaning forward, closing her eyes. It took a second, but Hannah ended up reciprocating. Amanda felt how Hannah pulled her down. And what began as a mere touch soon devolved into the kind of kiss Amanda knew best. Their lips parted, and Amanda increased its intensity slowly, testing how far Hannah would be willing to go. First simple, careful movements. Then more daring. As Amanda’s heart went faster, as her body heated up, she started pulling harder on Hannah’s waist, yet pushing harder with her lips, her movements matched by Hannah, who seemed to want their teeth to clash together.

Hannah smelled a little like sweat, probably from training, but her breath tasted like toothpaste. She had brushed her teeth recently. Amanda opened her eyes, meeting Hannah’s. From this close, Amanda could see that Hannah’s brown eyes were speckled with little dots of gold.

Then, before Amanda could try to use her tongue, Hannah carefully moved back, ending the kiss. She was panting. Amanda had also irregular breathing, though she was more used to these kinds of experiences.

“I never imagined a kiss could leave me tired,” Hannah said, hand to her chest. “I… I guess that was a real kiss, huh?” She said.

Amanda smirked. “I mean, yeah, that was better than a peck, but there is so much more to kisses than that,” she explained. “I can show you, if you want.”

Hannah seemed confused. “Really? I… Well, I guess…” she looked down a second, then shook her head. “Not now, I need to get back to practice, and… Uhm…” she looked up. She was still red. Not that Amanda wasn’t. “I don’t really know what to say. That was… great.”

Amanda found her being at a loss as something incredibly cute. She stepped forward. Hannah was on guard, not ready for another kiss, but Amanda just hugged her. A tight hug. Hannah reciprocated, first hesitantly, then relaxing and also with strength. “I’m really happy right now,” she confessed.

Hannah sighed in relief. “Me too. I never thought my first time would be with a girl…” she paused. “Kiss, I mean, first kiss, not…” she shut her mouth. Amanda chuckled.

“If you want to have your first time you just have to come here. Constanze basically lives in the hangar, and Jasminka is perfectly glad to help out Akko as my substitute, so…”

“Geez, don’t talk about that,” Hannah said. “Wait, does it even count, doing it with a girl?”

“Hannah, please,” Amanda said, rolling her eyes. “I assure you I can make you happy more times in a month than any man would be able to in his entire life.”

Hannah suddenly pushed her away. “Damn it Amanda, you’re…” she bit her lip. “You’re making me… embarrassed!”

Amanda blinked. What a strange reaction. Then she slowly raised an eyebrow. “Wait. By embarrassed don’t you mean exci…?”

“Say it and I end this relationship here and now,” she threatened, covering her face. Amanda laughed. “A-anyways, I’m going back to practice,” she turned around.

Amanda stopped laughing, though she still wanted to, and lunged forward, catching Hannah’s hand. “Before you go, I wanted you to know that I love you,” she said.

Hannah looked back at her, though she was obviously having trouble meeting her eyes. “I… I don’t think I’m ready to say that,” she explained.

“It’s fine,” Amanda said, bringing Hannah’s hand up and kissing it. “No need to rush. Go, practice.”

Hannah relaxed visibly. “And you don’t plan on coming?”

“I’ll go exercise later. Let Jasna have something to do for a while. She gets pretty bored when here,” Amanda explained.

“And you don’t?” Hannah raised an eyebrow.

“I have ways of having fun,” Amanda winked.

Hannah’s eyes widened and she turned in a rush. “I’m going!” she said, as if offended, and left.

Amanda’s smile only grew. This was it. This was the best day of her life. For now, at least. Just wait until she got Hannah on her bed. She’d never done it with someone she loved. She had heard some of her old friends say it was way better when you did it with someone like that. Maybe she’d finally get the chance of finding out.

She probably needed to tone down her sex jokes, though.


	91. Chapter 91

Ursula was in her room, trying to figure out through paperwork what may have happened to the appal pilots. Maybe it had something to do with Croix. Why had she come to talk with Akko again, and why was Akko so secretive about it? However, no matter how many documents she checked, she really couldn’t see anything. They were all recent reports from other races, but the last one they’d gotten from the appali was clear. Everything was going fine, apparently. So this incident had less than twenty-four hours.

As she was in the middle of racking her brain when someone knocked at her door. She hesitated. She felt like every time someone knocked on her door it was for trouble. Well, she was the only adult in the group, so it made sense, but…

She took a deep breath. Then she moved and opened the door. Croix stood on the other side, displaying proudly her ridiculous outfit and haircut. Ursula closed the door on her face.

“Come on, Ursula, I need to talk to you.”

“And _I_ need you to stay away,” Ursula replied. She still needed to get through the security camera reports of the _Dragon,_ see if the pilots hadn’t slipped in it somehow. They had already traveled on it once, maybe as a preparation for this. Was it a complot? Faking problems with fuel was easy enough. Assuming the higher ups were all teamed up against the humans, then…

“It’s about Appal’s pilots,” Croix said, and Ursula froze. She turned around and opened the door again. Croix smirked, stepping into the room. “I mean, I could have always just teleported inside if you didn’t open, but thanks for saving me the trip.”

“What did you do with the pilots?” Ursula frowned, giving Croix her most menacing look, taking off her glasses.

Croix looked at her, unfazed. “Me? You should ask that to _your_ student,” she said. Ursula frowned. “Yeah, just for the record, it was Akko that kidnapped the guys. I don’t know where she took them – somewhere on earth, probably – but you need to get her to tell you.”

“Akko would never do something like that, she’s not a cheater,” Ursula said, not trusting Croix’s claim.

Croix sighed. “Never said she wanted to cheat. The guys probably asked to do whatever she did. Probably got tired of living in their oppressive and hyper-aggressive society. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone it was her.”

Ursula paused. Would Akko do something like that? Making pilots disappear… No, she wouldn’t. But what if it was in good faith? Ursula could see _that_ happening. Akko was kind and naïve, not a very good combination in terms of following rules. If she had really taken the appal pilots to another planet then she could easily be thrown into prison.

“I don’t believe you,” Ursula said, arms crossed. Croix rolled her eyes, taking out her wand and waving it. She showed Ursula a recording. It was a hangar, though not the _Dragon’s_. The appali’s ships were there, and Ursula felt her blood pressure dropping as the Shiny Rod appeared onscreen. The pilots climbed onto it with luggage, and then the Rod disappeared.

“Believe me now?” Croix asked in a condescending manner.

“What now?” Ursula rose a hand and started massaging one of her temples. “What do you want? Why are you telling me this? Do you want to blackmail me? I’m not giving you access to the rod,” she started worrying.

Croix chuckled. “What do you think me? I have no need for such lowly methods, Chariot. I don’t need the Rod anymore. I already studied all I needed, though I suppose getting it out of the race would be a plus,” she rubbed her chin, in thought. “Would you step out of the race if I threatened to throw Akko to the authorities?”

Ursula stared daggers at her. “Oh, I don’t know, is the sky blue?” Ursula asked. If having to chose between the race and Akko, she wouldn’t hesitate to pick Akko.

Croix sighed. “I suppose that’s right. Though, the answer to your question depends on the planet, you see. In any case, I wouldn’t do that. Yet, at least. I highly doubt Akko will be able to replicate what she did last race. Mayenab Dysheebudo isn’t a viable command for normal competitions.”

Hearing Croix speak the words made Ursula grimace. Did she really remember them after all these years? It was a good thing that she didn’t have access to the Rod. “So, what do you want, then?”

“Just ask Kagari where the pilots are. Tell her you won’t tell anyone, and that they won’t be bothered. I just need to cover my ass,” Croix replied. Ursula pressed her lips. “Or I can kidnap Akko and take the Rod’s wand to check for all data on recent telportations. Whatever you prefer,” Croix said in a colder voice.

Ursula sighed. “Ok. Now get out.”

“I’ll come back later. Please deal with it,” Croix said, waving as she left the room. Ursula dropped back in her chair, looking at her wand and all the files in it. _Well, guess I don’t need to stress over this anymore…_

 

“You’re gonna need way, _way_ more energy than that,” Sucy said as she examined Constanze’s new calculations. “The magic in a single broom would maybe get you… what? Five seconds of function? And then it’d just stop. This is one of the many reasons this is impossible. Unless you can find energy enough to fuel something like… like the _Dragon_ you won’t get far.”

Constanze nodded. She understood that, but she had overestimated how much a broom’s fuel could take her. She’d be happy if it had been thirty seconds. But five? She could do nothing with five. Unless she managed to optimize her design, she would get nowhere. Either she found a way to optimize the design or she found an infinite source of energy. Well, if she had time enough, she may have been able to somehow connect her ship to the _Dragon_ to use its power, but that was impractical anyways. Her idea had been good, but obviously not viable. Neither the Shooting Star nor the Unicorn were powerful enough.

If only she… she raised an eyebrow. Taking her wand back from Sucy, she gave her a thankful nod and ran out of the room and back to hers. She entered in a rush. When she did, she noticed Amanda was in bed, very, very still, having obviously covered herself hastily with a blanked. She was flushed.

Constanze had no time to worry about Amanda’s needs, diving under the bed where she kept some of her projects. Between them, she found a small helmet. A better version of the device she had made Barbara test back in the party. She put it on, waving her wand.

The world turned to black, and after a second, it kind of became outlined with pale green lines. Of course, it wouldn’t work like this everywhere. What she was seeing was the many, many magic circuits of the _Dragon._ And, if she looked towards the back of the ship, she could see a massive wall of light, the engines. However, even among that light, if one looked down there was something even stronger. A blinding light even among the blinding lights. A small dot that hurt her eyes if she looked at it directly.

Constanze smiled. She had long ago confirmed it, but she needed to be extra sure. That was the Shiny Rod. And she decided not to activate the measure function of the helmet, because she was fairly certain that if she directed it towards Akko’s broom it would just blow up.

She took the helmet out, putting it back on its box, and leaving the room again for Amanda to do whatever she needed. She was already making new notations on her blueprints. Now she _really_ needed to talk to Akko. As soon as possible. Luckily she was still in training hours, so it should be possible.

 

Akko kept on training and training. She was doing fairly well, though she wasn’t as sharp as she had been during that race. Maybe it was because she knew this was a simulation. Would she be able to pull off something like that ever again? She had been in The Zone, she could tell. Those four minutes she had been a being of pure focus.

She had dreamed about that last night. It truly had been amazing, and she had never expected to be able to repeat it. But… Well, she could always dream.

She laughed at her own stupid joke and prepared to start the next simulation.

Knocking on her windshield. Maybe Ursula was back from the break she’d said she’d take. Opening it, she found instead a tiny girl looking very intensely at her. She cocked her head, and Constanze made her gestures. Did she want to talk? Akko decided to follow. Outside, Diana and Hannah were discussing something in low voices. Hannah seemed happy, and Diana confused. Akko’s stare lingered on Diana all it could as she exited the ship, but Constanze soon pulled her too far away and other brooms covered the view.

Constanze reached all the way to the door of the garage before stopping. Akko expected to be carried inside, but Constanze simply took out her tablet and showed some things to Akko. Akko saw some blueprints, one of them being the Shooting Star, though it looked kind of different from normal. Still, she didn’t really understand any of it.

“Uhm… why are you showing me this?” Akko asked. “I don’t get anything.”

Constanze looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. She started making hand signs. “Oh, you have a new project?” Akko asked. Constanze nodded, doing some more. Akko didn’t really get it, so Constanze repeated, this time slower. “Uhm… You had an idea but you couldn’t do it,” she guessed. Constanze nodded again. Akko felt proud, and Constanze resumed her explanations. “And now you want my help?” With another nod, Constanze smiled. Akko cocked her head. “I mean, I don’t know how I could help, but if I can be of help, then there’s no problem.”

The mechanic gave her a thumbs up as she slid her finger through her tablet. Then she showed it again to Akko. A bunch of blueprints of the Shiny Rod. “Wait, where did you get those?” Akko asked. Constanze shrugged it off and continued to point at the screen, changing between the normal Shiny Rod and moving on to its other forms. “You… like the way it transforms?” Akko asked, lost. Constanze nodded again, and Akko felt like she was really getting the hang of this. “And you want me to transform the Rod… so that you can study it?”

Constanze seemed amazed that Akko had understood everything, and she nodded. “I mean, if you can wait until after practice, I’ll do it gladly.”

The mechanic nodded energetically. Akko felt strange. She had never had too much trouble understanding Constanze, but the way she’d been able to guess what Constanze wanted surprised even her. Still, there was no need to keep being here. Particularly because she didn’t want to break Diana’s schedule, so she waved Constanze goodbye as she went back to the Rod. What was Constanze doing? Maybe looking for ways of transforming the Shooting Star? Akko wasn’t sure the Shiny Rod would be of much help then, because it was pretty clear that it didn’t work like most ships. Maybe Akko could take Constanze to examine the Noir Rod. Its transformations seemed to be more plausible with current technology. Constanze probably wouldn’t be satisfied though.

Well, she’d worry about that later.

 

Ursula let Diana go into the cockpit alone. She went outside with Akko, ready to have a harsh conversation. However, Jasminka was already there. Ursula pressed her lips. She always forgot Jasminka was taking Amanda’s place for training. Was she being cruel? Well, it wasn’t as if Jasminka needed any advice. She wouldn’t be Earth’s gunman anymore… probably.

Akko and Jasminka didn’t talk much, though Akko sometimes seemed to speak to Jasminka about random topics, and Jasminka would answer. How did one talk to Jasminka, anyways? Maybe Ursula should ask, get to know her better. Jasminka was by far her best student, in a way. The one that caused the least amount of trouble.

For now, though, Ursula had a mission. “Akko, we need to talk, alone,” Ursula said.

Jasminka didn’t seem too offended by this, though Akko pressed her lips. “S-sure,” she said, growing nervous.

Ursula took her away and then looked at Akko through harsh eyes. “So… Do you happen to know anything about the appal pilots?”

Akko looked mortified. “I, well… Uhm…” she scratched her head. “What’s appal?” She asked in a rush. Then she paused, face-palming. “Ok, no, I…”

Ursula sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Akko, I already know what you did.”

“How?!” Akko asked, looking at her.

“Croix told me,” Ursula confessed. Akko opened her mouth, but rethought whatever she was about to say and instead pursed her lips.

“You’re not going to make me bring them back, right?” She asked.

Ursula looked at her. Why did she care so much? “It depends. Why did you do that in the first place?”

Akko sighed. Then, she proceeded to explain why she’d done what she’d done. Ursula heard with some interest, but it was easy to do why Akko had done it. She probably wasn’t even aware of just how many levels of _illegal_ she had reached. Still, her intentions had been good.

Croix really had a weapon against them with this. “It’ll be fine, Akko. I need you to tell me where they are,” Ursula said, though it kind of pained her. Would Croix really keep her word? Akko looked at Ursula with a really hesitant couple of eyes. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

Akko looked down, thinking. “The amazon,” she said. “It’s relatively close to a city or something like that, though I’m not too sure.”

Ursula nodded. “Thank you,” she ruffled Akko’s head with a soft smile. “Now let’s go back there, we’ll begin exercising soon.”

Akko looked relieved. Now all that was left was to tell Croix, but Ursula couldn’t help feeling slightly guilty about it. Still, Croix had her recordings, so it wasn’t as if Ursula had much of a choice.

She took a deep breath. Knowing she’d have to see Croix later in the day wasn’t particularly pleasant.

 

Amanda was still in her room after everything that had happened. She had eaten, taken a nap, ‘relieved’ herself – with a short interruption from Constanze – and more importantly, she had had time to think. Hannah was new to relationships. Well, in a way, Amanda was too. But the main point here was that Amanda needed to take it easy. Being pushy was fine before, when Hannah wasn’t sure of her feelings. Now there was no rush.

Well, after a full day of lazying about – the first half out of depression, the second out of joy – Amanda figured it was time to do something. The others should have been going to the gym soon, so it was as good a time as any to go and see Hannah in light clothing and showing a lot of skin. Best part was, now Amanda didn’t have to contain herself. It would be quite the show.

She put on her sports bra, a tank top and a couple of shorts. Hannah had shown earlier that she was at least somewhat curious about Amanda sexually. She was going to take advantage of that.

She also grabbed a towel to wipe away the sweat and walked out of the room. The walk to the gym was relatively long, so she hoped to run into the group at some point, but it didn’t happen. She had expected to reach the gym before them, too, but as she approached the building within the ship – sometimes Amanda forgot, but it was pretty crazy that inside a ship there were actual small buildings for people to buy stuff. It felt surreal – she saw through the windows that the team was already inside, starting their workouts.

The inside of the gym, as always, was relatively empty. With most of the exercise machines to the left and a big chunk of empty space to the right. Ursula looked at her with some surprise as she entered. The weights and other stuff like that was in a corner in the right side of the gym, too.

“Are you coming back to practice, Amanda?” Ursula raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I guess,” Amanda shrugged. “Though I don’t really see the point.”

Ursula didn’t pester her more, simply smiling softly and giving her a nod. Amanda got to doing her exercise, starting by the treadmill. She picked one directly next to Hannah, who hadn’t noticed her yet. When she did, Hannah looked to the side for a second, checking who it was. Then she looked ahead. And then to Amanda again, with a surprised expression.

“A-Amanda?” she asked, tripping. Amanda chuckled.

“I told you I was coming, didn’t I?” Amanda asked as she started running.

“Yeah, I guess…” Hannah looked at herself. She was wearing a white t-shirt and shorts. Nothing extravagant, but as everything else, it just fit her. Was she getting self conscious? She had a beautiful body, even if she didn’t have the best proportions Amanda had seen.

“How did training go?” Amanda asked. Starting tomorrow she’d go back to the Rod. Something told her that she probably shouldn’t. The Shiny Rod was dangerous. Amanda had checked herself for magic poisoning every time after practicing with the actual, physical version of the Shooting Star after realizing what was going on, but it seemed it wasn’t just that. She had the feeling it probably had something to do with her state of mind too. If she was in a competition – as when she had raced Diana in Sídhe, or the two races she’d done – then the Rod didn’t like it. If not, then nothing happened.

But, on the other hand, she kind of missed it too. Was it Stockholm syndrome? Or maybe she was just going crazy. Didn’t seem like too much of a stretch.

“It went fine,” Hannah said. “I was… well, happier,” she explained, growing red. Amanda smiled. She was trying to run at the same pace as Hannah, but she was perfectly able to handle higher speeds if she wanted. Well, this would be fine for now. She wanted to talk more than exercise.

“So… what are you doing tonight?” Amanda asked.

“What do you mean tonight? There’s no day or night in this thing,” Hannah said. Amanda gave her a flat look. “I… I plan on sleeping, I guess?”

Amanda raised an eyebrow with a smirk. Hannah seemed to get the message, but she quickly looked forward again. Amanda kept smiling. Hannah was cute when she was assertive, but it would be a lie to say that Amanda didn’t enjoy her being shy like this. Teasing Hannah was basically what had gotten Amanda to fall for her, after all.

Letting the idea simmer, Amanda didn’t say anything else during their time jogging, increasing her own speed to make it feel like an actual work out. Once they were done with that, she moved on to doing pull-ups. That wasn’t actually in her schedule, but Ursula did them so often, and made it look so easy. Amanda knew how to do them, but she wasn’t an expert.

She managed to do a few without much problems, but it wasn’t long until she somehow lost her rhythm and every time she needed to pull on the bar to get her chin above it felt like an impossible task.

“Not bad, but you’re using your arms too much,” Ursula noticed what she was doing She approached, touching her back. “Put more strength here,” she explained. Amanda hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t been doing them right, but as soon as she did as Ursula advised, she started to do them better. Amanda kept doing them until she literally couldn’t hold on to the bar anymore and dropped to the ground.

“Pull ups aren’t in your schedule,” Ursula said. “Any reason you’re doing them?”

“I wanted to see if I could do it like you. Why do _you_ do them?”

Ursula smiled awkwardly. “Well, I have my reasons to want to stay fit,” she evaded the question. Amanda hummed, narrowing her eyes. “A-anyways, shouldn’t you go to do bike or something?” Ursula said, turning around and going towards where Akko and Jasminka were doing their own sessions of running.

Amanda sighed, deciding to do the push-ups, squats and so on right now to feel a little less useless. Even with sore arms, she didn’t have much trouble.

“Want me to help you?” Hannah’s voice surprised Amanda as she was doing crunches. Her auburn hair stuck to her neck, her face pearled with sweat, but she was in front of Amanda, holding her feet.

Amanda was about to make a sexual joke, as she always did, but she instead smiled. “I would love to,” she said. The smile Hannah gave her made her chest warm, and she got all the energy she had lost back. That made it easy to finish the crunches, so much so that Amanda kept going past her goal just to keep looking at Hannah. And Hannah was definitely smiling at the situation too. She was so cute.

When she was done, Hannah stood and offered Amanda a hand. When she took it, instead of Amanda going up, Hannah went down to the pads on the floor. Amanda hadn’t noticed, but she was kind of… stronger and heavier than Hannah.

Hannah ended up on top of Amanda, and during a few seconds, Amanda considered embracing her and kissing her right there and then. But it would be too much for Hannah. “Sorry,” she said.

Hannah jumped up, face red yet again. “I should’ve pulled harder, it was my fault,” she offered Amanda her hand again. Amanda took it, and this time she did go up. “There, all fine now.”

Amanda looked at her and couldn’t help wanting to… “Can I kiss you?”

Hannah pressed her lips. “I’m all sweaty and gross,” she said, looking at herself. “I doubt you’d…” Amanda leaned down, pulling Hannah’s chin up and pecking her lips. When she pulled back, Hannah looked a little dazed.

“As far as I know, you don’t sweat through your mouth. Or are you a dog? Maybe you’re a werewolf…” She smirked.

“God, you sound like when Lotte and Barbara…” she paused, realizing she was about to say something incredibly inappropriate. She faked a cough. “Uhm, well, anyways… Amanda, are we, like… you know… dating?” she asked. She tried to keep her composure, but it was hard to take her too seriously when she couldn’t even look Amanda in the eyes.

“Of course we are. Why?” Amanda cocked her head.

“Well, if we’re dating, that means… you don’t really have to ask, you know?” Hannah said. Amanda didn’t get it, and Hannah looked a little exasperated at having to explain it. “I’m saying that if you want to, like, you know, kiss me and such…” she looked down. “Well, you can do it, no need to ask.”

Amanda bit her lip. _Damn, if we weren’t in a public place…_ “Then I’ll keep asking,” Amanda said with a smirk. Hannah looked up, confused. “Isn’t it more fun that way?”

“It’s embarrassing!” Hannah complained, hands to her sides.

“That’s what makes it fun!” Amanda replied, chuckling. Hannah seemed like she was going to walk away acting offended again, but instead her expression suddenly changed to a more confident one.

Amanda got a bad feeling.

“Then, can I kiss you?” Hannah asked.

“Sure,” Amanda replied. Was this her strategy? Just ask back? Amanda wouldn’t find it nearly as embarrassing as Hannah. Or, like, embarrassing at all.

Hannah then pulled Amanda down, but right when she was about to kiss her, she instead moved her head to the side and spoke to Amanda’s ear. “Then I’ll kiss you when we’re in the room, and you’ll have to wait,” she said. She stepped back, smug expression mixing with a powerful blush, and she went back to doing whatever exercise she had left.

Amanda suddenly wished she could be back in her room right now.

 

_“Are you sure about this?” Akko heard her best friend ask._

_“Sure,” Akko said. “Listen, worst case scenario, you’re not very good. Best case scenario we got ourselves a competitive team.”_

_Her friend sighed. “If only the Rod allowed me to pilot it…”_

_“Come on, you’ll do good. Ok now, I’m activating the turret,” Akko said, waiting for a few seconds as the turret activated. She expected to hear her friend’s reaction, but she didn’t get any. After a minute she got worried. “Uhm… Croix? Are you fine?” Akko asked. Her friend didn’t answer. Akko panicked, turning off the turret and opening it. She opened the windshield and jumped out of the broom. She crawled under the broom, finding Croix on the grass, one hand on her head, a really confused look on her face. “Croix! Are you ok?”_

_The girl, with lavender hair, nodded. “Yeah… I… what was that?” she looked up, at the ship floating above them both. “I… feel strange.”_

_“I don’t know. You weren’t answering. Does anything hurt?”_

_Croix shook her head. “No… I just…” she paused. “Go up there. Let’s do it again. Maybe I need more time to attune,” she suggested. Akko hesitated. She didn’t want her best friend to suffer any damage. Croix rolled her eyes, “Go, I’ll be fine,” she patted Akko’s head. Her hair was red, she noticed._

_“If anything goes wrong warn me, ok?” Akko asked in a worried voice._

_“Will do.”_

_Akko nodded, slowly backing away, hoping nothing would go wrong…_

She opened her eyes. Akko blinked. What a strange dream. Why was Croix in it? Well, she had talked to the woman earlier today, so that was probably it. But why was her hair red? Maybe because Croix had said that she used to be friends with Chariot? But, well, it was just a dream. It couldn’t really mean anything.

She looked at her clock. She had still three hours of sleep, which she very much needed after spending that extra time after practice letting Constanze examine the Shiny Rod. With a grunt, she turned around, searching for a comfortable position, and slowly slipped back into unconsciousness.


	92. Chapter 92

Diana took a deep breath. Then two. Then three. It was that or throwing her helmet against the floor. She took it out slowly, setting it aside, feeling her heart-rate spike because of growing frustration. “Don’t worry, Diana, you’re doing wonderfully.”

Diana shook her head. “Not good enough. I keep making movements I don’t want to do. That _could_ cost me a race in a tricky situation. I need to get a better hang of my own mind. I cannot allow myself to fail. Not anymore,” Diana explained. Ursula looked at her with concern, but Diana was used to such kinds of looks. She often had worried Anna, Hannah and Barbara in the same way. Most people thought she was pushing herself to perfection, but Diana knew what she was doing was actually barebones. One day she’d specialize in something – piloting if she lost this IPR, medicine if she managed to win it – but for now she needed to do her best in _everything._

And her best was _better than this._

After taking a minute to relax, Diana picked the helmet again, putting it on. It was easy to get tilted when piloting the Unicorn. One bad thought, one bad movement. If you noticed it, that was another bad movement. It was an unbreakable chain. That’s why Diana _needed_ to get her thoughts under control.

“Alcor, please restart the race,” she said. She had been winning a lot, but _a lot_ wasn’t enough.

The chasm they were actually in changed to another one, and Diana saw the big red three appear in front of her. She was at the front of the left line of ships, and she felt a slight sense of déjà vu.

Two. One. Go.

Diana tried to erase everything from her mind, but the déjà vu made her think of the simulation so long ago. That, in turn, made her think of how Akko had appeared out of nowhere, destroying one of the simulations with the Shiny Rod. The first time Diana had seen the ship.

The problem with thinking about that was, it wasn’t good for flying. As soon as the race started she somehow went to the side, crashing against a moss-covered wall. She pursed her lips. “I seem to not be any longer in a piloting mood,” Diana said. “At this rate I’ll lose the race. I need to think of something.”

“Take a moment to relax. Do you want something to drink?” Ursula asked kindly.

Diana shook her head. “It’s not a bad idea, though I don’t want anything to drink. But if I need to relax…” Diana tried to think. What did she like to do to relax? Read, of course. But she couldn’t do that now. Well, flying was something that if done leisurely it could bring relaxation, but flying the Unicorn was the reason she was in such a bad mood in the first place. Looking up, she got an idea. “Coach Ursula, maybe something I like would help me. Would you mind getting me some chocolate?”

Ursula considered this. “Well, sweets used to make me happy too, so I guess it’s a good idea,” she nodded. “You keep practicing for a while, though.”

Diana nodded as Ursula exited the cockpit. Diana could see Akko out there, talking to Amanda, and she bit her lip. Her heart seemed to tighten every time she looked at her. “Alcor, send us to a generic landscape,” Diana said, and she relaxed a little as the simulation started and she stopped seeing the brunette. Alcor had chosen a desert landscape, curiously enough, instead of the green field it usually gave them.

“What are you doing, Diana?” Hannah asked. Diana had almost forgotten about her, so she was slightly surprised to hear the voice.

“Oh, I just thought some simple cruising would help me relax,” she explained.

“If that’s the case, you don’t really need me… do you?” Hannah asked, hopeful.

Diana rolled her eyes. “If you want to spend some time with Amanda then now’s your chance,” she said, reading into Hannah’s intentions.

Hannah thanked her, and Diana heard how she exited the turret. In the end, she was left alone. Alone, despite the fact that one of her best friends, her girlfriend and the girl Diana loved were all out there, a couple of meters away from her.

She took a deep breath. She closed her eyes. “Alcor… can you simulate The Pony?” she asked, hopeful. “My mother’s broom.”

When Diana opened her eyes it was there. In front of the unicorn, backlit by the reflection of the sun in the sand. The brown ship that looked vaguely like a manta ray. She felt a stab of pain in her stomach, thinking about what her aunt might already be doing with it. “Alcor, I meant if you could simulate me _piloting_ it,” Diana explained.

She was suddenly forced to stand as everything inside the cockpit started to change. Panels disappeared under the counter, the controls sank into the floor, even the seat disappeared. For a second Diana was left in an apparently empty cockpit. It didn’t last long, though, and soon she found herself sitting in a leather-lined seat with a couple of joysticks in front of her. She looked at the seat, but it was a new one, completely white, as everything else in the Rod. It wasn’t an exact replica of the ship, just of its blueprints.

Somehow, Diana felt disappointed, but she would accept it. She started off the ship, and she soon found herself feeling like a kid again. The movement of The Pony was bulky. It had a way of swinging as it moved, a slowness to its turns. At least, of course, compared to the Shooting Star or the Unicorn. For its time it had been a top-notch broom. Bernadette had received several offers to buy it from other racers and collectors.

Of course, it wasn’t as complicated as she recalled from being a kid. Her senses had gotten keener and she had gained experience. Though it was hard not to miss the feeling of a couple arms around her waist, the soft laughter as she pretended to be on a race, the feeling of a hand running through her hair as she tried to convince her mother to let her pilot it for just a little longer.

She found herself smiling sadly at the memories. Flying through the desert was pleasant, since the dark color of The Pony didn’t reflect much of the light and temperature wasn’t really an issue.

The flight was short. Diana soon felt the feelings being dispelled, her small daze gone. Instead, what she was doing felt like an absolute waste of time. How was _this_ supposed to help her in any way? She was throwing away her training on the Unicorn to pilot some useless old ship that would grant her no valid experience. Nostalgia meant nothing in the face of adversity.

“Alcor, I’m done. Go back to the Unicorn, prepare a race in Vorago,” Diana said, standing as the cockpit shifted again. She sat, picking the helmet that was connected to it, and took a deep breath.

She decided to do a run alone, no other ships, just her and movement. She practiced all kinds of moves, even those she thought impossible. Dropping down and spinning to the side as you slowed down to try and stab someone from their underside. With no one to practice on, all she did was almost ram herself into the opposite chasm wall. But that was also within her expectations, and in a swift movement she went up, jumped with the ship doing kind of a backflip before straightening and resuming. She had lost speed but not nearly as much as if she’d hit the wall. That movement wasn’t really viable for most cases, as it risked hitting a cockpit or engine too much.

She kept practicing outrageous movements, stupid ideas that got to her mind, absolutely unviable things that only served to test how fast and how well the Unicorn could react to her thoughts.

She actually managed to not make many mistakes in what felt like a good while, but her concentration was broken by knocking on the windshield. When she opened it, Ursula was outside, handing her a couple of chocolate bars. “Here, though you seem to be in a better mood already.”

Diana took the bars, looking at them. Normal milk chocolate. Good enough. She opened one. “I don’t feel much better, but I guess I managed to get my feelings under control.”

Ursula nodded. “Then, let’s go back to training,” she said.

Of course, she let Diana finish her chocolates first.

 

Akko watched as Ursula climbed on the cockpit with the chocolates and took note that Diana liked them. Though, of course, _everyone_ liked chocolate, so why was she surprised?

On her part, Amanda looked with a great deal of interest at Hannah’s butt as she crawled under the Rod. As always, g-suits didn’t leave much to the imagination. Akko had of course looked at Diana, but she had the feeling she wasn’t half as thirsty as Amanda seemed to be. “So, everyone in the gym saw your skit in the gym yesterday,” Akko commented as the cockpit was heard closing with a soft thump. “You… did it, back in your room?”

Amanda looked at her with surprise. Redness started to appear on her cheeks. “The hell brought this on?” she asked with surprise.

“I just noticed how you were looking at her and I got curious,” Akko explained.

Amanda pressed her lips. “No, we didn’t do anything. She’s too innocent. We only kissed a few times, not even with tongue. I don’t think she’s ready for that quite yet,” she looked disappointed. “I shouldn’t have come back to practice. My libido is going to kill me,” she complained.

“Well, everyone goes at their own pace…” Akko started fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. “So… uhm… how do you… do it?” she asked, growing red.

Amanda looked at her with some amusement. “Do you really need to ask? Just imagine yourself masturbating, but… Well, no, that wouldn’t cover oral, I guess…” she paused. “You know, you’ll know what to do when the time comes.”

Akko sighed as Amanda patted her back. “What if I don’t know?”

“Then Diana probably will,” Amanda said, not a hint of doubt in her voice. “She’s probably read a hundred books on sex. Worst case scenario she’ll measure your juices to know if they’re the right density for her to stick a finger in you or something like that,” she chuckled at her own joke.

Akko smiled too. It was hard not to, since she had imagined both herself and Diana naked, but Diana was just taking a sample from between her legs to put in a machine. Why did that sound like something plausible? Of course it wasn’t, but… Maybe it was just nervousness.

“You and Hannah are getting along pretty well. I would have never imagined you two being a thing a month ago.”

“I don’t think any of us thought such a thing was possible, but here we are, now aren’t we,” she said. “She’s just so… amazing, and smart, and cute.”

Akko nodded, forgetting for a second Amanda was talking about Hannah and not Diana. When she finally noticed that she paused, feeling stupid. Akko looked at the cockpit, obscured, as if polarized, while Diana practiced inside. She looked at it, maybe expecting that if she looked hard enough she’ll see through the glass. What kind of expression would Diana be making? Akko hadn’t saw her practicing since the accident…

“You should just go and drag her to bed,” Amanda commented. “Her ‘no dating’ bullshit will drive the two of you crazy.”

Akko looked at Amanda. How could Akko make her understand? How could Akko make anyone? She barely understood it herself. It was important. She could feel it. It wasn’t just about how much Akko liked her. It was about trust, probably. Akko trusted Diana would keep her word. What was a month or two in the grand scheme? Nothing. That’s what it was, absolutely nothing.

“I’ll be fine,” Akko said. “And she’ll be fine too.”

_Or, at least, if she starts feeling bad, I hope she talks about it with someone._

_Why can’t I seem to focus on anything for more than ten minutes?_ Diana said as her mind started to wander again. She always seemed to do just fine at the beginning, but as the training sessions extended, she found it harder and harder to focus. Was it because she grew bored? Or complacent? What was it?

She was making progress still, but she needed to be able to explore her options better. It was as if… No. The mere thought of considering her options already was a command for the ship. If she saw right or left, choosing one direction wasn’t really a choice, but whatever came first to mind. She was learning to control that, but sometimes she got caught off guard and it was basically impossible to avoid doing something stupid.

Still, she managed to win the race.

Diana took off her helmet, closing her eyes and pausing to relax. “I wonder if the Shiny Rod has difficulty selectors,” she asked, though mostly to herself. “Sometimes I feel like these simulations and the races are so different…” Of course, she hadn’t had the chance to actually be on a race for a month, and she had barely gotten a chance to test the simulator before her accident.

“It’s probably because the different pressure. You know here you don’t really have anything stake, so it feels less intense,” Ursula explained.

Diana nodded. “Could the Shiny Rod brainwash me to make me think I’m in an actual race?” Diana asked. Ursula seemed surprised by the question.

“Even if it could, which I doubt, you really think it’s ok to let it mess with your brain just so that you can get some extra training?” Ursula looked seriously at her. “Diana, I understand it’s hard to get used to the controls of the Unicorn, but don’t try anything crazy please,” she said.

Diana nodded. Though, Ursula’s reaction was curious. Maybe she knew more than she let on. Diana was about to ask, but then she got the distinct feeling that doing so would be a bad idea. Instead, she simply looked ahead, getting ready for some more practice.

 

Akko perked up when she heard the cockpit opening behind her. She looked, seeing Diana stepping out of the cockpit. Diana didn’t look like she was in her best mood. Akko couldn’t hold herself back from asking. “How’d it go?”

Diana looked at her with some hesitance. “Fine,” she said. Her face, as inscrutable as ever, looked Akko with seeming indifference. But Akko did notice a twitch on Diana’s hands. How her steps had slowed down. Maybe Akko was finding ways around Diana’s inexpressive face.

Akko wondered if she should give some words of encouragement to Diana. She had obviously _not_ done fine, or at least, not as fine as she wanted. “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon,” Akko said with a smile.

Diana paused. “Thank you,” she said, though Akko could feel she hadn’t liked it.

Biting her lip, Akko turned around, basically jumping in the cockpit. The cold reply had kind of hurt her, and Ursula must have noticed it, because she sighed. “Akko, you get started, I still need to talk with Diana,” she said.

Akko nodded, wondering what Ursula needed to talk about, with _Diana_ of all people. Probably nothing bad, Diana was perfect after all. Well, mostly. Maybe she needed some advice? No, that was… Well, Diana was very good… _Just practice,_ Akko sighed, starting her simulation.

 

Ursula watched as Diana ate her second bar of chocolate. She had stopped walking away and had begun pacing in the middle of the hangar. She ate slowly, as if savoring each bite, looking thoughtful. She didn’t even seem to notice Ursula as she approached.

“Diana,” Ursula said. The blonde perked up, chocolate bar halfway eaten. “Can we talk?”

Diana paused. “I already know I need to-”

“It’s _not_ about flying, Diana,” Ursula said in a more serious voice. She looked back to the Shiny Rod, where Hannah stood, subtly looking their way. She turned her head as soon as she saw Ursula staring, pretending not to be curious. “It’s about you,” she explained. Diana didn’t seem thrilled about the idea, and Ursula sighed. “Listen, let’s go to the garage, where we can talk while sitting.”

“Ok,” Diana said, surprisingly fast. She took another bite of chocolate and her expression slowly sunk into that pensive mood. She walked away, her footsteps echoing through the hangar.

 _I wish she was more open with her feelings,_ Ursula thought. _She reminds me of Croix…_

_I should talk with Akko about it,_ Diana thought, _I’m sure if I explain she’ll agree._

“Diana,” Ursula snapped her out of her thoughts. The small room near the entrance of the garage was… Not great. It was dirty, it smelled of oil and sweat, and Diana had barely had enough courage to sit down on the cleanest-looking couches.

“Yes?” Diana looked at the teacher, who had taken off her glasses and was staring Diana with a rather intense look. Sometimes, Diana wondered if Ursula even needed those glasses. She sure didn’t seem to have much trouble looking at her, though maybe she just used them for reading or something and she had gotten used to carrying them about.

“Listen, I know I’m not the first person you’d turn to if you have a problem, but I would appreciate it if you told me when something is bothering you,” she explained. “I know most teenagers ignore adults when they tell them this, but you can talk to me.”

Diana sighed. Well, she wasn’t wrong. Diana knew, rationally, that adults often understood what teenagers were going through since they had experience with it. But she seriously doubted anyone was going through the same thing as her. “What’s bothering me if my seeming lack of ability to focus,” she deflected.

Ursula shook her head. “Diana, I don’t know what’s going on with you,” she explained. Diana raised an eyebrow. “And I understand it’s probably something private and that you don’t want to share, but I want to know if there’s any way in which I can help.”

Diana froze. “Help?” She asked, voice cold. “It’s fine, coach,” her monotone was a little surprising, even to her. “The only thing I need right now is _to win,”_ she explained, making emphasis on that last part. 

Ursula pressed her lips. “Is that really it?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Will winning really fix whatever problem you’re having?”

“Well, of course…” Diana trailed off. Suddenly, she was at a loss for words. Truth was, it wouldn’t fix anything. It would just keep it at bay… maybe. It was either winning or risking making Paul mad. God she hated politics.

Ursula obviously didn’t buy it. “Seriously, Diana. What is happening? You’ve been acting strange since you came back from visiting your family. The race, this, and don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’re avoiding Akko.”

“I haven’t been…!” Diana stopped herself. “I have _not_ been avoiding Akko. We’re both on the same page. It’s for my own good, particularly now that I need to learn to control the Unicorn.”

Ursula sighed. “I can’t tell you how to live your life, but I can tell you this, Diana: You won’t learn to pilot the Unicorn perfectly. And I don’t mean before next race, or before the IPR ends. I mean _ever._ The system of the Unicorn is a prototype, Diana. It’s flawed, picking up any superficial brain signal. We’re humans, it’s impossible to have a single-minded focus for as long as a race usually takes. Even if you were in ‘the zone’ as many call it, you’d _still_ have some random thought or another, particularly when reacting to the unexpected.”

Diana pressed her lips, and then bit her lower one. She had suspected that, of course. But, well, she still had an idea. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said.

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “Did you hear what I just said?”

“Coach, knowing what the answer to a problem is doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to solve it on your own. Who knows? It may have multiple possible answers, depending on what you do,” she said.

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think that applies here,” she said. “You can’t change your mind, Diana. Unless you hit it really hard, but I trust you enough to not do such a thing.”

Diana stood. “Please, miss Ursula,” she said. “I’m not as reckless as Akko or Amanda. I won’t do anything like that. But maybe enough meditation can help me.”

Obviously, Ursula wasn’t convinced. Diana wondered if her idea was obvious or something. It didn’t feel like it was, but then again, Ursula had been with her these pasts few days. She probably knew how little meditation actually helped.

Diana felt a small, if distinct, sense of frustration directed at the coach. She disliked it when people were too pushy about trying to help her with her issues, particularly when she wasn’t particularly close with them. Why was Ursula talking to her? Did she think this would look better on her reports? Or maybe she just didn’t want to have Diana worrying about things to make her a better pilot.

Still, there was little to no reason for Diana to take her seriously outside piloting. Ursula was a fine person, but Diana had interacted with enough adults in her life to know they weren’t that different from teenagers. Everyone had problems and struggles and everyone had their own way of dealing with them. Some went about it rationally, others flew by the seat of their pants. And then others decided to do nothing and drown in alcohol or drugs.

Or in petty bullying of the younger members of their families.

“Well, if that is all…” Diana said, turning to leave.

“Akko is also feeling it, you know,” Ursula mentioned. Diana paused.

“Is her flying being affected?” She asked with concern. If that was the case then…

“No,” Ursula confessed. “Or, I can’t really tell…” Diana turned to her with confusion. Ursula looked troubled. What was that about not being able to tell? Akko was an amateur, it should be easy to know. “But I’m not speaking about flying.”

“Then it shouldn’t…”

“It _does_ concern me,” Ursula refuted Diana before she even finished her phrase. “I’m also the adult in charge of you all, Diana, not just your coach. If Akko is feeling sad it’s as much my business as it would be if any of you were feeling the same way.”

“Akko isn’t feeling sad,” Diana claimed. “She told me she’s ok with our current setup.”

Ursula sighed. “And what is she gonna do? Tell you otherwise?” Ursula crossed her arms. “She’s too kind for that. If you tell her you need to jump off a building with enough reasons she’ll let you do it.”

Diana was about to complain, but in a way, Ursula wasn’t lying. Akko did seem to listen to her. Had Diana taken advantage of that without noticing?

No. She couldn’t hesitate. Though, maybe… _Stop it._ Plus, she was planning on speaking with Akko later. That’d cheer them both up. “Look, I’m even planning on talking with Akko in a while, there’s nothing going on,” Diana reassured.

Ursula paused. “… I guess that’s all I can do,” she said. She sounded defeated. “But please, at least try to act a little more friendly with her. You hurt her with how you replied earlier.”

Diana opened her mouth to reply, but said nothing. Had she really? She had just gone for a short, curt answer because she felt like anything else would have been breaking the rules she herself had set. “I’ll be more careful,” she said. Should she ask Akko about it? Maybe, but interacting with her was dangerous.

Diana turned, leaving the garage and going back to the Shiny Rod, where Hannah waited for her. You got used to sitting on the Shiny Rod after a while. “Did she scold you or something?” she asked, worried.

“In a way,” Diana said. “But it was mostly just asking me how I was doing,” she explained.

“You haven’t told her the story yet?” She asked.

“She knows I’ve got family issues, she doesn’t need to know more,” Diana explained.

Hannah shook her head. “You should tell her. She’s your coach, she’s bound to be able to help, right?”

Diana stared coldly at Hannah. “I don’t need any more help, Hannah. I’m fine.”

“Fine,” Hannah sighed. “But I still think she should know.”

Diana refrained from saying anything else. Lunch time was around the corner, she’d speak with Akko then. About her idea and about the current state of their relationship. She’d apologize if she was really making her sad. She started tapping her finger. Was she really? Akko had agreed to this, but that didn’t necessarily mean she was handling it well. Diana could see how Akko stared at her. A piercing gaze. It made Diana uncomfortable, actually, to know how much Akko seemed to actually like her.

But… Diana probably felt the same way. She was just…

_Whatever, I’ll talk with her and figure everything out._

Akko walked nervously behind Diana. Where were they going? Diana had just asked Akko to follow her, but she hadn’t said anything since they had gotten out of the hangar. They were now walking through Gold Deck. It didn’t seem to be particularly crowded today – for the third deck’s standard, at least – and they could walk with relative ease. A lot of stores seemed to be empty, too.

In the end, Diana ended up leading them both to the Goodwill.

“Why here?” Akko asked. Was this a date? No, that would totally be breaking the rules… right?

Diana didn’t answer immediately. She guided Akko through the dark corridor at the entrance, the Light Flame torches shining with their light blue glow. The place was empty, and Diana picked a table for two on the side of it. Akko was always amazed by the atmosphere of the place. It was so… atmospheric? She didn’t have a word to describe it, but she thought she understood why Diana seemed to like it.

“I feel at ease here,” Diana suddenly replied, catching Akko off-guard.

“Oh, right,” Akko smiled awkwardly. Diana seemed to glow under the strange light of the Light Flames. She looked like an angel. Maybe she was.

They stayed in silence for a while. Eventually, the shapeshifter waiter came. Or was he the cheff? He did everything, probably. He had this dark-gray color, unlike the normal black of his race. Was that because he was old, maybe? “Are you ready to order?” He asked in perfect English.

Both of them nodded. Akko wasn’t really in the mood for that strange soup they served here, so she asked for a good beef and fried potatoes. Diana, however, did ask for the stew. “You really like it, huh?” Akko asked as the shapeshifter walked away, leaving a vanishing trail of smoke behind him.

“I have to take the chance. I don’t know when I’ll be able to eat it again after this trip is over. If ever,” Diana explained. Akko pressed her lips. Well, that was fair enough. Before now, Akko might have wondered what Diana meant. Wasn’t she rich? Couldn’t she just go and buy some at some fancy shapeshifter restaurant?

But she wasn’t rich. Or at least, not as rich as Akko – and everyone else – assumed. It was hard to blame Diana for the way she acted. It was strange, how once you got to know someone, their actions started to make sense, no matter how bad they may have seemed to you before that point.

“so… What was it you wanted to talk about?” Akko asked.

Diana looked at her with a strange look. Not her neutral one. It was more… hesitant. “Akko, did I hurt your feelings, earlier?” she asked.

 _Well that was direct,_ Akko thought, nodding. “Kinda,” she said. “But I get why you…”

“No,” Diana shook her head energetically. “No, Akko, you don’t get it. I _never_ want to hurt you, got it?” Akko was surprised by the intensity of her voice. Diana watched Akko’s hand, resting across the table, as if she wanted to touch it. “I may act distant sometimes, but I like you, Akko,” she explained. “I’m sorry for how I answered.”

Akko was blushing lightly. Diana just looked so earnest and troubled over such a minor thing. “It’s fine, Diana. I’m not that bothered.”

Diana seemed to relax slightly, and Akko smiled. She couldn’t help to keep staring at Diana in all her beauty, her heart fastening just from realizing they were all alone, just the two of them. Diana noticed the way Akko looked at her and looked away. “Akko, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Akko said. “Ask away.”

Diana took a deep breath. “How far does the memory manipulation of the Shiny Rod go?”

Akko blinked. “Excuse me, what?” she asked, brow furrowing with confusion.

“Can it just erase current memories? Or does it just stop the one in the turret from creating new ones? Can it modify what a person recalls or add new information? Can it do permanent changes?” Diana seemed to grow slightly excited.

Akko slowly shrugged. “I have no idea,” she explained. “And if I asked I’d probably just get that ‘password needed’ stuff.”

Diana’s expression fell. “I see,” she said, sighing.

“Why are you asking?”

Looking up, Akko could see a hint of shame in Diana’s eyes. “I… I want the Shiny Rod to erase the memory of my struggles, even if temporarily,” she looked down.

Akko didn’t really know how to reply to that. “I… I’m still trying to figure out a way to help. You _sure_ I can’t just break your aunt’s legs?”

Diana shook her head. “There’s nothing you can do, Akko. The only thing I can wish for is that no-one buys the broom while I’m here. It’s old and not functioning. Even if famous, and even if my aunt hates me, she will try to suck out every penny she can out of it.”

“You shouldn’t have to deal with this crap,” Akko said, noticing that Diana’s face had finally come out of its neutrality. “I don’t get why there are so many mean people in the world. It’s not that hard to be nice,” she complained. Seriously, hadn’t their parents taught them some manners?

“We’re humans, Akko,” Diana said. “Even among all the sentient races we’re considered one of the worst. Only appali and kannis are lower in the universal popularity charts.”

Akko cocked her head. “Kannis? Aren’t those the beasts that aren’t even part of the alliance? I thought they barely counted as sapient beings,” she recalled.

Diana nodded. “Which is why they’re lower than us. Curiously enough, the other race that’s not part of the alliance are higher above us.”

Akko paused. Which was the other one? She… “Wait, you mean the giant bugs?” Akko said, frowning. “How come _those_ are more popular than us? They’re… bugs!”

“We call them insectoids,” Diana corrected her, “and yes. Most other races don’t really care for insects. Plus, it’s not as if they really were insects. They just look like mantis.”

Akko frowned. Were humans really that unpopular?

“Well, I bet those mantis are friendlier than your aunt,” she said, crossing her arms.

Diana chuckled. “You’re probably right,” she said. “Unlike real mantises, the females don’t eat the males’ heads after sex.”

Akko smiled. Why did Diana know such things? What was even the point? She looked so bright when saying it, too. She liked knowledge, though it wasn’t as if she believed she was smarter than anyone else. She…

Her train of thought got interrupted as the shapeshifter waiter came with a big bottle of whatever Diana had asked. “What’s tha… Wow, cool,” Akko watched as the pouring liquid came out of the bottle and into the cup. It looked one hell of a lot like blood, and it kept moving no matter how much time Akko waited, making it look alive. She tasted it. It was sweet, kind of fruity, though she couldn’t place a particular flavor to it. Definitely not blood, though.

“Why do they do it?” Akko asked, thinking to what they were saying before.

“What do you mean?” Diana asked.

“Eat their partner’s head,” Akko explained. “Isn’t it counterproductive? You know, killing off a member of their own species?”

Diana paused. “I will admit I’m not sure,” Diana said. “I haven’t studied that much biology in recent times, and I don’t recall learning the reason for them to do that.”

“Oh, well, I’m sure there’s _some_ reason,” Akko said, sighing. She drank some more of whatever the drink was. It kind of tasted like it _should_ have been carbonated. It would have probably been better carbonated. There was a long, awkward silence that followed. The place was nice and quiet, shielded from the bustling of the crowds. Akko enjoyed her time watching Diana, and Diana seemed to enjoy watching her. “I like you too, by the way.”

Diana blinked. “Oh, thanks,” she said, looking away with embarrassment. Akko eyed Diana’s hands. She wondered if… “I know it’s a pain in the ass to wait, but please bear with it. It’s for your own good, ok?” Diana said, looking at her again.

 _Guess not,_ Akko thought with resignation. “It’s no problem,” she said with some disappointment.

Diana’s smile, however, made it worth it. “Thank you, Akko.” She said. Then she pressed her lips. “Now, on that memory manipulation thing I mentioned before…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of batch!  
> I won't lie, the sudden drop in activity hit me. I feel like I fucked up.  
> Though, if I did, I would really like it if you fucking told me in the damn comments. That's what they're for.  
> In any case, it's not like I'll stop anytime soon.  
> Hope you're enjoying! Don't forget to _leave your damn comments_ and see you next time!


	93. Chapter 93

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome, everyone, to a new batch! Today also marks 7 months since I started writing this monstruosity. If you're still reading this mess of a work, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  
> But enough sentimental bullshit, you're here to read well-written drama, to see jaw-dropping action, to experience heart-wrenching romance.  
> Probably because you mistook these initials and thought you were reading Little Pokemon Academia.  
> In all seriousness, now, let's proceed with the chapter. Don't forget to comment!

“What should we get for lunch?” Hannah asked as she tapped on the panel that controlled most things in the room, including room service.

“I dunno,” Amanda shrugged, sitting on Jasminka’s bed.

Hannah sighed. “What do you want to eat? It’s not that hard a question,” Hannah gave her a flat look. Amanda looked Hannah up and down, smiling. “And don’t make the obvious joke.”

Amanda shrugged. If Hannah had thought about it too it was enough. Tired of waiting, Hannah decided to just ask for burgers. She turned with a frustrated expression, stretching her arms and sighing.

“You tired?” Amanda asked.

Hannah nodded. “Training with Diana is more exhausting now that she controls things with her mind. It’s like… like she’s always where she _needs_ to be, and my mind barely has time to realize it. Why couldn’t they give the turret some VR controls too? I swear to god it’s like the ship is designed to make me fail.”

Amanda nodded slowly. “Sounds though. I’d say I feel you but I can’t remember anything from my sessions and I’m as fresh as a rose, so…”

“Don’t make me punch you,” Hannah said, walking closer. She had a hesitance to her, as if she was still not used to being close with Amanda. Amanda did feel the same kind of awkwardness, but she handled it in another way.

“Come here, sit,” she patted the bed next to her. Hannah looked at the spot and walked forward. The fact that she didn’t look at Amanda with suspicion was a good advance on its own. However, her body turned in the last second before sitting. Hannah, instead of sitting next to Amanda, sat between Amanda’s legs.

“You’re lucky you never wear skirts,” Hannah said, leaning back on Amanda. “I’m too used to keeping my legs closed,” she said. “You look more comfortable.”

Amanda wasn’t even sure of what was going on. Hannah smelled like sweat and shampoo, and her body was warm. “C-can I hug you?” Amanda asked, more out of instinct than anything else.

Hannah paused. “Y-yeah,” she said. Curiously enough she wasn’t blushing. Amanda slowly moved her hands, surrounding Hannah’s waist and resting her head on Hannah’s shoulder.

“That was pretty bold of you,” Amanda said, slowly regaining her wits. “You’re not scared I may do something weird to you?” she tickled Hannah ever so lightly, earning a slap on her hands.

“I trust you,” Hannah said. “Well, I trust you not to go overboard, at least,” she corrected. Still, Amanda could almost feel as Hannah’s muscles slowly relaxed.

Sadly, she couldn’t tell if Hannah was actually in the mood for going further or if she just wanted to cuddle. Not that cuddling wasn’t enough, but she just really liked Hannah, and she wasn’t too good with words or romantic things. If she was going to show Hannah her love, she wanted to do it in the way she knew how. But she could wait until Hannah felt ready.

Amanda leaned back against the wall, snatching Jasminka’s pillow for comfort and bringing Hannah with her. Hannah let herself be dragged down. She even placed her own hands on top of Amanda’s. Amanda wondered if she was dead and in heaven. But no, if this was heaven Hannah would definitely be naked.

“You’re thinking dirty things, right?” Hannah asked.

“How could you tell?” Amanda asked, slightly surprised.

“Well, you’re always doing it,” she replied.

Amanda blinked. Then she laughed. “You’re not wrong,” Amanda said, hugging her tighter. “I’m not gonna lie, I have dirty thoughts about you all the time.”

Hannah was slowly rubbing her hands with a thumb. “I’m not really that attractive,” she said. “I know my figure isn’t the best. My parents said I was still growing, but I honestly find it hard to believe.”

Amanda softly kissed Hannah’s cheek from behind. “You’re beautiful,” she said in a low voice. “I don’t want you thinking anything else, ok? You don’t have to be a ninety-sixty-ninety girl to be attractive.”

Hannah smiled, which prompted Amanda to kiss her again. Each time Amanda did that, Hannah held her breath. It was strange, as if she was expecting something to go wrong, somehow. But why would she feel like that? Maybe Amanda had exaggerated a little with her flirting. Making everything sexual made Hannah expect everything to be.

“If you don’t like me doing this, say so,” Amanda said, slowly.

“No!” Hannah exclaimed, suddenly grabbing Amanda’s hand. “No, I… do like it. Very much so,” she sounded embarrassed. “I just… I just feel weird. Whenever you kiss me or touch me, I just… feel like time stops.”

Amanda couldn’t help but smile. “Well, I guess I get it,” she placed another kiss on Hannah’s cheek.

Hannah kept grabbing her hand, though not as desperately now. “I still can’t believe I ended up falling for a girl,” she said. “What are my parents going to say?”

“Do they have something against bisexuality?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

“No, I don’t think so,” Hannah shook her head, tickling Amanda’s face with her hair. “I’ve just been gushing about boys with them as far as I remember. It’s probably going to come off as a surprise,” she explained.

“The biggest surprise will be when you present me and I’m not there, because hell if I’m going to meet your parents anytime soon,” Amanda said.

“Why do you say that? My parents are… well…” she stopped to think. “No, you know what, you probably wouldn’t get along,” she said with a grimace.

“They’re stuck up, aren’t they?” Amanda said.

Hannah nodded. “I guess I’m no different,” she said.

Amanda couldn’t really argue. “Well, now you’ve got me. I’ll guide you down the path of rebellion, one hundred percent guarantee of disappointed parents,” she said.

Hannah sighed. “That time you told me about your parents… did you like me back then?” she asked.

“Probably,” Amanda said. “Though… I dunno. I just felt like I could open up to you. Even if I thought I didn’t like you, I guess you’re an easy person to talk to. When you’re not being prissy, at least.”

“I’m not prissy!” Hannah complained.

“Ok, you’re not,” Amanda said, pressing her cheek against Hannah’s. “You’re just a stuck-up bitch,” she said.

Hannah sighed. “I guess that does fit me better,” she said, her fingers still moving over Amanda’s hands. Amanda got a goosebump thanks to that. “I wonder why you came out the way you did and I the way I did. Don’t you find it curious?”

“Everyone’s different, I guess. Not that I care,” Amanda confessed.

“You don’t seem to care about anything,” Hannah lamented. “Save for boobs.”

“Hey, boobs make the world go 'round.”

“I don’t doubt that’d be the case if you were in charge,” Hannah said. “Though I guess I wouldn’t benefit much from it.”

“Nonsense,” Amanda said. She instinctively moved a hand up, touching lightly one of Hannah’s breasts. “You have a good enough size,” she said, feeling it up.

Hannah suddenly jumped from bed, covering her chest protectively. Amanda was left confused, not knowing what had just happened. Hannah was looking at her through narrowed eyes, expression unhappy. Only then Amanda realized what she’d done.

“Oh shit, sorry,” she said, sitting up, trying to look sorry. “I promise I didn’t mean to do that, I just…” _Shit, I fucked up,_ she thought, trying desperately to think of a good enough excuse.

Hannah looked her up and down, and she slowly dropped her arms. “I… Sorry,” she said, sitting again – though this time next to Amanda. “It took me by surprise. I didn’t mean to react in such a way.”

Amanda shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have touched you so suddenly…” she looked at her hand, opening and closing her fingers. “Though it did feel nice.”

Hannah shook her head. “It’s kind of unfair,” she said. “You’ve got such a head start on all these things,” she looked at Amanda with a doubtful expression. “How am I supposed to catch up to you? You look like you know everything there is to know, and here I am, overreacting to someone slightly squeezing one of by boobs…”

Amanda looked at Hannah for a few seconds. In the boring landscape of the metallic room, she was easily the only thing worth looking at. She considered how to approach this. Was she making Hannah insecure? She had never considered it like that. She didn’t want that. She only wanted to ease Hannah into the idea. Assuming everything went right, she shouldn’t have been feeling insecure, but trusting.

“Ok, you can touch me back,” Amanda said, getting an idea. If she wanted to get Hannah used to the idea, what about just getting her to be comfortable with her body?

“W-what?!” Hannah exclaimed, eyes widening. “I never said I wanted to…” she looked at Amanda’s boobs.

Amanda took her hand. “Hannah, it’s fine. If it makes you feel better, I _want_ you to do it,” well, she wanted Hannah to do so much more than that, but it was a start. “Just think of it as payback for what I just did.”

“I-I’ve already seen them naked,” Hannah said, turning away. Her face was growing red. “Don’t you think I…”

“This is different than that,” Amanda slowly pulled Hannah’s hand and arm, moving it closer to her chest. She wouldn’t force her if she didn’t want to, but… “Come on, you can’t tell me you aren’t at least a little bit curious.”

Hannah looked at Amanda one more time, drawing her lips to a thin line. She sat with that expression for a full minute, her eyes slowly falling on Amanda’s shirt. Today Amanda wasn’t wearing anything that diminished in any way the size of her chest, so its real size was showing. “J-just a touch,” Hannah said, her hand relaxing on Amanda’s.

Amanda smiled, letting it go. Hannah scooted a little closer, her left shoulder pressing on Amanda’s, her right hand slowly moving towards Amanda’s chest. “I can take off the shirt and stuff if you’d like…” Amanda added, her face growing red too.

“I…” Hannah was actually considering it, which only made Amanda more embarrassed. Why, though? She had gotten naked in front of dozens of girls without hesitation. What was so different about this? Liking someone really made your brain rot. “I can wait,” Hannah said. “I don’t think I can handle that right now.”

Amanda nodded, feeling kind of relieved. What would her friends back at home say if they heard that she had gotten so nervous over such a stupid thing?

Hannah gulped loudly. Amanda saw her hand approaching almost as if in slow motion. Was that Hannah going slowly or Amanda being overly aware of what was going on? Hadn’t Amanda felt like this one other time, too?

Then, Hannah’s right hand finally landed on Amanda’s right boob. Well, more like just the fingertips. Amanda pressed her lips, the light touch tingling slightly. Slowly, Hannah dared grabbing more firmly. Amanda tensed a little, expectant. Why did this feel so… strange? Her boobs weren’t her most sensitive spot, yet somehow they suddenly felt like it.

Hannah then squeezed. It was light, gentle, accompanied by her lifting the boob too, as if weighting it. Amanda stopped breathing, a sudden jolt of electricity extending all over her body.

Hannah’s hand retreated, and Amanda looked at it longingly. She started breathing again, not realizing that she had been expecting more stimulation. She wished to just turn around and do Hannah in the spot. She wanted to… _This was a horrible idea,_ she thought.

“Well, that was… an experience,” Hannah said, closing her hand into a fist, as if trying to keep the feeling from fleeting.

“Was it nice?” Amanda asked, breathing a little more deeply than before, trying to keep her self-control.

“I’d say so…” Hannah blushed. Then, to Amanda’s surprise, she leaned on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I don’t dare go further. I can see the thirst in your eyes,” she apologized.

 _Damn was it that obvious?_ “Don’t worry,” Amanda put her arm around Hannah’s shoulders, pulling her closer. “I don’t want to rush you,” she placed a kiss on Hannah’s hair, breathing in her scent. “I love you for who you are, not for how many fingers you can stick in me.”

Hannah sighed. “You have this way of turning nice, seemingly romantic moments into lame sex jokes,” she lamented, but she snuggled closer. “I guess that’s part of your charm, too.”

Amanda kissed her again. Then Hannah pulled slightly away, looking Amanda in the eyes. She didn’t say anything, but the implication was obvious.

Amanda leaned a third time, and this time she kissed Hannah properly. Well, maybe they wouldn’t have sex today, but she could manage like this.

It was a smaller kiss. Soft, heartfelt. Amanda didn’t push it further, and Hannah seemed satisfied with it. That was perfectly fine. Amanda felt more satisfied that she believed she could be after such a simple exchange. What a strange thing, love was.

And then, knocking came at their door. How much time had it passed? Hannah sprung up, as if someone had poked her ass with a needle. She almost ran to the door. She was still uncomfortable with the idea of actually showing affection in front of others. Well, she’d get over that, eventually.

For now, the burgers had arrived, which meant time to eat.

 

Ursula had already finished eating and was getting ready to go back to the hangar when she suddenly felt strange. She wasn’t sure of why. Maybe it had been a light breeze, or sixth sense, or whatever. But when she turned, she wasn’t surprised to see Croix standing in the middle of her room. “Hmm,” Croix looked around with curiosity. “I could come here even with the lights on, how curious,” she said.

“Weren’t you going to come _yesterday?_ ” Ursula asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Was I?” Croix rubbed her chin. “Sorry, my schedule is weird, for me it’s still the same day as when I came to speak with you. Anyways, I hope you have talked to little Chariot,” Croix said, looking expectantly at Ursula.

Ursula paused. “What are you going to do with the info, Croix? Akko didn’t do anything really wrong, did she? Let the appali pilots live however they want.”

“I’ve already told you, I don’t _plan_ on doing anything with the info. It’s just relevant. I need to know where they are to cover my ass if push comes to shove,” she said.

Ursula looked her up and down. She sounded and looked honest. But this was Croix, so that meant absolutely nothing. Maybe telling her would end up in both the pilots dead. “I don’t know if I can trust you,” Ursula said.

What was she expecting by saying that? She looked at Croix. She expected to see something. Guilt, offense, resignation.

Instead, she found indifference. “I don’t care. Tell me or your student goes to prison,” she said in a cold voice. Ursula set her jaw, her entire body slowly tensing. It was so… unfair. Why could Croix be so calm around her? She didn’t seem to be at all affected by the things that Ursula had never been able to forget. Why?

Had Ursula really been that much of a bad judge of character? Or was it all the Rod’s fault?

“They’re in the Amazon,” Ursula said.

“Can’t you be a little more specific?” Croix raised an eyebrow.

“It’s near some kind of settlement, though even Akko wasn’t sure of where.”

Croix sighed. “Well, I guess that’s close enough. Might take me a couple of days to find them but I’ve got a place to start, at least.” Ursula looked at her turn. “Ok, thank you. Good luck, Chariot,” Croix said.

She walked away. Ursula, as always, felt impotent as she saw her go away. The door closed, and she dropped back in her seat.

She should have taken her offer to talk, back then.

 

Akko and Diana reached the Shiny Rod before anyone else. It wasn’t unusual, but they had taken their sweet time with the food and chatting. Still, stuffed and digestion at full power, Akko felt kind of sleepy. Both her and Diana entered the cockpit, and Akko took a deep breath.

“Ok, look at what I mean: Alcor, what is the power source of the Shiny Rod?” She asked.

 **A white hole,** Alcor replied, the shape of the bird appearing suddenly in front of Akko.

Akko’s jaw dropped. Diana, behind her, was frowning intensely. “Excuse me?” Diana asked. “What did you just say?”

Alcor didn’t reply to her. “Alcor, repeat that.”

 **The power source of the Shiny Rod – or Claiomh Solais - is a white hole,** Alcor replied with more detail.

“What the _fuck_ is a white hole?” Akko frowned in confusion. She turned to Diana, but she was staring at the bird, incredulous.

A good minute passed before Diana spoke. “No, it’s impossible,” she shook her head. “They’re only hypothetical, the mathematical opposite of a black hole. They don’t exist, or if they do, we’ll probably never find them, as they only exist in the past… This has to be a lie.”

“I don’t get it,” Akko said. “But whatever. Why did he answer? Last time I…”

“Akko!” Diana stopped her. “Akko, if what this dumb familiar is saying is true, then this ship isn’t only dangerous, it’s… it’s physically impossible, a source of _infinite_ energy for the entire universe, a key to reverse entropy, to time travel, to surviving the heat death of the universe, it’s… impossible,” Diana closed her eyes.

Akko paused. Diana wasn’t making any sense… to her. But she looked somewhere between terrified and excited at the prospect of whatever this white hole was. “Uhm… Do you still want me to ask about the memory thing?”

“No,” Diana said, then she suddenly opened the windshield and stepped out of the cockpit. “Akko, don’t tell _anyone_ about this, please,” she said, looking at Akko with a strange intensity. “This changes everything,” she said, jumping down from the Rod.

“Where are you going?” Akko stood, worried at how out of sorts Diana looked.

“I need to think. Alone, for a while. I’ll see you later,” she said without even turning. She was walking straight to the garage. Akko watched her go with resignation. Why was she so… strange?

Dropping back into her seat, Akko looked at the bird. “Uhm, Alcor, can you explain to me what a white hole is? Make it simple, please,” she said, trying to understand why Diana was so worried. Akko didn’t even know what a black hole really was – all she understood was that it was a big black ball of doom.

Alcor proceeded to explain her a bunch of stuff Akko didn’t really get. The bird explained relativity, the mathematics that led to the prediction of a black hole. All the history leading up to its actual discovery, like gravitational waves. It explained what it did, how it formed, what it was. And then it proceeded to explain – always with a bunch of info and charts and visuals in general, all formed with the holographic systems of the Shiny Rod – what a _white_ hole was. How it broke the second law of thermodynamics, how it was just an hypothetical scenario where the mathematics of a black hole were reversed in time.

By the end of the explanation, Akko still felt lost. It had felt like hours, but the clock in her hand told her it had barely been twenty minutes. Yeah, right, no way in hell. Alcor had probably activated the magic that helped with reflexes to explain things to Akko more easily.

Still, Akko had gotten one thing. White holes were, supposedly, impossible. Also, whatever they were, they weren’t supposed to posses _magic,_ of all things.

It was all so confusing. Akko wondered what she should do about this info when suddenly someone knocked on the glass above her. Looking up, she saw Amanda. She opened “Oh, hey.”

“Where’s Diana?” Amanda looked around. “Did you two have a fight or something?”

Akko shook her head. “No, why would you think that?” She asked.

“Well, we saw you go out together, but now she’s not here… Whatever. You look strange, still. What happened?”

Akko was about to tell her the truth about what they had discovered, but she recalled Diana’s words. “I was just talking with Alcor. It seems like it no longer needs a password to answer things.”

Amanda’s eyes widened and she smiled.  She suddenly dropped on the cockpit behind Akko. “Was about time, holy shit!” She smiled. “Alcor, why the hell do you delete the gunman’s memories?”

The bird completely ignored the redhead. Amanda frowned. Akko put a hand up, stopping Amanda from complaining. “Alcor, why do you delete the gunman’s memories?”

 **Memories aren’t deleted,** Alcor explained. It monotone voice seemed to be mocking them with the unspecific answer.

“Then what’s going on?” Akko continued.

 **Memories are just not created. It’s for the protection of the gunman. Human brains cannot handle the amount of information given to them through the Shiny Rod’s turret,** it explained.

Amanda scoffed. “I can’t handle it my ass, wanna test me?!” she said, offended.

Akko felt like that wasn’t exactly what it meant. “Uhm, could you explain it a little better?”

Alcor paused for a moment, as if to think. **The Shiny Rod uses a creature’s brain as a means of processing, while amplifying its capabilities. The amount of information passing through the brain when the turret is active will inevitably be too much for a human brain. To protect it, the Shiny Rod impedes the creation of new memories.**

“But that’s not true, I have knowledge I’ve gained thanks to that,” Amanda said. Akko raised an eyebrow, but Amanda didn’t clarify further.

“Alcor, is it possible to keep any kind of memories from it?”

**Some amount of information may be left on the gunman’s brain as a side-effect. It isn’t dangerous.**

Akko looked up at Amanda. The redhead didn’t look satisfied. “So it’s kind of what I believed. I’m just being used as a processor in a bigger machine. Any brain would do…” Then, suddenly, she brightened up. “Oh, oh, wait, we should ask-”

“Girls?” Ursula suddenly appeared. “What is going on?”

“We’re asking things to the Rod,” Akko explained. “It finally let us do it.”

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “I… see,” she didn’t sound happy. She actually looked kind of nervous. “That’ fine and all, but we should get back to practice.”

“Come on, it can wait,” Amanda turned to look at the bird. “You, answer me, why do you get all jealous if I pilot other ships?”

Ursula’s eyes widened at that. Akko cocked her head, looking at Amanda. “What do you mean?”

Amanda sighed. “Look, whenever I pilot another broom – well, it depends on some things, I’m not exactly sure which yet – I start getting this headache. Like when you tried to pilot the Shooting Star and suddenly you _almost fucking die?_ Well like that but less powerful.”

Akko frowned. She… kind of recalled the incident. “How are you sure it’s because of the Shiny Rod?” Akko asked.

“Because it’s the only thing that makes sense. Come on, ask,” Amanda insisted.

Sighing, Akko turned to Alcor. “Alcor, can you…”

“Girls,” Ursula suddenly interrupted. “Can’t you finish this later? I’m on a tight schedule. Let’s practice and then you can ask Alcor all you want.”

Amanda groaned, but Akko could see that Ursula was indeed worried. Well, it wasn’t as if these questions needed to be answered _now,_ after all. “Ok, guess we can wait,” Akko said, helping Ursula relax.

“What’s taking you so long?” Hannah appeared too.

“I’ll explain you later,” Amanda glared at Akko as she stepped out of the cockpit. “Guess we’ll have to train first.”

“Where’s Diana?” Hannah asked looking at Akko.

“She went towards the garage, I think,” Akko explained. Hannah frowned, looking confused, but whatever she saw in Akko’s eyes must have comforted her, because she shrugged and went down with Amanda. Ursula entered the cockpit, closing the windshield, and both of them waited until Amanda climbed in the turret to begin the simulation.

Ursula still looked kind of nervous. “Akko, tell me,” Ursula said once Akko activated the turret. “Before the race, last time, I heard you saying something. It was pretty effective in pumping you up, it seems. Maybe if you said it again you’ll fare better,” she spoke kind of quickly, almost as if rushing. _She really must be on a tight schedule,_ Akko thought.

“Uhm… Oh, right. ‘A believing heart is my magic,’ if I recall correctly,” Akko said. From the corner of her eye she thought she’d seen something moving, but at that moment Ursula cleared her throat, calling Akko’s attention.

“Oh, it’s… Chariot’s catchphrase, right?” she asked, looking slightly uncomfortable, but speaking slower. Akko nodded in answer, prompting a grimace. “Well, I guess it’s fine. Now start the simulation, Akko,” she ordered.

Akko nodded. Maybe she’d ask Ursula or Croix if they knew where Chariot had gotten the phrase from later. For now, she needed to focus on practicing. The chasms of Vorago were labyrinthine and dangerous, even with her map. Hopefully everything would go ok.


	94. Chapter 94

Diana, for the first time in quite some time, pondered over the meaning of life.

What was ‘meaning’ in the first place? What made one’s life meaningful? If every experience made a person who they are, then was everything as important as everything else? Were the meals Diana had eaten as relevant as the test scores she had gotten? Was a conversation with her late mother as important as asking a cashier how much did something cost? If there was a reason to life other than just being entropy machines, wasting energy with every passing second, then what was it?

Diana couldn’t really come up with that answer, but she could at least try to figure out what to do with her current life. Erasing her memories had been an interesting perspective, but the risk of losing herself would have been great too. But… what about what she had just learnt?

Infinite energy. It was not only impossible, the mere concept of infinity was, by nature, unfathomable. Infinite possibilities. No matter what you wanted to do, you’d be able to. Hell, the Rod could destroy the entire universe, if it so wished to.

Diana placed a hand over half of her face, growing dizzy. _Infinite energy._ No matter how much she thought about it, it felt… wrong. Impossible. Going faster than light, turning back time, opening paths to other universes. The Shiny Rod was the key to every question humanity had and to every question it would ever have.

Sure, she had already heard from Akko about the quality, and she herself had thought about it, but this was different. When she had thought of infinite before, she’d been thinking that maybe the Rod used some of the forces of the universe to constantly replenish. However, this new information changed everything. The _only_ limitation the Rod seemed to have, currently, was its limit in output.

_Who built that thing? How? When?_

Those questions needed an answer. Diana still felt overwhelmed. She understood why Ursula was so worried about it, or why Chariot had probably disappeared. If anyone ever found out about the Shiny Rod’s secret, then it wouldn’t just cause awe. It would cause chaos. It would cause wars, destruction. And the society that got a hang of the power would rule over all others.

Wait, how _had_ Ursula gotten this information? And why hadn’t she warned Akko properly? This certainly wasn’t something available to the public. Hell, it probably wasn’t even available to the authorities. The only people who should have known about this were Chariot and her… gunman.

Diana shook her head. She really was starting to think about too many things at once, a headache starting to appear. She needed something to focus on. One step at a time.

First thing she needed to do, then, was ask the ship itself about the details. Who, how and when it had been created, then move on from there.

At that moment, someone entered the waiting room of the garage. Diana looked up, expecting to see a mechanic, but she found Hannah instead. She was looking around in disgust at the not-particularly-clean room, and when she saw Diana she relaxed. “You look worried. Did something happen with Akko?”

Diana shook her head. “No,” she said. “I’m just stressing over the same things again,” she lied, feeling relatively guilty for it. She stood. “Let’s go back, shall we?”

Hannah nodded, and both of them exited the garage and went back to the hangar, but the Shiny Rod was already closed, the windshield darkened.

 _Great, Akko is practicing,_ she thought with a sigh.

Well, she would have to wait for a while.

 

“WHAT?” Amanda bellowed, her eyes becoming almost a slit as she narrowed them with anger.

“Uhm… Alcor, can you answer my previous question?” Akko asked.

 **Password needed,** the familiar replied.

Amanda was livid. “What changed?!” She said, her expression darkening by the second. So long having questions, finally a chance to answer, and finally _understanding_ something…

“I don’t know,” Akko admitted. “Maybe it didn’t like the way I raced or something,” she suggested.

Amanda rolled her eyes, not pointing out how stupid that sounded. Well, the Shiny Rod was connected to Akko, maybe it did have something to do with that, but somehow Amanda doubted it.

“Something must have happened,” Diana said, leaning in from outside the cockpit, looking with strange eyes towards Ursula. “Maybe the password is a specific series of commands and you accidentally did them on the simulation.”

Amanda paused. “That _has_ to be it,” she said. “She must have repeated it before, unlocking the answers, and then she just blocked everything again.”

Akko was now playing with the joysticks, as if trying to remember what she had done during training. Amanda grunted in frustration, throwing her hands in the air.

“Relax, Amanda. If Akko did it twice it’s bound to happen again,” Diana said, though she looked as frustrated as Amanda, she just wasn’t as loud.

Amanda shook her head. “Whatever, this is bullshit,” she said, hopping down from the Shiny Rod.

Hannah followed after her. “Amanda?” she asked. Amanda turned to her. Looking at such a pretty face soothed her. “You’ll get your answers, don’t get so mad,” she said, stepping closer. She hesitated for a second before grabbing Amanda’s hand.

Amanda squeezed Hannah’s hand, feeling her anger wash away with the touch. “I know,” she said. “I just feel blueballed,” she explained.

“Well, we’ve got free time now,” Hannah said. “Wanna go on a date?”

“Are we going to call every time we hang out ‘date’?” Amanda asked.

Hannah shrugged. “Makes it sound more important.”

Amanda couldn’t really argue with that. “Well, I guess it’s fine,” she said, “as long as we go grab something to eat. Those hamburgers did little to fill me,” she said.

Hannah nodded, and they took off towards the decks.

 

Ursula saw as Diana and Akko quietly discussed what she had done during the simulation, and whether or not she had repeated some specific move she had done before. The replay didn’t include inputs, but they still were able to figure out pretty well how Akko had done it.

Ursula would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t feeling guilty. She had forced Akko to shut up Alcor again, but knowing her she’d eventually say that stupid catchphrase again anyways. If she and Amanda found out how the Shiny Rod worked, would they grow mad, as Croix had done? Akko… well, who knew, but Amanda would certainly hate the broom. That’s how Croix had started, and it had ended in the accident.

Determined not to let that happen again, Ursula had decided it was better to not let Akko learn all the truths about the Shiny Rod quite yet. If Alcor still answered to her - he didn’t – she’d probably change the password to one less… obvious.

From Diana’s expression, Ursula could tell the blonde girl had already figured something out. She sometimes threw suspicious stares at Ursula, so _something_ was certainly going on. Whatever it was, though, Ursula had little idea. Had they discovered the remaining words, maybe? Unlikely. Amanda had already asked about the memory thing, at least. But Diana obviously wanted to know more about something.

Ursula had already told Akko and Akko had told Diana about the infinite energy, but Ursula was afraid that they had heard exactly what the source of energy was. By the way she was acting, though, it was clear she probably understood.

“It should be able to give us input,” she said, though she was careful not to mention why. “Maybe if you change forms?”

“I don’t think it would be safe,” Akko said. “The one where the weapons start going around the ship would probably destroy every broom here, and the axe would just harm the brooms at our sides,” she was looking to the sides. Since the Shooting Star had been on the garage for a while now the mechanics and such of the garage had just used its space for some other broom, a grey thing that looked kind of like a slice of pizza, flat and triangular, but with a curved rear.

“How about the hook?” Diana asked, though it did feel like even she thought it was a stretch.

“I don’t see how that would be useful here,” Ursula mentioned. “Unless it somehow changes the energy output of the ship.”

Diana threw her a narrow-eyed look, and Ursula felt ashamed to be intimidated. She was an adult, and more important, she could probably take Diana on any day of the week without breaking a sweat.

But _damn_ if that kid didn’t know how to act in charge. She was like a member of a royal family. Power emanated from her, kind of like an aura. When she was around she took the spotlight. If she had found the Rod, Ursula wondered if she would have given it to science. Now that she – probably – knew what its power source was, she was going to maybe do something with it?

She had been talking about memory modification before, just to be able to pilot better. But with such an amount of power, well…

 Her thinking got interrupted by a sudden movement as Diana face-palmed. “Akko, it can’t be _that_ hard to remember what you did, particularly if you did it twice!”” she said in a frustrated voice.

Akko was obviously growing frustrated too. “Well, sorry, but I seriously don’t remember,” she explained. “I dunno, Diana, maybe it’s not actually piloting. Maybe it’s like… I dunno. A word or something.”

Ursula’s eyes widened. “What’s the issue?” She asked, trying to distract them from that particular discussion.

“Nothing, Akko being Akko, I guess,” Diana said, shaking her head.

“Did you just use me as an insult?” Akko turned around with a grim expression.

“Not exactly, I’m just saying that you’re… well, _you,_ ” Diana said. “It’s neither an offence not a compliment, just a fact,” she spoke in an overly controlled tone.

“Well then, guess you can figure it out on your own,” Akko said, crossing her arms. “Since I’m ‘me’.”

Diana rolled her eyes. “Come on, don’t be childish, you know what I meant,” Diana said, hands on her waist. “Plus, the Shiny Rod doesn’t let me do anything when it’s not in Unicorn mode.”

“Then instead of getting angry you could try to help me figure it out,” Akko said.

“It’s what I’m doing!” Diana exclaimed.

“Well then why are you getting angry?!” Akko exclaimed back, raising her voice.

“Because you’re obviously not focusing enough!”

“Uhm, girls?” Ursula frowned, noticing something strange going on here.

“And how do you know that? I’m seriously trying to remember, I also want to ask things to Alcor!” Akko replied, fully turning around and standing to be – relatively – at Diana’s height.

“Yeah, you have a _ton_ of questions, don’t you, that’s why you’ve been asking them all of this time!” Diana continued. “You shouldn’t have stopped asking things when you had the chance, but for some reason you had to go back to practice!”

Ursula, about to interfere, suddenly found herself without words. This discussion was being her fault. If she wanted to keep the secret a secret, then she didn’t dare interrupt the pair.

“I just…” Akko’s jaw was set. “Ursula was in a hurry!” Akko pointed at her.

“She’s still standing there, now isn’t she?” Diana suddenly stared daggers at Ursula.

Ursula smiled awkwardly. “We did finish a few minutes earlier than usual…” that much, at least, wasn’t a lie.

“I didn’t think this would happen!” Akko continued.

“Yeah, well, maybe that’s a big part of the problem here, your lack of thinking!” Akko paused. Diana’s face went from angry to neutral as she probably realized what had just happened. “Just try to figure it out,” the blonde girl said, jumping out of the cockpit and almost running away from the Rod.

Akko sat down on the pilot’s seat, arms crossed, pouting. “I don’t know what got into her,” she said, voice still angry. “We were just fine before practice.”

Ursula looked at her and at Diana, worried. “I’ll talk to her,” Ursula said, though last time that hadn’t gone particularly well. “You… Well, I guess you can keep trying to figure it out. I’m sure you’ll get it in no time. Why don’t you try another simulated race?” Ursula said. Akko’s expression softened at the offering of the red herring.

“I guess it’s not a bad idea. I’ll ask Alcor to reproduce the same conditions as the last couple of races.”

Ursula gave her a thumbs up as she dropped from the broom and went after Diana.

 _I feel like I messed up,_ she thought with a grimace.

 

Diana was midway towards the elevator when Ursula caught up with her. Diana could imagine the reason of her hasty pursuit, so she paused, taking a deep breath.

“Diana, you should go and apologize,” was the first thing Ursula said to her.

 _I know,_ Diana thought. The only problem was that, while she was aware she had offended Akko, she feared she would offend her more if she went back there again. Diana wasn’t used to apologizing, but the true problem was that she was _not_ in the mood. She had created all of these expectations for herself, and then everything had come tumbling down by the need of the dumb password again. She had been wrong to throw that on Akko, but Akko had obviously not been taking it seriously too.

But how could she? She barely understood the magnitude of what she had between her hands. Of course she wouldn’t really care. That was part of her charm, even if it was kind of annoying. She didn’t worry about the big stuff, she just lived the moment and did her best. She wasn’t great with physics but she was still good with languages, a great pilot, and an overall amazing person.

Diana sighed while thinking of Akko. “ _This_ is why I’m afraid to begin dating now,” Diana said, starting her walk towards the elevators again.

Ursula followed. “Why? Because you’re afraid of a little fight?” She asked, obviously baffled by the idea. Diana didn’t dare look back at the teacher. She could imagine her expression.

“Mostly,” Diana said. She could almost feel Ursula’s worried and disapproving stare on her back.

“Mostly? Diana, you snapped at Akko for little reason,” the teacher said, catching up and walking next to Diana. “You really need to go back and apologize.”

“I’ll do it later,” Diana repeated, “I’m just trying to sort through some stuff.”

“Evading the issue won’t solve it,” Ursula said.

“I know,” Diana said, starting to walk faster.

Ursula was obviously feeling Diana’s hesitation. She paused for a second, as if to let Diana calm down on her on. But she spoke again soon. “Akko is in a really bad mood. I know pride can sometimes be hard to set aside, but…”

“It’s _not_ pride,” Diana said, pointedly.

Ursula sighed. “Ok, it’s not pride, but whatever it is will only end up creating a gap between you and Akko,” she explained.

Diana was already tapping her finger. She managed to stop it for a second as she pressed the elevator button, having finally arrived at the place, but the wait became painful as she tried not to think about Akko. She knew she had offended her, and she knew she should go back and apologize. But more importantly, she knew what could happen if she _didn’t_ do it.

Ursula placed a hand on her shoulder. “Diana, do you want to talk about it? I feel like that fight had something deeper to it. You wouldn’t have gotten like that over Akko failing to remember something.”

Diana saw her eyes. Understanding eyes, or at least eyes that pretended to understand.

She slapped Ursula’s hand away. “You’re right,” Diana said. The elevator arrived, and she stepped in it.

She tried to press the button for the doors to close, but it wasn’t fast enough, and Ursula entered right behind her. “If I’m right, then-”

“I’m _not_ going to apologize!” Diana exclaimed, clenching her fists, her eyes looking pointedly forward. “I already said what I said, ok? People speak their mind when they get frustrated, if that’s what I said it’s because that’s what I think!”

“Diana…” Ursula looked at her with a worried look.

“I’m _obviously_ trying to push Akko away, despite the fact that I like her! Hell, the way she seems to accept everything I say… I can’t stand it!” Diana wasn’t an aggressive girl, but she _really_ wished the walls of the elevator weren’t metal, that way she could punch them without breaking her hands. “She will always be there for me! She doesn’t hesitate, she doesn’t question me! I told her I wanted to wipe my memory and she all but completely agreed!”

“Because she understands what you’re…”

“No, no she doesn’t, but she still feels bad!” Diana’s breathing had become irregular, and her heart was pumping. “How can I be with her when she’s… this good?” Her voice turned down a notch. “I have a horrible family that will probably try to make the rest of my life miserable, I’m an _arrogant bitch_ and I look down on everyone! I think Akko is stupid, I see her as an inferior pilot and as someone who needs to be told what to do least she get into trouble, I…”

She wanted to cry, but somehow, tears wouldn’t come. She was too angry for that. At the Rod, at Akko, at Ursula.

At herself.

“You know that’s not true,” Ursula said, trying again to put a hand on Diana’s shoulder. Diana stepped away. “Don’t let an honest mistake change how you see yourself,” Ursula said. “We all say things we regret when angry. The fact that you regret saying it means you don’t really think that way. It’s just a passing thought, something we all have.”

Diana’s expression had twisted with anger and shame. “My personality is awful, my family is awful, my only talent is studying, but for what? If I don’t win this race I’ll spend the next ten years of my life being a pilot, I’ll barely have need for knowledge once out Luna Nova. I just insulted the only person in the whole world who likes me because of who I am and not because money or name. How can she still like me, even knowing my family is in shambles, knowing that my aunt and cousins are so god damn awful?” Diana put her back against the elevator wall, slowly sliding to the floor. “What am I supposed to do? If I’m not the one with the answers, then I’m not even worthy of standing here. I can’t protect my mother’s legacy, I can’t keep a simple friendship with the girl I like, I can’t fulfill my dream even though I have a golden chance. I can’t even pilot the damn Unicorn properly. I’m a failure.”

Ursula suddenly whipped out a black card from somewhere – anti-g suits didn’t have pockets, though maybe hers had been modified – and ran it through a slit on the buttons panel. Diana recognized it. It was a security card, the one that would stop the elevator from stopping before reaching its destination.

The blue-haired woman dropped to one knee, looking Diana in the eyes. “Diana,” she said, voice kind, eyes soft. “You’re _not_ a failure,” she said. This time, when she leaned forward and hugged Diana, the blonde didn’t move. “It’ll be fine.”

Diana spoke in a defeated voice. “How can you say that? You barely know anything about me,” she replied.

“Because I know you’re a really strong and intelligent girl. And you have great friends standing by your side,” Ursula hugged her tightly. “Not everyone has that privilege.”

She was obviously speaking from experience.

Diana closed her eyes. What was Ursula’s story?

At this moment, she didn’t really care enough to ask.

Slowly, Diana allowed herself to start enjoying the embrace. How long had it been since an adult had shown some actual amount of care for her? Long. Too long, probably. Hesitantly, Diana hugged back, wrapping her arms around Ursula.

“I wish you hadn’t chose me,” she confessed, lips trembling. “I wish I had just remained back at Earth, living my life without major complications.”

“I’m sorry for placing this burden on you,” Ursula said. “I also wish things had gone differently,” she said. “I was so sure you’d be able to handle the pressure, the first time I saw you…” she pulled back. “But I don’t believe I made a mistake, either. You deserve this place, Diana. And you should be proud of it.”

“You only saw me practice _one_ race,” Diana said. “I didn’t even get all my chances.”

“And yet,” Ursula’s smile widened. “You showed a quick mind, great reflexes and a better connection with your gunman than most other pilots I reviewed. I didn’t give you that score out of the blue, Diana. I wouldn’t have chosen you if I didn’t think you would be able to handle this.”

Diana could see the honesty in Ursula’s eyes. It did little to help her mood. _I should go back and apologize._

“But I can’t,” Diana said, putting her head between her legs. Hiding.

“You can,” Ursula said, obviously thinking it was a reply to her previous statement.

“I mean, apologizing,” Diana said. “I’m just going to snap at her back, eventually. Hannah and Barbara already know how irritable I get whenever the shadow of my aunt seems to loom over me,” she explained. “I should just stay away from Akko until I find a way to solve this.”

Ursula drew her lips to a line. “And you think she’d want that? What would _you_ do if Akko was having family issues?”

“I’d help her. But I doubt her problems would be anything like mine.”

Ursula chuckled. “I believe we had a similar conversation a few hours ago.”

Diana sighed. They had, indeed. Diana was just so… frustrated. She was tired, feeling like someone had showed her the fruit of life and then had snatched it from her fingers right as she was about to taste it. A cruel twist of fate, a joke of destiny, the universe conspiring to make her life miserable.

Well, the universe could be replaced by Daryl and Paul, right now.

“I’m going to go to sleep,” Diana said, slowly moving. Ursula got out of the way and Diana finally pressed a button to get the elevator moving. The button to their floor.

Ursula seemed to understand that Diana just needed some time alone, so she didn’t push her anymore. “You should still eat something,” she said.

“I’ll eat something at the room, I promise,” Diana said. She wasn’t lying. She understood nutrition was important, and wasn’t in such a sorry state that she’d forego her basic survival instincts in pos of brooding.

She would, however, give in and eat something wholly unhealthy. She wasn’t obsessed with calories or anything like that, but she knew how to keep a relatively balanced diet. Well, today, she’d just give the middle finger to that.

Tomorrow they’d land on the next planet over. It’d be a new day.

A better day, hopefully.


	95. Chapter 95

Akko pouted in her room. She felt horrible after her discussion with Diana yesterday. And the ship would land in a short time, yet she hadn’t even gotten up in the entire day. She had hoped that maybe Diana would come to talk with her, but the blonde hadn’t done it. Maybe Akko had reacted a little too harshly to her comments.

 _She still thinks I’m an idiot,_ a side of Akko’s brain thought.

 _She was just angry,_ the other side defended.

And there she was, waiting for something to force her to get out of bed. She had ignored the alarm to take breakfast and the one to go to practice for the first time – out of laziness, at least – since Diana had given her that schedule. In fact, she had taken off Constanze’s clock, turning it off and leaving it on the desk of the room.

Sucy was there, some kind of experiment going on, as always. If she had noticed Akko’s attitude being strange, she hadn’t commented on it. But she did sometimes glance to the side, as if annoyed by Akko’s presence.

Akko closed her eyes. She couldn’t go back to sleep, but what else should she be doing? She just wanted to forget about her discussion with Diana…

_“You’ve been lying to me!” Suddenly, Akko was in a lit room. No, not a room, a garage. She could see her red hair moving along with her shaking head. In front of her stood a figure wearing a helmet and a white g-suit. She recognized that figure as the Shiny Rod’s previous gunman._

_Akko could feel some kind of deep frustration from within. She had been betrayed._

_“I did not!” the figure in helmet said. Her voice sounded familiar now, for some reason. “I told you I could better the magic output, and I did!” she moved her hands to her head, taking off her helmet in an angry way. The girl below it was clearly Croix. “We’ve been winning without a hint of trouble for the past three races! They all tried to kill us but we were above their bullshit!”_

_“You cheated!” Akko said. No, Chariot said. As Akko realized this, her voice seemed to change. “You… You didn’t have the right to!” She exclaimed. Why wasn’t Croix understanding? Why was she doing what she did?_

_“Everyone ganged against us wasn’t cheating?!” Croix asked._

_Chariot hesitated. “No!” she declared. And it was at that moment that both of them understood._

_Something had changed within Croix after that fifth race. She had gotten colder, somehow. Chariot had refused to see it, but she could now. Somehow modifying the Shiny Rod to make all other ships loose power, only to power itself… Where was the fun in that? The competition? They teamed against them because they were strong. Chariot didn’t blame them because of that._

_But winning because they had weakened every other ship around? That was…_

Akko woke up biting her lip, feeling an anger that wasn’t hers, the memory of a lost friend echoing through her mind, even though she hadn’t lost any of them.

“You seemed to be having a nightmare,” Sucy said. “You were frowning.”

“I…” Akko doubted. “I don’t know _what_ that was,” she admitted, looking to the purple haired girl. Sucy had moved slightly closer to Akko’s side of the room as she had left a few vials of glowing liquid on the other side of the desk. “It felt like a memory.”

“Many dreams feel like that,” Sucy said. She was wearing her protection glasses as she carefully added a few drops of a mysterious substance to another vial. “Doesn’t mean anything.”

Akko sighed. Yeah, Sucy was right… but was she, really? Dreams that felt real were a thing, but that had been something so different from everything else. Like turning back time. A younger Chariot, a younger Croix, arguing over something. Akko could even tell the timeframe. That had been after the ninth race of the previous IPR, shortly before Chariot vanished.

Was that because it was just a dream and she was obsessed with the topic?

“Ok, now get out of bed,” Sucy said, calmly removing her glasses and standing.

“I don’t feel like it,” Akko said, feeling slightly childish.

“Well, your call, but if you stay in the room for fifteen more seconds you’re not going to be feeling much of anything ever again,” Sucy said as she walked out of the room.

Akko frowned. She noticed that the vial Sucy had been working on was bubbling aggressively.

 _Oh,_ was her last thought before she jumped from bed and ran out of the room, wearing nothing but her pajamas.

 

Diana hadn’t gotten out of her room yet. She was pretending to study – well, in a way, she was, watching videos of previous Vorago races, trying to analyze how they played out. The strategy of following the armor seemed to be the more reliable, but those bastards also liked to use a particular ability of their ship to trick others into following it: They could use their two stone balls as some kind of lift, crashing them against chasm walls and using that to climb further than they usually could. It was annoying.

Still, the act didn’t seem to convince her teammates. Both Hannah and Barbara had foregone their daily activities with their girlfriends to hang out in the room and keep an eye on Diana. They had already tried to ask her what was going on, but Diana had been purposefully evasive.

Now they sat together, chatting quietly, clearly knowing something was up. At some point during the ‘morning’ – assuming they still kept their Earth schedule – Ursula had passed by to announce they’d be landing soon. However, something was clearly wrong, as she hadn’t asked them to get prepared to leave the ship. Neither had come Akko to the room, asking if they were ready, excited to exit the ship.

The situation was awkward, at best. Barbara didn’t push Diana for answers, maybe because she understood how emotionally unstable Diana was currently. Hannah had tried a little further, but Barbara had stopped her before Diana snapped at her.

Akko. Diana hadn’t spoken to her after yesterday, and today… Well, things didn’t look good for Diana’s mood either. Still, she hoped Akko would be in a good mood after landing in Vorago. Vorago was such an interesting planet, and Diana had read a lot about it back on Earth. She was kind of excited about it, even through all the other stuff she was feeling.

The race she was seeing right now was from the tenth IPR, the one twenty years ago. Depending on the team, the ships had changed wildly – like the humans – or not at all – like the shapeshifters.

Still, she couldn’t get much info out of it. Not more than she’d already gotten out of the simulations, at least. Studying the past capabilities of different races felt redundant when she could study the _now_ of all of them. She could measure herself and her own piloting against perfect simulations of the other racers.

 _So much power,_ Diana thought, closing her eyes. _The Shiny Rod is truly a marvel._

Maybe that’s why she hadn’t gone to practice today. She felt a strange reverence towards it, a newfound respect. She was afraid of messing up. What could the Shiny Rod do, in the right hands? What would it be able to do, in the wrong ones?

Anything. That was the answer.

Diana removed her Witch hat.

“I believe we’ll be landing in a short time,” Diana said. If she wasn’t too wrong, fifteen minutes was all that remained. Depending on the amount of people on the corridors of the ship, it may take them that long to get down.

“Do we need to wear our helmets?” Hannah asked.

Diana shook her head. “Maybe your masks, as the atmosphere of Vorago is slightly toxic, but you _should_ be fine as long as you don’t spend days breathing it,” she explained as she went through one of her suitcases and fetched her mask. The thing was made to cover her nose, mouth and some of the chin, sticking with a small amount of magic.

She wouldn’t wear it at first, though. Tales from visitors told that the planet had an interesting smell, and Diana wanted to see that for herself. Or, well, sniff that for herself.

Five minutes later, all three of them were wearing their g-suits – Hannah and Diana their Earth Team ones, Barbara her Luna Nova one – and walking down the bowels of the _Dragon_ towards the entrance that was exclusive to staff and pilots.

Akko, for the first time since they had started this trip, wasn’t there. Diana couldn’t help it as her finger started to almost move on its own. She got it under control, but she could feel the need to do something other than stare at a closed door.

“Oh, hey pretty,” from their backs came Amanda’s voice, who had hugged Hannah from behind. Diana shoved down a burst of envy.

 _Will I ever get to do that, with Akko?_ She thought bitterly. Jasminka and Constanze were there too, though none of the green team members had chosen to wear a g-suit. They did wear slightly more wintry clothes. Constanze looked like a little Eskimo, though that was probably overkill. Jasminka wore just a sweater, and Amanda was wearing a leather jacket. She had left the front open, showing the red t-shirt she wore underneath.

“Have you seen the red team?” Diana asked casually.

“Wait, you didn’t find out?” Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Well, I guess our rooms are slightly more separated than other times…” she sighed. “Both Sucy and Akko went to a infirmary, though I don’t know where Lotte is.”

“I’m here,” Lotte had just turned the corner of the corridor leading the way to the door. “I went to do some shopping.”

Barbara walked towards her. “Sorry I didn’t go with you,” she apologized.

Lotte smiled kindly, patting her head. “It’s fine, your friends are also important,” she said. Diana sometimes wondered how someone could be so genuinely nice as Lotte. Had she become too cynical of the world, if she thought like that? Probably. But she couldn’t help it.

“Why did they go to the infirmary?” Diana asked. It had obviously not been a big emergency, if she hadn’t heard of it until now, so she wasn’t too worried.

“Sucy apparently released some kind of poisonous gas on their room, and the guy who went to clean that up told them to go check themselves just in case,” Amanda explained.

“And Ursula…?” Hannah raised an eyebrow.

“Went with them, of course,” Amanda was still hugging Hannah from behind. She clearly enjoyed the touch, the closeness. Diana clenched a fist. _You made your choice,_ she said, turning again and looking at the door. It would open any minute now. _You…_

 _I just want to hug Akko,_ she admitted to herself. Good thing Akko wasn’t around, or she’d probably go and do it. Or maybe not, because she still hadn’t apologized. Damn emotions, why did they have to be so complicated. If only she could go back in time and stop herself…

 _Well, the Shiny Rod can probably do it,_ she realized. It was strange, realizing that _everything_ was possible with the amount of energy the white broom held in its interior. The way it transformed – or, Diana was beginning to think, shape shifted – was definitely part of it. Diana wondered if it even had any limit to what it could do.

 _It does have a limit of output,_ she considered. _Which means whoever built it knew how dangerous it was. Why make it, then? Is it even a human construct? It seems designed to be piloted by a human, but who’s to say it wasn’t built by some other highly advanced race and then Chariot just changed it to look like it does now?_

It was as she considered these questions that the door opened.

Diana hesitated for a second, feeling a breeze of cool air slip in from the outside. She walked forward, the outside looking awfully dark.

And it was. But it was also impressive.

They were in a hole. Or a massive well, maybe. As always, the _Dragon_ had landed on water, but the place they were in wasn’t an ocean, but something that looked like a massive cavern. That’s why landing had probably been rather difficult, as it had to be perfectly vertical.

The massive world-hopper was surrounded by walls. Walls of a dark, almost black, stone. Looking up revealed nothing, as the sky in the planet always looked like nighttime, even if the sun was high up. Not that it mattered, as no natural light ever graced the bottom of these chasms.

The air smelled… of rain, maybe of something being smoked too. It was enjoyable.

She walked down the gangplank and onto the platform around the _Dragon,_ though this time it wasn’t particularly wide. The ship was barely big enough to fit in the massive hole, which by the looks of it, only had one exit. A cavern, not a chasm, leading out of it. It looked man-made – or, rather, armor-made – and it was lit by torches. The fire in this planet seemed to burn slightly redder than the ones on Earth. Diana cocked her head, she had read about it, but it was truly curious. No human knew why that was the case, as the air didn’t have any chemicals that would change the color of the flame.

The seven human girls stood outside for a while, looking around, though there wasn’t much to see. There was no glowing moss or mushrooms in this. How did plants live here had been something of quite some interest to scientists. The glowing moss particularly, though there was none of it nearby.

Diana wondered how much more time they had until people started being allowed to leave the _Dragon._ Once that happened, getting through the tunnel would be a royal pain in the ass. She hesitated, wondering if it’d be ok for her to go on her own. Obviously not. She’d have to sit and wait for Ursula to give them instructions.

She approached the edge of the platform. The water below it looked as black as tar. She leaned, touching it slightly with her fingertips – covered with her g-suit, obviously. She couldn’t tell the temperature of the water, but its density seemed to be normal.

Then she walked over to the entrance of the tunnel, with the small bridge of planks the _Dragon’s_ crew had built to it. It was about four meters tall and maybe ten wide, with the torches not really doing much to illuminate the middle portion of it. The torches didn’t hang on the walls, they had been _carved_ from the wall. Each of them looked slightly different, which had its own charm. Diana looked at the fire, noticing that it was coming out of some kind of mechanism hidden beyond the dark stone. Well, it was often easy to think of other races as less developed, but Diana always tried to make herself remember that most of them had a way of life different to humans.

Something caught her eye. A white dot next to one of the torches near the entrance to the tunnel. She approached it, thinking it may be some kind of mineral exposed.

As soon as she approached, however, the white thing moved. It was as small as a fingernail, and it ran like if hell itself was behind it. It quickly disappeared in a small crack on the rock, and Diana was left wondering what it had been.

She seemed to recall some kind of animal like that from Vorago, but her mind was fuzzy right now. With a shrug, she went back to the platform. Amanda and Barbara were talking about something while Hannah and Lotte looked at them with varied expressions.

“…don’t know,” Amanda was saying. “What could we do? The Dragon is starting to become boring, to be honest.”

“It doesn’t have to be something fancy,” Barbara said. What were they talking about? “I just want to have some fun.”

Amanda considered this. “I mean, I don’t really know. Man, if we were back on Earth we could go to some kind of amusement park or something.”

“Isn’t there one in the fourth deck?” Lotte asked.

“It’s lame,” Amanda said. “Barely has any attractions. In half an hour you’d get through it all. Maybe there’ll be something cool to do once we arrive at wherever we’re staying,” she added, pointing with her finger towards the tunnel.

“What are you talking about?” Diana asked, slightly curious.

Barbara and Amanda suddenly turned to her with surprised expressions, as if she’d appeared out of nowhere or something. “Oh, we’re… planning a double-date,” Barbara said.

Diana hid her feelings for a second, showing interest instead of awkwardness. “Oh, well, you keep going at it,” she said, feeling a sudden need to bang her head against a wall.

She looked up, trying to see if she spotted anything in the darkness. They were several hundreds of meters under the surface of the planet. Would there be a meteor shower going on right now, up there? Probably not, since the _Dragon_ had been able to land without much issue.

And, as she looked up, she heard footsteps coming from the inside of the massive ship. She turned to see Ursula doing all but directly running towards them. “Girls!” she exclaimed as she came out of the ship. “Girls, come here, gather.”

Diana saw her a little too eager.

“Ok, this will be a special stay,” Ursula said. Why did she look worried? “First things first, we’ll stay here for about a week,” she said. Diana blinked, surprised at the duration of the stay. “Second, in a couple days there’ll be a big party celebrating the mid-point of the race. Be prepared for that…” she took a deep breath. “And third: Rules have already been dropped.”

Everyone paused. “Excuse me?” Diana was the first to talk.

Ursula nodded, handing Diana a wand. Diana’s eyes widened as she read the rules.

“This is nuts,” she mumbled, forgetting for a second about her problems.

“What is?” Amanda snatched the wand from her hands, holding up the holographic screen. “I mean, what could… Holy fucking shit,” her eyes widened too.

Soon, all girls present had read the rules, standing dumbfounded at having read them. “What the fuck is this?” Hannah was the first one to snap.

Diana couldn’t blame her.

The rules were daunting. Starting from the fourth day of stay and until the sixth, the race would be on. The start and finish line were thousands of kilometers apart, it would take days to get there even if one could go through the surface of the planet and even at supersonic speeds. Going through the chasms, though? Diana feared the time wouldn’t be enough for anyone other than the armors. Not only that, but not reaching the finish line meant disqualification.

 _Complete_ disqualification.

If you didn’t reach the finish line in three days, you’d be out of the race for good.

“ ‘Both pilots have to be past the finish line by the end of the third day or the entire race will be disqualified’ ” Hannah quoted. “ ‘The pointing system will be standard, save for the fact that both categories will be racing together, and their points will be averaged’. Seriously, what the hell?” she complained. “So if we come first but Akko comes last, we’ll only get… what, ten points?”

Diana was thinking about it. “That’s not even the worst part,” Amanda said. “How the hell are we going to race for three days straight? Only the Shiny Rod could do that.”

Now it was Barbara examining the rules closely. “Well,” she said. “Here it _does_ say that both pilots have to cross the finish line by the end of the race, but little more. What if you make the Shiny Rod tow the Unicorn? Then at the last stretch you can both go all out.”

“They’re trying to weed out most of us,” Diana concluded. Everyone looked at her. “What other explanation could there be?” she looked at everyone else. “I’m not sure about the octopuses and daemons, but the plants, cyborgs, reptilians and appali are done for,” she explained. “Any race that relies on fuel would be done for. Unless they carried extra fuel somehow, but then that would cause the issue of lost speed. Allowing the Shiny Rod to tow the Unicorn would be nice, but even then, the Unicorn won’t last three days levitating,” she was tapping her finger, again. “The shapeshifters and medusas have an incredible advantage here. As long as they carry some food they’ll be fine – hell, the shapeshifters don’t have to worry even about that. The Armor work with magnetism or something like that, and even then, this is _their_ planet, if they need something they’ll probably install a bunch of posts all over and in the most efficient path to the end.”

“Not to mention,” Diana continued. “Even if we managed to also get the Shiny Rod to carry the Unicorn for three days straight, do you really think Akko would be able to manage it? We don’t know the sleeping schedules of other racers. In fact, I think daemons spend weeks without sleeping and then sleep for only a few days,” she could feel her mind racing through all the possibilities. “And given the nature of the planet, what if it rains or something? Many chasms flood when that happens, creating powerful torrents that can last up to days. Getting caught in one of them would probably kill us. Only the Shiny Rod is able to go over water…” she paused for a second. Amanda seemed like she was about to say something, but Diana spoke again. “And,” she looked at Amanda to stop her, “I think it’s not too crazy to assume that the Rod would be severely slowed down by having to carry another ship with it.”

Diana finally stopped. A bunch of other problems occurred to her – what if one of the ships was badly damaged in the middle of nowhere? What if a lost meteorite from the surface fell down one of the chasms and hit one of the brooms?

No one seemed up for discussing much about the race, now. As Diana, they were probably trying to figure out the best plan of action.

Diana was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice when Constanze approached her. She wore a smirk, curiously enough, and was pointing at her screen. For a second Diana got the impression that she was trying to show her a simple line, as that’s how it looked, but once she looked closer, she realized she was looking at something else entirely.

It was a blueprint. The ‘line’ Diana had seen was a connection between two ships. Something else entirely. A hook? No, it was too specific. By the way in which it was built, it almost looked like…

“A hose?” Diana frowned. It was depicted between the Shiny Rod and the Shooting Star. It was… “It’s for sharing fuel,” she realized.

Constanze seemed surprised that she had gotten it so soon, but she nodded with energy. “Yes, yes, this… this could work. But how? You didn’t plan this in just two minutes, did you?” Diana raised an eyebrow, curious at how perfect of an answer this felt.

The mechanic shrugged, so she had obviously been working on it beforehand. But how, and for what? In any case, it was truly a blessing. “So this is why the rules dropped so early. It was so that each race could figure out how to tackle this race and find a way to finish it, even if they don’t manage to win.”

“This is going to be a pain in the ass, isn’t it,” Amanda said, sighing. “Am I seriously going to spend three days unconscious?”

Diana pressed her lips. How could her brain be affected by three days of the weird stasis the Shiny Rod seemed to put one in? “It won’t be three days straight, probably. Akko will need some sleep, and me too. Maybe we can take turns in towing, but even slowing down _that_ much will be dangerous.”

Amanda turned to her with annoyance. “Ok, ok, we get it, you’re smart. Can you let me think alone for a while before throwing more coal into the fire?” She said, expression clearly mad.

Diana decided to shut up. She was maybe being a little too pessimistic. They still had to see if they’d even be able to compete. Not that she didn’t trust Constanze’s designs, but… Well, things were as they were.

“Where are Akko and Sucy, anyways?” Hannah asked, looking around. “I wanna leave this dark pit,” she complained.

Ursula sighed. “They’ll be here shortly. They were going to get changed before coming.”

Diana stiffened. She hadn’t seen Akko since their fight. How would she react? Great, now she was nervous. Damn it. She could feel her heart racing by the mere thought of Akko being mad with her. She really needed to apologize.

She’d do it as soon as she saw Akko.

 

Akko was walking down the corridor leading to the door of the _Dragon_ with an excited spring to her step. She was late, but at the very least she was finally going to explore a new planet.

“Can you walk normally, please?” Sucy asked, annoyed.

“Hey, you look more like you’re sliding, rather than walking, you have no right to complain,” Akko replied. “Plus, it’s _your_ fault we’re late.”

“I got distracted because of you,” Sucy complained. “I never fail on my own.”

“Excuses.”

They stopped talking as they finally exited the ship. The world seemed to shift around them, getting darker by the mere act of stepping outside. And while there were a fair number of things that called to Akko, that tried to catch her attention and make her run around exploring, one of them stood out among everything else.

Diana.

She froze, locking eyes with the blonde. She felt her heart race and her cheeks flush. She had completely forgotten that, of course, she’d be forced to see Diana here. She had hoped… Well, she wasn’t even sure what she had hoped, but it was certainly not this.

Everyone seemed to notice the tension between the two, because all other conversations died out. Akko had already been informed about the rules for the race, but she had figured Diana would come up with a good plan. Even if they had had a fight yesterday, one thing Akko always could rely on was Diana.

Diana seemed to hesitate. For a second, Akko was certain she had the intention of walking towards her. However, her expression suddenly steeled, her whole body standing in a perfect posture, and she slowly looked away.

Akko couldn’t help but look away too. So Diana was still mad, then? Well, Akko _hadn’t_ been able to figure out the password in the end. This was her fault, in a way. Whatever she had done had caused Alcor to be able to answer them, but then she’d reversed it like an idiot. And now no-one could get the answers they so much wanted. She should just stop thinking about things. But her _lack_ of thinking had been the problem in the first place.

For now, she’d focus on the new planet. Wait, why did the air smell like rain and smoke?


	96. Chapter 96

Lotte was amazed by the city. No, that was an understatement. She was shocked, astounded, maybe even _inspired_. She hadn’t been inspired to write anything in a week now, and she was starting to fear she was in a block. But The Bottom, the biggest Armor city in Vorago was… completely and wholly amazing.

Set in a place where dozens of different chasms had somehow met, the massive city was like a dream. Illuminated by red fire, purple moss and a strange series of blue mushrooms, the place was absolutely incredible. The armor didn’t build their houses, they _carved_ them directly on the rock. Chasm walls were full of holes, most of them illuminated. Windows were surrounded by moss, each door – some of them at floor level, some of them higher, with stone staircases carved on the rock leading up to them – had a torch over it, though not all of them were lit. Was that some kind of signal? Lotte wasn’t sure, and she didn’t really care that much. Mushroom lamps were evenly spread among the chasm and walls, though they didn’t illuminate a lot.

Of course, the walls weren’t the only interesting thing. The floor of the chasms was more often than not irregular, but also smooth, probably from hundreds of years of erosion and armors walking around on it. If one looked up, bridges had been set across chasms. Stone bridges. “The armors can use their own excrement to build. Once it hardens, it’ll be almost as resistant as the rocks they ate. Depending on _what_ they ate, it may even come out stronger. Like alloys, but of rock,” Diana explained. Lotte didn’t find it as disgusting as some of the others.

Diana seemed to only be explaining things to avoid having to talk to Akko. Everyone had noticed, but no-one had mentioned it. Diana and Akko were fighting, for some reason.

But as much as Lotte wanted to protect Akko, she couldn’t help not caring about that right now. Because, well, the city.

The center of The Bottom was the place where all of those chasms met. It was massive, and it was the only place where it looked like they had built a place. The building wasn’t much in terms of aesthetic, as it was a big cube with no windows and just a bunch of doors, and it was definitely made for some kind of politic reason, since armors seemed to enter and exit in a constant flow. It was probably two or three stories high, though it was hard to decide with no windows.

The armor, too, were an interesting race of their own. With their big armadillo-like forms from behind, their caparaces or shells – Diana explained that there was a debate about that. Armor weren’t born with it outright, they grew it after eating, well, rocks – covering most of their bodies. However, when looked at from the front, they were weird. Six stumpy legs that walked really closely to each other, making one wonder how they managed not to trip, and four relatively long arms, all of which looked made of rock. When they moved, something darker peeked from their joints, below the rocks of their bodies. That was why they were called armor: A race of beings that had evolved to literally grow rock armors out of their bodies. No one had seen a naked armor yet. As many others, the race was secretive with some of its details. Humans were equally secretive about some of its own things, particularly farming. It was strange to Lotte, that so many other races had apparently failed to understand farming. Of course, though, many other races didn’t even eat organic food in the first place.

The flow of creatures didn’t just include armors, though. Daemons, humans and appali also walked about. Cyborgs weren’t uncommon either, and shapeshifters floated in various forms too.

Lotte was slightly reminded of Sídhe when looking up. The Bottom was a city that rose high, and while it didn’t have nearly as many bridges connecting it as the Seelie Court had had, it was similar. The difference being, obviously, that this place felt much more natural. And dangerous. What if one of those stone bridges broke? Lotte was sure armors were heavy. Really heavy. They were almost made of rock, after all.

Not to mention, the smell of food. The Bottom was actually home to various colonies of different races. And Lotte could tell the human colony was close. Not only because they were walking towards it, but because human food was the only one that smelled this good.

To her, at least.

The human district of The Bottom, which was placed in a short chasm with a dead-end, was different in feel to the rest of the chasms, too. Doors, in other places rock, here were made of wood, not to mention the difference in size. Windows had actual windowsills and crystal, while most others just had planks of wood to cover them. Much of the place was illuminated by actual electric lights, though Lotte wasn’t sure where they got the energy from. Looking up, it was obvious the place wasn’t inhabited to its full potential, stopping maybe at ten stories, which left the higher up portions of the chasm walls full of empty holes, like massive nest for some species of bugs. Between the glowing moss there it was possible to see things twinkling, like stars. Diana didn’t know what it was, but she said she suspected it was some kind of mineral reflecting the moss’ light.

The amount of humans, as expected, grew considerably here. However, many of them looked strange. Their clothes… they had rocks weaved into them. In turn, that seemed to make most of them rather muscular, male or female. At first Lotte thought that maybe it was easier to carry them because of a lower gravity, but the difference in gravity between Earth and Vorago was small, barely noticeable.

Many of them wore shaved heads, too. Lotte was about to ask about those things when Diana started to explain by herself.

“The people who were born in the planet, from having to breath the air since being born, have adapted rather well to it,” she explained. “However, for some reason that left them with a strange variant of hair loss. They don’t have a single bit of body hair.”

“What about the rocks?” Amanda asked. “Is it some kind of training?”

Diana snorted. “It’s just local fashion, though it does help build up the muscles.”

Lotte wondered how and why did she know so many things about these humans, but well, that was kind of what everyone had come to expect of Diana.

“What a weird fashion,” Amanda said. Diana was right, though. Most of the bald people were rather young, no older than twenty years at most. The colony had been established five years before the tenth iteration of the IPR, if Lotte recalled correctly. It was a strange realization, to think that there were humans out there who didn’t know – by their own accords – how the earth was.

“How do they even survive without sun?” Barbara asked. She was walking next to Diana, and while Lotte would have liked to be there, hold her hand, she understood Barbara also wanted to be supportive of Diana in an obvious moment of weakness. Lotte, on her part, walked close to Akko, but Akko was rather open with her feelings. If she felt like talking, she would.

“Sun-chambers,” Diana said. “Probably every family here has one. It’s like a… tanning-booth, but more effective, in a way,” some of the humans around probably heard them talking, for they were looking at them with angry stares.

“Well, they’re not very tanned,” Hannah pointed out. While skin tones varied most people did look pale.

“They stay as long as they have to, then go on about their daily lives, I suppose,” Diana explained.

“Ah, here we are, girls,” Ursula called to them.

They were near the end of the chasm, a pointy dead-end that had a small puddle of water in it, probably remaining from rains and such. “When it rains, doesn’t it get dangerous down here?” Lotte found herself asking.

Diana shook her head. “The chasms leading to the city have mechanisms that stop water from flowing in. They only let in enough to keep themselves alive,” she explained.

Lotte nodded. It was still scary, though. What if one of the mechanisms broke?

Well, she didn’t need to think about that now. The place they’d be staying was what looked like an abandoned section of the district, save for the base floor. The door was made of the same dark wood as the others, but the place was distinguished by the fact that it didn’t have a torch over it, instead choosing to illuminate it’s entrance with a small blue neon sign that read ‘Inn’. Most windows above were shut closed. Lotte noticed that a lot of windows here had short drapes hanging below them in different colors and with different things embroidered into them. Many included rocks, too.

“Hmmm…” Sucy had crouched next to the door of the Inn, where a couple of growing mushrooms grew. They were relatively small compared to the rest, just the size of a hand when the others were the size of heads, but they still gave off a decent amount light. Looked at closely, the mushrooms looked like little umbrellas, though when they grew the canopy bent downward and more into the shape of a bell. Or maybe they were completely different mushroom species?

Sucy poked one of them with her wand. It didn’t do anything, but whatever gave them its glow stuck with the wand, making the tip also glow a faint light blue.

“Well let’s enter,” Ursula said, knocking on the door. A woman, maybe in her fifties, opened. Her black hair was streaked with white, and she looked extremely excited.

“Hello!” she exclaimed. “Come in, come in, your rooms are ready, please!”

Lotte walked to the door, looking one last time at the human chasm. It was an orange dent in the city, where electric warm lights dominated, in contrast to the cold blues or the menacing reds of the rest of the city.

The inside of the Inn was… comfy. Lotte couldn’t help but feel that way. The lobby was small, barely big enough to fit all ten girls inside it and their luggage, which had already arrived. The place was illuminated with both mushrooms and electric lights, though it also had a series of strange, non-glowing green vines that crept along an entire wall. They formed a pattern, almost like a stained glass window, but it black-and-white. The Inn owner was explaining how each of them would get a room all of their own. Lotte didn’t pay much attention to that – she’d sleep with Barbara, so it was a little irrelevant.

Diana didn’t seem to be paying attention either. She had approached something that looked like a window, but it led nowhere. A fish tank? No, no water.

Lotte approached too, out of curiosity. Inside there were just a bunch of small, white rocks. She cocked her head. “Maybe the creature inside died or something,” Lotte said, as it was obviously some kind of terrarium, a habitat for a small animal. She tapped the glass, not expecting it to do much.

However, the tap created something like a ripple. Every white stone suddenly trembled, first the ones closer to the point where Lotte had touched the glass, then the ones at the end of the terrarium. “What are those?” Diana asked, surprised.

“I was about to ask _you_ that,” Lotte said, slightly surprised that Diana wouldn’t know. The small rocks looked like that, just rocks. Most of them were different shapes, and while most were white, they sometimes had darker colors or segments of other kinds of rock too. Some even had metallic dots on the shells, or the glimmer of a gemstone.

Diana stared, and Lotte could tell the blonde girl was curious. No, not just curious, she was hungry for knowledge. She wanted to know what these things were and how they worked.

Cautiously, Diana tapped the glass. Again, it caused the rocks to tremble.

Then, the ones closer to the glass – about five of them – started shaking more visibly. They gave the feeling of a dog shaking after being washed. And in a surprising motion, all of them sprung two little, crab-like legs. Just two, on opposite sides of their bodies. Lotte’s eyes widened as one of them jumped on the glass, sticking to it. From below, the creature was purple. Its body was a small circle in the center of the stone, though the bulk of it probably stood inside the white shell. It had a single, black bead-like eye sticking out of its body, like a snail’s, and it moved around as if looking for something. For a second, Lotte thought it was staring at her, but it was hard to tell. Its two legs spread from opposite sides of the shell, both of them about as long as the length of the visible body. They ended in points, and there was no visible reason for them to stick to the glass.

“Just two legs?” Diana mumbled. “How do they keep balance?” She asked herself.

Lotte was just surprised. The other four creatures moved around lazily, as if also looking for something. But soon enough, all five of the stone-critters went back to the places where they had been. They hid their legs again, going back to looking like just rocks.

“Oh, I see you’ve found the Smacks,” a voice from behind them spoke, and Lotte turned to see the owner. She had happy brown eyes, and she spoke with a bit of an accent, speaking in a more nasal way the Ns, though it was hard to tell if it was something she picked up on Earth or if it was local.

“Smacks?” Diana asked, curious about the name.

“Small rocks,” the lady said. “We called them that when we first came here, but in the end it became a bit of a pain to say it, so we shortened it to Smacks,” she explained. Diana nodded in understanding. “They’re cute, don’t you think?”

Lotte nodded. “They’re interesting. What do they eat?” she asked, noticing the lack of food in the terrarium.

“Rocks, as most things in this planet. We don’t know how the hell they manage to get any nutrients from them, but I guess it must work, because they’re alive,” she said.  “I’m Carole, by the way.”

“Diana Cavendish,” Diana extended her hand to Carole.

The woman chuckled. “Yes, I know. Everyone knows,” she said while shaking her hand. Then Carole turned to Lotte. “Now _you_ I don’t know,” she offered Lotte her hand.

“L-Lotte,” Lotte said, slightly nervous, though she wasn’t sure why.

“Oh, what a nice name. Now girls, if you don’t mind, let me show you your rooms,” Carole said, pointing towards the set of stairs carved on the stone at the end of the room.

Diana nodded, walking over and taking her suitcase. Lotte followed. The walls and floor, despite being stone, were smooth to the touch, like marble. “How did you build these?” Lotte asked. Everyone had already gone ahead, save for Barbara, who waited at the entrance of the stairs.

“Oh, we didn’t build them,” the woman explained. “The armors did for us. Despite what many think, they’re a really sweet and trustworthy people. They live simple lives, mining for edible rocks and enjoying themselves. Did you know they haven’t had anything even resembling a war for a thousand years? The last one was caused after a massive meteor collapsed one of the biggest food mines in the world, and people started to fight for the ones left,” her tale led them up to the second floor. Each floor seemed to only have three rooms in a short corridor, one in front of the stairs and two to the sides, with the remaining space used for the staircase going up in switchbacks. By the looks of it, the green team had been set here.

“They use their excrement to smooth the surfaces, don’t they?” Diana asked, brushing the wall with her fingers.

Carole nodded. “You’re well read, I see. Yes, their excrements are like molten rock, and they can use it to build things or smooth them. Most of the time they don’t bother with that, but for us humans they did it.”

Lotte tried not to think too harshly of the fact that she was walking on armor dung. It was just rock, after all.

They soon reached the third floor, where the red team was setting up. Akko looked sharply to them, eyes focusing on Diana instantly. Then she looked away, looking sad. Lotte sighed. “Seems like this is where I stop. See you in a while, Barbara,” Lotte said, turning to the black haired girl and kissing her cheek.

Barbara smiled as she and Diana were led away by Carole. Lotte walked the short distance to her room – the doorframe was metallic, and the door within it was of a lighter wood than the one in the front – and entered. The room was relatively dark, but a candle had been set on the nightstand, giving a red cast to the room. Lotte took off her mask, smelling the air. It was humid and something seemed to have been burnt, but other than that she could breath. Carole wasn’t wearing a mask. Was she immune to the air of the planet or she just wasn’t using it currently?

There was a bed and a nightstand, along with a bunch of shelves carved into the wall that worked as a closet. Lotte tested the mattress. It was a little harsher than what she liked, but nothing bad. The nightstand, as every other piece of furniture, was also carved unto the stone – or maybe it had been created with armor dung. It had a small drawer.

After doing that, Lotte walked to the next room over. Sucy was already laying in bed, reading something. With a sigh, Lotte went to the room in front of hers. Akko was there, sitting on the bed, looking thoughtful.

“Hey Akko,” Lotte called to her.

Akko perked up. “Oh, Lotte. What’s up?”

“Can I come in?”

“Sure,” Akko moved to leave some space on the bed. Lotte walked up to her, sitting carefully. “So… what brings you here?”

Lotte looked at Akko. “I think you know,” she said, smiling softly.

Akko nodded. “It’s about Diana, isn’t it,” she said with a sigh.

Nodding, Lotte looked at Akko for any signs that the conversation hurt her. It didn’t look like it. “Everyone noticed. You two had a fight?” She asked.

“Kind of,” Akko said. The proceeded to explain what had happened. Lotte listened carefully, surprised that Diana would act that way. Stress must really be getting to her if she acted like that. After finishing her story, Akko looked at Lotte. “Should I go and apologize first?”

“Maybe,” Lotte said. “It wasn’t you in the wrong, but sometimes to fix a problem with someone you like you’re going to have to be the better woman.”

Akko pressed her lips. “But I’m not better than Diana,” she said. “And I’m not sure Diana even wants to reconcile. You saw how she avoided me every time our eyes met? I think she’s still mad.”

Lotte, and everyone, had seen it. It hadn’t been subtle, precisely. “Well, it’s your choice,” Lotte said. “But if one of you doesn’t take the first step, then nothing’s going to change.”

Akko sat quietly for a while. Lotte found the situation strange. They had been so willing to speak to each other about their feelings, yet now they seemed incapable of even looking at each other. Lotte had heard from Barbara what Diana’s family was like, so she could imagine what Diana was going through, but to snap at Akko of all people…

“Everyone makes mistakes, Akko,” Lotte said.

“I know,” Akko sighed. “I just wish I could help Diana, somehow. I’ve been thinking about it, but I can’t really find a solution. I’ve thought about kidnapping her family, about destroying the house, about threatening them, about a bunch of things. Nothing feels right, though,” Akko said. Lotte was a little surprised that Akko thought like that, but it was often easy to forget that the cheerful and energetic Akko didn’t usually stand still when someone was badmouthing her.

“For now, I’m sure the best way to help her is stay close to her,” Lotte explained.

The speed with which Akko shook her head was surprising. “That’s exactly what she _doesn’t_ want. I think maybe she doesn’t like people butting in on her business.”

Lotte weighted her options. This wasn’t something she could really solve easily. She could give advice, but she couldn’t _force_ Akko to apologize and try to make amends. Plus, it was clear Akko was already considering those things. It felt like trying to grab water, in a way. It was there, ready to take, but without a recipient you can’t really carry much of it. Lotte didn’t know Diana enough to make a stronger argument, so she had to carry the water with her hands.

“Listen, Akko,” Lotte said. “How are _you_ feeling?”

“Sad,” she admitted.

“Then why don’t you go tell Diana?” Lotte said. “Explain to her how you feel.”

Akko hesitated. “I don’t know. We already talked. I…” She shook her head. “I guess I should try, at least.”

Lotte nodded approvingly. “Do it,” she said, standing. “It’ll go well, I promise,” she said with a smile.

Akko smiled back. Lotte waved goodbye and exited the room, walking up the stairs, ready to see where Barbara was sleeping so that she could get herself in there too.

However, she stopped as she heard an argument. “…ciate it if you stopped trying to solve _my_ life, Barbara,” Diana’s voice, louder than normal, came from the room next to the stairs.

“I’m worried!” Barbara exclaimed. “What a bad friend am I, now aren’t I? For fuck’s sake, Diana, just apologize!” Diana paused. Whatever was going on in there was way more heated up than Lotte had expected. “Fine, whatever. You’re going to throw away the great relationship you have with the only person in this world who loves you without any interest besides _you_ because you’re a prideful moron!”

Barbara then stormed out of the room. She almost tackled Lotte on her way out, her expression angry.

However, her eyes were sad, as if she wanted to cry.

“Lotte,” she said, calming down, rubbing her eyes. “Come on. We’re sleeping in your room, tonight at least.”

Lotte nodded, understanding why. Barbara and her went back downstairs, though Lotte looked up one last time. Maybe apologizing wasn’t such a great plan, after all.


	97. Chapter 97

Diana wasn’t distracted or interested in Vorago. She didn’t care about all the thing she explained, and she barely paid attention to the beautiful chasms lit with glowing plants. Now, all she cared about was pretending she was fine. Why, though? Why couldn’t she look Akko in the eyes, apologize like she wanted to? The only thing that had seemed to catch her interest and distract her from her problems for a small while were the Smacks. Such interesting critters, Diana was surprised she hadn’t read about them anywhere.

Akko didn’t pay attention to them. Had she even seen them? She had looked down the entire walk. It was Diana’s fault. Of course it was, but Diana… Why? Why couldn’t she just step up and say ‘I’m sorry’ to the girl she liked the most?

She thought of this as she unpacked some of the things she knew she’d use during the week and putting them on the shelves of her room. Where was the bathroom? She hadn’t asked, and it didn’t look like there was one in the room.

 _I should go down and apologize,_ Diana thought. Yet a strange force seemed to stop her from doing so. The same one that had made her look away when Akko had come out of the _Dragon,_ the same one that had forbidden her from looking at the brunette during the entire walk back.

 _I never want to hurt you,_ she thought back to what she had said just a few hours prior to insulting her to her face. Maybe that was part of it. That shame that came from being an idiot. She sighed.

“So you do feel down,” Barbara’s voice came from the door. Diana turned to see the girl standing in the threshold, her arms crossed. “Can’t you at least admit it?”

Diana steeled herself. “I’m quite fine, thank you,” she said. She was too ashamed, she realized, to admit what she had done to Akko.

Barbara shook her head. “Diana, I know you like to hide your emotions, but have you noticed that your mask is faltering?” she pointed at Diana’s face. Diana didn’t change her expression, but Barbara suddenly pointed more eagerly. “There! Your eyebrow twitched. And all day, despite you trying to hide it, you’ve had this really worried look to you. You’re being overwhelmed, Diana. Even _you_ can’t hide all those emotions. Talk to me about it, talk to Hannah about it, talk to _Akko_ about it, but do it, please.”

Diana pressed her lips. She had promised Akko she’d talk to someone about her struggles. But how could they know? _Guess it’s just another broken promise,_ she thought bitterly, gritting her teeth. “I’d appreciate it if you stopped trying to solve my life, Barbara,” she said in a stern voice, maybe a little more aggressive than she’d intended.

Barbara looked hurt.

“I’m worried!” She exclaimed. “What a bad friend am I, now aren’t I? For fuck’s sake, Diana, just apologize!” she tried to order. But Diana just stared at her expression. Barbara looked like she wanted to cry. No, she looked like she wanted to punch Diana. Actually, she looked like she wanted to do both, probably at the same time. “Fine, whatever,” she said with resignation. “You’re going to throw away the great relationship you have with the only person in this world who loves you without any interest besides you because you’re a prideful moron!” She exclaimed before turning around and storming out of the room. Diana heard her talking in a lower voice outside, with Lotte apparently, before she disappeared.

She stood in her room, maybe for a minute, maybe for ten. The time didn’t matter at that moment.

“I know,” she whispered, feeling her heart throb.

 

Hannah heard the discussion between Barbara and Diana from her room, and when it was over, she peeked out of her room. She approached Diana’s, but the girl was just standing there, facing the opposite wall, probably deep in thought. Hannah considered approaching, asking her if she was feeling well. But that would be a stupid thing to do? What was Diana going to say? ‘I’m fine thanks for asking’? She was clearly troubled.

So, Hannah decided she’d try to talk to her later. Feeling slightly guilty, she went downstairs, to the second floor, where the green team was setting up. Constanze had taken the room in front of the staircase, Jasminka the one next to it. Amanda, then stood at the end of the short corridor.

Hannah looked inside. The redhead was in all fours, looking for something under the bed. Hannah was about to ask her what was she doing, but she paused to stare at her butt for a few seconds. _Oh god, what am I doing?_ she thought, shaking her head. She was not a pervert, was she? It was normal to be interested in your girlfriend’s round and firm ass, right?

She had been spending too much time with Amanda, definitely.

Well, she was about to spend some more.

“So…” Hannah said. “What are you doing?”

Amanda rose from the bed in a jump. She didn’t hit her head on the bed out of luck, mostly. “God you scared me,” she said. “What brings you here?”

Hannah pressed her lips. Did she dare say it? Even as she stepped into the room, she blushed slightly, but she _wanted_ to say it. “I just wanted to see you,” she admitted, extremely embarrassed.

Amanda smiled. “You’re so cute,” she said. “We’ve only been apart for five minutes, though.”

Hannah shrugged. She looked around. Amanda hadn’t unpacked anything. Stepping closer to her, Hannah looked at the bed. It was essentially the same as in her room, though it was on the opposite side, relatively. “What were you doing?”

“Making sure no monsters were lurking there,” Amanda said. In her jacket and jeans she looked really cool. She wasn’t wearing a mask. Hannah would make sure she used one later.

“Be serious,” Hannah said. She checked under the bed, but saw nothing there.

“I wanted to see how big someone would have to be to fit there,” she explained. “You never know when someone-” Suddenly, the candle lighting the room went out. Amanda sighed. “Where’s the light in this damn thing? They have electricity.

“There’s none,” Hannah said. “You’d know it, if you paid attention to what the owner said. Making circuits on the inside of buildings is too troublesome, so they just use candles or stuff like that. She did say you could ask for a flashlight if you wanted.

With a sigh, Amanda grabbed her wand and turned on the light. It cast a slightly darker shade of green that it usually did. The torch lighting the corridor outside still worked, so with the light of the wand and the one slipping in through the door it was more than enough to see.

“So, what do we do now?” Hannah asked.

“I dunno, guess we wait for Ursula to tell us,” Amanda shrugged. She was checking Hannah out, as she often did. Maybe wearing a g-suit most of the time wasn’t as practical as Hannah thought. She could see the lust in Amanda’s eyes, most of the time. It didn’t scare her, like it once had. Now it just worried her. What if Amanda looked at her while completely naked and didn’t like what she saw? Or what if Hannah disappointed her in some other way? She hadn’t done anything like sex. What… what was it even like, between two women? She understood the concept, of course, but…

“So, do you think there’s anything interesting to do in the city?” Hannah asked.

Amanda thought for a moment. “Probably,” she said. “It’s a big ass city, there has to be _something_ to do. The armor seem more lively than the faeries, at least.”

Hannah nodded. They did look more active, or at least not as organized. “You think we can go exploring?” Hannah asked. Amanda raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I didn’t take you for the explorer type,” Amanda explained.

“I’m not, but I know you are, so…” she blushed slightly. “We could see it as a date. Walking around in the cold lights of The Bottom, see if we can find some attraction.”

Amanda’s genuine smile was something Hannah got to see more often since they’d started dating. No more smirks or cocky smiles. Just smiles, Amanda being genuinely happy.

Seeing that smile gave Hannah a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Was that love? She didn’t know if she was ready to say something like _that,_ yet. But she did know, seeing Amanda happy did make her happy. So at the very least she could really know she liked Amanda. Hannah waited as Amanda grabbed her mask and put it in her pocket. Hannah was carrying hers on one of the straps of her g-suit.

“Should we ask Ursula?” Amanda asked, though she obviously didn’t like the idea.

“We should,” Hannah said. “But we’ll be fine, so there’s no need to worry. The city can’t be _that_ big anyways, these people live in chasms after all.”

“I guess you’re right,” Amanda nodded. She put off her wand, casting the room into almost darkness again. Hannah was slightly nervous as she turned to leave. However, Amanda suddenly hugged her from behind. “Or maybe we could stay here,” she said in a lower voice.

“W-what do you mean?” Hannah felt her heart rate spike at the suggestion. Amanda couldn’t be saying what Hannah thought she was saying, right? There was no way. Amanda…

“You’re still afraid of what I may do to you in the dark?” The redhead asked. Hannah frowned, not getting it.

Still, despite what she was suggesting, Amanda was careful to not touch Hannah too improperly. Her hands rested in Hannah’s stomach. It would have been easy to grab her chest from that position, but she didn’t. Hannah wondered if Amanda was doing this just to tease her or because she really wanted to do it. It was probably both, but which one had priority?

Hannah didn’t want to disappoint the redhead. It did feel like Amanda was so far beyond her in terms of experience. How could she ever catch up? Even on how careful she was. Amanda, despite her rough attitude and troublemaker nature, was really careful and kind. In her own way, at least.

Wiggling a little, Hannah turned in a quick motion, now facing Amanda. In the dark room, she could only see her silhouette and a glimmer of what her eyes reflected. “I’m not afraid of what you may do,” she said in a low voice. “But these rooms aren’t exactly soundproof. You really think it’ll be fine?”

“Sure,” Amanda said. She hadn’t let go of Hannah. Their bodies were pressed together, and Hannah could _feel_ Amanda’s breasts against her. Amanda could probably do the same – assuming she felt anything, since Hannah wasn’t particularly gifted on that side.

“Oh, yes? So you’re saying, you’re not gonna be good enough to make me want to moan and cry?” Hannah asked in a suggestive tone. Good thing it was so dark, because her face was burning.

Wait, was that accelerated heartbeat Amanda’s?

“God,” Amanda said. “When did you get so damn sexy?” her voice was a whisper, and Hannah could feel her breath brushing her lips.

A second later, Amanda’s lips took hers. It was a slow, strong kiss. Hannah had already practiced with her before, and she eased into it faster this time. Her hands went up around Amanda’s neck, and she pulled her down. The kiss slowly got stronger. Their mouths moving with more momentum, their breaths mixing together. Soon, Hannah couldn’t even tell which lips were hers and which were Amanda’s.

And then, almost out of instinct, she left her tongue slip out of her mouth. Amanda reciprocated with such intensity that for a second Hannah lost her breath. It was hard, having to breathe only from her nose, but it was impossible to separate. Was this a real kiss? Their tongues seemed to be wrestling, fighting to see who could pin each other down. Sometimes Amanda would lightly nibble at Hannah’s lips, which for some reason Hannah ended up picking up, grabbing one of Amanda’s and slowly pulling towards her.

Soon enough Amanda had picked Hannah up, not breaking the kiss, and carrying her to bed. Hannah was hot, hotter than she’d ever been. But not the wrong kind of hot.

One of Amanda’s hands let go of her, slowly working its way to the front of Hannah’s outfit, where the zipper of her g-suit was. Hannah’s heart was about to burst out of her chest, but she couldn’t… She couldn’t stop. She had lost herself somewhere inside Amanda. Maybe her free will had slipped out somewhen while they kissed.

Amanda’s hand softly brushed Hannah’s boobs before moving on to the zipper. It started pulling down, soon reaching the midriff, where the zipper stopped. Now it was a matter of pulling the suit off. Amanda stopped the kiss for a second, having to catch her breath. Hannah was in a similar state. Probably worse. But that… That had been the most intense kiss of her life.

“I love you so much,” Amanda whispered, leaning in close again, both of her hands slowly going to her shoulders, ready to pull her suit off.

And suddenly, Hannah felt like if a bucket of cold water had been dropped on her.

“Wait,” she put a hand between her and Amanda, though she was still panting. “Wait, I…” she used her hands to put Amanda’s away. “I’m not… I’m not ready,” she said, pressing her lips.

Amanda did stop. She stepped away. “Really?” She asked, annoyed. “I…” she paused, taking a deep breath. “It’s because I said I love you?”

Hannah slowly pulled her zipper back closed. “Yes,” she admitted. “But not because I don’t like you saying it,” she said.

Amanda sighed. She walked closer, taking out her wand and lighting it up again. She sat down next to Hannah, a strange expression on her face. Was that what people called… blue-balling?

She was red, too. As red as Hannah felt. “Then why?”

Hannah paused. “Because I don’t think it’s right for us to do it if I don’t know if I love you or not,” she finally said. Then she cringed. “I sound like a five year old, don’t I…”

Amanda chuckled. She picked up Hannah’s hand, so at least Hannah relaxed, knowing she wasn’t mad. “Maybe, but that innocence also makes you who you are. So… Until you say that you love me, sex is a no-go?”

Hannah cringed a little further. “Do you have to be so coarse?” she asked. Amanda shrugged. “But yes, I’m sorry.”

Amanda shook her head. “Don’t apologize. It’s fine, I get it. But at least tell me you liked the kiss.”

Blushing, Hannah nodded. “It was… incredible.”

“Can… can we keep going with that, at least?” Amanda said. “Make-out sessions can be pretty simulating too.”

Hannah hesitated. Would Amanda be able to control herself, if they did that? No, that was the wrong question. Would _Hannah_ be able? It was a strange realization, that she trusted Amanda more than herself in this.

But she also trusted Amanda to stop her if she did anything stupid.

“I would like it,” Hannah said in an even lower voice, almost wishing Amanda didn’t hear. But when they met eyes, Hannah could tell, she _had_ heard.

The wandlight went out again.

 

Akko hesitated in the stairs. Should she go up to see Diana or not? She wanted to, but…

Then, from upstairs, a figure came down. Akko panicked for a second, her mind already trying to figure out what to say to Diana, but it was soon obvious that the one climbing down was Ursula. Akko relaxed, standing aside as the teacher reached the third floor and smiled at her. “These stairs will make for a good workout session every morning, eh?” Ursula said with a smile. She was the only one in the fifth floor, after all. She didn’t seem bothered by it, though. “So, are you ready for some physical practice?”

Akko hesitated. “Did Constanze already start her plan?”

Ursula nodded, but she looked seriously at Akko. “Even then, Akko, I think you need to understand something: What Constanze wants to do is extremely dangerous. A single mistake could cost both of you the race,” Ursula said. “You’ll have to learn to pilot together and move in near unison.”

Akko felt a little overwhelmed already, but the idea of having to pilot like that with Diana didn’t bother her too much.

Then, she paused. “Wait, how are we going to train together? The Shiny Rod can’t simulate both of us piloting at the same time… can it?”

As Akko feared, Ursula shook her head. She looked slightly worried. “You can try to simulate the situation, but I’m not sure if it’ll be effective. It’s perfectly possible the Shiny Rod just makes it easier or harder by nature. We need to pick who will lead and who will follow, then maybe the rod will be able to help you, but I fear we’ll have to do all training physically. I didn’t want to reveal the Unicorn so soon.”

Akko looked up. Just a set of stairs up was Diana, probably worrying over something. She must have looked needy or something, because Ursula patted her back, pushing her towards the rock steps. “Go talk to her. You need to solve your issues if you’re gonna be in sync, right?”

Well, that made sense. Akko smiled at the excuse to finally go and talk to Diana as she rushed upstairs. She slowly peeked inside the room that was Diana’s and saw her sitting in bed, head in her hands. She didn’t look too good. “Uhm, Diana?” Akko asked carefully.

The blonde looked up. She had tired eyes, and when she saw Akko she froze, as if she had seen a ghost. “A-Akko, hello,” she said. Akko had a surreal realization as she saw that Diana was trying to fall back into her neutral face, but she just couldn’t.

Akko walked forward. She stood in front of Diana, wondering if she should sit next to her. Maybe it was too soon for that. “Ursula sent me to talk to you,” Akko said, not really knowing what else to say right now. Diana’s hair was kind of a mess. It didn’t matter too much, since her hair was already so messy and beautiful normally, but she definitely looked a little wilder now.

The look of disappointment in Diana’s blue eyes made her regret her words. Why had she used Ursula as an excuse? Now Diana probably thought Akko only talked to her because of the teacher. Truth was, she just wanted to be there with Diana. Sit down, hug her. Kiss her, feel her warmth.

“I guess it’s about the plan Constance devised?” Diana asked. Her voice was cold. Akko felt it had an edge to it. Diana was in a bad mood. Did it come from before or was it because of Akko? At this point it was hard to tell.

Akko nodded. What was this… feeling? Like a barrier. A wall between them. Why couldn’t she just express herself? She just wanted to help Diana, make her feel better. But would words work? Would saying anything help her? Diana’s situation wasn’t the kind she could get through with mere words of encouragement. This was why Akko had been thinking of helping her, yet she had gotten nothing.

What was the point of loving someone, if you couldn’t make their bad feelings go away?

“She said we have to see who will be the lead and who will follow. That way we’ll find it easier, and maybe the rod will let us simulate it so that the Unicorn doesn’t have to leave the _Dragon_ quite yet,” Akko explained. Diana nodded, as if it was what she’d been expecting.

“Well, I guess it can be hard to follow me when I haven’t got the new control system completely down yet, but I’ll do my best,” Diana said, sounding serious.

Akko cocked her head. “Wait, you want to lead?”

Diana nodded. “I assumed I would,” she said, sighing. “I just need to get my head into the game and stop worrying about things like…” She looked at Akko for a split second. “Like my family.”

Akko pressed her lips. “I… Well, I was thinking,” Akko hesitated. Diana sounded so certain, she had certainly thought this over more than Akko. “Wouldn’t it be easier for you to follow, with that mind thing? You can react faster, and stuff. Plus, _I_ have the map. I thought maybe I could lead and we’d both have an easier time.”

Looking up, Diana looked incredulous. “Do you really want to lead?” She asked as if she didn’t believe it. “Akko, you’re a great pilot, but you lack experience.”

She wasn’t wrong. “I know, that’s why. I’m not sure if I’d be able to catch up to you. And the map.”

“You can tell me what the most optimal path will be, then I’ll guide us. Seems like a good enough deal,” she said, nodding. She had already decided, obviously.

But something told Akko she should lead, this time. “Diana, think about it. What if you do something you think I’ll be able to follow but can’t? It will be better to avoid that. You will be able to follow me with little trouble. Plus, that way I can maybe focus on protecting both of us.”

“I’m sure Constanze will install a shield on the Unicorn the second they let her touch it. And they _have_ to let her, since she’s got the blueprints that are the key to winning this race. In any case, Akko, don’t worry. I know how you fly, I know what you’re capable of doing. I won’t do anything too crazy.”

“You don’t know that! Plus, haven’t you thought that maybe following will give you a better way of focusing? Just focus on mimicking the movements of the Rod. With no crazy movements, the hose connecting our ships won’t be pulled free even on accident,” Akko tried to argue.

Diana shook her head. “I would probably end up thinking about a better way to deal with a problem and the Unicorn would pick up on it, making me move differently anyways.”

Akko paused. Had Diana just said that? She obviously hadn’t even realized it. “And you’re assuming I wouldn’t be able to deal with problems?” Akko asked cautiously. Something inside of her seemed to be grabbing at her chest, trying to rip it open from the inside out.

Diana looked at her. “No, that’s not… Well, maybe just a little. You can be impulsive, which isn’t always the best, particularly in this situation,” she said. She seemed to be speaking carefully, measuring her words.

“Well, you can be impulsive too,” Akko crossed her arms. “What you did last race was pretty bad.”

“The pot calling the kettle black,” Diana rolled her eyes. “Akko, we both know why I did that. I regret doing it deeply.”

Akko felt a stab of guilt. She _did_ know why Diana had done it. Using it against her was unfair. “Yes, I know, sorry. But I also won my last race, so maybe I really should lead. I mean, I’ve been doing pretty well on the simulations too.”

Diana drew her lips into a line. “Akko, last race…” she seemed to want to say something, but she was too worried to do so.

“What is it?” Akko had a bad feeling about it. Diana had showed little happiness about last race. Had she noticed something Akko didn’t?

Now Diana was tapping her finger. “I… Akko, you didn’t… Well,” she took a deep breath. “You didn’t _really_ win last race, you know?”

Akko froze. “Excuse me?” She asked, unbelieving.

Diana looked at Akko with worried eyes. “Listen, I don’t want to say you didn’t _actually_ win, but… You wouldn’t have won, if not for that little asspull.”

Akko frowned. “You mean the Rod’s command? The one that protected me in the last stretch?”

Nodding, Diana looked like she was thinking of a better way to say it. “Not that you didn’t _deserve_ to win. Everything before that point was absolutely amazing, don’t get me wrong. You took many breaths away. But you ran out of energy, didn’t you? Right before the command. It was even mentioned on the podcast of the after-race. Many noticed the sudden going out of the cabin. Everyone thinks it was just for a second, since the attack was so powerful, but we both know what was that.”

Something changed within Akko. Suddenly, she felt disconnected. As if her soul had left her body, leaving only an empty carcass behind. “You think I should have lost,” Akko realized. “You don’t like that I used the Shiny Rod to win.”

Diana opened her mouth, as if to object. Akko so much wished her to. But she closed it again, thinking it twice. “You must agree, in a way, right?” Diana said, looking worried. “I don’t want to take away all the merit of what you did before reaching that point against the daemons, but energy management is as important to racing as everything else. It is kind of cheating when you can just pull off a sudden burst of infinite energy to obliterate your rivals in the last second.”

Like a punch. The words Diana had just said felt like a punch, straight to her face. Was her nose bleeding? No. Then why did it feel like she couldn’t breathe? Why did looking at Diana suddenly made her sick? “You… think I cheated?” Akko asked. She couldn’t hide that she was offended. She _didn’t want_ to hide it.

Diana was quick to shake her head. “No, no! I didn’t mean it literally! I just… well, it’s an easy way out. To be able to do that. You know, just go ahead, mindless, until a new command appears and then say it and win.”

Akko’s insides were in turmoil. “I see,” she said. “So the fact that the last time I tried to use a transformation I lost means nothing,” she said turning around.

Diana paused. “I… had forgotten about that,” she confessed. “But last time was different. You can’t tell me you don’t understand, right? You have to agree with me. I’m not trying to be mean, Akko, I’m just stating the truth.”

Akko closed her eyes, forcing the tears welling up in them to fall down. She did her best to keep her voice from breaking as she spoke. “And here I thought I had finally made you proud,” she said. “Guess that’s never going to happen,” she said as she walked out of the room, starting to cry in full.

The worst part of it all was that Diana was right, if Akko thought carefully about it. The command had appeared in the perfect moment. If it hadn’t appeared, Akko would’ve lost. No matter how much effort she had put in.

Diana was _always_ right. Akko was beginning to understand just how deep that statement was.

As she went downstairs, she wiped away the tears slowly going down her cheeks. She entered her room, closing it carefully. She supposed Diana was right. It was impossible, for Akko, to be the lead. After all, she was just a useless, stupid, newbie pilot that was only performing ok thanks to having an overpowered ship. Like a level one player fighting against a level fifty one just because he had been given level ninety-nine equipment.

In the end, he didn’t know the mechanics of the game. He was only winning because he was overpowered. In the long run the most experienced player would win.  

Akko thought about this as she silently sobbed, feeling betrayed. In the end, not even Diana trusted her to actually win.


	98. Chapter 98

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half a million words!  
> Not gonna lie, I feel ~~awful~~ great about this.  
> Thank you for reading so much bullshit from me!

Diana had fucked up.

She closed her eyes with strength. _How did it all go so wrong?_ She thought, suddenly feeing claustrophobic. Almost in a panic, she picked up her mask and ran out of the room, out of the inn and into the chasm outside.

Many of the humans outside looked at her. Many of them were locals, though there were a fair number of them that were just tourists. Those particularly looked at Diana with a mix of awe and worry. Diana could feel it in their looks, the question. ‘ _Is she really ready to be a pilot?’ ‘She failed so hard the previous race, maybe she wasn’t the right pick…’_

Ursula had said Diana had been the right pick. Could Diana really believe it?

After what she’d say to Akko, she doubted it. After what she’d said to Akko, Diana doubted everything. Particularly her own judgment.

She was supposed to apologize! She had instead insulted her, hurt her further, and probably earned her hate! Why was she so damn stupid? Why couldn’t she just apologize, go back, hug her, ask for forgiveness? Why had she been so hurt when Akko had mentioned Ursula? It was a stupid detail!

She must have looked bad, for many of the people looking at her suddenly looked away, as if Diana was dangerous.

Frustrated, Diana started to walk up the chasm, towards the main city. The human area was relatively familiar thanks to the lighting, but as soon as Diana left the chasm she was left looking at the center of the city. The amount of aliens walking about was overwhelming, and the strange lighting almost made it feel like a night club. Blues and purples, mostly. Even the reds more often than not mixed with blues to form _more_ purple.

The activity was… well, not unlike the center of a square in a busy day back on Earth, actually. It just felt way more impressive because of the size of the armors, their way of moving their mass. This big, open space in the middle of the city, didn’t it get blasted with meteorites more often? Sure, it was still hundreds of meters underground, but all it would take was one to fall in and bounce down to kill someone.

From there, Diana had a good dozen of different paths to choose from. Should she go down that chasm that felt slightly more bright than the rest? Where was that green light coming from? Or what about the one on the opposite side of the square, where the lights lining the chasm walls were higher than everywhere else by a mile. What determined the height limit for hollowing out the chasms? Structure integrity, probably.

Diana found it hard to focus on armor architecture, though. Her mind kept going back to that stupid discussion. _Why didn’t Akko understand?_ Diana thought, closing her eyes with intent. _I though she understood me. I though she… She wouldn’t think like the others._

_But she did._

Diana tried to get her mind out of that. Akko was Akko, she probably had her reasons to react the way she had. Diana was just scared that maybe the girl she liked wasn’t particularly different from anyone else after all. What would she do, if she discovered that Akko was as judgmental as everyone else? Could she live with it? Could she keep loving the brunette even with that?

She finally got a chance to think of something else. Her eyes fell on a map near the entrance of the human chasm. Diana approached it, and she was kind of amazed by the fact that the city was _way_ more than just the visible chasms. Beyond their entrances, all of them connected with each other with smaller chasms. It kind of looked like a spider web, if the spider had been drunk while making it. The main chasms were strangely straight – not fully straight, just more than the others – while the others often had rocky turns and moved around like crazy. Though most of them had rounded edges, probably from millions of years of erosion. How had the planet become to be so cracked? Very few places of Vorago lacked chasms.

Still, Diana couldn’t read the armor language. She saw many places being pointed at. She suspected the small arrow pointing at the chasm just behind her said something like ‘human chasm’. Why hadn’t anyone created an universal reader? Shouldn’t it have been easier than an universal translator for voice? Diana wasn’t an expert on that field, though. Maybe she should have been.

Though, Akko would probably be better at it.

 _Damn it,_ she thought. Her mind always came back to Akko, no matter the situation, it seemed.

She decided she’d go exploring to her right. About three chasms away from where she was, the one that had a green glow to it.

Walking carefully among the crowds, she drew a good number of looks. Particularly from humans, but other races would recognize her too, obviously. Breathing through the mask was slightly uncomfortable, but she didn’t want to risk poisoning herself on accident, so she’d deal with it for now.

The flow of bodies eventually led her to the chasm she had been looking forward to seeing. She was amazed by what she found: Water. But not like the one pooling in the end of the human chasm. This one flowed, emanating like a spring from the ground and falling into a path carved into the stone that eventually led it away down the chasm and away from its entrance. The water, a forest green, kind of looked like putrid water, save for the fact that it literally glowed. It was so bright, in fact, that it overshadowed – or, in this case, overlighted – the other types of lightings in this particular chasm.

Diana approached. Many tourists were looking at the water constantly coming out of the floor. It was near the wall of the chasm, and Diana noticed the lack of carving in the wall there. She had read about this, about the small algae that lived in the underground oceans of Vorago. It glowed, and more importantly, it covered most water under the ground. The water pooling on the human chasm had come from rain. Diana looked at the stream and wondered what it would taste like.

Of course, drinking the substance was out of the question. She was old enough to know not to put everything into her mouth. Plus, the water of the planet was supposed to taste terrible. It was drinkable, but as the air, it could poison if drank in higher quantities. It was way more effective at poisoning than air, though. To wear a mask only to drink would be redundant.

Though, Diana just wanted to try a little, maybe she could…

 _I’m starting to think like Akko,_ she chastised herself. She would not drink the water. Still, she took the opportunity to walk down the stream of water. She noticed some of the places she walked next to had open doors, and a surprising amount of armor inside them. One of them even had humans, armors and a cyborg mingling inside. And was that a medusa? How had _that_ giant jellyfish gotten inside?

The glow of the water waned as it got away from its source, though. What made the algae glow, and why did it stop doing so once hitting the surface? Diana could see that the water split as she walked forward. One path led to a side-chasm that connected to another one of the main ones. The other one, though, just led to a wall. It disappeared underneath it. Why hadn’t Diana seen springs like this somewhere else in the simulations? Only the Shiny Rod knew that.

Diana kept walking, following the stream to her left. The next chasm over felt like a shopping site, since it had way more flow than the previous one. A lot of windows here also had signs of rock near them, which gave them that ‘shop’ vibe that no other place had given her before. Maybe the places from the last chasm had been some kind of private events, while these places were public?

She had read somewhat about the culture, but she had obviously much to learn. She understood that, while armor were extremely possessive, they also had some things that they shared with everyone. Not unlike humans, but taken to an extreme. Touch another armor’s possessions and you’d find yourself a fight to the death, no matter how small that object may be. On the same way, try to keep to yourself something meant to be shared, and you’d have _all_ armors around you ready to take you on.

Armors didn’t get drunk, for example, but they could eat metal ores to get high. Their bodies processed the rock of the ore while washing away the metal, and the process was extremely stimulating for their minds. How did they reproduce? Diana noticed she hadn’t seen any child around. Secrets, why did so many races keep all these secrets? Didn’t they understand, that helping each other was usually better than not? How far could have all races had advanced by this point if they had all cooperated? A unified planetary alliance. Truly unified, where every raced worked as one.

Well, if someone with that in mind got their hands on the Shiny Rod, they could probably make that dream a reality.

By force.

She shook her head. How did the armor get the moss to grow so perfectly around every window? Sure, it sometimes spread more to one side than the other, but most of the time it looked like they were perfect frames. They only had those red torches on the first floor, too, since they figured it was too much work for virtually no reason to try and put that kind of lighting everywhere.

It was nice, having natural lighting come from plants. Sometimes, as Diana walked, she also saw those vines that seemed to be made of stone. At first, seeing them in the inn, she had thought them to be carvings. But here in the wild they didn’t grow with a fancy pattern, so she suspected they were alive. They looked like stone, yet were lighter than the natural chasm walls. They only grew on walls, too not a single tendril down in the ground. Was that because of the traffic? No, unlikely. Many of the places it grew already looked reclusive. Small crevices on the rocks, some of them not even big enough for an armor, though they may be for a human, filled with those vines to the brim, save for the floor.

At one point, Diana paused in the door of what looked like a rock store. She couldn’t read, but there were hundreds of different stones in display. Was this a food store, maybe? The armors didn’t wear clothing. These rocks seemed too small to be able to fill any stomach, but maybe Diana was overestimating how much these beings ate. Maybe these were delicacies, just big enough to fill. Or maybe it was like back on Earth, where sweets never filled you to drive you to buy more, but if you ate too many then you’d get a stomach ache for being gluttonous.

The two armors in the store looked up. Their rocky faces, with two black eyes that seemed to have even darker pupils and animal-like snouts, their mouths bigger than they should, shifted. Diana wondered how soft that rock covering their faces was, to be able to bend like that. Were they frowning? It was hard to tell. Both of them went back to their business, one of them looking at rocks, the other one patiently waiting. It felt one hell of a lot like a normal shopping situation.

Well, save for the couple of aliens.

Diana wished she could ask, but she hadn’t carried her translator with her. It was a silly mistake, but she’d gotten out in such a rush…

She shook her head, moving on. The walls of the chasms weren’t nearly as smooth as the floor, most of the time. With jagged edges here and there, hollows and crevices occasionally and nooks and crannies sporadically, Diana wondered how those had come to be, when everything else was so… well, rounded. Maybe fights? Maybe this was a poorer segment of town and they couldn’t fix it? Or maybe it was about something else. Who could know? Diana was starting to grow slightly excited, her scientist’s mind growing more and more intrigued by the world around her. She hadn’t had much chances to be excited about other worlds. Truth be told, she probably wouldn’t have paused to look at Vorago twice if not for what had happened earlier. Was that wrong? In a way, she regretted not having paid more attention on the previous worlds they visited. A once in a lifetime opportunity, and she felt it had been wasted.

But, was it really a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity? After all, Akko still had the Shiny Rod. They could come back whenever they wanted.

 _Assuming she doesn’t hate you,_ a voice inside Diana whispered.

Diana ignored it.

She had inadvertently come back to the center of The Bottom. From here, she decided to go and visit every chasm. _But I should be practicing, get the hang of the Unicorn quickly,_ something nagged inside of her. Guilt started to rise from deep within her, a kind of guilt she really didn’t want to deal with. The kind that was right to be there. She _should_ be practicing indeed, and yet, here she was, becoming depressed over a fight with her friend. The friend she loved, but still. Worst part was that she had been the cause of the fight. Of everything. Would she blame Akko if she started to hate her?

No one could actually love Diana in the long term. How could they? She was cold, distant, she was a person who often ignored her feelings in pos of purely rational thinking. That wasn’t human. That was an android. Maybe Diana was one, her memories of youth a mere fabrication. It would certainly explain how she was so damn _bad_ at getting how others felt. It would explain also why everyone seemed to hate her. Maybe they could feel she wasn’t human.

 _Yeah, right_ , she thought with a sad smile. Stupid fantasies. Humanity didn’t have the tech to make an android that perfectly mimicked humans quite yet. There were AIs able to pass the Turing test, but even those hadn’t achieved sentience. Of course, many people thought AIs would _never_ achieve sentience. Not only religious people, but many of those who only saw AIs as a thing created for humans. How could something like that ever become self-aware? Impossible, impossible.

Diana, on her part, understood a little better how these things worked. AI sentience wasn’t only possible, it was inevitable. And not that far away. Many of the most advanced projects had come close to it, but the plug had been pulled on them before they could quite cross the line. Humanity was scared of their own creation. Maybe old Science Fiction movies still lingered in the collective consciousness.

The next chasm over seemed to be a normal street. Some places seemed more lively than others, but the traffic through this area was low. The armor had vehicles, didn’t they? Why hadn’t Diana seen any of them? And what about animals other than Smacks? She also wished to climb one of the walls from the inside and maybe cross one of the bridges she saw above. Why were some areas connected? The faeries had made sure to connect the Seelie Court in a way such as to allow everyone to get from wherever to everywhere without ever having to touch the ground. Here it looked like something more specific. Maybe private. Families that lived across from each other connecting their homes? Businesses that expanded? A bunch of ideas crossed her mind, but unless she asked, there wasn’t much point in worrying.

She couldn’t really tell which armors were male and which were female at a glance. Armors had sexual dimorphism, though many of them were also born sexless. The males and females were the ones that reproduced, probably, while the sexless took care of other things. If she had to guess, she’d say this third party was in charge most everything else, since they couldn’t reproduce, they wouldn’t have the subjectivity that came as part of reproductive instincts.

Diana quickly grew bored of this chasm. She had already passed one connection to the next one, but she kept walking down the one she was in until she found the next connection. The connection wasn’t much more interesting than the last, but she did find it curious that, for being so short, it was a clearly pronounced zigzag that had been erased by time. In the middle of it, another chasm split from it, not connected to the center square but surprisingly busy too.

Her jaw dropped as she paid more attention. It took off at an angle, and it ended up meeting with the next chasm over a few hundreds of meters away. But this was clearly more interesting than whatever was in there.

It was a garden. Or, well, something like it.

The glowing moss and mushrooms proliferated here. The moss, particularly, seemed to occupy every inch of rock not occupied by something else. It wasn’t saying much, since the walls and floor were also covered in other stuff.

Mushrooms grew out of every corner. Not only the glowing blue ones that Diana had begun to think were the only kind in this world. No, there were many more. Sucy would have loved it, probably. Next to the blue ones grew some that looked like red wine cups, and they held rainwater. These were the bigger kind, reaching almost to Diana’s knees. Then there were those with flat tops with small hair-like little spikes growing out of them. These were varied in color, ranging from a deep, dark purple to a light sky-blue, but the spikes always remained a dark gray, like the walls of the chasms.

The ground was carpeted in deep blue. It wasn’t grass, though. Or not the normal kind. Each ‘blade’ was as thick as Diana’s little finger, and they looked more like worms than anything else. Diana almost expected them to move, but they didn’t. And they seemed to be hollow, too. Like little balloons, when Diana stepped on them they became flat, but once she got off they only took a few seconds to go back to normal. _Well, of course. They’re used to way more dangerous things than my foot,_ Diana realized. If they could survive being stepped on by armors, it made sense they would brush off Diana as a mere annoyance.

Mixed in between them were also small flower-like plants. Diana had actually read about them. They lacked stems, sprouting directly from the rock below them. Their petals grey in layers, and they kind of looked like blue-and-red pineapples. The center of the plant was blue, too, though a little darker than the grass around it. Diana paused for a second to look at one – earning a few annoyed huffs from some of the armors walking around her – and she crouched to touch it. It reached about midcalf, where the grass barely reached her ankle, so it was quite jazzy. It was supposed to be warm to the touch, but she couldn’t feel that through her suit. She bit her lip as she carefully pulled a petal free and put it to her cheek. Even if she’d expected it, she was surprised by how pleasantly warm it was. And as expected, it started to bleed drops of that glowing-green water from the underground oceans, which Diana had to wipe away. It stained her suit green for a few seconds, but it quickly faded. According to what Diana had read, these flowers were called by the armors as ‘The flowers of the deep reaching roots,’ due to the fact that their roots could be kilometers deep. The local humans just called them Deeproots. Sometimes it was easy to assume humans weren’t very creative with names, but it was also easy to forget every civilization in history had named their plants and such things based on silly things like that too. The languages had just morphed until everyone forgot what exactly those words had meant in the first place.

Diana regretted not having put on more comfortable clothes. Her g-suit didn’t have a pocket, so she couldn’t carry the petal with her without being too obvious. Still, she carefully put it back into place. The deeproots were supposed to be very good at regenerating themselves. Loosing most petals of their bodies every time it rained, they used the chances to grow taller and sprout more petals, all in just a few hours.

She stood up. Someone bumped her from behind, making her stumble. She turned around. That hadn’t been an armor, as it was soft. She saw a cyborg with dark skin, about three times her size, walking down the chasm. He had bumped into her without even realizing it, probably. He had a cyberpunk looking arm. A rich armor, then. Well, it made sense that only rich armors were able to travel between planets.

Going back to her exploring of this public garden, she started to look more at the walls. Weaved between the moss were those grey vines she didn’t know much about, but she also saw other plants she did recognize. The first one to catch her attention was a pastel-pink drill-like plant, a spike that grew straight out of the wall with about an arm’s length, hundreds of tiny tendrils spinning around each other in a spiral that ended in a point. It was relatively common, sprouting from the rock every few meters. Diana approached one, touching it. It was rock-hard, but it also felt surprisingly soft, silky to the touch. These were called something akin to ‘miners’ by the armors, and humans had decided to call them just that. Plants that pierced through the rock with relative ease. If Diana recalled correctly, this was a kind of plant they used in their mining operations, planting a bunch of them around to help them break rock. They grew quickly and softened what they left behind. Why were they pink? Blue and purple were clearly the dominant colors in the plants of this world. What made these plants pink?

Looking closer, it was easy to see that the pink tendrils were separate to each other. The one at the center of it all, the point, was the thickest, and they grew thinner as they grew further away from the center. They did kind of look like drills, and Diana suspected they would make for rather effective spearheads. If the plant could pierce through rock, it could probably also pierce through the armors body too.

Someone spoke to her from behind. She turned to see an armor that towered over her. He didn’t look mad, and he spoke in grumbles, cracks and sounds reminiscent of avalanches. Diana pointed at her ear, trying to explain she couldn’t understand. The armor seemed to notice this, raising a hand, telling her to wait. He – Diana noticed it was male thanks to his teeth. Only five, three up and two down. Females had seven, and sexless had six – moved her to the side, and then took out from somewhere inside his carapace a long, metallic blade. For a second her pressure dropped and she went pale. But the armor ignored her, and in a swift movement he cut off the point of the miner. He gave it to Diana. It fit perfectly within her hand. Diana looked the flat downside of the tip, which was about half as big as her palm , and she was surprised to see a spotted pattern of pink and lavender. So the inside of the tendrils _was_ purple – or a variant of it.

She looked at the armor, bowing and trying to express gratitude. He hesitated for a second, putting his blade back to where it was, but then he gave her an awkward thumbs-up. His hands only had four fingers plus the thumbs, and he did it with all four of them.

Diana returned the gesture, and the armor nodded, walking away, still giving her that thumbs up.

_I wonder if Akko could learn to speak armor. Unlikely, but maybe she could learn to understand it._

Shaking her head, she looked at the tip of the miner in her hand. She touched the point with care. Even through the g-suit she could tell it was sharp, so she didn’t apply any pressure, lest she pierce the suit and render it useless. Then she ran her finger through the underside, noticing the difference in texture between the inside and the outside of the tendrils. The core was way softer, even giving in to her touch, but also feeling a lot more grainy.

The thing was just big enough to fit inside one of her straps and not fall off. She would save it to show it to her friends.

_Assuming I can still call them that._

Damn depressing mood.

She tried not to spoil the amazement she still felt at the chasm. Besides the miners there were also small, ball-like grey plants the size of a fist. They were a lighter gray than the walls, almost like the vines. Diana didn’t recognize them, so she touched one, expecting it to be affixed to the wall.

It wasn’t. As soon as she touched it, the thing _flew away_ , its body splitting in six in a split second and spinning so fast that Diana ducked with a yelp, thinking that whatever that was almost cut her head off. Animals. Was every animal creature in this planet rock-looking?

Probably yes. Diana looked at the spot it had left on the wall. Moss didn’t grow there, and the edges were irregular. _It was eating,_ she thought. She carefully approached another one of those not far away, looking at it with curiosity, wishing she had taken her helmet to be able to take photos with the visor. She pressed her head against the wall while trying to see under the thing – the moss was cold and soft, but surprisingly dry. And there, under the ball, she saw three tiny legs that grabbed the moss with claws, and the head of the creature was a purple tendril-like thing with a single, beady eye. It chewed on the glowing moss slowly, and in a way it reminded Diana of a snail with the toothless mouth and slow movements. It seemed to notice Diana, but it kept chewing, not minding.

She stepped away. She thought about grabbing the thing with her whole hand, impeding it from spreading and flying away. But what if she harmed it? She couldn’t risk it. She’d later do some more research on these and the Smacks. She did notice a lack of those in the vicinity. Maybe they weren’t as common on the lower parts of the chasms, though if she looked up she could sometimes see their white shells reflecting the light.

It was relaxing. This place, this garden. Even with the amount of traffic, it was beautiful. There were dozens of small plants she hadn’t checked yet – what was that stalk-like thing with the bead on top that seemed to grow over the heads of everyone, and all of them in line? Had they been planted in purpose at that level to mark something or was it natural? And what about that blue, fin-looking thing that sprouted from between the grass, like if tiny blue sharks lurked under the stone? It was beautiful, it was interesting, and more importantly, it helped Diana distract herself.

But she also knew these distractions helped no-one. Lest of all herself.

Wait, what about that three-petal flower that was so small she had almost missed it? It grew only occasionally, and it was almost the same color as the moss, it just didn’t glow. Its core was a light blue, too. No, no, she needed to focus.

Almost pained by it, she walked to the next chasm over, the world of color disappearing and the dull darkness coming back, only pierced by occasional strikes of purple or blue dots. Again, this seemed like a normal lived on chasm, though she did notice that many armors walking down this chasm seemed to have a bunch of metallic lines on their shells, kind of like strata, but with metal. Was it paint or was it natural? It couldn’t be natural, as far as she knew.

Then, she noticed something strange. As she walked, the crowd seemed to part for her. Some looked scared, others looked reverent. Most just looked like they wanted to get the hell out of there. Diana frowned, and then felt something behind her. She turned, noticing an armor. A particularly big one. About half a meter taller than the average, he had also a darker rock tone than most. He was almost as black as the chasm walls, and his black eyes were almost lost within his face.

Diana could tell he was a he because of his teeth, again. His mouth curled into an expression awfully similar to a smile as he looked down to her. Because he _was_ looking at her.

He had a translator in his ear. Only then did Diana recognize him. She had barely even thought about other pilots, but this… This was the Second Category armor pilot, wasn’t it?

“Hello,” Diana said, growing slightly nervous. Was he following her or was it just a coincidence? “As you may notice, I don’t have my translator with me, so while you can probably understand me, I won’t be able to understand you.”

He spoke in cracks, his lips clashing against each other. Diana shook her head, to gesture that she didn’t understand. He kept speaking. The more he spoke, the more wide the pocket of emptiness around them became. He seemed to be gloating. Was he boasting about what he’d done to her on the previous race, or was it something else? Maybe he wasn’t even happy. Maybe he was angry, screaming at her. By the way people seemed to run away, it looked like that was probably the case. Diana started to grow scared, her heart thumping. If this creature decided to do something to her, there’d be nothing she could do. Still, she cautiously wrapped her hand around the tip of the miner she’d been gifted. It was the only thing resembling a weapon she had, wand aside. But a weak magic blast from her wand wouldn’t harm an armor, unless she aimed perfectly. And she wasn’t that good at aiming, most of the time.

The armor continued with its speech. It extended for a minute, then two. He gestured with his four hands, sometimes his feet moved, though he didn’t really move _towards_ Diana. As he continued, Diana started to relax. Whatever he was talking about, and even if he was mad, it didn’t look like he wanted to _harm_ Diana.

And then stopped. He stared Diana in the eyes for a few seconds, as if challenging her. Then he turned around, walking away. Some armors turned carefully to look at him pass. He towered over most of them.

Diana let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, and she let go of the miner’s tip. With her legs shaking slightly, she decided she’d had enough exploring for one day. She’d go back to the inn and deal with her problems there. She had gone out, knowing that it was hard for her to think while moving. But right now, she’d rather deal with inner problems and not something dangerous.


	99. Chapter 99

“She’s an idiot,” Barbara said, pacing in Lotte’s room. “She’s stupid, she deserves whatever happened to her, she…” she paused. “Oh god, what if something happened to her? It’s already been an hour and a half. She hasn’t called, sent a message. She never does these kinds of things,” she was worried. She was angry. She wanted to punch Diana and then cry and hug her, only to hug slap her again for her idiocy.

She was supposed to apologize. Instead she had insulted Akko even further and ran out like an angry child. What exactly she’d said to Akko wasn’t clear, but Akko had been crying for a reason.

“She didn’t take her helmet, we can’t communicate through wands, going to look for her could take even more time! Where’s Ursula?!” Barbara continued.

“The Dragon is a while away,” Lotte said, her voice calm and collected. “I think she had a good idea, going there. Diana may have gone to practice or something.”

“She can’t practice! The modifications Constanze has to do to the Unicorn won’t be ready for a day!”

“I think the Shiny Rod can take those into account..” Lotte said. Well, she was right. Barbara looked at her girlfriend with wild eyes. She was worried. Diana _never_ did things like these. She was careful and always thought before acting. These impulsive things she’d been doing lately… Was Akko rubbing off her the wrong way? It was possible, but that wasn’t it. She was just _that_ affected by her bitch of an aunt. Truth be told, this was also the first time she’d ever been so close to actually being able to ruin Diana’s hopes and dreams.

“And where’s Akko?!” Barbara exclaimed, suddenly angry. “Can’t she make the Shiny Rod find her or something?!”

“That’s not how it works, I think,” Lotte was clearly trying to act relaxed to help Barbara, but she still had a glimmer of worry in her eyes. Maybe that’s what still had Barbara worried.

“That idiot,” Barbara said. “There, locked in her room. What exactly did Diana say? For Akko to be like that, she sounded like she was dying or something. Fucking hell,” Barbara grabbed her head with both hands. “Why does their romance have to be a fucking melodrama? Amanda and Hannah got together before them, for fuck’s sake!”

“Well, both of them are very special girls. I think it’s fine letting them figure it out by themselves,” Lotte said. She wasn’t looking at Barbara anymore, as she had decided to lay down on bed and was just looking at the ceiling.

“Yeah, but they’re both stupid. They could just end up blowing up their relationship,” Barbara explained.

“Then maybe they’re not meant to be together, Barbs. Not every relationship has to work.”

Barbara paused. “You’re right,” she said. Then she shook her head. “But this isn’t that. This is Diana being too… Well, _herself_ to act like a normal human being. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with this, and she likes Akko. She really does, and it’s obvious Akko does too. Diana is stressed and a mess.”

Lotte smiled. “You like to act tough, but you really just want them to have a happy ending,” she eyed her.

“I guess,” Barbara nodded. “I want my friend to be happy, and… Well, you saw her. When she talks with Akko, she just… shines. I had never seen her enjoy talking with someone so much.”

“And she’s able to reason with Akko. Now _that’s_ talent,” Lotte said. Then she blushed. “Oh god, I sounded like Sucy,” she said, covering her face. “I’m glad Akko didn’t hear that.”

Barbara walked over to the bed and sat down, placing a hand on Lotte. “You’re too kind. Everyone knows Akko is as stubborn as a rock,” Barbara said. She started to softly rub Lotte’s belly. “Also, Sucy would’ve said something much meaner.”

“I guess,” Lotte was looking at Barbara’s hand. “Are we supposed to be RPing right now?” she asked with some confusion.

Barbara started, suddenly noticing what she was doing. “Sorry! I just…” she looked at Lotte and at her hand, blushing. “I just…”

Lotte smiled. “It’s fine. You can keep going, it’s relaxing,” Lotte said. “Maybe I should do it to you, though.”

Barbara sighed, putting her hand back on Lotte’s belly and starting to rub it again. Lotte was a very squishy girl, like a marshmallow, everywhere. Barbara refrained from pinching her, though. “You should go talk to Akko,” Barbara said.

“Sucy went to do it a while ago, didn’t you see?” Lotte said. They had their door open, since at the moment they weren’t doing anything particularly private and Barbara had already darted in and out of the room a couple times. “I think she’ll work better if she’s alone.”

“Sure, she’ll make fun of Akko until she decides to go look for Diana and in the meantime to test some of her experiments,” Barbara said. “Or something like that.”

“Don’t be so harsh on her,” Lotte had her eyes closed. “Sucy is cold and mean, but she does care. In her own way.”

“Everyone cares in their own way, doesn’t give them a free pass to be mean,” Barbara explained. Lotte opened one eye, raising an eyebrow. Barbara felt a sudden chill. “Ok, ok, I know I’m not one to talk, sorry.”

Lotte closed her eye again, nodding. Barbara bit her lip. The more time she spent with Lotte, the more she regretted how she’d acted back at Luna Nova… and, well, during all of her teen years. Even before meeting Diana, she and Hannah had been the rich mean girls. She had made a couple of girls cry, even.

Was she a bad person? Lotte didn’t seem to think so, but Lotte didn’t seem to think _anyone_ was a bad person. Maybe that’s why Barbara had fallen for her, in the end. She made Barbara want to be better just by existing.

When had Barbara started regretting what she’d done, how she’d acted? Hannah probably didn’t even think about it. Was it too late to try and apologize to all those girls? Hell, Barbara didn’t even remember most of their names. Sure, she wasn’t the worst kind of bully there was. She hadn’t _searched_ for people to make fun of, but that didn’t excuse her for taking the opportunities that were given to her. She had been given the choice and had decided to be bad.

Sometimes, she didn’t think herself deserving of Lotte’s affection. But then Lotte would look at her and it would all blow away, like smoke in the wind. Barbara wondered if that’s what love was all about. Even more than trust or the affection itself, but that strange impulse to grow for the other person. To lose weight, to get in shape, to study harder or work more hours, all for the sake of the other person. Or was that just obsession?

It was hard to tell. Did Hannah and Amanda think of these things? Probably not. Knowing how her friend was, Hannah probably only focused on the moment. And that was fine, really. She had struggled to come to terms with liking a girl, but now she seemed happy.

What about Diana? It was hard to imagine _Diana_ wanting to be better. But the way she pushed Akko away, it spoke to that. She wanted to win the race and fix her family issues before starting a serious relationship. Of course, in the long run, that could only hurt her. It was a pain in the ass. Diana was lucky Barbara had never met her aunt. Given the stories, Barbara had already decided that if she ever saw Daryl she would break her nose.

Hannah was the one who would punch the twins, obviously.

Footsteps. Barbara sprung from bed, running to the door. She looked outside, towards the staircase. Was that Ursula?

Diana. The girl with the cabbage hair walked past, not even pausing to look at Barbara as she climbed to the fourth floor. She carried something strange in one of her straps. A pink cone.

Barbara stood in place, watching her go. “It’s Diana,” she said to Lotte. “Finally. Call Ursula, tell her she’s back.”

Lotte nodded. “Aren’t you going to go talk to her,” she asked.

Barbara shook her head hesitatingly. “I… don’t really feel like we’d have a constructive conversation right now,” she confessed. She was thinking of the fight from earlier. Diana did look to be in a better mood, but other than that, little had changed. No, that was wrong. She had made her relationship with Akko _worse._

Lotte gestured for Barbara to get close. Barbara did, closing the door behind her. Their room was lit with a couple candles. It was quite beautiful, though a little intense, due to the redder shade of the fire.

Or, maybe the right word was passionate.

“I’m hungry,” Barbara said as she sat down. “Think they have room service?”

“Probably not,” Lotte chuckled. “But I’m sure there’s gotta be somewhere we can eat here in the human district.”

Barbara nodded. She thought she had seen something while walking. “Well then, let’s go. If it’s a nice place it can be where we go for the date, what do you think?”

“Sounds good to me,” Lotte said, nodding. She and Barbara left the room not long after, though Barbara found it a little hard not to get distracted while thinking of Diana. Hopefully she’d be fine.

 

Akko wasn’t fine. She had run out of tears already. She felt like a wretch, like the lowest  of the low. She didn’t even have the energy to get up and do anything. Even if she had the energy, she wouldn’t have the mood for it.

She wanted to sleep. Sleep and wake up back on Earth, where all of this stupidity would have only been a dream. Diana would still be that indifferent, slightly stuck-up girl she barely even knew. Hannah and Barbara would be bullies that hated her. Amanda and the green team would be, at best, friends of her.

Simplicity and a heart that didn’t seem to be slowly dying. She had hoped that maybe Diana would apologize, but the girl hadn’t said anything untrue. Why would she? It was Akko who was at fault, even implying she should try to guide Diana in any way.

The door to her room opened.

“Akko?” Sucy’s voice came. She sounded doubtful. “You awake?”

Akko stopped breathing, trying to fake she was sleeping. She didn’t want to talk with anyone right now.

Sucy sighed. “That’s not how sleeping works. You should have just kept breathing normally. That or you’re dead, in which case the broken heart thing might be a more appropriate term than I thought.”

Akko looked at the backlit figure by the door. Her room was dark, as she hadn’t wanted any lights around. All she wanted right now was to sleep. Sleep forever, if possible. Yet she hadn’t been able to. Not a single minute.

“How do you know I’m heartbroken?” Akko asked.

“I think the crying and the disappearing blonde were pretty clear clues,” Sucy entered the room. She took a box of matches and lit the candle in Akko’s room. It wasn’t made of wax, she had noticed at some point, but a strange kind of melting rock. Similar, but also different.

Diana would be curious about that, probably.

“What do you mean ‘disappearing blonde’?” Akko asked. Had something happened?

“Diana went out after what I presume was your fight. She hasn’t come back, yet.”

Akko sat up. “And you don’t know where she is?” She asked, worry plastered all over her voice. To a point that surprised even her. How could she care after that?

 _Because I still like her,_ she thought. What should have felt like a good thing suddenly felt like a stupid thing.

“No, but don’t worry, I think Constanze has her suit bugged,” Sucy said, shrugging. “If something happened to her we’d find out in a heartbeat.”

“Sucy,” Akko said, laying back on bed, trying to ignore the worry in her face. “Can you still love someone, even if they hurt you?”

Sucy seemed shocked by the question. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “I haven’t fallen in love, as far as I can remember.”

“What about family, then? If they hurt you, for real, are they still family?”

Pausing, Sucy shrugged again. “I’m an orphan. I wouldn’t know… but I guess yes. If you still consider them family, besides the blood bond, then it’s probably because you love them.”

Akko took this in. “Diana said that I didn’t deserve my last win, kind of,” Akko confessed. She trusted Sucy not to say it to the others.

She raised her eyebrows. Cast in the red light, her hair seemed to take on a crimson shine. “Wow, that’s…” she was at a loss for words. “What a fucking asshole,” she finished, sounding annoyed.

“Well, she didn’t word it that way. And she’s right,” Akko explained. “But it still hurt. A lot.”

Eyeing her, the potion-maker sighed. “Akko, I can’t tell you what to do. If it were me I’d just have injected her with poison, to be honest,” she shrugged. “But I _can_ tell you this: You deserved that win. Sure, you won with kind of an asspull. But who cares? Your ship is better than the others. That’s not cheating, that’s a fucking fact. Other ships have things yours doesn’t, like explosives, traps or homing missiles. I don’t see anyone calling _those_ things cheats.”

Akko listened to that carefully. Sucy seemed to have a way with words. Not elegant or particularly convincing, but she just… made you believe them.

“I wonder if my relationship with Diana could even work,” Akko lamented. “She’s a high class girl. I’m nothing but a stupid, hyperactive, easily distracted plain girl with little to no idea of what she’s doing.”

Sucy snorted. “You forgot clumsy, hot-headed, stubborn, impu-”

“Geez, I get it!” Akko interrupted. “You’re supposed to make me feel better!”

“No, actually,” Sucy smirked. “I’m supposed to make you get out of bed.”

Akko sniffled a little, her nose still loose due to the crying. “Well good luck with that,” she said, turning to the wall and away from her friend. “I’m staying here.”

“What about practice?” Sucy asked from behind. Akko heard her moving closer.

“Whatever. Who cares about that? The Shiny Rod will probably just give me another way of winning,” Akko said.

“Like it did for the four races before the last one?”

Akko paused. “Whatever,” she repeated. She wasn’t in the mood for arguing.

Sucy sighed, sitting on the bed. “Look, Diana can be an asshole, but you shouldn’t let her control what you think. She likes you, you like her, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always agree. Plus, you should try to prove her wrong. Go out there and say you’ll be the lead. After all, it’s _your_ ship that makes this all possible.”

“Isn’t that kind of petty?” Akko turned reluctantly. Sucy was at her feet, looking at her with the only eye that poked from under her long bangs. That single eye reflected the red light of the candle. She looked rather scary.

“I don’t know. Isn’t what Diana did too? In the end, the people with more power are the ones that bring the most essential things to the deal. If Diana doesn’t like it she can fly on her own,” Sucy shrugged.

Akko paused. “But this is a team effort,” she explained.

Sucy snorted, shaking her head. “Yeah, and you’re the fucking manager, Akko.”

She thought about this. She really did have the ship that made this all possible. Once Constanze did the modifications to the Unicorn, she’d be the one who would determine whether this went through or not. It was kind of hard to think about it that way, though. Wasn’t she being too selfish, that way? This was supposed to be an effort of everyone. If Diana _was_ the best for the job, then Akko didn’t really have the right to tell her off. She was the better pilot, and she would certainly do a better job than Akko.

But… Akko didn’t really think that way, did she? Akko thought back to the previous race. Had that been what people called ‘the zone’? A moment of pure focus. Something Akko had never done before. She hadn’t just been good at it. She’d been incredible. She’d gone from last to first. So what if the Shiny Rod had given her a small free boost? Sucy was right. It was _her_ ship, now. It had chosen her. Because that was the truth. The Shiny Rod had _chosen_ her for a reason. And for what? For Akko to give up the second the girl she liked told her she wasn’t good enough?

And, well, there was one other reason. Akko didn’t exactly want to think about it, since she was in a bad mood, but she supposed Diana always was a priority for her. Even if she had insulted her.

Akko shook her head, sitting up. “You’re right,” she said to Sucy. Suddenly, all the gloom she’d felt before started to retreat, giving way for something else. Something more important. Pride. Akko wasn’t the most prideful person, but she was Chariot’s number one fan. Maybe the only one left in the world. Was she really willing to let that go? Chariot had never lost, which may have given her a better reason to be so confident as she always seemed to be. But well, Akko wasn’t going to let such a small detail deter her.

“Wait, I am?” Sucy cocked her head. “Kind of surprised that worked, honestly.”

Akko frowned. “Why?”

“Because it’s kind of asshole-ish, you know,” Sucy explained. “Didn’t think you’d be convinced by it.”

Akko looked at Sucy. “Well, guess you were wrong. Let’s go to the _Dragon,_ it’s time for some training,” she said, standing up and grabbing her friend by the arm.

“Hey, wait, why are you dragging me?” Sucy complained.

Akko didn’t reply as she strode out of the room, her confidence regained.

 

Diana walked towards the _Dragon,_ feeling a little stupid. She’d forgotten that she needed the key-wand of the Shiny Rod to practice, but it was Akko who had it, and currently she found it a little hard to face the brunette. So, if she wanted to train, how would she do it? Maybe her decision to go train hadn’t been the best one. She was still, maybe, shaken by the meeting with the armor pilot.

She was thinking of this while walking through the tunnel to the world-hopper. The torches on the walls weren’t lit now, so the place was dark, only the faint glow coming from the place where the _Dragon_ was landed as a guide.

Should she go back? It was a little too late, and it was like half an hour of walking. She suspected it’d be faster to just wait for Akko to arrive at the place. Assuming she did. She had seemed very affected by what Diana had said. Diana tried not to think about it. Akko wouldn’t skip her practice, no matter how sad she was feeling. It was probably the one thing Diana didn’t have doubts about.

She finally came out of the tunnel and into the pit. The massive ship stood before her, many of the small windows on its side lit with white light. Diana sighed as she approached the back of the giant, where the entrance of the hangar stood. Some of the brooms that fit through the tunnel were being carried away, as some of the richer people in the ship probably felt like walking was too much for them.

Seeing a long, black broom, she froze mid-walk. As it passed by she saw the two people at its back. Paul and Andrew Hanbridge. Both were looking at her, but they didn’t stop to say anything. Diana though she had seen a hint of regret on Andrew’s face, but Paul was as impassible as ever. Even being proud of her neutral face, Diana knew a true politician actually knew how to manipulate his poker face in such a way that made him look better, not stoic like Diana.

It had worked to trick Diana into thinking Paul was better than he really was.

Diana entered the hangar, walking up to where the Shiny Rod was. Again, she felt like freezing. There, outside the white broom, stood Akko and – for some reason – Sucy.

With a raised eyebrow, Diana walked up to them, though she could feel her heart fasten with each step. Why was she so nervous? This was just Akko. Akko and Sucy. Why was Sucy here? Of all the people she knew, Diana was sure Sucy had to be the strangest. But if Akko thought of her a friend then she’d make an effort to understand her.

 _Wait,_ Diana paused. She realized she was still thinking of Akko as if she were her girlfriend – or future girlfriend. It wasn’t like that, for now. But here she was. Even in the midst of a fight she still had Akko in her mind like a disease.

She frowned at this. She couldn’t let her mindset warp because of this. She’d already messed up enough. More distractions were the last thing she needed. Both of the girls were looking at something, and Diana finally saw it. Next to the Shiny Rod stood the Unicorn, which had been apparently allowed to be taken out of the garage, and Diana saw that it now held what she could only assume was the hose that would connect it to the Rod once installed. A long, thick roll of hose. It looked hard and heavy. How long was it? Thirty meters? It was _a lot_ of hose. If Diana were being honest, it looked kind of unpractical. She had the feeling it had been part of something in the _Dragon,_ because there was no other way they could have gotten it so soon.

Of course, another change to the broom was a small half-sphere popping out of the nose of the ship, right where the horn started. So Constanze _had_ installed a shield on it, in the end. Or at least, she had started. The sphere wasn’t painted blue yet, and some of the circuits showed. At least she hadn’t repainted the whole broom this time. The blue ship was Diana’s, not Amanda’s. And if it was in Diana’s power, Amanda wouldn’t pilot in another race of the IPR. Not out of assholeishness or anything, she just planned on winning the remaining races on her own.

“Oh, look who’s here,” Sucy glowered at Diana. Akko had told her? Probably. The brunette turned, her beautiful red eyes looking red. She had been crying. Something pulled at Diana’s heart, a piece of her soul seeming to darken by that.

In the end, no matter how hard she tried, she just _couldn’t_ ignore Akko. “Hello,” Diana said in an overly polite tone. It may also have sounded cold, depending on how you looked at it.

Akko walked to her. “Diana, I’ve decided,” she said. Diana frowned in confusion. She had decided… what? Was it something bad? Was it something Diana would regret? “I’m gonna lead.”

Almost instantly, Diana relaxed. So it was something like that. For a second she’d thought Akko would… But no. She… “Wait, what?” the relaxation was followed by some real confusion. “If this is because of what I said, Akko, you must not-”

“This _is,”_ Akko interrupted, “because I _know_ I’ll be better,” she clearly didn’t mean it, and Diana could see it. But she spoke with enough confidence to make it clear she had at least given it some rational thought.

Diana frowned. This time, not out of confusion. “Akko, I don’t want to offend you again, but we both know that’s not true.”

“No, we don’t,” Akko crossed her arms. “And I have the important ship in this equation, so I’ll be leading. Whether you like it or not.”

Diana felt a sudden chill. This… This felt a whole lot like when Akko had forced her to speak about what had offended her, back after her accident. This was Akko in her stubborn attitude. And there would be no convincing her otherwise. But Diana wasn’t ok with it.

“Akko, please think about it,” she tried to explain. “I have the most experience, I’m more used to dealing with these things. You had problems with multitasking not long ago, unable to handle manual controls and piloting at the same time. Now you want to fly with _two_ ships at once? Do you really think you can handle it?”

Akko wavered.

“Have you thought about the specifications of both ships? Their capabilities, their strengths and weaknesses? Do you even _know_ what the limits of the Unicorn are? And you won’t be able to use transformations during the next race. Who knows what might happen to our ships if you suddenly change it?” Diana was only mentioning the most superficial of stuff that would be needed for leading them. It was pretty clear Akko hadn’t actually thought about it. This wasn’t about being mean to her or saying she was a bad pilot. This was about the simple fact that Akko obviously was just not fit for the role.

Akko was thinking about it. After a few minutes, she started nodding slowly, and Diana felt herself start to relax again. She was glad Akko saw to reason in the- “Ok, I’ll think about it then. But I’ll be the leader,” she claimed.

Diana blinked. “Excuse me?”

“I’ll keep in mind all the things you said. I’ll make sure to study it in the simulator. But I’ll be the lead,” Akko said, her eyes staring into Diana’s. She was serious. She was _damn_ serious. Why? Why was she so certain? Behind her, Sucy was smirking proudly. Was this her idea? It did feel like something Akko wouldn’t do… No, it did feel like something Akko would do. But not _this_ Akko. The Akko from two months ago, the Akko who had left Luna Nova. This Akko was one that understood logic and listened to Diana.

“Why? What reason do you have to actually want to be the leader? Or, more like, why _should_ you be the leader, Akko?” Diana asked, now in an annoyed voice.

“Because,” Akko smirked. Why the smirk? It annoyed Diana even further, “I have the ship that makes this work,” she pointed at the rod. “If you don’t like it, I can go alone and win on my own. We’ll earn ten points, since you’ll probably come in last. That is, if you don’t get us disqualified.”

Diana’s eyes widened. “Are you really saying this?”

Akko nodded. “It’s for the best of us both.”

No way of going around it, was it? Diana was at a loss. Akko’s logic was ‘I have the power so I’m right’.

Diana turned around and set her jaw, refusing to look at the brunette.

Something seemed to break inside her. Something she didn’t even know she had.

But what?


	100. Chapter 100

Amanda and Hannah had already eaten some of their rations. The make-out session had left them both kind of exhausted. Hannah, on her part, felt like she had done an entire hour of exercise. Maybe more. She was tired, even though she’d barely done anything but kissing for the last two hours.

“I’m beat,” Amanda said, patting her belly. “Man, that food they give us sure is shit.”

Hannah smiled. “You ate it without much hesitation,” she said. Both of them were laying in bed. Amanda was awkwardly keeping a distance from Hannah. The beds were big enough for two persons, though barely. A few centimeters separated them, and because Amanda was pressing herself against the wall.

“I know. I was just hungry, though,” she explained.

Hannah raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really now. Then, what would you rather have eaten?”

Looking at her, Amanda mimicked the gesture. “Hannah, did you ask that on purpose or are you just _that_ oblivious?”

With a smile, Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“You chastised me the last time I tried to make that joke,” Amanda said.

She was right. Hannah _had_ done it. But right now she felt different. More confident, in a way. She… She actually wanted Amanda to make the joke, she realized. There was this fuzzy feeling inside her, like butterflies in her stomach. Being this close in bed awakened something in her. Thinking about going further made her nervous, but she still wanted Amanda to want to do it, if that made sense.

Was that what they called being a tease?

“Sorry,” she said instead. “I just… Well, after the kisses, I feel weird…” she explained. Right now they were shrouded in the red lights of the candles. Amanda had lit them after Hannah had gone to pee. The bathroom in the Inn was in the base floor. It was a really nice bathroom, though. Hannah had expected a latrine at best, but it was really good. The only difference it had with any other public bathroom Hannah had seen was that it was actually fucking clean. Clean enough that she wouldn’t have minded eating on the floor.

This Inn didn’t see much guests, did it?

“Weird how?” Amanda laid on her side and propped her head on her hand, looking at Amanda with twinkling eyes.

“Weird… hormonal, maybe?” Hannah sighed. “I just want to see you being you, so I gave you a good setup for a joke, I guess.”

Amanda smiled. “I’m really going to have a hard time with you, aren’t I?” She said, dropping on bed. She put her right arm around Hannah’s waist.

“What do you mean?” Hannah raised an eyebrow, warmness spreading through her body as Amanda hugged her more.

“I barely understand how you think. I know how to push your buttons, but, well… I can barely follow your thought process,” she explained. “By the way, where do you live?”

Hannah blinked. “Well that’s random.”

“I was thinking about how I’d sneak into your house at night, but then I realized I don’t even know where do you live, or how your house even is,” Amanda explained.

Hannah turned on her side too. She had kissed Amanda so much in the past hours, why did she still feel like going? They had only stopped because they were both tired, but being here, like this, even in her tiredness, Hannah felt a pulse of energy, her heart beating faster. They were alone in a room and no one would bother them for hours.

“I live in Burnham,” Hannah said. “Or, well, my family lives. I guess right now I’m technically living at Luna Nova.”

Amanda paused. “No fucking idea where that is, sorry.”

Hannah smiled. “It’s a small city at the south-east of the UK, on the Norfolk coast. I’m honestly sick and tired of hearing my parents speak of how nice a town it used to be. And my grandmother was worse – when she was alive. She always spoke of how small it was a hundred years ago, when she was a kid. It wasn’t even ‘Burnham’ as is back then, but a bunch of separate different little towns that shared the name but eventually grew into what is today.”

“Sounds nice,” Amanda said.

“Sounds boring. We’ve got the basics but all the cool stuff always happens on the big city,” Hannah lamented. “No big event ever comes to Burnham. I wish my parents used their money to move to London, but they prefer that place.”

“It still sounds nice. To visit, at least,” Amanda said.

They stayed silent for a while. Hannah reminisced her house. Not a mansion, but still a nice, big, high-class house. Could they get a mansion if they moved to London? Hannah had always wanted one. Or an apartment. She really liked the idea of living on the last floor of a tall building, overseeing a city.

Amanda hugged her tighter, bringing her close, and pecked her lips. “I love you,” she whispered. As whenever she said that, Hannah blushed.

“I still don’t know how to react to that,” she said, feeling slightly awkward. Amanda was giving her a sleepy stare, and she seemed to be falling asleep.

Still, with a smile, she leaned forward and put her forehead against Hannah’s. “You’ll know what to do eventually. Don’t let my selfishness make you feel awkward. I do it because I like to say it,” Amanda explained. She had already closed her eyes, and she spoke lightly.

_Love, huh,_ Hannah thought. Why did it feel like an important word? She had heard many people use it in a lot of meaningless ways. Love of food, love of family. Hell, Hannah had told Barbara that she told her a number of times. Yet, when she thought of Amanda, her throat seemed to dry and if she tried to even think of the word her systems shut down.

Amanda was so confident, though. Why? Did she figure out Hannah would be able to say it eventually, or was it an act? It didn’t _feel_ like an act, but, well, that was kind of the whole point of acting. Hannah stared at Amanda’s sleeping face and wondered if the candles they were using were expensive. She didn’t want to move to put them out to let Amanda sleep better, but she also didn’t want to fall asleep with her g-suit on.

She _did_ want to sleep with Amanda. Like this, close together. Nothing sexual behind it, just… She’d always wondered how it felt, to sleep cuddling with a couple. The redhead was clearly already sleep, and slowly, her arm was losing strength, the grasp she had on Hannah weakening by the second. Her breathing was becoming steady, rhythmic.

Hannah slowly moved. She could wait till another time to sleep with Amanda, after all. Amanda wouldn’t refuse her, and she’d come prepared next time. Yes, that was a good plan.

However, as she stood, Amanda’s hand suddenly moved, clasping Hannah’s wrist. “Don’t go,” she said in almost a whisper. “Sleep here, please.”

She didn’t open her eyes, but she sounded… needy.

Hannah bit her lip. She was so… cute. It sounded strange. Cute, Amanda? But yes, she was. Cute. Adorable. Beautiful.

With a sigh, Hannah slipped out of Amanda’s hand. “Give me a minute,” she said. She very carefully lowered the zipper on the front of her suit and then took it off. She constantly looked back, making sure Amanda didn’t have her eyes open, but she was clearly asleep. Hannah took a deep breath, feeling the cool air of the chasms on her body – not annoying cold, but just enough to be kind of uncomfortable if she was in her underwear alone.

Then, she moved to the bed. She picked up the sheets, long enough to cover herself with even if Amanda was over half of them, and slipped into them next to Amanda. She turned and with a blow she put out the two red candles on the nightstand.

Her heart was thumping, blood rushed to her ears, heat spread through her whole body. On instinct, Amanda reached forward and hugged her with a hand as she snuggled up to her chest.

Hannah kissed Amanda’s head, her hair tickling her nose. “Sleep tight, Ama,” Hannah whispered, feeling extremely embarrassed. She had thought about giving Amanda a nickname, to show her she _did_ care, even if she couldn’t bring herself to say she loved her.

Maybe Amada would also come up with a nickname for her, tomorrow.

 

_The world seemed to shift as Croix pondered. Somehow, Chariot had been able to unlock all the hidden knowledge of the Shiny Rod. They now understood. What those words were for, what they did and why they were so important. They had to figure it out in the middle of the most important event of their lives, of course. Both Croix and Chariot were now sitting together, hands intertwined, as they thought, sitting on their room on the_ Dragon.

_“I don’t know, Croix. Maybe it’s a big joke,” Chariot said. “It’s too… hard to believe.”_

_“No,” Croix shook her head. “No, it’s perfectly understandable. Don’t you see? All those things we thought were impossible, they make sense now. Why wouldn’t the Shiny Rod be able to teleport, or analyze the universe in its entirety if needed? It has infinite energy, Chariot. If only I could use that, if only I could take the knowledge of that engine and put it to use in more useful things than a damn broom… We could change humanity, Chariot. No, forget humanity. We could change everything.”_

_Chariot was obviously not convinced. Croix looked at her. She often used her heart to think, not her head. That was part of her charm, but it also made her extremely annoying when it came to trying to figure her out. “It could also bring trouble. Won’t people fight for such a source of energy?”_

_Croix paused. “I suppose,” she admitted. “But maybe I could come up with a way for no one to steal it. If only I knew how it worked. I just…”_

_An idea appeared in her mind._

_“Chariot, can you remove the protection of the turret?”_

_Her red-haired friend frowned. She had a couple of beautiful red eyes, though right now they were tainted with worry and doubt. “What do you mean?”_

_“The psychic protection. Alcor said it was because my brain could be damaged, but I think I should be able to handle it. It would allow me to peek into the Shiny Rod, to see how it’s built,” Croix explained. “What if I can replicate it? What if I…”_

_“Don’t,” Chariot said. “It’s too dangerous, Croix,” she said._

_“it’s not. Look, if anything goes wrong, you can turn it off, you know? And I’ll give up on this idea. I just… want to know, Chariot. I could win a Nobel prize, I could…” she trailed off as she saw Chariot’s expression. “What is it going to take to convince you?”_

_“You can’t,” Chariot said. “There’s no way in hell I-”_

_Croix leaned forward, placing a kiss on her mouth. Chariot resisted a little at first, but she eventually gave in, going along. However, right before it got to the good part, Croix pulled away. “So? Trust me now?”_

_“That’s not fair,” Chariot said. “It wasn’t even an argument, you just…”_

_“It’s an appeal to emotion. Grant me this one thing and then we can have all the fun you want. I won’t bother you with practice for a full day,” Croix offered._

_Chariot blinked. “Really?” She asked. Suddenly all reservations she had seemed to fly away, replaced only by excitement. “I… We could go on a date! And do actually fun stuff!”_

_“Yes, yes. So, whaddya say?”_

_Chariot looked at her with suspicion, but after a moment she sighed. “Fine. But it’s still not fair…”_

Croix opened her eyes. She instantly brought a hand to her lips. It’d been so long since she’d kissed Chariot… Why was she even thinking about it? Sure, Chariot had been the _only_ person she’d ever kissed, but she was over that. She was over Chariot, mostly. Even if she had only gotten more beautiful with the years, and her fake glasses made her look hot, and the blue hair somehow really fit her.

Rising, Croix looked around. She had fallen asleep while working yet again. Her body didn’t even complain about it anymore, as if it had grown used to it. Still, Croix got up from her chair and walked over to one of her many tables. This one had a fair number of drawers. She opened one, taking out a small pill that glowed with magic. It was similar to the one Ursula had taken for fighting off her roombas, except much weaker. This one was just meant to fix Croix’s muscles after who knew how many hours of sleeping in a horrible position and avoid possible back pains through the day.

Now, she had a meeting in a while. It would be the race leaders complaining about the rules for the next race, saying they were unorthodox and yada yada yada. Maybe Croix should take another one of these and fry her brain. That way, at least, she wouldn’t have to deal with all of their bullshit.

But no, no suicide today. With a sigh and a stretch, she prepared to go on with her day.

 

Ursula felt weird. She had ended up having to send both Akko and Diana to sleep, and both of them had seemed… weird. This was only their first day here. Tomorrow they would get a chance to practice with the modified brooms, and then they’d probably do so in the simulator. The next day they would have that silly party the committee had decided to throw – probably to take away from practice time – and then it wouldn’t be long until the race began. Three full days of race. Even if one thought in terms of professional and experienced broom-racers, that was madness. One-day tournaments were already taxing for most. Three full days of constantly worrying over winning? Akko had the advantage of having her map, but…

With some guilt, Ursula almost wished they got disqualified. That way, at least, they wouldn’t have to keep up with these increasingly ridiculous rulesets.

Other than that, she had decided it was about time she slept. It had been a long, drawn-out day. Sucy’s incident before landing, then walking the city, then walking back to look for Diana, then having to give a report.

Now she had been supervising the modifications to the Unicorn, but she wasn’t a mechanic, engineer or anything of the like. This meant she could ‘supervise’ all she wanted, she didn’t understand a single thing of what was going on. Sure, she had learnt a lot thanks to the Shiny Rod, but knowing how the Rod worked was like learning quantum physics before actual physics. One had built upon the other, but understanding one didn’t give understanding of the other.

Ursula was now walking through the outer chasms of The Bottom. Here, activity was subdued. It was like a completely different city, no chasm having windows higher than three floors, most lighting being only from moss or fungi, most armors walking slowly and peacefully. It was a suburb inside a big city, basically. Ursula noticed some stores, here and there. Some sold rocks, others sold tools or black things Ursula didn’t even recognize, and some even sold electronics. Or the Armor equivalent. They all looked like rocks. _Everything_ in Vorago looked like rocks. Kind of hard to do otherwise.

It was interesting, but Ursula had already visited most planets on the alliance on her youth. Her childish curiosity had slowly been replaced by a need to sit down and do as few things as possible as she had grown. Maybe she was just depressed. She sure felt like shit.

She kept walking. She kind of recalled the last time she’d been to Vorago. She hadn’t been supposed to be there, but she hadn’t been able to resist the temptation of going everywhere she could with the Rod. Croix hadn’t come with her, curiously enough. The biggest difference now, though, was that Chariot hadn’t existed for ten years. She was now Ursula, the coach of Earth’s team and she couldn’t be seen fooling around.

Damn Holbrooke. It was her fault she was here. Sure, it was thanks to her that Ursula had been able to hide all these years, and she _was_ grateful she had given her a job, but putting her up for this… She _had_ to know that Croix was the new head of the IPR. Had she set her up on purpose? Did she want them to rekindle their friendship or something?

Being friends with Croix again. It sounded too good to be true. It was too good to be true. Croix probably hated her, and Ursula didn’t even know how she felt about Croix. _She regrets meeting me,_ Ursula thought. Yeah, no. Friendship was off the limits, nowadays.

As she walked, she noticed a couple of angry looking armor arguing over something. She paused. Armor were relatively pacific, but these two had gathered a small crowd. Well, small by armor standards. Ursula still felt like it was crowded, even if there were only nine or ten armor looking at the two in their argument.

Their shells, from the side, looked bulky. How did their bodies look under it? They really looked like armadillos, save for the fact that their shells were smooth and not plated. Their front legs, stubby and short for their size, were the only visible from the angle, the other two peeking from under the massive rock at their backs. Ursula got closer, passing between two armor who didn’t even seem to notice her passing. She was now in range for her translator to pick up what their strange speaking said.

“… no!” was saying one of them, she had a gold line running down the side of her shell, or caparace, or whatever that was called. Ursula had seen her teeth while she spoke.

“You step my home!” the armor language wasn’t particularly optimized for the translators, so it sounded kind of primitive in Ursula’s ears. But she knew it wasn’t anything of the sort in reality. “You fight!” The other armor was a had six teeth, which meant a lack of sex.

“Was an accident!” the female one said.

“Don’t care!” the other said, throwing a punch.

For being so bulky, these aliens could move at an impressive speed when they wanted. Ursula would have been able to dodge that, but armor arms were longer than one expected, since they almost always hid them under their shells. They were even longer than Ursula’s legs.

 The punch didn’t connect, though. The female armor stepped to the side, as if she’d been expecting the punch, and then she took out two of her four arms and countered with them at the same time, getting the genderless armor in the snout.

The genderless armor fell to the ground with the hit. Ursula guessed that was where they would stop, but then the female armor stepped over to the other one and prepared to keep going. _Right,_ Ursula recalled. They take offenses to their privacy very seriously. If she didn’t finish the job now, the genderless armor would come back for her.

Ursula felt like she should do something. Step in, help. But what would she do? Stop a two-ton being of rock on her own? Actually, there were two of them. Even with one of her magic capsules – which were expensive and she couldn’t replenish them in the middle of the IPR – she wouldn’t be able to do anything. Increased human strength was just that, increased _human_ strength. She became resistant to magic too, and she may have been able to take a hit from an armor and not die, but that was it.

She turned around as the fight continued, walking away, feeling slightly shaken. All societies, no matter how good they looked, had their ups and downs. This particular thing of the armors had actually been discovered recently. They had kept it hidden for over a hundred years, somehow.

No one had done anything to try and stop it. It was already difficult to change the mindset of a single person. Change the mindset of an entire race? And one as engrained in its workings as the armors? They’d be lucky if this stopped when the millennium was over.

It wasn’t long, from there, until she reached the center of The Bottom. There were exactly fourteen chasms coming out of there. Well, thirteen, if one was being super technical, but right next to the one that led to the _Dragon_ there was a really wide one that split into two barely over a hundred meters into it.

Ursula turned to the right, walking towards the joke of a chasm they had given the humans. Before humans, that chasm had been a dumpster, Ursula understood. Even when humans moved into it, the armors had kept using it as such for years. That was until humanity used magic barriers to keep them away. There was some tension, but eventually the Planetary Alliance decided to abdicate in favor of the humans. That had been like twenty years ago, at this point. Such a short time, in a way, and so long in others.

The human district, too, was active. Even if the chasm was only a couple hundreds of meters long, with all the people pouring in from the _Dragon,_ the place was brimming with tourists. It was easy to distinguish the locals, though, with their rock clothing and their hairless bodies.

Ursula found it hard to move in between the crowds. The locals seemed excited, particularly the younger ones, but the old people looked at them with a strange mixture of longing and disapproval.  Twenty five years in this place, away from everyone and everything, living only on supplies given by the planetary alliance… Ursula didn’t know if she’d be able to do that. Not here in these chasms, at least.

After struggling enough, she finally found herself face-to-face with the Inn. She wanted to just go up to her bed on the fifth floor and sleep. Why didn’t they have an elevator?

However, when she got in, she found Akko in the small lobby. She was sitting to her right, in a small place where a few stone chairs and a table sat. She was idly looking at the terrarium with the small, two-legged white creatures.

“Akko, I told you to rest,” Ursula said, approaching the brunette. She looked thoughtful. Her brow furrowed, her lips pressed, eyes that would have pierced right through the stone is allowed to. She didn’t even seem to notice that Ursula was speaking to her. It was strange. Akko sitting and thinking, so deep in thought that she didn’t even notice Ursula?

It was only when Ursula stood directly in her line of sight that Akko finally snapped out of it. She looked sad. She looked annoyed. Most of all, she looked troubled.

“Hello, coach,” Akko said. “I’m going to sleep soon, I swear.”

“Where are Diana and Sucy?” Ursula asked, looking around.

“They did go to sleep,” Akko sighed. “I just don’t feel like it.”

Ursula sat next to her. “I’ve… noticed you and Diana don’t look to be in better terms than last time,” she said. She went straight to the point, since being subtle rarely worked with Akko.

Akko pressed her lips. “We aren’t,” she said, voice sorrowful. “I don’t even know why. It’s like… Like every time we talk, something goes worse.”

_Oh girl, do I know that feeling,_ Ursula thought. “And what about apologizing?”

“I don’t even know what I should do,” Akko was wearing casual clothing, and she wasn’t wearing a mask. She hadn’t worn one all day, as far as Ursula could remember. She’d have Akko use one to sleep, then. “Diana… Diana said I didn’t deserve to win or be the lead in the next race, so I decided to take the spot by force. She obviously didn’t like that, and now… I don’t know. Did I do something awful, coach?”

“Why _did_ you want to be the leader?” Ursula raised an eyebrow. Truth be told, she had also assumed Diana would lead, not Akko.

Akko looked up. “I… I just think I’d do it better. The Shiny Rod has the map, and it’s the key to this whole strategy. I _know_ I can do it, the Shiny Rod picked me for a reason! But Diana just turned around and didn’t listen. We all saw what I did last race. If I can just repeat it…”

Ursula pressed her lips. Akko couldn’t repeat that. It only worked once, after unlocking the password for the first time. Even if she did it again, she’d only gain maybe a small boost. She already had the instinctive knowledge hidden in the Shiny Rod, though. It showed, with how quickly he had adapted to flying in Vorago, but other than that.

“And,” Akko added. “I don’t know if Diana will be able to handle the pressure,” she explained.

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“She’s got so much on her shoulders already. Making her the lead during the next race would be putting even _more_ on her. I can’t… I can’t do that to her. I want to be able to help her, even if just on this. If we can win with her not having to make all that effort, I’d be happy,” Akko looked down, as if ashamed.

Ursula felt a smile slowly grow on her face. So they were fighting, but Akko would rather fight to help Diana out than not fight and allow Diana to stress herself out more. “And you think that is more important than your relationship with Diana?” Ursula asked.

“No!” Akko looked up. “But it’s for her own good. I know it is.”

She really did look troubled. “If you’re so certain about this,” Ursula said. “Then I suppose you may be right,” her arguments, particularly the Diana one, did make sense. Diana had been really intense lately, due to her family issues. Adding the responsibility to have to lead the team to victory on top of that seemed cruel. Akko was good at figuring these things out, even if she was bad at explaining them.

Akko looked at her with a doubtful expression. “Really?”

Ursula nodded. “Really. Did you explain this to Diana? Particularly the last part?”

Akko shook her head. “If I told her that she’d be insulted,” she said, grimacing. “She’d say she’d be able to handle it. She… She’s bad at admitting when she _can’t_ do something. Guess we all are,” she sighed. “I just hope she doesn’t hate me, even if she doesn’t trust me.”

Ursula hesitated. What should she say? That Diana _did_ trust her? The problem was, Ursula didn’t even know if that was the case. Diana clearly liked Akko, and trusted her on a personal level. But in piloting? Ursula herself had her doubts of Akko. It was… well, not out of being mean, but Akko was still a novice. It felt strange. It felt like it had been an eternity since Akko had started to pilot, yet it had barely been two months.

“Ok, I’ll talk to her,” Ursula said, patting Akko’s shoulder. Akko looked up with hope. “ _Not_ about personal issues, but about why I think it’s correct for you to be the lead, got it? You have to figure the rest of the stuff out on your own.” Akko nodded weakly, and while Ursula could see she probably needed some help, this _was_ the kind of thing she needed to figure out alone. “Now come on, let’s get to bed.”

Akko stood, following her as she went upstairs. Ursula ruffled Akko’s hair one last time before going up to her own room. If nothing else, she knew Akko would come to a good conclusion. Maybe a stupid one, but a good one nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of batch!   
> Thanks a lot for everyone who is reading this. 100 chapters. Wowee.  
> Now if you excuse me, I'll go back to my endless suffering. Don't forget to comment though!  
> See you next time!


	101. Chapter 101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome, mortals, to another batch!  
> I want to say a lot of things, but I will say none of them.  
> Hope you enjoy the story. Please hit me up with thems comments. Criticism and such is always welcome.

Diana was sleeping. Alone. So alone. With Barbara on Lotte’s room, and Hannah in – Diana assumed – Amanda’s room, she had a floor all to herself. Normally, this wouldn’t bother her. She was used to sleeping in a mostly empty mansion, after all, and the others were just a set of stairs away. And yet, she felt empty. Like no-one was around.

If she closed her eyes, would everything else vanish too? She was afraid to sleep.

So she stared into the darkness, thinking. Sleeping was always like this, for her, when she was troubled. Lots of thinking, lots of wondering about life. There had been that one time she’d stayed up all night just because she couldn’t exactly grasp the concept of mortality, back when she was twelve. It had been a long, confusing night, with lots of moments where Diana had felt like crying.

She hadn’t cried, though. She never cried.

Never.

Why did she feel like doing so, now? Everything happening, everything that was going on, was her fault. She understood this. Why was it so hard to fix her problems, her issues? Was it just impossible? Freezing up, saying what you don’t want to say. She had never been good at making amends with anyone. Could she have had a happier life if she had made friends with her aunt? Maybe if she hadn’t been so self-centered as a kid, her aunt wouldn’t have hated her. Was it her fault too?

Shapes formed in the darkness. Shapes of colors subdued, shapes of incomprehensible meaning. Her mind creating something for her to focus on while she thought.

Akko. In the end, she was like a magnet to her thoughts. Unavoidable, a barrier that Diana seemed to have to surpass every time she pondered. However, this time Barbara seemed to pop up from under the bed too. And then Hannah. The three people in this world she considered her friends. She had insulted one, pushed away another, and the last one seemed to have learned from Diana’s previous times in this mood and hadn’t even bothered to come near her. Maybe that was for the best. Diana would have insulted her in some way or another too, eventually. Because, for all the ‘perfect’ she seemed to be in eyes of others, she wasn’t able to interact with others like a normal human being.

Was this because Hannah and Barbara had gotten girlfriends? Maybe they had realized Diana just wasn’t worth the effort, now that they had someone to love.

Akko sure seemed to have realized that. She no longer cared, at least.

_‘And here I thought I had finally made you proud. Guess that’s never going to happen.’_

Diana had felt it. The hurt in Akko’s voice. In the way she walked away. Was Diana just that bad of a person? Why couldn’t she have been happy for Akko’s win, instead of shoving in her face that she hadn’t actually won out of her own merits? No. She _had_ to point out that she thought Akko wasn’t worthy of being a pilot.

But that wasn’t it, either. Diana had seen what she’d done last race. Even if she had gotten a boost at the end, she _had_ managed to go all the way from last to first. If Akko hadn’t been stopped like that right at the beginning, would she have been able to win without the command?

Yes. Diana realized she wasn’t just fantasizing. She did think Akko was a good pilot. But she was hasty, she had probably wasted more fuel than needed with her transformations and all those nitros. No, she wasn’t perfect. But who was?

Diana should have worded things better. Now, though, it was too late. Akko had already decided she’d be the leader. She hadn’t cared about anything but the fact that she held the most important piece of the puzzle. Was she just trying to get back at Diana, maybe? Just prove she was wrong? Or was she really that sure she was a better pilot?

Diana thought it impossible. Why would Akko consider herself better than Diana? All this time…

All this time, Diana had just assumed Akko looked up to her. But Akko did mention that she saw Diana as a rival. Diana closed her eyes. Not that it made much of a difference. Was Akko, maybe, doing this because she wanted to prove herself _better_ than Diana? How likely was it?

It did seem like something Akko would do, but… No, not like this. She wouldn’t just impose it like this. Maybe she’d want to have some kind of competition. Maybe that’s what Diana should have suggested, instead of reacting like she did. For them to try it, to test before deciding.

Darkness. Why was it so unnerving, now? Diana wasn’t scared of it. Diana often found its cover comforting. A way of isolating herself from the daily life. Yet now she seemed to be suffering it. She was being forced to think, to figure things out, and she wasn’t liking where her mind was going.

What if Akko just didn’t like her anymore? It was a possibility. The way Akko had spoken to her, in an almost cold manner… Maybe Diana had just crossed the line.

And yet, something scared Diana even more.

What if _she_ didn’t like Akko anymore?

Why did it scare her so? She wasn’t sure. But after so many years thinking romance just wasn’t for her, she had finally found someone she could look at and feel happy just because she was there. Now it was the opposite. Every time she looked at Akko, it was painful. This wasn’t how Amanda and Hannah had been at all. Maybe the relationship just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe Diana had just been infatuated. She had just read Emotions, she was in the mood for romance, and Akko had been there. Was it that, then?

She didn’t know. She _hated_ not knowing. Wasn’t there a way to see inside her brain, to check it?

If there was one, she didn’t know that either.

Unknowingly, she ended up falling asleep.

 

 _“It_ is _something related to the Shiny Rod, after all,” Croix said. Akko now recognized her, though she was way younger than in her last dream. Was this even a dream, then?_

_“You’re right, I guess,” Chariot said. Akko saw things from her perspective. Chariot was lying on her back, head on Croix’s legs. She was sweating, and her breathing was irregular. “I… I can’t believe this.”_

_Croix snorted. “I knew we shouldn’t have taken this thing out of that building. It’s broken, or cursed, or something,” she said. She looked concerned and angry at the same time. “And now neither of us can pilot another broom. I only get headaches but you almost died just now.”_

_“I know, just…” Chariot took a deep breath. “I guess it’s fine. No ship is better than the Shiny Rod anyways.”_

_Croix rolled her eyes. She was pressing one of her hands on Chariot’s shoulder, as if afraid she would try to run away. “Now. What about ten years in the future? Or twenty? This ship is fine, Chariot, but it won’t always be so. I… We’re lucky you discovered that magical word. I’m lucky the Shiny Rod let me use it.”_

_Chariot nodded. Akko couldn’t hear what she was thinking, but she understood that she had probably suffered from the same thing that had happened to her back when she had tried to pilot the Shooting Star. “This is my fault, isn’t it. Now you won’t be able to pilot anymore without putting your life at risk,” Chariot said. She sounded sad._

_Croix’s eyebrow twitched. But then she paused. “It’s fine,” she said. “I’m starting to think I’ll perform better as an engineer, anyways.”_

_“I’m sorry,” Chariot said._

_“Apology accepted,” Croix said, moving. “Now get up, we should go back and explain why you suddenly collapsed.”_

_“What are we going to say?” Chariot asked, slowly rising._

_“I don’t know, you’re the one who usually lies…”_

The dream faded slowly, and even as she opened her eyes, Akko faintly heard Croix’s and Chariot’s voices conversing.  Her mind was numb, and her body felt extremely tired despite the rest. She looked at her wrist, she didn’t have the clock there. She felt a stab of guilt over that. Diana had come up with a good schedule for her, and it had been working wonderfully.

But for now, she decided, she’d prove Diana she was worthy of her place. Not as First Category pilot, but as someone she could trust. Once Diana trusted her, then maybe… Maybe Akko would find a way to help her. She wasn’t sure of why, but she now felt like maybe, having Diana place trust in her was the key. Like Diana’s trust would give her that idea, that definite answer she was looking for as to what to do.

She took a deep breath. She was still trying to feel how well she had rested. She was still tired, but that might just be because of how horrible she felt. Yet there was this energy going through her, this need to get out of bed and go train. She had learned to ignore it and stick to her schedule, but now that she wasn’t doing that anymore…

With a yawn, she came out from under the bed sheets and stretched a little as she moved around for the little box of matches she had been given by Carole, the inn’s owner. Today would be a better day.

 

Today would be an _awful_ day. Or at least, that’s how Amanda saw it.

She hadn’t slept. Not a single bit, in the whole night. Sure, she had pretended to fall asleep, and that had managed to get Hannah to stay. What she hadn’t expected was that Hannah would sleep in her damn underwear. The amount of self-restraint, of thinking about dying puppies and naked old men that it had taken for her to not go into brain overload had nearly killed her. She walked now, kind of like a zombie, while unable to get out of her head the feeling of Hannah’s boobs pressing against her, of how smooth the bare skin on her back had been, of how much she’d wanted to move her hand down just a few centimeters to feel her butt.

She had also been forced to take a shower first-thing in the morning. She had gotten wet so many times last night it was insane. And now she was so frustrated that if she didn’t manage to find release by the end of the day she’d probably just find one of those bottomless pits around these chasms and jump into one. Better than that this suffering.

Of course, there was also the part where Hannah had finally trusted enough in her to sleep almost naked in her same bed. Not wanting to betray that trust had been a great part of why Amanda hadn’t moved a single finger on her.

Hannah had remained back on the room, though. Amanda walked towards the place Ursula had told them to meet in, accompanied only by Akko. Akko didn’t look much better than Amanda felt, but probably for different reasons. The relationship she had with Diana was a damn mess, and Amanda would have probably thrown in the towel long ago if Diana was such a bitch to her.

“Hey Akko,” Amanda said. “Wanna go grab something to eat, later?” She asked.

Looking up, Akko cocked her head. “Don’t you have plans with Hannah or something?”

“We’ll probably go on a double-date for dinner tonight, but I have lunch free. We can explore and try to find a good place, whaddya say?”

Akko looked down again. “I don’t know. I…” she shook her head. “No, it’s fine. We can go.”

Amanda nodded. She’d get Akko to talk later. She probably needed some advice on how to deal with her problems, though Amanda was probably not the best one for the job. She’d still try, but she would probably be ignored. She would _hopefully_ be ignored. Amanda had found that most advice she gave didn’t really work for everyone else. She was a special kind of stupid.

Like, for example, getting your girlfriend to sleep almost naked next to you but being unable to do anything about it.

“Akko, do you think about sex?” Amanda asked. They had already turned and were walking up a chasm that was right to the left of the human one. It apparently led to a good place to practice inside the bottom, but it was about half an hour away by feet. Amanda had actually taken the chance to go ahead without Hannah with some gratefulness. A good chance to distract herself from how horny she was.

“Why would you ask that?” Akko turned to her. Amanda had expected her to be a little more embarrassed, but she was just confused.

“I’m curious. You don’t really seem the type to fall in love in someone for the body, so I wonder if you think about their body at all.”

Akko paused. “I have thought about doing it with Diana,” she said. “She’s beautiful, after all. She’s got a great body and…” she trailed off, suddenly looking depressed. “And she probably doesn’t think about it anyways. Not now, anyways. I haven’t thought much about it recently either. I guess with all what’s going on we don’t have much time to think about that.”

Amanda snorted. “Yeah, sure,” she said. “I’m fairly certain Diana does look at you _that_ way. Or at least, she totally did back at the dinner after she came out of the hospital.”

Akko pressed her lips. “I wonder if she still sees me that way,” she lamented.

She sounded hurt. What had really gone down between them? Amanda couldn’t be sure. “Why is it that you like her, anyways?” She asked. “You’re so… well, different.”

It took a while for Akko to answer, and Amanda could see she really thought about it. Was she doubting or just looking for a way to explain?

Still Amanda took the chance to look around. This chasm didn’t seem of particular note to her, save for maybe the constant feeling she had of being watched. She looked over her shoulder, but no-one was there. Was it because she was in an unknown place?

“She’s smart,” Akko finally said, snapping Amanda back into the conversation. “She’s beautiful. She’s talented,” she started describing. “She has this way of scolding you that makes you understand she doesn’t do it out of malice, but out of genuine care. She’s kinder than you give her credit for, and she’s always thinking a lot about everything. She likes learning and reading because it’s a passion, not because she feels obligated, and her smile is like a blazing sun… when she does it, at least,” she stopped for a second. “And she doesn’t seem annoyed by me. Most of the time, at least.”

Amanda was a little surprised. She had managed to give Diana such praise even in the middle of a fight?

“Yes, she’s nearly perfect,” Akko continued. “She’s everything you expect of her, but so much more too…” she looked down. “It makes sense that it wouldn’t work between us, doesn’t it? She’s at the top of the chain, while I’m at the bottom.”

“Akko, come on, you’re great,” Amanda was quick to try and cheer her up. “In only five races you managed to win against nine of the best pilots in the universe. You should be proud. Even with the Shiny Rod, not everyone would be able to pull _that_ off.”

Akko didn’t look convinced. She really was sad.

Amanda thought of a way to cheer her up, but she was at a loss, really. What was she to do? Say that everything would be fine? She couldn’t say that with any level of certainty. “So, excited for tomorrow’s party?” She asked instead.

“No,” Akko said without enthusiasm.

 _Bad topic,_ Amanda realized. She was excited ‘cause she’d get to go with Hannah, but Akko… Yeah.

Amanda was planning to reveal to Hannah that _she_ was the masked guy all along. Would she be mad? Would she be glad? Amanda expected her to grow angry and maybe act offended for a few minutes until she finally gave in and congratulated Amanda on her great acting. Then she’d go to insult Barbara for being an asshole and everyone would be happy.

Hopefully.

“So…” Amanda still searched for something to distract Akko with. The girl really needed some levity. “You’re the leader, then?”

“You heard?” Akko raised an eyebrow.

“Ursula told me before I left. I think she was going to talk with Diana about it,” she explained.

Akko nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am,” she said.

“You don’t sound particularly excited,” Amanda said.

“I basically forced Diana to give me the job. I… I feel bad about it,” Akko explained. Then she looked up. “But I also know it’s for the best. I know it’s wrong of me, but I wish you were the one piloting. I feel like we’d do a better team, here.”

Amanda nodded. “You’re right,” she said. Both her and Akko had a wilder flying style. Akko’s was more out of inexperience and her adoration for Chariot, but it was still wild. Amanda’s came from her need of movement and instincts that told her what to do, rather than any careful consideration like Diana’s style. Diana stuck to an strategy, Amanda changed them on the fly, Akko just lacked the concept of what a strategy really was.

“You think we can convince her to…”

“Even if we could,” Amanda interrupted, “I have no idea of how to pilot the Unicorn, and we can’t just use the Shooting Star,” she palmed Akko’s shoulder, “but don’t worry, I know you and Diana will do just fine. Diana is perfect, after all. Following you with that fancy-schmancy should be trivial.”

It took a few seconds, but Akko ended up nodding. “I wonder if I can get good enough for Diana to look up to me or even actually see me as her rival. Just… Just enough for her to see me as her equal.”

Amanda doubted that’d ever be the case. Diana was too disconnected from everything for it to actually work. “If you want my advice, you should just go up to her and tell her to knock it off. Tell her to either get her shit together or to fuck off.”

Akko looked at her with confusion. “That seems like a little too aggressive,” she said. Then she looked down. “Though I guess it can work,” there was resignation in her voice. Amanda was a little surprised she had actually taken the advice seriously. Now she regretted giving it.

The dark chasms slowly grew darker as they got further away from the center of the city. Moss still lined most walls, but the real light seemed to come from the mushrooms or torches, which were less prominent here. The height at which the armors had carved the walls also seemed to be less here. Still, it was a massive city. Every branching chasm was lit, and the amount of armors walking around was still impressive and even intimidating.

There was no chatting for a while. Just Akko and Amanda walking in uncomfortable silence, their steps lost in the cacophony of thumps that were the armors moving. Both of them were wearing their masks, now, though Amanda found them kind of annoying. Still, she had slept without hers, so she had to use it for a few hours to make sure her lungs were clean.

Their masks were annoying, but the true problem was that Amanda found that she missed the smell of the planet. That mixture of humidity and the soft smell of something burning had grown kind of addictive. It seemed to evoke a melancholic yet unknown feeling. Was she just going nuts? Was it wrong for her to feel that way? She was in an alien planet. She hadn’t felt anything even remotely similar on the previous ones. What made this one different?

She looked up. “You think we can go up there?”

Akko cocked her head. “Huh?”

Amanda pointed up. Towards the impossible to see sky. “To the surface. You think we can go there, with the Shiny Rod? I’m sure its shields could take a meteorite or two.”

Akko looked up. “I wonder if Diana will even want to come,” she said. Amanda was confused for a second, then she realized Akko must have thought she was speaking about that thing they did about reaching high places. She hadn’t even thought about that, but being up there with Hannah could prove to be romantic, depending on how nice it was.

Last time they’d done that, was raining. And it was cold, too. Hannah had basically pulled Amanda into an embrace, and… Yeah, she could repeat that.

The rest of their walk Amanda smiled, thinking about Hannah. Talking with Akko had helped her get her heat down, and that memory of Hannah helped her calm down. She’d come to terms with the idea of actually going for a home run eventually. For now, Amanda guessed she was fine with first base – though what happened last night was almost more like second base.

 _She called me ‘Ama’,_ Amanda thought. Others had tried to call her that, in the past. She had told them to fuck off, as she hated it. Why was it that when Hannah used it she suddenly grew to love it?

“I miss Luna Nova,” Akko said.

Amanda raised an eyebrow, stopping her thinking. “Do you, now?” She asked without hiding her incredulity.

“It was simpler. I… I wonder if I could have fallen in love with Diana there. Maybe then we wouldn’t have all this trouble,” Akko said. “I wish I could help her. If I could ask for a single wish I would spend it on that. On helping her. On getting rid of her messed family, or fixing them. Or at least saving her mother’s broom.”

Amanda was a little confused by that last part. She wasn’t up to date with Diana’s family situation, but Hannah had mentioned she had a messed up aunt. The broom thing, though, that was completely new. Yet prying felt wrong. Akko seemed to be talking with herself more than she did with Amanda.

“I just… want to go home,” she finally said.

Amanda didn’t share the feeling, but she could understand it. She palmed Akko’s back this time, being supportive.

“Just like a month and a half more and we’ll be done, relax,” Amanda said.

Akko sighed. “I guess you’re right. Who knows, we may even get disqualified here and now and be over with it,” she said.

Amanda didn’t really feel like that was a very Akko thing to say, but she could get behind the mood of the brunette. Fighting with the girl you liked sounded rough. What would she do if she fought with Hannah? It sounded like something really annoying to deal with.

Yet, she was somewhat used to fighting with Hannah. She knew how to handle her… probably. Akko and Diana didn’t have much experience in terms of conflict.

Maybe Jasminka could help. Just lock her up in a room with Diana and Akko. The cubby girl would make them more reasonable with her mere presence and allow them to fix their problems. Amanda took note of that for later. It wouldn’t be too hard to try that.

It wasn’t long until they finally reached the chasm that Ursula had told them about. The Shiny Rod and Unicorn were there behind a magical barrier. A bunch of armors stood outside of the barrier, watching the ships. They didn’t seem hostile or angry, just curious. Of course, that was just Amanda’s impression. She wasn’t an expert on reading armor emotions. At least they didn’t get attacked by anyone.

Ursula stood near the ships. The walls of this chasm were mostly empty, save for moss. No mushrooms here. Amanda didn’t seem to recall seeing them much in the simulation. Were they planted artificially in the city, then?

“Hey girls,” Ursula rose her hand. Akko looked at her. Amanda wondered how she had gotten there before them. Next to her stood a tiny girl wearing an utilitarian outfit and a pair of googles that seemed to match her mask.

“Oh you here, Constanze? I didn’t hear you waking up,” Amanda had heard basically _everyone_ as they awoke, seeing as she hadn’t been able to sleep.

The little girl shook her head. Amanda understood. She hadn’t slept either. Then she pointed  back at the brooms, and for the first time Amanda noticed the big hose connecting the two by their engines.

“Constanze here is a true genius,” Ursula smiled at her. “She managed to finish everything in under ten hours.” Constanze cleared her throat,  and a bunch of stanbots crawled from somewhere. “And the stanbots too, of course,” Ursula said, smiling at the two-dozen or so robots.

“How did you get here, anyways?” Amanda asked. “Last I saw you, you were behind about to go talk with Diana.”

“I took the broom-cycle and took a slightly roundabout route,” Ursula confessed.

Amanda paused. She had completely forgotten Ursula even had that thing. But, well, she hadn’t had many chances to use it either, not after Machina. “Well, guess that solves that mystery,” Amanda shrugged. “Now what?”

“Well, Diana and Hannah should already be on their way, though it may be another ten minutes before they arrive. For now, let’s get Constanze to explain how this works. Since she couldn’t touch the Rod too much without it going nuts she had to add all extra controls to the Unicorn,” Ursula said.

Akko nodded, walking over to Constanze. If nothing else, she was determined to fulfill her role as a leader, despite her insecurities. What a complicated girl.

“Not going?” Ursula asked Amanda.

Amanda shrugged again. “Why should I?” She asked. “I won’t even remember it later.”

“You don’t know that,” Ursula said. “You stop creating memories inside the Rod, doesn’t mean your previous ones get wiped out.”

Amanda considered this. That did make sense, she supposed. With some resignation, she walked over to Constanze, who was pointing at the screen of her tablet. It showed a blueprint of both the Unicorn and Shiny Rod, though the Shiny Rod’s was kind of fuzzy. “I don’t get anything,” Amanda said. One would think having a mechanic friend helped to get these things better. It didn’t, not in the grand scheme of things.

Constanze sighed. Then she zoomed in on the blueprint, pointing at numbers. “Ok, so the hose is… fifty meters long? No, that’s normally. It’s at about forty now? Fine. And we should not strain it, so try to remain always below thirty meters from each other…”

“You understand everything?” Akko asked, amazed. “I thought I was good at getting her, but…”

“It takes practice,” Amanda kept looking at the screen. “What? Come on, Cons, we can’t fly if we can’t do that,” she shook her head. Constanze had just explained they wouldn’t be able to do barrel rolls unless they synchronized themselves perfectly. The mechanic proceeded to explain how if they did that everything would be for naught. “Ok, ok, geez, relax.”

Constanze continued. Amanda translated. The hose added a bunch of rules and limitations to their flying, and more and more Amanda questioned if they’d even be able to pull it off. A couple of bad moves from either Akko or Diana and everything would go to shit. Constanze ‘suggested’ to Akko that she was _not_ to transform the Rod. The hose would break if she did.

It was a long explanation, and by the end of it, Diana and Hannah had arrived. Akko and Diana stared at each other warily, almost as if they were animals measuring each other. Hannah walked over, looking worried. Amanda leaned to speak in her ear. “How’s the blondie feeling today?” She asked.

“Ursula spoke with her about why she thought Akko’s decision had been the right one, but she hasn’t’ spoken a word after that. I think she’s mad,” Hannah replied in a low voice too.

Amanda could see the longing in both of the girls eyes. But there was also anger. Both of them had been hurt by the other in some way or another. The first one to budge was Diana, however, and soon the staring match ended, with Akko taking a breath, as if it had been some really hard fight.

“Uhm…” Ursula had obviously noticed it too. “Well, girls, let’s go on our first practice ride. Take it slow and easy, got it?”

Everyone nodded. Amanda turned to leave and crawl under the rod, but Hannah suddenly grabbed her hand. Making her spin, she quickly placed a kiss on Amanda’s cheek before letting go. “Thanks for not doing anything weird, last night.”

Amanda blushed as Hannah walked away with a smile. Somehow, that kiss on the cheek felt as impactful as any of the other kisses they’d shared.

Now with a smile, she finally crawled under the white broom.


	102. Chapter 102

“Girls, please work together,” Ursula said. “Diana, I know you’re not happy with the decision, but you should try to avoid breaking the hose.”

Ursula was watching her wand the progress of the two. She had borrowed a few of the Planetary Alliance’s cameras for this. She shouldn’t have been allowed, technically, but she had the feeling Croix had a part on this. The Planetary Alliance was far above the Inter-Planetary Race Committee in terms of power, of course, but during the IPR both of these reached similar importance, as the entire explored universe started to revolve about the event. Three months of almost absolute power.

“I’m sorry,” Diana said. “I just think about better maneuvers and…”

“This isn’t about efficiency yet, Diana. Focus. It’s about getting you and Akko in sync.”

Diana didn’t reply. Ursula wasn’t sure what to think of the blonde’s attitude. She still felt weird about being the one that had explained the thing to her. Diana had accepted her arguments – though Ursula had left aside the part where she didn’t want to burden Diana even further – but she had been rather reluctant to do so.

And now it showed why. Ursula watched as many times Diana did things, probably out of pure habit, that Akko hadn’t lead her into. Since it was a physical training they didn’t have to deal with other racers, but Ursula sometimes saw as the Unicorn made as if to dodge something. Maybe Diana getting distracted or thinking of those simulations. Or it could also be Diana purposefully testing the limits of what she could do without relying on Akko.

It was a tense situation, too. “Left,” Akko ordered. She sounded surprisingly confident, given how uncertain she’d been about the position not long ago.

“Right would be more efficient to reach our destination,” Diana said.

Akko didn’t answer, starting to move to the left. The Unicorn stood where it was until the Hose was nearly strained, then reluctantly moved to follow.

 _Diana has seen the map of the area,_ Ursula thought. She’d shown both the pilots the map, but Akko barely had a need for it, as she had the Shiny Rod’s automatic one.

Akko had chosen the harsher path. The right chasm would have led them in a long, if slightly irregular curve, closer to the finish. However, the left chasm was a mess of branching chasms that crossed and mixed like a bunch of different streams of water, all of them eventually meeting with the right chasm.

Was Akko trying to annoy Diana? Or just get her to follow her orders without complaining? Maybe she saw something in the Rod’s maps that Ursula or Diana didn’t. Some hidden path, some place to use nitro.

Instead, she kept taking the more complicated chasms. Some too narrow for both ships to fly next to each other, some with strange curves that led away from their goal. One in particular where they had to go for a few hundred meters in one of the deep chasms. The armors had a word for them. It was, in fact, the only word they had that didn’t use their lips. Like a long vowel, mixed with a couple of tongue clicks. A common name for them was ‘Deepness.’ Deepnesses, too. Armors had stories about creatures made of water that crawled from them, glowing green, to take away those who tried to steal from others. It was mere superstition, of course, but Ursula found the story curious. How similar it was to human fairy tales.

The depths were nearly unexplored. Some info was known – they were hundreds of meters deep, there was very little plant life there and the air that was toxic to most humans was particularly dense there, making it more dangerous. Of course, not that it mattered. Falling down one of those chasms was a clear death sentence.

Akko and Diana finally reached their destination. They hadn’t spoken a word save for Akko’s directions and Diana’s occasionally ‘got it’. The gunmen obviously didn’t say anything either. Amanda wasn’t even technically awake right now, her consciousness being used by the Shiny Rod as an extremely advanced AI, perfected for combat. And Hannah didn’t have much to do.

“Well done, girls,” Ursula said. They had managed to get all the way to the other side of the city, but rounding it. “Now, time to turn around. Get back here, faster than it took you to get there.”

“Got it,” Akko said. She sounded so serious, none of her usual childlike wonder at flying. It was worrying, but what could Ursula do about it, at this point? She and Diana had issues they needed to solve on their own. Ursula wasn’t the mother of two children, able to force them to apologize and get along. She was merely a coach, and a rather useless one at that. Diana barely needed any advice, and Akko needed to do things herself to be able to fully understand them. Neither of them were in real need of instruction. Amanda, of course, had been pretty much like Diana. Ursula really did feel inadequate for the job, and she still wondered why Holbrooke had set her up for it.

Or maybe it hadn’t been Holbrooke. Ursula pondered about this. Croix couldn’t have anything to do with it. As far as Ursula knew, Croix hadn’t even been interested in finding out how she had been for the past ten years. Why mess with her life, then?

Maybe it had something to do with the Rod. But again, she had been appointed as coach _before_ Akko and Amanda pulled their stunt and got into the race rather illegally.

Or it could just be her previous experience. Ursula was the only IPR pilot still able to do something like this. The Second Category pilot from the previous IPR had a family and children now. The ones from the tenth iteration were about fifty years old at this point, and probably wanted nothing to do with flying anymore. Being a broom-pilot was a relatively short career. Usually started at around the twenty-two years old mark and lasting up to, at best, forty years old.

Ursula had gotten an early start. A very early start. And now… Well, she had lost her career the second the previous IPR had ended.

“Akko, Ursula told us to go the fastest way possible, we should…” Diana started.

“Actually, Ursula just said we should go back faster than it took us to get here. Which we’re going to do,” Akko said. She didn’t let Diana take a single bit of control. Ursula could understand that mindset. If she let Diana start to give ‘suggestions’ those would soon turn into orders, and the roles would be reversed. Maybe that’s _why_ Akko was doing this. Just testing her own self against Diana, making sure she was doing things out of her out volition and not under Diana’s influence.

Though, the more she did that, the more bitterness Ursula heard in the blonde’s voice. “Akko, I do want you to get here faster. Try to take better routes, if you will,” she said.

Akko didn’t answer, but she did as told, slowly starting to shift back to better paths. She still diverged occasionally, though. Ursula let her do that. The point of the training was to get Diana to learn to follow Akko even in the bad moments, after all.

Pride. Such a stupid thing, yet everyone seemed to have it. Why was it? Not only humans, too. Every sentient creature seemed to feel at least some semblance of pride. The need to feel self-realized. Sometimes such a good force, at others a destroying one.

Hannah and Amanda had managed to get past their pride to get together. Diana and Akko were now fighting because of it. Would they ever manage to pull it off? To fly together, letting their pride on the side? In truth, the ideal way of doing this would be that both of them flew in sync out of mutual understanding, not having to order each other around.

But to be human was often inherently about conflict. You couldn’t reach your goals without struggling, either with nature or with other humans.

 _Enough philosophy,_ Ursula shook her head. _Focus,_ she thought.

Akko and Diana were close now. They weren’t flying fast, but even ‘slow’ for broom-racer standards was pretty speedy. Ursula waited, seeing them fly, her map of the area on the side to know what they were doing. Ursula was still near the entrance of the chasm. Behind her a bunch of armors still watched, curious. It was hard to forget about the fight Ursula had been witness to the previous day. Was that armor dead? It wasn’t illegal to kill someone as long as they had started the fight – or they had broken some other law. It seemed like a feeble method of rule, yet The Bottom was a perfectly functional city. Fights were rare. Ursula, in a way, had been lucky to see that one. Or unlucky, from her point of view. She could do without the knowledge of what had happened there.

Akko and Diana finally came back. Both of them stepped out of their brooms with airs of annoyance.

Amanda and Hannah didn’t bother coming out of their turrets. Either they didn’t want to get involved or they would rather sit there than come out only to have to crawl back in a few minutes down the line.

“I’m not convinced this is the best choice,” Diana was the first one to talk.

“It would be,” Akko remarked, “if you weren’t so reluctant to follow me.”

Neither sounded angry. Just certain. “So, taking inefficient paths is what you consider good leading?” Diana asked.

“It’s practice, Diana. I want us to get in sync, so I choose the harder paths.”

“We can get better without the need to also go against the instinct of a pilot by taking the slower way.”

Ursula stepped between the two. “Both of you are right,” she was quick to say. “Diana, Akko has her heart in the right place. By taking you to unexpected places, she’s making you more willing to follow her – even against your instincts,” she explained looking at the blonde. She wasn’t wearing her mask for some reason. Hannah hadn’t been either, if she thought about it. Though all four of them had chosen to wear their g-suits, curiously enough. “And you, Akko,” Ursula turned to meet those red eyes that so much reminded her of her younger self, “Diana is right too. You should also try to think in terms of racing. Do you both understand?” She asked taking a step back and looking at both girls. Both nodded, though Diana did so more reluctantly than Akko. “Now get back to practice. Now go to the same spot but by going the opposite way,” Ursula demanded. Akko nodded and walked away, quickly getting ready.

Diana, however, lingered for a few more seconds. She looked at Ursula with some doubt. Ursula tried to nod encouragingly. “If we lose, she’s going to blame herself,” she simply said, turning around and walking away.

Ursula was left confused. Wasn’t she angry, just a minute ago? Yet now her posture just denoted defeat and tiredness. She walked with her head down and dragged her feet.

 _Great,_ Ursula thought with some confusion, _both of them thought of the same argument._

Akko _would_ blame herself if they lost the race. But Diana would too. Who could handle it better? Ursula normally would’ve said Diana, but it was clear Diana wasn’t in a state to have more weight on her shoulders.

However, if she had to choose, then she’d go with Akko. Something told Ursula that Akko would be able to handle it better.

She hoped she was right.

 

Akko saw the map and the red line that told her the most optimal path towards their goal.

She ignored it, most of the time.

She all but flew with her eyes closed, focusing only on one thing: Getting Diana to do what she said. Now she was making sure to go through a relatively efficient path, but it was still different from the best one. She didn’t do it to make Diana annoyed, as Diana seemed to think. She just wanted Diana to trust her. Once that happened they could move on to high-speed optimal paths and all that stuff.

“I’m tired,” Amanda said. Akko hadn’t bothered to turn on the turret, since they wouldn’t be practicing shooting for now.

“You said that already, why don’t you sleep?” Akko asked. Amanda did have a dark area under her eyes. It was as if she hadn’t slept. “It’ll be a while until we go into the simulator.”

“I’ve tried. The ship moves too much, I can barely keep myself steady enough to not hit my head. Can’t you make the Rod get me a seatbelt? Or a seat, in general?”

Akko almost missed the chasm she was going to take because of the question. “Diana, right,” she said. It was a chasm that led them towards the most optimal route, but Akko would go past that and into another maze on the other side. “I don’t know, Amanda. Alcor,” Akko called for the familiar. If she only said the name, without giving a command, the green crow appeared in its holographic form.

 **What is it, Akko?** The bird asked in its robotic voice.

“Can you make Amanda more comfortable?”

The bird disappeared. A few seconds later, Akko heard noise from her turret. Then, Amanda sighed. “Now _this_ is so much better,” she said. “Thanks, Alcor.”

Akko nodded. Now Amanda would probably be able to sleep, for a while at least. “Hey Akko, cut communications between the turret and cockpit. Don’t wanna hear you arguing with Diana.”

“Hey, we don’t argue…! Too much,” Akko cringed a little, realizing  Diana had probably heard that.

If she did, she said nothing. She’d been awfully silent these past few minutes, just following. Maybe she had finally given up? Unlikely, but the lack of complaining _was_ a good start.

Akko pressed the button to cut communications with Amanda, allowing the redhead to potentially sleep for a while, and then continued guiding Diana. “Now we keep going, Diana, and then turn left,” Akko said. Whether Diana or not acknowledged the order was up to debate, but as Akko moved – she couldn’t help but notice that many of the chasms they flew through were inhabited – she slowly relaxed, seeing as Diana didn’t miss a beat. Maybe Diana wasn’t mad, after all. Maybe she was just quietly measuring Akko, for now.

The glowing moss on the walls of the chasms passed as streaks of light, sometimes mixed with blue from the mushrooms or red for the torches. Akko sometimes saw little streams of glowing green on the chasm floors, but she wasn’t sure of what it was. Radioactive wastes, maybe?

“Hey Diana, how do you think I’m doing?” Akko asked. Was it too straightforward? Could be, but she genuinely wanted to know Diana’s opinion.

Diana didn’t answer immediately. Akko feared she may be ignored, but a reply came eventually. “I can’t determine how good you’re doing if you keep taking these useless detours,” she said in a calm and collected voice.

Akko blinked. Well, Diana did have a point. Next run she’d make sure to take the optimal path, see what Diana thought of her after that. For now, though, she’d keep her current strategy.

Chasm after chasm, Akko tried to focus on guiding Diana. Not a single word came from anyone else. Was Amanda sleeping? Were Hannah and Diana purposefully ignoring her or was it focus too? It was hard to concentrate when Akko had all of these things in her mind. Should she try to talk with Diana, apologize? Even if Diana had offended her first, someone had to start. Akko had slowly let her anger fade. Sure, Diana had said some mean things, but she could forgive her for that, particularly after proving she could win even without the Shiny Rod’s tricks.

Three days of race. The Shiny Rod could fly for an indefinite amount of time, as long as Akko didn’t push it hard. Sure, magic output was a thing, but then they could let the rod on a low level while the Unicorn carried them. They couldn’t let the hose stretch too much but that was mostly in the way of trying to fly to opposite sides. Plus, Akko had the hook, that she could use so that the brooms wouldn’t be too far apart from each other.

Of course, they had already packed some rations on their broom’s storage. A three days worth of supplies for pilots and gunmen.

The rules were a little daunting, sure, but Akko tried to think of it as a camp. Or something similar. Three days of excitement and adventure.

“Well, we’re done,” Akko said, sighing after she arrived at the designated point. It wasn’t a chasm, really. More of a cave. It was smooth on all sides, probably shaped by water over millennia. Here a few members of the _Dragon’s_ mechanical team stood. They quickly went over the hose and other modifications to the Unicorn before giving them the thumbs up to go on.

Akko made a status report of the Rod. They hadn’t touched it, but she still didn’t trust their team.

She was surprised when, in the status report, the Unicorn also showed up. “Why?” Akko asked to herself, looking at the blueprints. The hose appeared too, and Akko could see everything inside the Unicorn as if it was part of the Shiny Rod.

“What is it?” Diana asked.

“I’ll show you later,” Akko said, thinking it’d be too distracting for both of them to think about it too much right now. “We should start to…”

“Diana, Akko, now get back,” Ursula’s voice came through the communicators. They weren’t wearing their helmets, but Constanze had installed a communicator on the Unicorn and she had somehow hacked into the Shiny Rod’s frequency.

Akko nodded, even if Ursula wouldn’t be able to see it, and begun to turn the Rod around, moving forward. Diana had to move the Unicorn backward, and they were basically creating an invisible circle. Turning on their own would have only caused the hose to get all tangled up in their motors. They could change sides if they did so vertically, but it was essentially impossible horizontally.

“Let’s go,” Akko said, starting to move. Slowly at first, but gaining more and more speed as they moved. “We’re taking it more seriously now,” she said.

Diana didn’t say anything, but the way she sped up made Akko assume she was interested in the idea. Both of them moved quickly and efficiently during this practice exercise. Akko stuck to the optimal route and she barely had to give Diana any orders. It was a really smooth sailing, so to say.

When they reached the chasm where Ursula waited, dark save for some moss, Akko was surprised to see another ship waiting there. The Shooting Star, long and green, had someone inside it.

Akko and Diana came out of their respective brooms. Hannah followed, this time, but Amanda was probably still sleeping.

“What is this?” Diana was the first to speak to Ursula, pointing at the Shooting Star.

“You’re going to start practicing with him, now,” the cockpit opened. A man was sitting inside it, wearing a helmet. He gave them a thumbs up as the cockpit closed again.

“Who is he?” Hannah asked.

“He’s the previous IPR’s Second Category pilot,” Ursula said.

“Hadn’t he given up on racing?” Akko asked, surprised. How was he called, again? She had never bothered to learn his name. She didn’t care. Now she felt slightly guilty about it.

“He did, officially. He still likes to pilot for fun now and then, though,” Ursula said. “I asked for his help on this training to get you someone to practice against, and since we had a broom laying about rather uselessly…”

Constanze cleared her throat, looking offended. Akko was aware that she’d also been working on some modifications for it, but she’d been interrupted by having to work on the Unicorn.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” Ursula said looking slightly uncomfortable. “In any case, on your next race you go through the right of the city again. Same as before, but this time you see if you can beat him. He won’t use nitro or attack you, he’s just there to measure your speed. You can call him John,” she turned around to give the dude a thumbs up. The Shooting Star took off, placing itself in front of the Shooting Star and Unicorn. The chasm was wide enough for the three brooms, but he had to leave some room for Akko and Diana to turn their brooms around.

“So the most optimal path and see if we can win against him, right?” Diana asked. Ursula nodded. “Fine, we can do it. Can’t we, Akko?”

Akko turned, for a second thinking Diana was trying to be positive. Instead, she found a slightly accusing look. Like if Diana expected Akko to reply ‘yes’ but she expected the answer to be ‘no’.

The look went away almost immediately, replaced by a more natural one, but Akko now had that engraved in her brain. Diana still didn’t trust her, then.

It was fine. “Of course,” she replied with certainty as she turned to go to the Shiny Rod. She hadn’t expected Diana to trust her so soon, after all. All they needed to do now was go ahead and win against this dude enough times for Diana to start seeing her as someone reliable. Then maybe she’d apologize… Or maybe Akko would. Diana wouldn’t apologize anyways. She wasn’t one to overtly show emotions.

But she _had_ apologized before. What was so different this time? Probably that she didn’t feel like she’d done anything wrong. And, well, she technically didn’t.

Enough thinking about that. It was time to prove herself.

Once the Shiny Rod and Unicorn were in position, Ursula gave the starting signal. The three of them took off at full speed, and chasms became a blur of passing purple and blues that Akko still needed to get used to. She still managed to get ahead, though, and she didn’t need to guide Diana that much since she also knew what the optimal route was.

John also knew it, though.

Akko and Diana didn’t have much trouble, at first. All three ships were pretty similar in speed and such, so with only that in play, it was more about who took the curves and turns better. But curves and turns were the problem, as either Akko or Diana ended up lagging a little behind and the other would have to compensate.

“We need to go faster,” Diana said.

“Really now?” Akko asked in a more annoyed tone than intended. She had obviously noticed that, and was thinking of what they could do. “We could use nitro,” Akko said.

“Too risky,” Diana said. “If we’re not in perfect sync we’ll just rip the hose out of our brooms,” she explained.

Akko sighed. “You’re right,” she said. She had thought of that, but still wanted to propose it to see what Diana said. It was hard to come up with new strategies when your movement options were so limited. “Oh, what if I use a hook? That way he can’t get too far away!”

Diana paused. “Well, against multiple racers it’d be useless, but if we use it against just one…"

“Arae Aryrha!” Akko shouted. Suddenly, the tip of the Shiny Rod shot forward, almost straight towards where the Shooting Star was. It hooked it without much issue.

Akko smiled. Her strategy was infallible. She was a genius.

Until the shooting star started to move to other chasms.

“Akko, follow!” Diana said, voice panicked. Akko followed the order almost instinctively, though she shouldn’t have.

“Wait, why did I do that?” Akko asked, slightly annoyed.

“The hook. If we take a different route than the one ahead of us we’ll just end up hitting a wall when the rope tenses up!” Diana explained.

Akko realized she was probably right. She willed the hook to let go and it did, its claws releasing the Shooting Star and coming back to seamlessly become part of the Shiny Rod’s nose again.

“Well that was a failed strategy,” Akko said with a sigh.

“We should go back to the optimal path as soon as possible…” The Unicorn suddenly moved downward, as if dodging something. Another one of those times where Diana just had a random, passing thought that the control system of the Unicorn picked up and turned into an order. Those could prove to be quite troublesome, but Akko trusted Diana to manage them.

 _I do trust her,_ Akko thought as they went back to the optimal path, still lagging behind John. _I wonder if I shouldn’t._

But no. _Being angry with each other doesn’t justify being petty,_ she concluded. Diana being angry and Diana being a bad pilot were completely different things, and whether Akko liked it or not, Diana was still a great pilot. Akko found the thought to be calming, even. Relaxing. Knowing that she could put aside her anger like that. She wouldn’t let it consume her. _Yeah,_ she decided. _I’ll just go and tell Diana how I feel about this whole ordeal after we finish this practice._

Then, John suddenly disappeared into a branching chasm. Akko cocked her head. Had he made a mistake? Maybe he didn’t remember the map as well as they thought, or something. It was hard to tell, but Akko and Diana said nothing.

Not a minute later, the Shooting Star appeared from behind them. And its guns were aiming.

“Wait,” Akko said, frowning. “He’s not…”

But he was. Suddenly, the Shooting Star begun a barrage of attacks on both ships. “I thought this was to be a practice without shooting!” Diana said, voice surprised.

“Unexpected things often happen in races,” Ursula said through the communicators.

“Ok, Diana, left!” Akko said, starting to turn.

“Wait, Akko, we can…” she cut off as she was basically forced to turn too. Akko led them into the maze-like series of chasms from before. “Akko! Just activate your shields and I’ll dodge!”

“The hose, Diana! If he hits it we’re as good as disqualified!” Akko explained. Her shields wouldn’t cover that.

“I can handle it!” Diana exclaimed. The Shooting Star was in pursuit, and Akko could feel the pressure it brought to them. “Just stay on the optimal path!”

“He’s behind us! We can still win against him!” Akko assured.

“It’s a trick, Akko! He’ll have us think he’s behind us and then disappear into the optimal path and win!”

Akko shook her head. No, if he wanted to do that he’d just go for nitro. This was probably a practice to see how well they handed being attacked. She hoped to explain that, but in these chasms she better focused.

“Left!” Akko said again. “Right, right,” she continued. The Shooting  Star didn’t have any trouble following them and continuing to harass them. “Left, right, left,” these sections of chasm were short. Akko barely had any time to think about them.

“Akko, we need to get back into the optimal path!” Diana complained as Akko continued to guide them. Akok noticed the reluctance in each and every turn.

“No, we need to do what _I_ say,” Akko said. “Right!”

Diana seemed to take this as some kind of challenge. “No!” she said. Instead of going right, As Akko demanded, she continued going straight.

Akko almost rammed the Shiny Rod into the Shooting Star on accident. In her haste to not do so, she went up. However, due to her angle, she ended up tangling the hose on one of the wings of the Unicorn. By the time she noticed this, it was too late, and she felt a faint ‘pop’ from the back of her ship as the hose came off.

“Diana, what are you-!” Akko started, incredibly frustrated.

“It’s not my…!” Diana interrupted, but then trailed off. “I’m out of fuel.”

A second later, static started to come through the communicator. Akko frowned, pressing her eyes really hard. _Great_ , she thought. _Now the Unicorn will be damaged and we won’t be able to practice more for another day._

“Akko, look at the map,” Ursula said. Her voice sounded strangely worried.

She checked the map, to see where exactly Diana had fallen. But Diana didn’t appear on the map anymore.

Akko felt a chill as she looked at the chasm Diana had gone into.

It was one of the ones that looked like bottomless pits.

“Noctu Orfei Aude Freator!” She cried instantly, teleporting right on top of that chasm. The unicorn was nowhere to be seen, and through the communicator still came the static. Akko looked down the chasm, and for a second, she thought she saw a pale-green flash. A magic flash.

“Akko, don’t do-!” Ursula’s voice was cut off as Akko instantly dived down into the chasm. She had stopped thinking. Only one thing appeared in her mind: The image of the Unicorn falling hundreds of meters down and crashing into the stone, exploding. Diana and Hannah were still inside the ship.

She pressed nitro to go down faster. The Shiny Rod’s lights soon picked the figure of the Unicorn falling helplessly to its doom.

_I need to save them. I need to stop their fall. How? How do I…_

“Arae Aryrha,” Akko whispered. The hook took off, grabbing the Unicorn’s back. Akko instantly went into reverse gear, slowing their fall. But the Shiny Rod couldn’t pull the Unicorn up, so the blue ship instead kept dragging the Shiny Rod down.

It all happened so fast, Akko really didn’t know what to do. It was hard to feel at which speed they were falling down, but it couldn’t be so fast now…

A light appeared. From _the bottom_ of the chasm. It was still so far down, Akko couldn’t help but wonder if they had died and gone to heaven. Or maybe they were actually going up. But no, the glow from underneath was green. Magic? No, it was more like forest-green. Too dark to be magic.

It took them a few minutes to reach it, falling slowly as they were, but it was then that Akko saw it. A river, of sorts. A massive river at the bottom of the chasm.

Akko maneuvered the Shiny Rod as best as she could to avoid falling into it. The river curved at the bottom, and there was a rocky shelf on the chasm that was barely above the river water. It was still big enough, and even if roughly, Akko managed to land on it, leaving the Unicorn and Shiny Rod with some scratches.

Akko instantly opened her windshield, striding out of the Shiny Rod and walking towards the Unicorn. The rocky shelf she had chosen proved to also be home of another chasm that led deeper into the rock, but it wasn’t very tall. Wait, maybe that made it a cave? It was wide and squat, like looking at a brick but with rougher edges.

“Diana came out of the Unicorn. The light of the green river was more than enough to show her messed up hair and shocked eyes as she walked towards Akko.

“What the hell was _that?”_ Akko asked, absolutely livid.

“I did what _you_ should have done,” Diana said, quickly getting over her shock and fixing her hair.

“Great, now this is my fault, isn’t it?” Akko said. “No, I won’t take blame for this, Diana. Come on get on the rod, we need to teleport back up and tell Ursula that we’re fine,” she turned around, too angry to even _look_ at the blonde.

Hannah came out of the emergency exit of the Unicorn, running up to them. “Diana! Why the hell would you do that?” She asked too, angry. “You almost killed us!”

“ _I_ almost killed us?” Diana asked, defensively.

“Shut up!” Akko turned to the both of them. “We’ll discuss this later. Get on the Rod,” Akko said.

But then she paused. Something was off. They all probably noticed it, as they all paused.

The Shiny Rod was on the floor of the chasm. On the _floor._ It wasn’t floating, like usually. It was just… resting there.

A few seconds later, Amanda came out of the turret. “Fucking hell, what just happened?” she crawled  from under the Rod with some effort. She was rubbing her neck. “I was sleeping peacefully and then suddenly I felt this vertigo and…” she paused as she looked around. “Where are we?”

“At the bottom of a Deepness,” Diana said with annoyance.

But Akko wasn’t listening. She took off running, climbing on the white broom with a jump and almost diving into the cockpit. She checked energy levels, but the output was normal. She moved the key-wand to put the rod on rest and then reactivated it. Nothing happened. “Come on…” she whispered. She pressed some buttons to recalibrate balance and other stuff of the sort. But the rod seemed to be dead. Akko even tried to will the hook to come back. It didn’t.

“What is it?” Diana had climbed on the Rod too, and was looking at Akko with angry eyes. Akko kept pressing buttons, ignoring the question. Each time she grew more and more anxious and desperate. “Akko?” Diana asked, now in a more concerned voice.

Akko paused. She had pressed _every_ button on the Rod. None of them had done anything. She looked around. The chasm, this deep down, didn’t have any moss. Their only light sources were the Rod’s – which she couldn’t even turn off – and the glowing river.

She looked at Diana, and she must have had a haunted look, because Diana seemed scared of it. “I can’t get the Shiny Rod to move.”

Realization washed over Diana’s face like if she had just taken off a mask. “W-what are you saying?”

Akko licked her lips in the nervousness. She looked Diana straight in the eyes, so as to make it clear she wasn't joking. And then, with a trembling voice, she spoke.

“We’re stranded.”


	103. Chapter 103

Diana, for the first time in her life, paced.

The moved back and forth. _Maybe the Shiny Rod was damaged when trying to pull up the Unicorn,_ she thought. _Maybe it just decided to rest for a while. Maybe Akko touched something she shouldn’t have._

She didn’t know anything about the Shiny Rod. There was no way of knowing why a ship with _infinite energy_ would suddenly stop working.

“Move, stupid piece of junk!” Amanda shouted, kicking the Rod. As expected, absolutely nothing happened. Akko was still in the cockpit, desperately trying to do something about it. Hannah was looking around, searching for a way to get up. But there was _no_ way up. There was nothing they could do. As Akko had said, they were stranded. No-one came out of a deepness unless they could fly, and it was well known that something about the core of the planet, when this deep underground, made most electronics and systems just stop working.

Black and green. Those were the only two colors in sight. Even the Unicorn and Shiny Rod looked green under the light from the ocean water that ran through the chasm. An actual river, though un-usable for humans, since they couldn’t drink from it.

Diana was… clueless. She had no idea as to what to do. Without the Rod, their only hope was that someone came down to rescue them. But they wouldn’t. They _couldn’t_ be rescued. Not here.

Akko finally came out of the cockpit, walking with all the energy of a zombie as she decided to go to the chasm wall and put her back to it, then slide down to the floor and grab her head.

Diana approached her. “So?” She asked. There had to be _something._

“It’s no use. The Shiny Rod isn’t reacting. Alcor doesn’t even show up if I call for him,” she said.

Feeling dread, Diana shook her head. “Well, go up there and continue searching! There has to be something you can do!”

Akko looked up, and Diana could see her fury. She stood up, putting a finger to Diana’s chest. “ _You_ don’t have the right to demand anything!” Akko shouted in her face, with more anger than Diana had ever seen from her. “This is _your_ fault!”

“Again with this?!” Diana wasn’t intimidated. “You were the one who made the hose come out!”

“Because you didn’t follow my order!”

“It was a stupid order!”

“It DOESN’T MATTER!” Akko exclaimed, her voice so loud that it echoed through the chasms. “You just had to follow it! _I_ was the leader! _I_ was the one giving the damn orders and you ignoring me was what caused this!”

“Then you should have tried to be a better leader!” Diana replied, rising her voice too.

“I _was!_ ” Akko suddenly turned fist clenched. “But you didn’t even give me a damn chance! It was our _fifth_ practice race, Diana!” She cried as if to the wall. “But no,” she now spoke more calmly. She put her forehead to the rock. “No, you _have_ to take control, don’t you? You can’t accept anyone might be better than you at anything,” Akko said.

“That’s not true! You were just falling into his trap!” Diana claimed.

Akko turned again, fire still lit in her eyes. “Oh, yes? And tell me, if that was his ‘trap’ why didn’t he just use nitro? Why didn’t he just took off at hyperspeed and leave us behind, knowing we’d never risk using it ourselves?” she asked.

Diana started. She… hadn’t thought of that. She had been so focused on Akko not following the optimal path that she had been certain… “I… don’t know.”

Akko sighed. “See, Diana? You would have just let him shoot at us. You were _wrong.”_

Somehow, the way she had said it made Diana very mad. “Well, at least I tried to have some common sense! You lead us into a death trap!”

“ _I_ lead us into a way to leave that guy behind!” Akko defended herself. “You lead yourself into a death trap alone!”

“I did the right thing!”

“And look at where we are now!” Akko pointed at the chasm. “Nowhere. We’re gonna die here because you were too stubborn to just follow a stupid order!”

“Well maybe we wouldn’t be here if you weren’t stupid!” Diana shouted. Akko’s eyes narrowed.

“Or if you weren’t such a smartass!” She replied.

“Or if you weren’t such a bad pilot!”

“Or if you weren’t such an egotistic one!”

They were at each other’s faces. Diana wondered if Akko would be willing to actually fight her. This whole thing had only happened because she had used her ‘The shiny rod is mine so I’m in charge’ card.

“Fine, whatever,” Diana turned. “I’m going to see if I can make the Unicorn’s radio work,” she said, storming away. Of all the times to make a stupid mistake, and it had to be now. She noticed Amanda and Hannah looking at her with hesitance. “What?!” She snapped.

“Hey, don’t take it out on us,” Amanda frowned. Hannah was just crossing her arms and shaking her head.

Diana snorted, walking away and climbing into the Unicorn. It had run out of fuel the second the hose came off, but it had some energy to keep the radio ongoing.

Only static. Diana took a deep breath, trying other frequencies. She was calm, collected, and none of the other frequencies worked.

She punched the stupid radio. It didn’t help, and now her hand hurt.

_Stupid Akko._

 

“Ok, what now?”Amanda asked as she and Hannah explored a little inside the square cave.

“We find a way out or somehow fix the Shiny Rod,” Hannah replied. She wasn’t nearly as certain as she sounded. “That or die, I guess.”

Amanda sighed. “Akko and Diana argued so hard that it almost killed us. Incredible, huh,” she pointed out.

Hannah nodded. She was trying really hard not to panic, and being with Amanda helped, but they only had rations for three days. Maybe five or six if they were careful. Then what? The water from the river there wasn’t an option. Hannah knew little about the planet but Diana had pointed out that they shouldn’t let the water into their mouths. Akko had sat down next to the Shiny Rod and she had remained there, obviously distressed by her fight with Diana.

“You’re rather calm, given the situation,” Hannah pointed out, looking as Amanda walked nonchalantly with her hands linked behind her head.

“I’m not that calm,” Amanda admitted. “But panicking is no use.”

Hannah nodded. How much energy did her wand have? Could they recharge it with the Shiny Rod? She hadn’t charged it since landing on Vorago, so they only had like a day or two at best left of energy in every wand. Save for Akko’s, but that one was useless for anything but turning on the Shiny Rod. And now it didn’t even do that, apparently.

This far down in the planet, nothing seemed to be alive. Hannah did see a few roots here and there, growing up like vines on the walls, and piercing the ceiling to disappear above. But they were brown and colorless, and probably inedible. They had been walking for a while, but they hadn’t dared turn at the different paths the cave had offered. Unlike what the entrance looked like, the rest of the cave was rather smoothed out in all sides. Hannah had eventually decided that the ‘entrance’ of the cave was actually its exit, and that this whole group of caves flooded like crazy when it rained above.

That didn’t help her nerves.

Hannah’s heart beat fast. It had been for a while now. The idea of being trapped down here was nearly too much.

“We shouldn’t stray too far away. I’m starting to fear that some crazy beast is gonna get us,” Hannah said, kind of scared.

Amanda snorted. “Nothing lives down here. I wonder why.”

“Probably because it’s too hard. Barely any resources, nothing to live off of,” Hannah said. “Still, I’d rather go back. When stranded you should try to remain near the place of your crash in case rescue comes.”

“And if rescue doesn’t come?”

“Then we’re dead anyways.”

The seriousness with which Hannah said that stopped even Amanda from retorting. After a little more walking, they both decided to walk back. They reached the place where the Shiny Rod and Unicorn laid, connected by the Rod’s hook. Akko hadn’t moved, and Diana was now taking their rations and making some kindo f calculation with them. Hannah decided to let them be, instead pausing. “I feel tired,” she said.

“You slept all night,” Amanda said. “And we only walked for a little while, you can’t be _that_ tired.”

“Near-death experiences can be exhausting,” Hannah replied, sticking her tongue out.

“It’s not that,” Diana replied. These chasms had amazing acoustics, so even if they weren’t talking too loud Diana could hear them. “The air down here is about ten times as poisonous as the one above. Forget the three days, if you don’t wear a mask in about eight hours you’ll cause irreparable damage to your lungs,” Diana said. She hadn’t even looked up, and she spoke in such a neutral voice that for a second Hannah wondered if she was reading it from somewhere.

She wasn’t.

“Fuck, really?”

“Yes. But our masks clean our lungs in about two hours. If we make four-hour cycles and take turns at wearing masks we should be ok, though we’ll be tired all the time,” Diana said.

Amanda grunted. “Why didn’t you wear your masks?” She asked looking at Hannah.

“I dunno, I just didn’t feel like it,” Hannah said, feeling slightly stupid.

“Wait, what about sleeping?” Amanda asked.

“We can sleep inside the Rod. Its filters seem to be working just fine. I wish I had brought by Witch Hat. At least I’d have a better way of analyzing all of this,” Hannah could see through Diana’s façade. It was obvious that she was trying to appear controlled to make up for her outburst earlier.

Amanda didn’t say anything. She simply stared. The fact that she wasn’t quipping made Hannah start to feel more the weight of the situation. No one was in the mood for humor. After Diana’s and Akko’s fight, no one was in the mood for chatting either.

“We can live an entire week with minimal food and water,” Diana finally concluded. “We’ll be hungry and dehydrated but we’ll be alive.”

Hannah pressed her lips. Diana spoke coldly, as if she was only thinking rationally. How was she feeling, though? Approaching her, Hannah crouched next to her. “Are you ok?”

Diana didn’t look at her, eyes nailed on the rations. “I am as well as I can be in this situation,” she said.

Hannah sighed. “Diana,” she whispered. “You can still make amends with Akko. You should do it now, just in case…” she didn’t continue. The implication was obvious. They were trapped with no escape and barely a week of rations to live on.

Just in case they died.

Diana pressed her lips, but said nothing. Reluctant, Hannah stood. “While we still have energy,” Diana said as Hannah walked towards Amanda again, “we should search for some way of gathering resources. The longer this drags on, the less we’ll be able to do.”

Hannah nodded.

Akko also stood, having listened, and climbed back on the Shiny Rod. The cockpit closed, but it didn’t darken. From the outside, it was easy to see Akko despondently trying to get the Shiny Rod to work. Hannah felt bad for her. Akko had lost the glimmer in her eyes. She looked like she didn’t even care if they lived or died anymore. But she _was_ trying to get the Rod to move, at the very least.

“Let’s go explore the caves again. Maybe there’ll be some edible mushroom around or something,” Amanda said. She didn’t sound convinced, but Hannah nodded. Better doing that than sitting around moping.

 

Akko could do three things inside the Shiny Rod: Turn on and off the lights of the cockpit, turn on and off the lights of the turret, and pretend any other buttons did anything. The Rod’s energy output was still visible, as if it was activated. Yet it didn’t float, and it didn’t let Akko turn it off. The turret didn’t activate, Alcor didn’t appear, the engines didn’t answer, the hook didn’t come back. Nothing. There was no hope, there was no exit. Something had broken the Shiny Rod and now it wouldn’t answer. As if the magic system was just failing to start correctly.

Akko gave up, sitting down and pressing her hands against her face. That was it. After the discussion with Diana, everything seemed dark. It hadn’t been a mere offense, it had been a full blown shouting match. Akko was still angry with Diana for not accepting this was her fault. She wouldn’t be the better person in this one, apologizing first.

Why did she feel so bad, though? Why did everything seem so grim?

Did it even matter?

Akko slumped on the chair. She didn’t want to come out. She wouldn’t.

She just closed her eyes.

 

Amanda walked carefully. The floor of these caves wasn’t nearly as smooth as the chasms above. It was full of pebbles, stones and dead vines. Every step crunched and was slippery, and through the soles of her g-suit she could feel almost every irregularity in the ground. G-suits weren’t made for walking, they were made for piloting. They were still comfortable, and in human societies where walking places were usually smooth they were efficient.

The walls were smoother than the floor, save for many cracks and crevices. Why was this plant in this state? What had happened to it?

“What is that?” Hannah pointed forward. Amanda squinted. Was that… light? Yes, a faint green glow.

“Probably more water,” she said. “But it’s not like we’ve got anything better to do than check it out.”

They approached the glow. It was further away than they’d anticipated. And indeed, water it was. The place was a small, irregular cave, kind of like a room. The water pooled here, or… no, there was a soft current. Amanda couldn’t see the bottom, but it didn’t look deep. She thought for a while and decided to step in it.

“What are you doing?” Hannah asked with worry as Amanda put another feet in the water. It was gently sloped, nad to her surprise it wasn’t slippery. Or, not more slippery than she’d expected. “I’m just seeing how deep it is.”

The pool was tear-shaped, and after a splash of her feet, she noticed that the water was surprisingly warm. Not hot, but enough that she wondered if it came from some kind of thermal waters nearby.

She reached the center, roughly. She could feel a current from somewhere, but it wasn’t strong at all. The pool, too, came only up to her mid-thigh. “Well, I guess we can wash up here and not in the dangerous current of the river.”

“Are we even going to have enough energy to come here to wash up?” Hannah asked. Amanda didn’t answer. She would be lying if she said anything. She didn’t know. She was as clueless as the others, or maybe even more so.

“Here,” Amanda walked out of the pool and gave Hannah her mask.

“What?” Hannah looked at it. It was slightly wet and glowing from the water. For some reason, once out of the pool, the glow started to fade. Amanda was glowing faintly too.

“I’d rather you wear it, for now. Take it.”

“No, you’ve gotta wear it for four hours.”

“We’ve got no way of calculating time,” Amanda pointed out. “Maybe it’s already been four hours.”

Hannah deadpanned. “It’s been two hours at most. Keep the damn mask on,” she looked away.

Amanda reached with her wet hand, still glowing, and threatened her. “Take the mask or else.”

“What, you’re gonna make me wet?” Hannah asked in a suggestive tone, raising an eyebrow.

Pausing, Amanda lowered her hand. Her libido from the previous night was coming back, and Hannah being in her g-suit didn’t help. “Maybe,” Amanda stepped closer to Hannah, her heartbeat accelerating.

Expression suddenly shifting to panic, Hannah took the mask. “Ok, ok, whatever,” she said, turning around. Amanda paused. For a second there she had completely lost control. She hadn’t done anything, luckily.

“Did I scare you?” Amanda asked, worried.

Hannah shook her head. She had the mask on already. “No, you were just so intense that it shocked me a little,” she explained. “Is this because…?”

“Because you slept almost naked next to me? Yes, yes it is. You have no idea of how much I want to do you right now. Or how much I want you to do me. I’d be fine with either,” Amanda was used to be on top, but everyone needed a change of pace. “I won’t do anything to you, though. Not here, at least,” she looked around with a grimace. If Hannah had played along, would they have actually done it down here, in the middle of a chasm?

Amanda shook her head. She was distressed because of the situation, not thinking correctly. “Well, I think it’s safe to assume nothing of worth is around here,” Hannah said, her voice slightly muffled by the mask.

“Save for you,” Amanda said almost instantly.

“Shut it,” Hannah said, clearly blushing “Let’s go.”

Even with that, she felt a weight on her chest, and there was a knot on her throat. What was going to happen to them? For the first time in years, she felt actual fear at something. Fear of dying here in these chasms. Fear of not being able to save herself or Hannah.

It was hard to pretend she was fine. But Hannah was there. She wouldn’t break down, not if Hannah needed her.

For the first time in her life, Amanda wished there was an adult nearby.

 

Ursula and two dozen men from the _Dragon’s_ crew stood on all sides of the deepness, looking at the darkness below. She had gone beyond hysteria, and she had prohibited the other students of Luna Nova to get close to the chasm. She was sure they’d try to help, somehow, but she couldn’t risk losing anyone else.

_They aren’t lost. The Shiny Rod wouldn’t stop working because of going closer to the planet’s core._

But why hadn’t they come out, then?

“We’ll have to inform the board of directors at the Planetary Alliance, maybe they can do something to help,” one of the crewmembers said to Captain Kannazuki. The bald man had taken off his hat, and was looking with a troubled expression down the chasm.

“It’ll be useless,” he said. “Any equipment going down there won’t be enough. It’s hundreds of meters deep,” he sounded calm, but was it because of his experience leading a crew? “If we could take some of the mining equipment in Erebus… but no, it’d take up to ten days to go and come back. They won’t last that long.”

Ursula wanted to walk to him, punch him, tell him to go for that equipment. But what good would it do? He was right. If only teleporting was a thing, they’d be able to do something. Anything. Ursula didn’t care what, she just wanted to save her four students.

She paused. There was… There was one way, wasn’t there? She turned sharply, quickly walking away from the chasm. Some crew members looked at her, as if wanting to talk, but maybe because of the determination in her face they moved out of the way. She mounted her broom-cycle – it kind of looked like a scooter – and pressed a button. Normally, these vehicles were for idle driving. Not very fast, more for transportation than anything else. That, however, could change if one made modifications to it. From the back of the small vehicle a small panel slid open, revealing a small exhaust for magic.

She took one of the pills she had used to fight the roombas back on the _Dragon_ to keep her reflexes fast enough to react to what was about to happen, and then she accelerated.

The broom-cycle shot forward at a speed it wasn’t meant to. It was dangerous, reckless, it was everything a working adult shouldn’t have. Luckily, along with her enhancement pill, she was more than able to react to her speed. She drove through the chasms like a madwoman, all with a single goal in mind. It took her about four minutes to reach the _Dragon,_ and with a full minute to go, she darted upstairs rather than using an elevator. She leaped entire sets of stairs, going up the switchbacks in a second.

She reached the top floor right as the effects of the pill faded. She puffed, though she wasn’t nearly as tired as she should be, and walked all the way to Croix’s room. No traps, this time.

Pounding on the door did not get her an answer. Croix probably wasn’t even in the room. Wait for a roomba to come by, maybe? No, that wasn’t going to happen.

She took another pill. She had gotten a few more during her time on Earth. Expensive, but she was glad she’d done it. With her now increased strength she moved over to the wall that had attacked her last time. She went to one of the panels that should have moved – now visible to her since she knew what to look for – and with some effort she took it off. It was a hexagon.

With it, she started hitting the door. One, two, three hits, right in the middle of it. The more she hit, the more it dented. It took her a full two minutes of pounding, but after doing that the door suddenly tried to open itself. It couldn’t go all the way, but Ursula kept it open as she slipped inside the room.

The door closed. She waited for a few seconds, worrying it wouldn’t work.

Then, an instant of weightlessness.

She came out of the small cubicle and into Croix’s lab. As usual, it was dark and badly organized. Ursula looked around, finding no-one there. _Of all times for her to be out…_ Ursula thought with rage. Her head hurt. Using two of those pills so close together probably gave her first grade magic poisoning. Her head would hurt and she’d feel nausea in a while. Whatever, she’d handle it.

Since Croix wasn’t around, she decided to do the thing she hated the most: Touch her stuff. She went up to where the many monitors with their blank screens sat and looked at them for a small while, thinking.

Of course, she then punched them. One by one, the monitors were rendered useless. Croix liked to keep things secret, which was the only reason she still used physical monitors instead of holographic ones. Well, that’d be her doom.

It took maybe a minute, but by the time Ursula had destroyed a fourth of the monitors, she heard a noise. Steps, from behind. “WHO DARES STEP INTO MY…” Croix, sounding livid, stood into the lab, looking directly at chariot. She was in her fancy and stupid outfit, her hair done up. “Char… Ursula?” Croix frowned. “Why the hell are you crying?”

Ursula blinked. She was? She hadn’t felt it, with her enhancement.

“And you took more of those pills? Whatever happened, it wasn’t me, this time,” she said, sounding slightly scared. Ursula would have glowing green eyes, and in her hands she could see her veins glowing too. Ursula walked up to her, feeling less strong with each step. Her magic was already fading. And when she reached Croix – who had backed up against a table, nearly falling on it – she… crumbled.

She had been angry, surprised and hysteric. But she had ignored one feeling entirely.

Fear.

“I need your help,” she said, nearly dropping to her knees as the magic finally faded. Her voice was raspy, her muscles were sore, her head hurt like hell and she wanted to puke. “I know I don’t have the right to ask it, but… please,” she said. She was still crying.

Croix seemed shocked by her attitude. “What is going on, Chariot?” she asked, completely forgoing the pretense that she cared about Ursula’s change of name. She crouched next to Ursula, but didn’t touch her. Ursula was on her knees. She really wanted a hug. Instead, she explained the situation to Croix between sobs and sudden outbursts of anger.

“I know the Noir Rod can do some of the things the Shiny Rod can. I know you’ve somehow managed to emulate its engine. Please, you’re the only one I can think of that can help,” Ursula finished with.

Croix was looking at her with troubled eyes. The kind of eyes that bespoke of another kind of insecurity. Whatever it was, though, Ursula didn’t know it. “The Noir Rod is only usable by daemons,” Croix said. “I’ll see if I can get them to help, though I am not certain it will work in a deepness. Particularly if not even the Shiny Rod is able to do so,” she said, standing. She picked up a communicator – it looked old, like a radio, but it lacked an antenna and other features of said things.

She turned on her weird reverse-translation, and her words were turned into screeches. Ursula had left her helmet behind, so she didn’t have a translation device with her. She couldn’t understand anything of what was being said. Croix’s device was strange, really. Normal translation worked almost instantly, but if you paid attention it was easy to listen to the original words. Now, however, Ursula couldn’t make out _any_ English, just screeches.

Croix talked like that for a few minutes. Her expression grew grim, and she started speaking more insistently, though never raising her voice. She sometimes eyed Ursula with a worried voice.

When she finished, she sighed.

“They’ll go save your students,” she instantly said. Ursula felt a rush of relief so strong that she started sobbing again. “But,” she added. “they’ll do it after the race,” Croix said.

Ursula paused. “What?”

“They think it may be a trap,” Croix explained. “So they’ll do it after the race.”

“But that’s in four days!” Ursula stood, outraged.

Croix nodded. She did look troubled. “The Shiny Rod is their biggest rival. If Akko doesn’t show up for the race she’ll be disqualified for good, independent of the individual rules of the race,” she explained.

Ursula narrowed her eyes. “Isn’t the Noir Rod yours? Can’t you…”

“I’m only the engineer. And they already know how to handle it. I can’t threaten them, Chariot,” Croix sighed, standing. “You think they can last four days down there?”

“They have supplies for three days. They should…” Ursula said, though it pained her to think about forcing them to spend four days wherever they were. Assuming they were even alive. _No, they’re alive. Stop thinking like that._

“Well then. Is there any way for you to get a message to them? Like, dropping a box with supplies tied to a balloon or something?” Croix suggested.

“Really, now?” Ursula frowned.

“I don’t know, Chariot, I’m just trying to help.”

Ursula paused. She rubbed her eyes, feeling like a child for a second. Croix suddenly looked so tired, and worried too. “Thank you.”

Croix shrugged. “I still need to study the Shiny Rod. It’d be best for me if I can…” she trailed off as Ursula stepped forward and hugged her. She smelled like a fancy cologne. Croix never wore cologne, so she had probably been in a meeting with people who did. “I… don’t deserve this,” she said.

“I know you hate me, and you have every right to,” Ursula reassured, “but I still, thank you.”

Croix was frozen. In a way, Ursula was glad she was still able to get such a reaction from her. “I… never said I hated you,” Croix said.

“You said…”

“I said I regretted meeting you,” Croix explained. “But that’s… well, it doesn’t matter,” she spoke in a lower voice. Then, she gently pushed Ursula away. Her eyes still showed turmoil, and her body language implied she was extremely uncomfortable with the situation. “Do yourself a favor, Chariot. Go back to Vorago and tell the _Dragon’s_ crew to find a way to get a message to your students.”

Ursula nodded, slowly stepping away. “Thanks again, Croix. I’m… sorry for how I’ve treated you. I may have been a little too harsh on you.”

Croix pressed her lips, saying nothing. Ursula walked away, entering the small cubicle. She expected Croix to say something else, but she didn’t.

Then, weightlessness.

 

Croix was troubled. Chariot… had apologized.

Too bad her apology meant little, when what Croix was planning to do was far worse than anything she’d done before. At least it would be in Chariot’s eyes. She wouldn’t understand, she couldn’t. She was smart, but she was also simple minded. Few people could see things as Croix did.

Which made sense, since she was practically mad.

A scream ringed in her mind. Old, painful. Hers. And then, understanding.

“I’m sorry too,” she whispered, still feeling warm where Chariot had touched her.

She would still move on with her plans, however.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed a change in the rating.


	104. Chapter 104

Akko woke up and blinked. What… Right, chasms. She sighed. It hadn’t been a long rest, as she still felt tired as hell. With a yawn, she realized she was still wearing the mask. Wait, how much time had it been?

She looked outside. Hannah and Amanda had already exchanged masks. She felt a moment of dread. Was Diana ok? Where was she? Akko couldn’t see her. Her heart seemed to stop for a second. But then, she saw her. She was sitting on the edge of the rocky platform they were in, her feet not touching the water by mere centimeters.

Relaxing, Akko opened the cockpit, walking towards her. She was still angry with her, and that wouldn’t go away in a long time. But that wasn’t enough to get her actively try to cause her harm.

“Take it,” Akko said, handing Diana the mask.

Diana looked at it with slight surprise, as if she didn’t believe Akko had actually done it. “Thank you,” she said in a controlled voice. Akko nodded. She wondered if she should talk to Diana, but her stomach churned at the idea, so instead she walked away, leaving Diana to her pondering.

The smell of burnt was way more poignant  down here, probably due to the fact that this entire place was way more toxic. Akko approached Hannah and Amanda, who were sitting by the entrance of the cave, chatting softly.

“Still angry at Diana?” Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Akko nodded.

Hannah sighed. “She’s being so stupid, I don’t get it,” she said. “She’s just so… angry.”

Akko shrugged. “I don’t care,” she lied, and by their expressions, neither Hannah nor Amanda believed her. “She’ll come around, eventually.”

“You’d think she’d be more grateful, since you saved her life. Twice, now,” Amanda said. She and Hannah were sitting next to each other, but they kept a small distance between them. They didn’t seem angry or anything, just wary of something.

“I don’t know,” Akko said. “I don’t want her to think like that. I would have saved her even if she was someone I hated, because it’s the right thing to do… I think,” she dropped to the ground, sitting with her legs crossed. “I am sorry I got you tangled in this mess though, Amanda.”

Amanda shrugged. “I’d rather be here,” she looked at Hannah from the corner of her eye. “If we’re gonna die let’s do it as a team, you know.”

Akko didn’t feel like laughing, or even smiling, at the joke. The situation they were in was so serious she was starting to get sick. Were they really going to die? She felt like crying. But no-one else did it, so she refrained. She’d be strong. She could do it. “How long has it been, anyways?”

“About five or six hours,” Hannah said. “I was thinking about going to sleep or something. I’m tired.”

Amanda nodded. “Yeah, and better sleep now that the hunger is manageable. It’ll be hard to get rest when it becomes stronger.”

Hannah looked at her. “You seem to speak from experience.”

Amanda nodded. “I ran away from home a couple years ago. I spent like an entire week on the streets. The first couple days were fine, but then I started casually stealing. Never had to search the trash for food, though. I’ve always been swift with my hands.”

“Did you just admit to committing theft?” Akko asked, a little surprised.

“Are you going to turn me in?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

Of course she wasn’t. Akko sighed, looking down. “Well, I guess it’s no different from stealing from the kitchens at school.”

Amanda chuckled at that. “Yeah, I guess.”

And then, silence. It was hard to find conversation topics when the dread of possible death loomed above all of them. Akko looked up, towards the darkness above. As far as she knew this was a really tall cave. For all the difference it made, since there was no surface available.

And then, a noise. Soft, a crack. Rock against rock. Again, and again. Getting closer each hit. It sounded like it was coming… from above?

Then Akko caught something. A dim reflection of light, but visible against the dark. A spot, moving, bouncing off the side of the chasm. It was falling. When she finally realized it was a rock the size of a human head, she jumped on Hannah and Amanda, pushing them inside the cave.

The rock hit. She turned with fear. It was unlikely it’d hit Diana, but… It hadn’t. Diana was looking at it, holding a hand to her head. Akko relaxed. The rock had crashed against the ground with a loud noise, and the three other girls were now looking at the small spot of its rests near the center of the platform.

They all approached it. “Maybe it fell off from somewhere,” Amanda commented.

“Not unlikely,” Diana said. She still held a hand to her head. Akko got distracted looking at her for a second. Even if angry, Diana was the most beautiful thing around. “What’s that?”

Akko looked back down. There was… something white there. She crouched, taking it. “An envelope?” she asked, surprised. It was broken at parts, ripped on others. Akko took out what was inside. A note. Everyone was looking at it with curious eyes. Akko opened the note. It was as broken as the envelope, but it was readable. _‘Help will come in around four days. Don’t panic. Eat your rations properly, be careful with the water.”_

“I can’t believe this,” Diana said, sounding taken aback. “They actually found a way to take us out of here?”

“Does it matter?” Amanda said. “We’re not gonna die!” she smiled, looking at the note.

Hannah lost strength on her legs. She was tearing up. “I’m so relieved…” she said, hiding her face.

Akko could feel it. The relief and happiness. Suddenly, the thought of being alive outshined everything else. She didn’t care she was going to miss the race, she didn’t care if the Shiny Rod didn’t work anymore. She was going to live. That was enough.

“We’ll miss the race,” Diana said, frowning.

“And the party,” Hannah said from the ground, where Amanda had crouched next to her, putting an arm on her back. “So what? We’ll be alive.”

Diana pressed her lips. “Yeah, alive to see another failure, to go back to Earth and everyone knowing it was our fault we lost the race.”

Akko couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you serious?” Akko asked, frowning.

“What do you mean?”

Akko tried to calm herself. “You get us into this mess out of your stubbornness and then you dare complain that we won’t be rescued fast enough?” she asked with an obvious incredulous expression.

“It was _not_ my-”

“Yes,” Hannah stood. “Yes it was, Diana. Shut the fuck up, for once. All you had to do was follow an order. I don’t care if you didn’t like it. It was _your_ fault and no-one else’s.”

Diana seemed to be taken aback by the tone of her friend. She looked at the three of them as in disbelief, as if really ignorant as to why they thought like they did. Then she snorted and walked away.

“Wait,” Akko instantly called after her. Diana paused, looking back. “You’re bleeding,” Akko noticed a small trickled of red running down Diana’s fingers.

“A pebble hit me when the rock fell. It’s nothing,” she said. Akko frowned, walking up to her.

She opened her g-suit. She wore a shirt underneath it. “Here, use this to bandage yourself,” she said, taking it off and handing it to Diana.

Diana looked at it. “Whatever,” she said, taking it and getting into the Unicorn’s cockpit.

Akko walked back to where Hannah and Amanda were.

“She’s acting like an ass,” Hannah said. “I don’t want to judge her too harshly, but… Damn she’s annoying.”

“Finally you see it as I do,” Amanda said.

“Oh shut it, it’s not the same,” Hannah shook her head, walking away. Amanda followed her.

Akko was left alone, and she looked at the Unicorn again. They’d been rescued in four days and they’d be taken back to Earth as failures. Akko realized she didn’t even care.

Diana did, though. Would she still want to go out with Akko, even after this?

Did Akko want to?

 

Amanda watched as Akko paced around, thinking. She was clearly annoyed at Diana. In Amanda’s mind, that relationship would go nowhere. Diana had made sure of that.

But that was fine. Akko was cute and fun, she’d probably get someone else to like her eventually. “Well, I think I’m going to sleep,” Hannah said, eyeing Amanda.

“Ok,” Amanda said. She yawned. “You can take the turret. I’ll sleep here, with the mask.”

Hannah frowned. “You can’t sleep out here. It’s dangerous!”

“I it’s fine. What’s gonna happen to me?”

“What if another rock falls?”

“I doubt they’ll do _that_ again,” Amanda said. Ursula had probably been against it. Who would come up with that way of delivering a message? Akko, probably. Who else? Sucy? Amanda didn’t know her enough. In any case, she thought it’d be unlikely they’d risk killing one of them again.

“I don’t care, just…” Hannah paused. She blushed, though it was hard to tell in the green lighting of the river. “Just come, ok?” she asked in a much softer tone.

Amanda instantly got up from where they were sitting and started walking towards the Shiny Rod. _Damn she’s cute,_ she thought while following Hannah. Hannah didn’t look back at her, but Amanda could _feel_ her blush. When they approached the Rod, she paused for a second and started unzipping her g-suit.

“W-what are you doing?” Amanda asked from behind her. She couldn’t help but stare in absolute awe as Hannah slowly slid the suit down her body. Her every movement ended engraved in Amanda’s mind. Hannah’s pale skin, her round buttocks, her thighs, her nape. She resisted every urge to go up from behind and hug her. She had to resist. How could innocence and sensuality mix together so well?

Hannah turned. She was beet red. “What, you’re gonna sleep with that on?” she pointed at Amanda’s g-suit as she slowly folded her own.

Amanda was about to nod, but then she realized what Hannah meant. She… _She’s just curious,_ she had to remind herself. _Control yourself. Don’t rush it._

She was going to be driven mad, wasn’t she?

She started undressing. She noticed Hannah’s eyes glued on her, and her skin seemed to tingle with anticipation. She didn’t do it as slowly as Hannah, and she didn’t bother folding it. It would make for a decent pillow. Hannah was staring at her boobs. She didn’t even try to hide it. “Why do you like sports underwear so much?” She asked.

“It’s comfortable, I guess,” Amanda said, looking at herself. Her underwear could have easily passed as a bikini top and a really tight short. She looked up again, raising an eyebrow. “Do you want me to take it off?”

Hannah actually hesitated. And not out of surprise at the question. She seemed to be considering it. “N-no,” she said, looking away. “A bra is the least of our worries right now…” she eyed Amanda and then climbed onto the turret.

The Rod was lying on its side, and one kind of had to squeeze into it. Still, once inside, the turret was nice. Thanks to Akko’s request earlier – and the turret hadn’t changed since – the entire thing was cushioned, and it had widened. It wasn’t as big as a bed, but Amanda and Hannah could lie on their sides and not be asphyxiated against each other. They still touched, though. Amanda hesitantly put a hand on Hannah’s waist. Hannah didn’t say anything. She looked at Amanda’s body, though. Amanda’s abs were starting to get actually toned, thanks to the constant sessions of exercise.

Hannah ran a hand through them. Softly. Each of her fingers seemed to leave a trail of electricity as they moved, and Amanda’s breath got caught. Hannah’s hand moved up from her midriff and down. She didn’t even seem to be aware that she was doing it. “You do know you’re beautiful, right?” Hannah whispered.

“What do you mean?” Amanda asked. She was also whispering, but because her lungs didn’t seem to be able to get air into them.

“You always dress casually and don’t bother with even using a brush on your hair. You wear loose clothing and act like you don’t really care about your appearance,” Hannah explained. “But you’re so beautiful, Amanda. And cool, of course, but…” she looked away from her abs and into Amanda’s eyes. “You should let your hair grow.”

“It’s a pain in the ass,” Amanda said.

Hannah absent-mindedly reached for her head and started to brush her hair down with her fingers. “I know, but…” she paused. “I don’t want to imply you _have_ to be feminine to be more pretty. I just think you’d look great like that. Like with the dress we bought. I was hoping you’d use it tomorrow on the party,” she explained.

Amanda paused. “I’ll wear it if you wear a suit,” she said.

Hannah seemed taken aback. “What?” She would have probably blushed if she wasn’t red already. As red as Amanda was, now.

“It looked really good on you,” Amanda explained. She was careful not to move the hand she had on Hannah’s hip, though she wanted to. “Girls in suits always look great, but you really knocked it out of the park. And if you let your hair down a little more often…”

Hannah seemed as uncomfortable with the idea as Amanda was about wearing that dress and letting her hair grow. In a way, Amanda thought that if both of them did what the other wanted it’d be quite funny. “Ok, let’s do it,” Hannah said, looking up. “When this is all over and we’re back on Earth we’ll go on a date. You wear your dress and I’ll wear a suit. Don’t cut your hair, though.”

Amanda smiled at this. She moved a little, kissing Hannah’s forehead. “Then it’s a deal, love,” she said, hugging Hannah tighter. The nickname had come naturally to her. It was a faster way of saying ‘I love you’ too.

“Hey, A-Ama?” Hannah stuttered as she tried to say the nickname for the first time while Amanda was actively listening to her.

“Yes?” Amanda asked, starting to feel the tiredness within her.

“I… I like your boobs, but this…” Hannah said, voice trembling.

Amanda looked down. She had unconsciously pressed Hannah’s head against her chest, and now the girl was panicking. Releasing a little the hug, Hannah pushed back and sighed. “I…” she looked up at Amanda. She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t bring it out. “I’m glad you ended up trapped down here with us. I know it’s selfish, but…”

“No, I get it,” Amanda said. She yawned. “It’s ok to want support when you’re in distress, Hannah. It may be selfish, but everyone has the right to be selfish once in a while, wouldn’t you agree?

Hannah smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

Amanda felt a warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest. And it wasn’t related to lust for a change. She closed her eyes, feeling as all the tiredness from a night of not sleeping and the stress of the previous hours hitting her at once. She tried to mumble something like ‘you’re welcome’ but she wasn’t sure if she managed it before falling asleep completely.

 

Diana had spent the last couple of hours trying to calm herself. It was hard, with the headache she had. Even if the bleeding had stopped and she had roughly managed to bandage it, the pain was there. The shirt smelled like Akko, of course. Akko…

Why did no-one else see it? The more Diana thought about it, the more she was certain Akko had just been trying to annoy her. The more she thought about it, the more it was _Akko’s_ fault, not her. Had she somehow talked Hannah into blaming her too? It was possible. Why would she do that? Well, probably because now Akko hated her. After their discussion…

Why would she care, anyways? She’d be forced to go back to earth. Paul would buy the Pony right there and then, Diana would be shamed for life, and everything was ruined. Her life was over, so why did she even worry about anything else? She shouldn’t care. She should go back to Earth and disappear. Forever. She’d change her name and cut her hair so short that no-one ever recognized the signature Cavendish hairstyle.

Someone knocked on her windshield. Diana looked up, surprised to see Akko, of all people. She held a couple of rations. Small blue boxes that held an entire meal, along with a water bottle. Diana frowned. Why was she here? She didn’t open the windshield, hoping she would go away.

She didn’t. Akko insisted. Always like that, she was. Insistent. It made her endearing, normally. Now it just made her annoying. With a sigh, she opened the cockpit. “What?” She said in a curt tone.

Akko sat on the edge of the cockpit, her feet dangling inside. “Here,” she said, handing over a ration. “If we’re gonna be saved in four days we don’t have to only eat half of these. Eat.”

Diana shook her head. “We can’t be certain they’re really gonna help us,” she said.

Akko sighed. “And what if they aren’t? If they can’t do it then it doesn’t matter if we die a day or two earlier, now does it. Just eat, Diana, keep your strength.”

Diana leaned back, stubborn in not taking the ration. “I’ll survive my own way, thank you,” she said. Couldn’t Akko see? There were a lot of things that could happen. Rain, for example, would wipe them all out in a heartbeat. An avalanche. Time. Another one of those ‘messages’ hitting one of them in the head.

“Why are you being so stubborn, Diana?” Akko asked. “You’re supposed to be the smart one here. You’re acting like a child,” she said, sounding harsh.

Diana frowned. “What gives _you_ the right to say that? You acted like a child when you decided to take the leader position.”

Akko sighed. “Diana, you wouldn’t have been able to handle it,” she explained. “You’ve been out of your mind with stress and anger, can’t you see it?” she looked at Diana with pained red eyes. Why did Diana feel so… inadequate all of a sudden? “I… don’t want to see you like this.”

“You can leave me be and you won’t have to,” Diana said, looking down. She didn’t want to deal with Akko, she didn’t want to deal with anyone. Nobody saw, nobody understood. Her dreams had been crushed. She had nothing left. Why should she even care if they rescued them or not? Her life would be over either way.

Then, Akko put the blue box right in her face. “Just take the stupid food,” she ordered.

Diana felt a burst of anger. “I don’t WANT YOUR STUPID FOOD!” she yelled, looking up with rage and slapping the box away. She overdid it. The box flew out of the cockpit with the strength of her blow. There was a splash noise. As Diana looked to the side, she could see some ripples in the glowing river waters. She paused, realization of what she’d just done hitting like a brick. She put her legs up in the seat, hugged them and hid her face between them. “There, I ate it. Leave me alone,” she said. Why did she feel like crying all of a sudden?

Akko sighed again. There was a faint popping noise as she opened her own box. Was she going to eat it in front of her to gloat? “Here,” she said instead. Diana looked up, wary. Akko was offering her the opened box. “Eat mine. I’m fairly certain I can go on longer without eating.”

Diana was at an absolute loss. She couldn’t even look at Akko, who now seemed to be as radiant as the sun. “Why?” She asked, all the anger in her voice lost. She felt so, so weak.

“What do you mean?” Akko asked. Diana could smell the food now. A steak and mashed potatoes. Her stomach growled.

“Why are you being nice? Aren’t you angry at me?” Diana asked.

Akko took a deep breath. “I am,” she admitted. “But why should that matter? People fight, sometimes. I… I don’t want to lose this relationship with you, Diana. And the first step towards that is making sure you don’t die,” she said. She sounded so mature it was a little jarring. “So please take the food.”

Diana hesitantly took it, removing her mask too. She put her feet on the floor again, taking the plastic utensils and starting on it. Why was it that it seemed like Akko always took the steps forward in their relationship? She was the one to _force_ Diana into talking to her about her problems. She had visited her almost every single day in the hospital. She had been consistently understanding and patient.

What had Diana done? She had imposed stupid rules. She had been mean and offensive. She had failed at every step of the way, and here Akko was, still trying to save their relationship. How could she? How _dared_ she be so earnest? Diana couldn’t compare. Diana wouldn’t ever be able to compare. Her family was awful, her personality was awful. Amanda was right, after all. She did see herself above others, and she hadn’t even realized it.

“All of this was my fault,” Diana said, finally admitting it. Akko nodded, but didn’t say anything. Diana didn’t dare look up at her. Why? Why would she still like her, after everything? Each new bite of food made her feel more and more like she didn’t deserve Akko’s affection.

Probably no-one did.

“I wish I had never fallen in love with you,” Diana said, mostly to herself. Then the pain she felt would go away. The guilt. She felt so… alienated, now. She felt like she didn’t belong next to Akko. Not after everything. It would have been much easier for the brunette to go on with her life if Diana hadn’t fallen for her. When had that happened, anyways? At the hospital, obviously. But when, exactly? Diana’s feelings had been a mess while there, particularly after she started reading Emotions.

Diana looked up, wanting to say something else. But the expression on Akko’s face was one of… pain.

She stood. “Well then,” she said. She was crying. “I guess I won’t bother you anymore.”

She turned around and walked away.

“Wai…” Diana started to call out to her, but she trailed off. Akko had misunderstood her. But did it matter?

This was for the best. Akko deserved someone better than Diana, anyways. Bit by bite, Diana kept eating from her box. Each bite tasted like pain. The box would likely be the last thing Akko ever did for her.

That was fine. Now Akko would be able to like someone that didn’t insult her constantly. Someone who knew how basic human emotions worked, someone with an understanding family and who could understand her always. Someone kinder than Diana. Someone that could look at her like an equal.

Someone better than Diana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to comment!


	105. Chapter 105

“They’ll be fine,” Lotte said to Barbara. “Ursula has already…”

“In four days, Lotte!” Barbara said. Lotte cringed a little at the volume. Barbara really was worried. It was understandable. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I just…” she sat back on bed. “I should have done more for them. If I helped, they wouldn’t have been fighting and…”

Lotte leaned against her, placing a hand on her leg. “You can’t blame yourself for this, Barbs.”

Barbara sighed. “I know. I’m just worried.”

Lotte nodded. She would be lying if she said she didn’t understand Barbara and her worries. She had been near fainting a couple of times. Akko had been brave to rescue Diana – assuming she _had,_ though everyone seemed to assume they were fine – but now they were all stranded down there.

Would they be fine? The question was haunting all of them. No-one knew what was down there. Lotte tried not to have negative thoughts, but… “I wonder if Akko and Diana can make up down there,” Lotte said. “They’ll have to spend a lot of time together whether they like it or not.”

“I wonder if our message even got to them,” Barbara replied. “I don’t know. There’s so much that could go wrong…”

Lotte nodded. It was troubling. Maybe one of them had been hurt. Maybe all of them had been hurt.

“Look at the bright side,” Lotte said. “We’ll be going back to Earth soon. We can go on dates and Nightfall events and stuff,” she tried to cheer up Barbara. “I’ll try to make us some outfits for cosplay, though I’m not very good at it.”

Barbara smiled sadly. “Don’t try to cheer me up. It’s not going to work,” she stood. “But thanks for trying, anyways.”

“Where are you going?” Lotte asked, seeing as she walked away.

“To walk,” Barbara said. She gestured for Lotte to follow. “I’d like to say this is a date, but I’m not in the mood for romanticism right now,” she said as they started down the stairs. Even with that, she still took Lotte’s hand into her own as they exited the Inn. Lotte had grown accustomed to walking like this, lately. It was a nice, comfy feeling.

They didn’t say much as they strolled around in the chasms. Barbara pointedly avoided the one that led to the site of the accident, instead moving to the next one over. This one had a greater number of windows on each chasm wall, not only because they went higher but because they were more packed together. Patches on the stone showed places where old windows had once been before being moved, and while the entrance to the chasm – a massively wide one that a few hundreds of meters in split into two normal ones, one leading to the training roads and the other into the one Lotte and Barbara were walking into – was rather lacking in activity, the more they walked in the more armors walked around.

Lotte noticed something rather strange. Most armors here had darker carapaces than others. It kind of looked like theirs were made of the same material as the chasms. A dark-gray, almost black, rock. Many doors here didn’t even have torches above them, and while every window seemed to be lit, so many of them lacked that moss frame around them that Lotte wondered if something bad had happened to the area.

“These are the slums, I think,” Barbara suddenly said.

“Huh?” Lotte asked.

“I decided to read a little on the planet, and I have a general idea of how The Bottom is laid out,” she explained. “Kind of like what you did with the plants, I guess.”

Lotte nodded. She was now, probably, the one who knew the more about the Plants on their group. Well, maybe not more than Diana, but she knew a lot about them. How they lived, what they ate, their social structure, all that stuff. None of it had been of much help, though.

“Slums, huh? Do they even have an economic system?” Lotte asked. She had read about many fantasy worlds in Nightfall, and had learnt to expect cool things from them. Some were simple, but those volumes that took place entirely on a new setting usually explored a lot of it. Volumes one-ninety-one to one-ninety-seven all happened in a completely different world, too. Some thought that had been the peak of Nightfall. Lotte did think it had been great, though she wouldn’t know if it was the ‘peak’ of the series. Lately they _had_ been growing bolder, but also better, in her opinion.

Around them, armors seemed to create a small pocket of space for them to walk. Lotte couldn’t read their expressions, but armors seemed to be looking at them with their relatively small eyes. She grew nervous, after some time, but Barbara seemed fine. “They’re just wary,” Barbara explained. “Human tourists have been known to try and enter homes and such without permission, and they take things like that with great offense. Just stay away from doors and windows and they’ll mostly ignore you.”

Lotte nodded. She didn’t plan on entering any of their homes either. Some Armors were climbing staircases that went up to the higher levels. Sometimes Lotte cringed, wondering if armors were gonna fall. Those stubby legs of theirs didn’t seem to have been made to climb stairs, but they managed just fine.

“If by the time they come back Akko and Diana haven’t made up,” Barbara said out of nowhere, “you’ll help me lock them in a room together and until they talk things out we won’t let them out. We’ll ask Constanze to hack the doors on the _Dragon_ to make sure they can’t get out.”

“That may be a little too much,” Lotte said. “Forcing the issue won’t solve it.”

“You don’t know Diana as I do.”

“But I know, Akko, and she won’t appreciate it much. She’ll probably just bang the door until she’s let out.”

“But I _won’t_ let her out!” Barbara said, as if triumphant.

Lotte sighed. Barbara obviously didn’t understand that Akko could be annoyingly persistent in these kinds of things. But there was no need to ruin her fun. Each step took them further away from the center of the city. Barbara would sometimes turn at divergent chasms, taking even shadier paths every time. Lotte wasn’t sure of how she oriented herself, but she had this great moment of confusion at one point, after about twenty minutes of walking, when they stumbled into a smaller version of the center of the town. Only five chasms met here, and it wasn’t as wide, but the center also had one of those square and squat buildings. The activity of the place, however, was nowhere near as it had been back at the center.

“Oh, this is called ‘Five Corners’ by humans. If looked from above it kind of looks like a star,” Barbara explained. “If I’m not mistaken… Oh, look over there,” Barbara pointed.

Daemons. There was an entire crowd of them, all speaking in shrieking voices as they walked around in a chasm. Lotte cocked her head. “Why are they here?”

“Historically, daemons are always in the same chasm when they arrive on Vorago,” Barbara explained. Lotte looked at her. She looked… Angry.

“Wait, you came here on purpose, didn’t you,” she asked. “Barbs, you can’t do this.”

“Do what?” Barbara said as she let go of Lotte and started to walk towards the group of daemons.

Lotte stepped forward and grabbed her arm. “Barbara, I know you’re angry, but you can’t go in there.”

“What are they gonna do?” Barbara turned to her. “Hurt me?”

Lotte hesitated. “I don’t know. We don’t know how daemons think. Please don’t do it,” she said, pleading.

Barbara hesitated. She looked at the group of daemons. “Look,” she said, voice now low and menacing. “There they are.”

Lotte looked again. And indeed, there they were. The one daemon with a horn on his forehead, and the one white daemon. Both of them walked with the others, though maybe slightly ahead. They didn’t seem to be going anywhere. They just walked back and forth, as if that was enough to have fun or something. Maybe it was some kind of training? Hard to tell. Lotte knew next to nothing about daemons.

“Leave them alone, Barbara. What if they decide they won’t help if you bother them?” Lotte said. “They want to win the race without trouble. A stupid race isn’t more important than our friends.”

“They could be in danger down there, Lotte. Any extra moments…”

“They don’t care,” Lotte said. “Barbara, I’m _not_ letting you put yourself in danger like this,” her voice grew determined as she put herself between the daemons and Barbara. They didn’t even seem to notice them there. Maybe they had but didn’t care.

Barbara looked over Lotte’s shoulder, then at Lotte. She was definitely angry, something Lotte had somehow missed before.

“Please,” Lotte said again.

Barbara hesitated. “Fine,” she turned and walked away.

Lotte followed. “Are you angry?”

“Yes,” Barbara didn’t even pause to answer. “Though not at you, honey,” she looked at Lotte with loving eyes. Even now, that made Lotte’s heart flutter. Barbara sighed. “You’re probably right. I was about to do something stupid.”

“Do you want to grab something to eat?” Lotte asked.

“I can’t eat when I’m nervous,” Barbara said.

“So you’re not gonna eat in four days?”

With a pause, the black-haired girl started massaging her temple. “Ok, whatever. Maybe we’ll have time to go on that double date once they come out of the chasm. Let’s go,” she suddenly grabbed Lotte’s hand and started dragging her away with strength.

“Uhm, Barbs, do you plan on going all the way to the human chasm like this?”

“Yes,” Barbara said.

And without further conversation, she kept going.

 

Constanze worked. She worked without stop. She and her stanbots had completely taken over an entire corner of the garage and they were working furiously on the Shooting Star. What else was there to do? She needed a distraction, something to get her mind out of the terrible fate that might have fallen upon her best friend. Only the metallic grey walls of the _Dragon_ and the feeling of doing something seemed to be enough to calm her.

They all had watched the video of how Diana had fallen, quickly followed by Akko in a heroic – if stupid – act of selflessness going after her. Did she manage to save her? Were they even alive? That was a mystery. They hoped, sure. Everyone knew the Shiny Rod was a special ship, and Constanze knew just how special it was.

However, if it had broken, and how, she couldn’t know. Her bug on the ship had stopped working after it dived into the deepness. Now there was no way of knowing if the Rod had suffered any damage or if they were all just dead.

Constanze knew that the possibility of the Shiny Rod ever getting damaged was flimsy at best. So, in her mind, only one option remained.

She worked. She kept working. Because it was either that or never touch a broom again.

 

Jasminka ate. Unlike normal, though, she did it slowly. She liked to eat, but even if she didn’t, she needed to. When your body consumed calories at the rate of five sportsmen put together at the same time, one could not stop eating. She was plump, and she knew that. But it was a measure to keep herself alive, if she ever happened to run into a situation where she _couldn’t_ eat for any reason. Other people could maybe go on about two or three weeks without food and survive. Jasminka wouldn’t last five days, even with her current body fat.

However, no matter how much she ate nowadays, she didn’t gain weight anymore. No matter how hard she tried. The way magic made her consume calories was a curse. She was, as far as she knew, the only person in the world to suffer from the condition. It didn’t even have a name.

On the other hand, she could eat all she wanted. She rarely felt full, and on the strange occasions that she did, it rarely lasted more than a few minutes. She could go to a party and eat everything without flinching. Given the way magic disintegrated all those calories and other stuff her body produced, she didn’t even have to go to the bathroom more often than normal people.

Now, however, she was eating like she hadn’t done in… well, ever. Out of nervousness. Out of not being able to express her distress to anyone.

She was a quiet girl. She’d been bullied, in the past, for her weight and condition. Not so much in the past years, thanks to Amanda and Constanze, but Jasminka already had the habit of talking as little as possible embedded into her. And even then, she talked more than Constanze. The little mechanic was a great friend and an even greater listener. The few times Jasminka had talked for a while, or ranted, or whatever, both Constanze and Amanda had listened.

Amanda, who was down in something that looked like a bottomless pit, and Constanze, who had been so distressed by the situation that she had gone to the dragon and no-one had seen her for the past eight hours.

She knew she was considered a girl with little personality. She was the girl who ate, the girl who was fat, the girl with the kind smile. And, well, she didn’t mind. She smiled because, during the past years, she’d felt good. With herself, with the world. The curse she’d so much hated became something to enjoy. Eating wasn’t a chore anymore, something to be ashamed of. Instead, she could just pop open a bag of any snacks and people wouldn’t look at her for any other reason than wanting some. And she always tried to offer. Because, even if she should have been bitter at the world, someone had to start. Someone had to be kind for the world to be a kinder place, even if the world itself didn’t seem to treat you with kindness.

But what about now? When her best friend had fallen into a pit and she was unable to help, she couldn’t smile. She ate slowly because she didn’t feel like eating. The food was tasteless. Even if the chips she was eating were supposed to be spicy, the spice was so mild that it might as well have been pepper. All she could feel was this pressure, this crushing sensation in her chest. Worry. She worried over Akko, Diana and Hannah. But most of all, she worried over Amanda. Amanda, who hadn’t cared the least about her appearance. Who treated both her and Constanze as if they were completely normal, despite their obvious quirks. Who always chatted with them even if they barely even replied.

Jasminka didn’t know if she could handle losing her. It wasn’t love, not the romantic kind at least. Amanda had been a light for Jasminka in a dark moment of her life. And now she had been swallowed up by darkness. Jasminka had considered going to Constanze, asking her to pilot the Shooting Star, to do _something_ to bypass that stupid strange barrier that made electronics stop working that far down. She’d be her gunman. Together they could go save their friends.

But that was what Constanze was doing right now, wasn’t it? Working on the Shooting Star, probably trying to come up with a way to go and save them. Sure, the daemons had accepted to help them. But after the race. So much could happen in that window of time.

So Jasminka ate. And worried. Feeling more lonely than ever before.

 

Sucy looked at the desk she had set up in her stone room with narrowed eyes. There was no potion that would allow a human to survive a fall like that. There was no potion that would allow a human to climb down or up those chasms. Potions were made of Magic energy, yet they had little actual magic in them. Everything was chemistry. They couldn’t grant a human superpowers. They couldn’t transform them into insects or other things.

What was the point, then?

Sucy was alone. Lotte had gone somewhere with Barbara, and the two green team members remaining weren’t precisely talkers. Not that Sucy was much of a talker herself, normally. It was Akko who brought _that_ out for her.

And now she was dead.

Sucy wasn’t an optimist. She’d rather assume her friend was dead than hope. Hope only set one up for disappointment. Hope was stupid. The Shiny Rod was invincible. If it hadn’t come out of the chasm, then Akko hadn’t made it. That was that. No point in tricking herself over anything else. The only thing that the promise of ‘rescue in four days’ did was postpone the news. They’d go down that chasm and find either nothing or two destroyed ships and four bodies.

There were no potions that could revive people either. Phoenix Dawns, sadly, weren’t a thing.

Sucy sat on her desk. It was empty. She had, at some point, carefully taken everything out and stored it. They’d be leaving for Earth soon, anyways. She’d be able to continue her research comfortably, so taking a few days of break seemed like a perfectly fine decision.

Not that she’d be able to experiment much in the coming weeks. She had refrained from using Akko as a guinea pig lately, as to not mess up with her training. Guess she wouldn’t have to worry about that, now. She’d just have to find someone else, or buy some hamsters.

Who could be that someone else? They’d have to rework the teams, now that four students were gone. Barbara would probably be put in the green team, and the red team would maybe remain as a two-girls team. But Sucy couldn’t use Lotte for her experiments. The girl was too frail, too weak. The only time Sucy had tried anything on her, Lotte had gotten first grade poisoning. She was a perfectly normal human being, no magic in her system. Akko had _some_ , and Sucy had even more than her.

Well, now Sucy had more anything than Akko.

 _I should get my wand,_ Sucy thought, realizing she hadn’t picked it up. _I’ll need it…_

For what? Experimenting? She wasn’t going to do that. She… She just needed it. She stood walking over to where her stuff was in the corner of the room, and picked it up. Her wand held all kinds of information. Particularly, her every result in every experiment she had ever done.

Sucy felt a sudden need to look through them, so she did. From her first ones from where she was a kid, to the more recent ones. Akko had been the test subject in about ninety percent of the experiments. She had gotten her skin to turn blue, her eyes to change to a normal brown, her entire body to get so cold that Akko felt like she was dying of heat, and then vice-versa. A ton of stuff Sucy had made only to annoy Akko, back in the day, had seemed like innocent fun.

Now she felt cruel. Looking at all that data, she wished to just delete it. She should have apologized. She should have treated Akko better. Akko had always been amiable. She had been a good person and an even better friend. No matter how strange, weird or creepy Sucy was, Akko had never tried to cut ties with her.

Sucy dropped the wand. Suddenly, her entire body had grown weak. The numbness, the emptiness she felt inside, it started to be filled with something else. She closed her eyes, pressed her lips, and tried to delay the inevitable.

She failed. A tear at first, running down her cheek. Then another. Then her breath got caught, and she had to open her mouth for air. But even then, it was hard. Sucy cried silently. Or, as silently as possible.

As the saying went, you never know what you have until you lose it.

Sucy had never realized how much she appreciated Akko until that moment. And against her every belief, she wished that she was fine. She hoped.

She cried until she fell asleep.

 

Andrew tapped his foot against the carpeted floor of his room. He was essentially naked, save for his boxers. He didn’t feel like putting on anything else. His father looked at him with disapproval. For the first time in maybe his entire life, Andrew didn’t give a single flying fuck.

“You _had_ to push her, now didn’t you,” Andrew said. When had he started bouncing his leg? “You _had_ to go and do that, and see where that got you. Now you’re not only not gonna win the race, you probably killed four teenagers.”

“They’re fine,” Paul said. He spoke as he always did, as if he was king of the world, certain of everything. “The chips on their suits haven’t sent any bad signals to-”

“Their chips are ELECTRONICS, FATHER,” Andrew said, his voice growing louder than he expected. “They stop working completely when under the base level of armor society. You should know that. _You_ taught it to me.”

Paul sighed, standing. “What is done is done. I can’t have you worrying over this right now. Come on, put something on, brush your hair. We need to go.”

“No,” Andrew said. “No, no father. You…” Paul frowned, which made Andrew hesitate. “You can’t shrug this off as something that was just an occurrence. This was your fault. You knew how distressed Diana was and instead of helping her you just added more stress on top of that.”

“I did what needed to be done,” Paul asserted.

Andrew shook his head. “No, you only made things worse. And now you won’t win the race. Whatever the big fancy prize is you made sure we wouldn’t get it by treating Diana like scum,” he hissed.

Paul’s expression grew cold, and harsh. “I don’t recall you doing anything to stop me,” he said. He always did this. Whenever Andrew criticized him, he would turn it around by instead criticizing something about Andrew.

“You’re right,” Andrew said. He moved over to his closet. “I was an ass too. I should have told you that you were wrong,” he threw on a t-shirt and his sports clothing on top of that. “And now,” he walked up to the door, “I’m going to do what you’re too much of an old fart to even think of doing.”

His father seemed a little too shocked by the fact that Andrew would dare go out in such casual clothing while _not_ going to the gym to react. Andrew closed the door behind him and walked away. He needed to talk to Ursula. Where was she, again?

The stone corridor of the hotel was rather confusing. Long and dark, illuminated by torches. He almost missed the exit to the stairs. Unlike the team, Paul had paid a lot of money to stay in the best hotel in The Bottom. A bunch of other rich humans had done the same. The place wasn’t even on the human chasm. It was a hotel for tourists of all classes. Or, more accurately, of all races. Because classes… yeah, only high-class people could afford this kind of place.

If he thought about it, Andrew knew he should have insisted to his father that what he was doing was incorrect. Yet, standing up to his father was like trying to fight of a storm by blowing really hard against it. He was a man of determination and confidence. He was never wrong, no matter what. That mindset had led him to where he was now, one of the most powerful men in the world.

And also the guy who had probably caused the death of four teenagers.

Andrew went into the elevator – it worked with Armor technology. It was a stone platform that moved up and down without any kind of railing or security. Andrew was a little nervous every time he got in. When he reached the base floor he walked through the lobby – even if carved into the chasm wall, it had been painted white. But it was a sloppy paint job. Only one layer. The end result was that it kind of looked like an abandoned building wwhere the paint had slowly faded away. Armors had a strange sense of aesthetic.

Andrew exited to the rich district of The Bottom. The place was filled with armors that seemed to have shells made of metal, and it was obvious they considered themselves above others with the way they walked. The richest armors in the planet were the ones that had managed to get a hold of some of the best mineral deposits on the planet. Food was a thing to share. Metals? Those were a thing to sell.

The rich district, other than that, was rather far from the human chasm. It was a long walk, but Andrew was so disgusted with his father that he didn’t want to use the broom to get to where he wanted. Diana had been somewhat of a friend for a long time now. Their families had been friendly and they were, from some distant relative, something akin to cousins. Not that it mattered. They had never liked each other much. That didn’t mean Andrew didn’t worry. Sometimes he didn’t understand Diana, but others, he thought he was the only one who could. He was already tired with the amount of pressure his father put on him. Well, Diana had that and so much more. Being considered a prodigy wasn’t as good as so many people seemed to think. Sure, it came with perks. Prestige, people listened to you, the ability to do basically anything you pleased. And yet, making real human connections was oh so hard.

Who was a friend and who was there only for the money and the fame? It wasn’t a matter of _if,_ but a matter of _when_ someone would turn their backs on you because they didn’t get what they wanted from you. Andrew had few friends, and none of them he would have invited to his wedding.

Not that he planned on marrying anytime soon. Falling in love seemed like such a pain in the ass.

As he walked, some of the rich humans walking on the chasm recognized him. As always. He shouldn’t have combed his hair after taking that shower. It was impressive how people ignored a guy with disheveled hair.

The walk to the small inn the team was waiting on was about twenty minutes, but he made it without much struggle. He went to the gym fairly often and he liked to practice HEMA. He liked rapiers. Maybe it was a little childish, but who could blame him for thinking swords were cool?

After asking the receptionist – and owner – of the inn, he found out Ursula wasn’t there. The receptionist didn’t know where she was. Andrew thought for a while. The site of the accident? Maybe, but it was far away and he didn’t know the way exactly.

His safest option was to stay put. So he did, sitting on the small couches on the side of the lobby. He noticed the terrarium with a bunch of smacks jumping around. They were curious little critters, but he didn’t really find much interest in them.

Paul would be livid later. Not only for what Andrew had done, but because he would sit where he was for as long as it was necessary to speak to Ursula and explain everything to her.

Surprisingly enough, even for himself, the thought of his father getting angry didn’t bother him.

Not this time.


	106. Chapter 106

Amanda and Hannah had woken up to discover that, at some point during their sleep, Diana and Akko had somehow made things between the two of them _worse._

How? They didn’t know. Akko didn’t speak, and Diana was evasive.

“It’s wrong,” Amanda said. “Akko isn’t speaking _at all._ Did Diana rip her voice strings out or what?”

Hannah couldn’t be sure. She had looked into Diana’s eyes and asked. She was certain it was totally Diana’s fault. Her neutral face didn’t work anymore. She just looked guilty and pained. Not even anger remained. Akko, on her part, had sat down on the Shiny Rod and stayed there. Amanda was now wearing the mask she shared with Hannah, but Akko and Diana hadn’t exchanged theirs yet. Akko had probably been in the rod for hours, probably too mad to ask Diana to give her the mask back.

“If Barbara was here she’d lock them in a room until they got their shit together,” Hannah said.

“And you?” Amanda gave her a cautious look. It made sense. Exasperated didn’t even begin to describe how Hannah felt. She was just so damn sick of the drama between those two that she had decided to ignore it. If they wanted to throw their relationship in the garbage then it was all on them.

“If I cared enough I’d just slap them both and tell them to stop acting like brainless idiots,” Hannah explained. “But I don’t. Akko is too dumb to be with Diana, anyways. I’m surprised they even fell for each other in the first place.”

Amanda pressed her lips. “So, they shouldn’t be together because they’re too different?” She asked.

“Don’t be like that,” Hannah said. “We’re not that different. We’re both sassy and witty and we like to get on each other’s nerves. Sure, I’m more of a feminine pretty girl while you’re a cool tomboy, but… Well, we clicked, I guess. It’s not a bad chemistry. But Akko’s an impulsive idiot that barely knows what she’s doing half the time while Diana is a genius, an expert of crafts that she hasn’t even been trained on and a calm and collected person.”

“As shown by her latest calm and collected achievement: ‘Get your team down a chasm and almost sentence them to death’,” Amanda said.

Hannah had to admit, Diana had been pretty Akko-like in doing that. “She’s been under great amounts of stress. She’s… well, I guess she’ll tell you if she wants to.”

“We both know she won’t,” Amanda said with annoyance. “Why don’t you just spill it out and be done with it?”

Hannah shook her head. “Diana is my friend. I won’t speak of her issues,” she was determined on that. She feared, for a moment, that Amanda would take offense in her attitude.

Instead, she shrugged. “Well, whatever,” she said. “Now what? We’ve still have a bunch of days to go and we have absolutely nothing to do.”

This got Hannah thinking. She had been excited about the party that was to be at some point during the current day. Maybe it was already in course, as far as she knew. She wished she could just fly and take Amanda with her, to the party. Dance with her again, like she’d done back in Machina.

But dance where, and how? They had no music, and the platform was in full view of Akko and Diana. As much as Hannah wanted to, she was too embarrassed to do something like that. Not that she didn’t want to be seen with Amanda, it was absolutely not that. She just… Well, she didn’t even know. It was a little like the fact of liking silly romantic melodramas. There was nothing technically wrong with that, it was simply easier to enjoy them by yourself.

Maybe that was it. She wanted Amanda all to herself, without having to deal with prying eyes around them. Was that selfish?

Hannah turned sharply towards Amanda, who paused with a wary look. Her expression implied that she believed she had offended Hannah in some way or another, which wouldn’t be uncommon of her. She hadn’t, though, and Hannah just stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Amanda’s waist. There was no warmth coming out of her, thanks to the g-suit, but it was still a comfortable hug.

“We just spent like ten hours hugging,” Amanda pointed out as she returned it.

“I know,” Hannah said.

“You grabbed my butt,” Amanda said.

Hannah blushed. At some point during them sleeping she had, for some reason, grabbed Amanda’s butt. She didn’t remember what she had dreamt about, but Amanda had woken her up with a yelp. Both of them had gone back to sleep after that, but Hannah still recalled the soft yet firm feeling in her hand, and how smooth the skin had been.

As a response to what Amanda had said, she boldly grabbed Amanda’s butt again. It was round and firm and wonderful and… wait, was Amanda not wearing underwear? “I kn-know,” she stuttered, suddenly absurdly self-conscious of what she was doing.

Amanda chuckled nervously. “You can touch much more than that, if you want,” she said in a voice that tried to be seductive, but ended up being kind of funny with her nervousness slipped in it.

Hannah let go of the butt, and also released Amanda, who stood there with a red face. “Sorry, I just…”

“It’s fine,” Amanda said. She shifted awkwardly in place for a few seconds. “C-can I…?” She looked up with her green eyes. Such as with every time a green light reflected on her eyes, the glow of the river behind them made her eyes look like emeralds.

Hannah hesitated. But… well, saying no would be unfair, wouldn’t it? Yes, that was it. It would be unfair to say no. It wasn’t as if she wanted to… “I… Sure,” Hannah said. She closed her eyes with strength, waiting. Maybe this would be it. The day Amanda got to her and… Well, she was ok with that. It had not been a lot of time since they’d begun dating for real, but did it even matter? Waiting for a long time didn’t feel like such a good idea anyways.

She waited, but nothing came. She cracked one eye open. “Ama?” She asked, the nickname slipping out even though maybe Akko or Diana could hear it.

Amanda stood there with a smile. “You’re that nervous about it?”

Hannah paused. She was nervous. Her fists were clenched, her feet were together, her face was down. She hadn’t even noticed it, but she was tense all around. “I… I’ve never…”

Amanda put a hand to Hannah’s head and pulled her close again, starting to stroke her head with long movements that went all the way to her mid-back. “It’s fine. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. If you don’t feel like it, just…”

Hannah grabbed the hand that wasn’t busy and pushed it down until it was on top of her buttock. Then she placed it there with determination. Amanda stopped brushing, and Hannah could feel the squeeze through the g-suit. Amanda seemed to lose herself for a moment as she explored a little down here.

When Hannah though she was going to explode she pushed Amanda back. “Ok, enough. Diana and Akko might see us,” she said, unable to look Amanda in the face, pointing at the two brooms.

Amanda ruffled her hair. “Then we can go back inside the Shiny Rod and…”

Hannah turned away, walking towards the cave entrance. “We should go explore some of the side chasms today! Who knows what we may find!” she spoke in an overly loud voice on purpose.

Amanda smiled as she followed. Even if awkwardly, Hannah found herself smiling too.

 

A few hours had passed, but Akko and Diana still hadn’t moved. Had they even eaten anything? Amanda didn’t know, and honestly she barely even cared. She and Hannah were finishing up their own boxes of food together, sitting on the back wing of the Unicorn.

Hannah and her had been extremely bored the past two hours, and it would be a big understatement to say they had been kind of awkwardly flirting constantly. Yet they hadn’t kissed or, for a matter of fact, done anything. Because they knew. They knew that they were getting close to the no return point. Maybe it was the stress of the situation, the need to do something to cheer up. Whatever the reason, though, it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to go on as normal.

Sleeping together like that had brought Amanda an incredible sense of satisfaction, opposite to how she’d felt the previous time. She had, however, woken up because of a wet dream. And wet indeed, because she had really regretted not carrying a second set of panties with her. Having woken up a little earlier than Hannah, she had exited the rod and washed her underwear, then she had dressed up. Wearing a g-suit also implied that, if she wasn’t careful, the relief of her crotch would be visible. That was the main reason anyone wore underwear when in a g-suit, despite the fact that it was totally unnecessary.

She hoped Hannah hadn’t realized she wasn’t wearing her panties.

Amanda wanted to stop thinking about that, so she instead though about the other thing she wanted. Her plan to reveal herself as the masked Watcher in the party today had been busted, but she didn’t feel like really putting it off. She decided that, if she couldn’t do it as she planned, she’d just have to improvise.

She stood, leaving a curious Hannah behind. She drank the last of her water bottle and threw it into the river. Screw global warming, armors didn’t have that. Probably. Plus, she was angry at the planet. Fuck Vorago.

The stone beneath her fingers was smooth, but it was also full of little pebbles and such that made walking all the more annoying. She walked to the nozzle of the Shiny Rod, hidden from Hannah’s view. It was warm to the touch, as always, though not hot. On top of it laid the relatively washed set of panties. They were now sprinkled with dark spots, and Amanda took them and started brushing off the bits of… what was this? Plants? At least it didn’t clung to the clothing. In a minute she was wearing her dry underwear again, and that gave her strength to do what she planned on doing.

She walked then to the center of the platform. She started meticulously getting every bit of rock out of the way, trying hard not to think about the fact that she was about to do something absurdly corny and clichéd and that it was lame and that Akko and Diana could be watching and _oh god she’s gonna laugh in my face at the mere suggestion of this._

But Amanda was nothing if not in love, so she continued doing so. It took her a while under the curious gaze of Hannah, and once she was over, a good circle of empty, smooth rock remained. Good, good. Amanda moved over to where Hannah was still sitting. She offered a hand, earning her a raised eyebrow. God Hannah was sexy when she did that.

“Wanna dance?” Amanda asked.

Hannah frowned. “Here?”

Amanda nodded. “I… I was looking forward to the party. I want to,” she said. Her voice was a little softer than usual, and Hannah seemed to pick on it. “Though if you don’t…”

Hannah took her hand a little more strongly than Amanda had expected, and in a second she was down from the wing and walking over to the circle. “Honestly,” Hannah said. “I was excited about the party too. I’m glad you asked,” she said. Her ponytail bounced as she walked, as always. Now it seemed particularly relevant, for some reason. She was so cute it hurt.

She then stopped, and both of them stood in the center of the circle. “Wait a second,” Amanda said. She took her wand and moved through the settings. She had discovered the Shiny Rod could still charge it. There was a spot for that on the wall of the turret. She put on slightly upbeat song, but with a dragged on quality to it. It _felt_ like it should be faster, but it wasn’t.

Then, she and Hannah got in position for dancing. And of course, Amanda led.

This time it was easy. No-one else to worry about. Just her and Hannah. Step, step, turn. Step, step, step, turn. Amanda knew how to dance, and she knew how to ignore the rules of dancing too. Because few things were more satisfying than pissing off a dancing teacher and then showing to her that she could, in fact, perfectly perform every step if she wanted.

She wondered if she should breakdance a little. That had kind of been the catalyst that got Hannah and Amanda to dance together that first time. It had been awkward, then, but now Amanda looked back to it with newfound happiness.

Amanda lost herself in the dance. In her heartbeat, in Hannah’s touch on her shoulder. Every step was precise, careful. Every turn, every spin. She was doing it more intensely than she’d intended at first, but for some reason, she’d gotten in the zone.

Dancing dealt, somehow, with her worries. Everything seemed to fade until only she and Hannah remained. Amanda didn’t think about the chasms, her revelation, her family or anyone else. Diana and Akko may be watching, but she didn’t think about that either.

She only thought about dancing. The last time she’d lost herself like this had been at that Nightfall party.

Her heartbeat was fast, pounding her chest with strength. Her blood rushed through her veins. Her breathing was steady, though she was sweating.

And then, something changed. Hannah paused, taking Amanda completely off guard, and she almost tripped. She looked at Hannah, who was looking at Amanda with wide, open eyes.

Amanda knew what that meant. “You…” Hannah started. She was sweating too. How much time had they been dancing? “You’re him,” Hannah whispered. She reached up with her hand, cupping Amanda’s face.

Amanda nodded. It was obvious. There was no other ‘him’ appropriate for this context.

Hannah seemed to be in disbelief. “You… You were the masked guy all along,” she said. Her brown eyes caught the light of the river, and they seemed to be glowing with magic. “Amanda, you’re…”

“You’re not angry, are you?” Amanda asked, finally able to form some words. “I… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I just…”

Hannah frowned. “Angry? Oh, no, I’m livid,” she said. She kind of sounded like it, and Amanda grimaced. “Do you know how much time I wasted worrying over that guy?” Amanda pressed her lips, nodding softly. “And yet neither you nor Barbara confessed. That was her idea, wasn’t it?”

Amanda nodded. “That was the night I realized I liked you,” she explained. “It was such a great dance, I…”

Hannah, unexpectedly, threw her arms around Amanda’s neck and trapped her into an intense kiss. “You’re a fucking idiot,” she said. “We could’ve begun dating back then if you told me!”

Amanda was a little dazed. “I thought you’d be angry,” she confessed.

“I would have been, sure,” Hannah admitted, “but I would have gotten over that in a day and I could have accepted that I like you so much earlier!” She sounded genuinely pissed about that. For some reason, it made Amanda smile as she leaned forward and kissed Hannah again.

“So you’re like… Ok with it?”

“I’m relieved!” Hannah explained. “I’d been worrying about what I’d do if I ever found out who the guy was. But now that I know it’s you…” she smiled. “How the hell did you hide your chest?”

“Bandages and a really tight bra.”

“Must have hurt,” Hannah grimaced.

“Not as much as you think. If you know how to do it, of course. You can’t just…” Amanda trailed off as she noticed Hannah was clearly measuring up her boobs, probably trying to figure it out. “Like what you see?”

Hannah absent-mindedly nodded.

Amanda moved her hand up, cradling Hannah’s chin and gently pushing it up until their eyes met. “I should have told you sooner,” she said, starting to get lost in the sights.

“I should have accepted I like you the moment you confessed,” Hannah said back.

And, as if their lips were magnets, they crashed. It was a kiss with intent behind it. Strong, though not the sexy kind. Just a moment to lose themselves. Their chests pressed against each other, and that in itself was enough to leave Amanda completely blank.

Alluring. Maybe that was the right word for Hannah. Ever since Amanda had seen her in that yellow attire when she’d been about to go out towards her date with Andrew, Amanda had been looking at her. She hadn’t liked Hannah, not back then. At the time it had been just a slight crush, the sight of someone incredibly cute. But that had stirred something inside Amanda, and now here they were.

Attraction. Could one develop this level of attachment to someone in such a short time? How much had it been? Two months? And much less since Amanda had accepted her feelings. Hannah was fun to be around. She was beautiful. She was smart and, even if they weren’t on the same page on their ideas of how the world worked, her innocence made Amanda feel that the world wasn’t as dark and awful as she often thought it was.

Yet, for Amanda, a week was an eternity. Two weeks was an impossibly long time. She was used to one-nighters. She went out on the weekends, found a promising night club, danced, found a girl she liked, flirted and went to bed. She often had to pretend she was eighteen, but it wasn’t too hard. Good fake IDs could go a long way, she had discovered early on.

They parted for a moment. There hadn’t been tongue, in the kiss. There needn’t be for it to blow the air out of Amanda. “I love you,” she whispered to Hannah. There, with her eyes glowing, with her hair up in her ponytail. Her lips were parted, as if she waited for more. Amanda wanted to keep going, to take those lips on her own, tasting Hannah for eternity.

And Hannah too, apparently, because she didn’t reply as she simply moved closer again and kept their kiss going. She was the one to swipe Amanda’s lower lip with her tongue, curiously, and Amanda let her in. Their breaths mixed as one, their tongues danced.

Love. It was a strong word, yet one Amanda felt so _certain_ about. She had never before felt so strongly for anyone. Not her parents, not her grandmother, not her previous partners. She pulled Hannah so close that she worried about crushing her, but the pleasured hum coming out of Hannah’s lips was more than enough to quiet that.

When they separated, both of them were panting. “I’m sorry I can’t say it back, Ama,” Hannah whispered.

Amanda smiled. A wholehearted smile. Knowing Hannah, it would be a while until she was able to. But that was fine, because for some reason, Amanda was confident it’d come sooner or later. “You don’t have to say anything,” she said, her mind overflowing as she tried to take the situation in. “I think actions say more than words, anyways.”

“You weren’t wearing underwear today,” Hannah pointed out, and Amanda was struck with the randomness of the comment.

“I… why would you say that?” Amanda asked, suddenly growing nervous.

“Because I felt it,” Hannah softly brushed one of her buttocks, “but you _are_ wearing them now. What happened?”

Amanda blushed harder than in any recent memory. “You could say that I… wet the bed,” Amanda explained.

Hannah looked up at her with a frown of confusion. “Wait, but I don’t rememb…” she paused. “Oh.”

Amanda nodded. “‘Oh’ indeed.”

“Guess sleeping like that wasn’t a great idea,” Hannah said, guilt slowly appearing in her eyes.

“Don’t be stupid,” Amanda was now softly tracing circles on Hannah’s back with her fingers. Did she notice it? “I loved every second of it,” she kissed Hannah again, softly. “And I washed my panties. Kind of.”

Hannah’s hand very clearly moved from Amanda’s butt to her thigh, where it stopped. It had clearly been on its way towards the crotch, but Hannah had caught herself. “Do I really cause something like that?”

Amanda found the question strange. “Yes, of course,” she said. “You’re beautiful, cute, sexy. There’s nothing I want more right now than to get inside the Rod again and rock you to your core.”

Hannah smiled. “You know, when we walk together, Barbara is the one to draw all the stares. Assuming we’re not with Diana, of course,” she explained. “I rarely get to draw the attention of others. Both Diana and Barbara are taller, and both have better forms than me, not to mention that Barbara still has way more money and Diana more prestige.”

“But you’re definitely the cutest,” Amanda said, placing one hand on the back of Hannah’s neck and slowly leaning in for another kiss.

When they separated, Hannah continued. “I don’t know when, but at one point I guess I just assumed I’d get to meet my prince charming _after_ both of them,” she explained. They hadn’t moved in a while. Amanda had to wonder if Akko and Diana were awake, even, watching them. “And then you came and we kind of got them all at the same time.”

“You know, it’s not the first time someone calls me prince charming,” Amanda admitted. “A year ago this girl I was dancing with…” she paused, noticing Hannah’s stare. “Uhm. Yeah, ok. I guess you don’t wanna hear about other girls, huh,” Amanda said with an awkward chuckle.

Hannah pulled her closer. “There’s a difference, though. You’re not my _prince_ charming. You’re my… Cinderella, I guess.”

“Cinderella?” Amanda raised an eyebrow, though Hannah wouldn’t be able to see it, with her face against her shoulder like she was now.

“Yeah. We danced a little, you ran away, and like two weeks later I found out it was you,” she explained.

“I think we got together before that happened,” Amanda commented.

“Shut up,” Hannah simply said.

Amanda did. She put a hand on Hannah’s head and the other on her back. She took in her scent – mixed in with that smoke-like smell from this cursed planet – and wished she didn’t have her g-suit, so that she could also take in her warmth. Even after a full day without taking a shower, Hannah still smelled like shampoo. Though a different one, if Amanda was correct. This one was… honey?

“I like you so much,” Hannah said out of her own. She seemed to be speaking to herself, like her inner voice had leaked out. Amanda smiled. Damn it, how could one human being be so Hannah?

“What’s your favorite food?” Amanda suddenly asked.

Hannah looked up, confused. “What?”

“Favorite food. What is it?”

“Uhm… spaghetti, maybe?” Hannah shrugged. “It depends on the mood. If I’m sad I eat ice-cream.”

Amanda smiled. “You really shouldn’t read those corny novels, you know,” she commented.

Hannah shrugged. “Ice-cream is still great, you’d do the same.”

Actually, she wouldn’t. But Amanda couldn’t exactly say that when she was feeling down she went out at night o find someone to have fun with. So many habits to change. Wait, she _had_ deleted the number of all those girls she called from time to time, didn’t she? She’d make sure to check once again when Hannah slept.

Then, Hannah sighed.

“Ok, as much as I want to stay here all day, I think I’m gonna make sure Diana’s still alive.”

“Do you have to?” Amanda asked.

Hannah deadpanned. “You should check on Akko. Maybe she’s ready to talk now. We can’t have the only one capable of turning the Shiny Rod on being a zombie.”

Amanda sighed too, reluctantly letting go of Hannah. “I suppose you’re right…”

“I am. Now let’s go. We can…” she paused. “We can kiss all you want later!” she basically shouted. Shehad obviously tried to sound controlled. She had failed miserably. It was cute. “I’ll be g-going now,” Hannah said, walking around Amanda and striding towards the Unicorn.

Amanda looked at the Shiny Rod. _Well, it can’t hurt to try, I guess,_ she thought.

 

Hannah didn’t bother knocking, instead opening the windshield of the Unicorn on her own. Inside, Diana sat, looking at nowhere. She had bags under her eyes. If she had slept, she hadn’t been particularly comfortable.

“Diana,” Hannah said, sitting outside the cockpit but with her legs dangling inside. Diana ignored her. “Hey!”

Diana suddenly looked up, surprised by the loud noise. “Excuse me, what is it?”

Hannah looked at her. Her hair was a mess, for some reason. She _still_ hadn’t thrown away that blue box of supplies, and she looked, overall, like a mess. “What the hell happened?”

Diana paused, then she looked down, without replying. Hannah wanted to kick her so much right now. It was frustrating, seeing _Diana_ of all people acting like a moron. Each new thing she did seemed to take her deeper into the self-hatred rabbit hole and it pained Hannah that things were like this. She had never in her life imagined Diana could get… depressed. Because there seemed to be no other way of putting it.

“Diana,” Hannah leaned down. “Look at me.”

Diana ignored her.

“ _Look. At. Me,_ ” Hannah said in her most imperious tone, and it got Diana to look up. “Tell me what happened. If you don’t, I _will_ kick you.”

Diana looked her up and down, trying to tell if Hannah would actually kick her or not. And Hannah would, if she didn’t start speaking in ten seconds. _One, two, three, four, five, six-_

“I…” Diana spoke. Her voice was kind of hoarse for not having used it in such a long time. “I… told Akko that I regretted falling in love with her.”

Hannah was dumbfounded. “Sorry, I think I didn’t hear you right.”

“You did,” Diana said. Her blue eyes met Hannah’s, and Hannah slowly felt the information sink in.

“You idiot,” was the first thing to come to her mouth. “You moron, you stupid girl,” Hannah brought one hand up to her eyes and tilted her head backward, unable to fully understand the full ramifications of what Diana had said. “Why, in the love of all that is sacred, would you _say that?”_

Diana didn’t answer. Hannah looked at her, and she looked so… sad. She looked like she was about to cry. But she didn’t. Diana never cried. Maybe she couldn’t. “I don’t know,” Diana said. “I didn’t mean it like… like that. It’s just…” she shook her head. “What does it matter, now? Akko hates me. It’s for the best,” she looked at the empty box of supplies as if it was Akko herself. “I don’t deserve her.”

That was it.

“Get out of the cockpit,” Hannah said, voice serious.

Diana looked up, confused.

“Get out of the fucking cockpit!” Hannah ordered, standing and pointing. Diana seemed to not be much in the mood for arguing, because she did as told, dropping to the ground. Hannah followed, walking behind Diana until Diana stopped.

When Diana turned to face her, she received a punch on the cheek with all of Hannah’s strength. The force of the punch made her fall to the ground, and now she looked dazed and shocked. She looked up at Hannah clearly confused. “You,” Hannah said, crouching next to Diana. “Are a fool. You are _not_ the Diana _I_ know,” Hannah was using her bitch voice. The voice she had more often than not to speak to girls she didn’t consider worthy of being her friends. “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care. But let me tell you this: Diana is the most amazing girl in the entirety of the universe,” she paused for a moment. “Well, maybe the second,” she said, looking back at where Amanda was looking at them with clear shock.

“Don’t deserve her?” Hannah continued. She didn’t speak loud, but with the acoustics of the chasm it was possible Amanda and Akko were listening. She didn’t care. “The prodigy who was _chosen_ as an Inter-Planetary race pilot at sixteen years of age. The best student in Luna Nova, and example for generations to come. The girl modeling agencies had been pursuing for years to get her to work for them, the girl who hasn’t technically ended high school and yet already has invitations for some of the most important universities in the world. The genius who knows everything, the daughter of two-times world-cup winner Bernadette Cavendish and the teenager everyone in the piloting world has looked at for years to see how she would perform. And all of that without having a rich politician as a father,” Hannah added, thinking of Andrew. “And you _dare_ say you don’t deserve someone? You _dare_ imply that something in this world is too good for you?”

Diana was bewildered, that much was clear. She had a small trickle of blood coming out of her mouth, and Hannah started to feel guilty about the punch. Her mask had been thrown away by the blow, and now laid a few meters to the side.

“But… my family… I…”

The glare Hannah gave her shut her up. “Your ‘family’ is a rotten old woman who can’t take the fact that you’re way more talented than her and a couple of cousins who I swear to god I will kick in the face the second I see them. Are you seriously willing to throw everything away because of your shit family? Or is it about the broom? You think your mother would be happy to see you become so absolutely obsessed with a stupid vehicle? You’re gonna be a fucking millionaire when you grow up! You can just buy The Pony back from whoever has it!” Hannah shouted. Diana had obviously not expected that part of the speech, and she was now just silently staring at Hannah.

“You’re throwing away a great thing. A girl who saved your life in two different occasions without even thinking. Because of a stupid, old and useless broom,” Hannah understood how much the Pony meant to Diana. And that exactly was the problem here, and she wanted her to understand that.

“Two?” Diana asked in the lowest of voices, cocking her head in genuine confusion.

Hannah stared at her with some disbelief. “Yes, two,” she said with a serious voice. “In Pan, and then here. Or you think this time didn’t count?”

Diana frowned. “Pan?”

Hannah paused. “Yes. When the Blue Star blew up,” her voice softened a little, but she made sure to keep Diana where she was with a glare. “Akko darted out of the stands and went to save you. In a heartbeat. There’s a video of it, and everyone tells me how amazing it was.”

The confusion was so clear in Diana that Hannah just couldn’t believe it. Had she seriously not heard of how Akko had gone to save her? Fine, maybe saying that she had ‘saved her life’ was an exaggeration. Diana would’ve lived even if Akko hadn’t arrived there as fast as she did. But Diana didn’t need to know that.

And for now, she didn’t need to know anything else.

“Get your shit together, Diana,” her voice denoted that she was nearing the end of her speech, “because if there is something in this world that you deserve, that’s love,” Hannah stood. “And Akko also deserves it too. And you both deserve each other more than you think.”

She turned around and walked up to the Shiny Rod. Amanda sat there, but as she approached, Hannah noticed Akko had been asleep. She’d missed her show. Too bad, it would have been rather interesting to see her act as the white knight in shining armor to step in and save Diana from Hannah.

But this way was better. Diana needed to work on her issues, and Hannah sure as hell would punch her again if she ever dared _imply_ she wasn’t good enough for anyone. A damn god could come down from the sky and he would still have to bow in front of Diana to ask her out on a date.

And that was that.


	107. Chapter 107

Diana was numb. Her face, of course, because of the punch.

But her body, though. She was so disconnected from reality right now that she barely even knew what she was doing. It was hard to explain why, but every time she tried to feel bad again, something inside her tugged her in the other direction.

Hannah’s speech had had an effect on her, that much was obvious.

But there was one problem. She’d already screwed up.

Amanda and Hannah had walked into the caves again. Maybe to spend some more time alone. Diana had seen them dance and be happy together. She had been jealous. For a second, even, she had hated Hannah for being so happy. But then she’d go back to feeling sorry for herself.

Because that’s what this all was about.

She had been such an ass. She could see that, she could tell. She was now sitting on the floor, back against the chasm wall, looking up and hoping that Akko had eaten something since their discussion, or at least that she had drank a bottle of water.

Even if her body felt strange, her mind was the exact opposite. She felt sharp. Awake like she hadn’t been since going to her house back on Earth. The fog of anger and hate that had surrounded her since that visit had vanished, and slowly, she came to realize she regretted everything she’d done since then. Her treatment of her friends, her treatment of Akko particularly.

She had saved her life two times? Diana had forgotten to be grateful for how she’d saved her from the fall to this chasm. But the Pan thing had been news to her. She had refrained from watching videos of her accident, and she had just assumed an ambulance had saved her back then.

Hannah had put things into perspective for her. She had been right. Mentioning her mother had probably been the drop to overflow the glass. Her mother wouldn’t care about her broom as long as Diana could be happy. And Diana sure as hell didn’t need a broom to be happy.

However, now more than ever, she wondered if Akko was needed for that. She looked at the Shiny Rod, and Akko was still asleep. She could tell, somehow, even from the distance.

She was tired. Really tired. She had tried to sleep, but the Unicorn’s seat wasn’t meant for that. It was comfortable enough, but it wasn’t planned for spending eight hours in it.

With a deep breath, Diana walked to the Shiny Rod. She’d sleep on its turret, as she knew it was big enough for at least two people. And when she woke up she’d speak with Akko. _Really_ speak with her.

She’d do whatever it took to get her friendship back. Even if they couldn’t go back to how they were before, Diana didn’t want Akko walking out of her life as soon as they got back to Earth. Diana no longer cared about the race, about the Shiny Rod and its infinite potential. The stupid broom had broken, so it couldn’t even be that powerful.

Before going to sleep, she made sure to silently leave her mask where Akko would see it, in case she wanted to walk out of the Shiny Rod.

Once she was inside the turret, she was surprised by how… comfortable it was. Was it always cushioned like this? If so, she should get Hannah one of these.

Diana closed her eyes. And for the first time in what felt like forever, she fell asleep without feeling too worried. Because, in the end, she realized she trusted Akko. More than anything.

And that mattered.

 

Ursula couldn’t sleep.

She walked through the chasms of The Bottom. The bustle of the city had only grown, with the race starting so soon. The party the day prior had been intense, and while Ursula had gone out of what was essentially obligation, none of the girls had decided to accompany her. It made sense. They were worried. Affected. For some reason, Ursula had the feeling that Sucy and Constanze were taking it worse than everyone else. Constanze was constantly overworking herself, working on the Shooting Star. What was she doing to that ship? What had begun as simple modifications or additions had proceeded to take every bit of scrap metal on the garage for something. Sucy, on her part, stayed in bed all day, rising only to eat or go to the bathroom.

Ursula was a little ashamed to admit it, but she hadn’t thought Sucy would care. Yet there she was, completely depressed, ignoring Ursula’s advice. No matter how much Ursula wanted to tell her it’d be fine, Sucy just wouldn’t listen. It was hard to deal with teenagers. Ursula wasn’t cut to be a mother, and even if Sucy was clearly distressed by what was going on, she couldn’t do anything for her.

The chasms she walked through now were darker than most. They had little in means of moss and mushrooms, and most of the light came from torches or the inside of buildings. Windows were less common here.

She wasn’t far from the center of the city. Just a few branches away from one of the main chasms, and yet this place had such a different feeling. Armors here walked slowly, taking their time. They seemed relaxed, homely. Many sat on the outside of their homes and chatted. Ursula looked up to see some armors standing on bridges and chatting too. The sounds of stone against stone, like a far away avalanche, seemed to follow Ursula as she walked. At one point, Ursula noticed something on the wall. A small S of a strange red color. She approached it with curiosity, wondering if some human had painted it there for some reason.

She was surprised to find the S suddenly moving as she drew close. The thing moved like a snake and had no legs, but the red came from a series of rock plates that grinded as the creature moved. It left a slick trail behind it, like a snail’s, but it moved considerably faster than one. Not too fast, but enough. Ursula couldn’t tell which side was the head and which one was the tail, save for looking in which direction the creature moved.

Soon, however, Ursula lost sight of it as it disappeared into a crack on the rock.

Sighing, Ursula kept walking.

On the bright side, Andrew had been rather helpful. He had caught up Ursula on exactly _why_ Diana had been acting the way she did. Ursula had warned him that if Paul ever dared show his face around her again there’d be trouble. And Ursula also had to sit down and have a serious talk with Daryl Cavendish.

But before that, she should probably pull out from the race officially. Before they were disqualified. Better to end it on their own terms than let them be disqualified.

 _Running away again,_ Ursula thought with a sad smile. It seemed like she was always ready to do that. Yet, this was for the best. The stress was clearly too much for teenagers to handle. And idiotic attitudes from stupid adults didn’t help much.

God, did Ursula hate adult life. She wished she could just turn back time and go back to her teens, where her greatest worry had been a bad grade and she could spend her free time not trying to figure out how to make it to the end of the month.

For now, however, she needed to focus. Mainly, she thought, on getting her students out of the metaphorical and literal hole they were in.

 

_Akko spun around in the Shiny Rod. Time seemed more slowed down than usual for the Rod, she noticed in the dream, and even though the different lasers and weapons being thrown at her should be as fast as normal, they just seemed to be on a lazy day._

_Her hands were covered in a white g-suit. A bit of red hair peeked over her eyes. The air was crisp with adrenaline and even though Akko wasn’t really controlling it, she slowly understood where she was and what was going on. This was a race she’d experienced in person._

_The shots came from behind, from a group of racers that had decided to team up against her. That was what happened when one dominated a competition: Others decided it was better to take you out before going back to fighting among themselves._

_But Chariot pressed forward. Her speed was more than Akko had ever experienced in the Shiny Rod, and in the darkness of the desert landscape, a series of lights appeared on the horizon. The final stretch. The city was ready for them. No stars on the sky guided them tonight, but that was fine._

_Chariot was fast. The Shiny Rod was fast. Faster than anyone else. She approached the finish line without stopping. Since Croix had made the modification to the Shiny Rod, she didn’t need to worry a lot about the amount of energy spent on speed._

_Not much remained until the finish line._

_It was then that she almost crashed into the competition. The medusa, shapeshifter, armor and daemons. All of them stopped fighting among themselves to focus on the Shiny Rod. Everyone wanted them out of the race._

_But a shield popped up. It skyrocketed the speed at which energy output was going, even with Croix’s modifications. But Chariot only needed to wait. Wait a little more. Patience._

_And then, there it was. The finish line, now in full view. The energy output was about to reach its limit, unable to handle the relentless attack from all four enemy ships._

_Chariot cried something. Akko didn’t catch it. Or, well, she did, but it slipped, entering through one ear and coming right off the other instantly. The Shiny Rod glowed, lines connecting the spheres that were its weapons. Then it seemed to split in two, just widely enough to let the cockpit move._

_And Chariot shot forward. The sound barrier was broken – though, in this world, it was much harder to break. The cockpit spun and Chariot got past the four racers, who couldn’t do anything – shooting a cockpit was prohibited, after all – and crossed the finish line. The impact was lessened by magic, and then she came to a rest._

_She’d won._

_Again._

_The cockpit had been buried in the sand. Chariot moved, kicking at the back of it, where a small door opened. She exited the thing, sweating, panting. The cheers of the crowd surrounded her, and she felt alive. She smiled as a couple of Setlings handed her a microphone, and her instinct kicked in._

_“Never forget,” she said, tonight more than ever feeling it. “A believing heart is your magic.”_

Akko opened her eyes.

Modifications? What was that about? The Shiny Rod didn’t have them. She frowned, trying to figure out the puzzle. These dreams, they were starting to be more than just that. Or they had always been. She had this distinct feeling that they were trying to tell her something, but what?

She paused.

It didn’t matter.

Her conversation with Diana kept replaying in her head like a broken record. Like a punch to the gut, Akko had been _hurt_ by the words coming out of Diana’s mouth. Diana had looked sad while saying it. Was she sad she had fallen in love?

Love. Love. Love.

The word echoed through her mind, like the bell of a grandfather clock hitting midnight. Love. Such a strange word. What did it mean, exactly? Oh, she liked Diana. That much was obvious. But at which point did it become love? Akko wasn’t fond of thinking too much about things. She didn’t exactly do complicated, and Love was a complicated word. Easy to say, sure, but hard to grasp. Love for family was a thing, then there was Love for friends. But then, the first thing one thought about when hearing ‘Love’ usually was romantic in nature. A perfect partner, a date. More.

Akko shook her head. She wanted ever so strongly to just let go. Diana had made her desires clear. When exactly everything had gone wrong was beyond her, but it didn’t matter. She wanted to cry, again. Why did Diana seem to have such a powerful effect on her? She was just a girl.

A perfect, beautiful, amazing girl.

She tried not to think about it. But what else was she to do? She was trapped in a chasm, nothing but a green river of light extending in each direction, and a dark series of caves she wasn’t in the mood for venturing to her left. Where was everyone, anyways? She had fallen asleep on her seat. Her neck hurt. Her legs were numb. She and Diana hadn’t changed masks, yet, so…

Now that she thought about it, she saw a mask hanging from one of the joysticks in front of her. She took it, unconsciously brushing it as if it was Diana’s own face.

Then she hung it back in place. Why did she need it? She didn’t plan on moving. At all. Until someone came to rescue her, and then she’d spend the trip back home on bed. And then she’d go back to her parents and sleep all day. She was a failure. And she was tired. Oh so tired.

A growl startled her. Her own stomach. With a sigh, she reached for one of her rations. Giving one to Diana had probably been a bad idea. But if she were being honest with herself, she’d do it again. Even if Diana hated her, even if she regretted their relationship. If Diana needed help, Akko would be there. Because she didn’t need her feelings to be reciprocated to want Diana to be happy. And, she was coming to learn, Diana found it really hard to be happy

The reason was beyond Akko’s mind, but that didn’t matter. Maybe she was an idiot for thinking that way. For not blaming Diana, for still having her best interests at heart even after everything.

Opening up the box, Akko looked at her supplies. Potatoes. Meat. A little bit of vegetables. And a water bottle. Her mouth was dry. Akko took a sip of water before eating everything in under a minute, and then she downed the whole bottle again.

Her hunger remained, but it was enough to calm her stomach.

She started feeling a little claustrophobic, having been basically trapped in the cockpit all day. She hesitantly put the mask on, half expecting it to smell like roses or something. It didn’t it smelled like… nothing. She sighed as she lifted the windshield – manually, since the Rod didn’t answer to any commands – and exited the broom.

And then she set out to walk. She entered the caves in absolute darkness, barely able to see anything. She walked with her right hand on the wall, to make sure she didn’t get lost, and with care, she explored.

At least the fear she felt of dying overshadowed the sadness.

 

Lotte put a hand to her head. Barbara would have asked her if she was fine, but the problem was she was feeling the exact same thing. They sat now on a small place near the entrance of the human district. It was packed full and the bustle of conversation was constant. Barbara and Lotte sat on the bar, with about three rows of tables behind them. The place wasn’t big, but small wasn’t a good description either.

The brain freeze subsided and Barbara finally felt like she could breathe again. “Freeze your brain~” Lotte sang after her own resided too.

Barbara chuckled. “Honestly, the remake from a couple of years ago was horrible. Completely missed the point of the musical,” she said.

“Wasn’t it a movie originally?” Lotte raised an eyebrow.

With a pause, Barbara shrugged. “I’ve no idea,” she admitted. Heathers was so damn old she had never actually looked much about it. But since almost every version she’d seen had been a musical, she had always assumed it had been born one.

Barbara took another sip of her drink. It was something the locals called ‘Subzero’. Apparently, the water of the world had an interesting chemical reaction when mixed with alcohol, and it made it drop to freezing temperatures without actually freezing. Add some flavor to it and you’ve got yourself a wonderful brain-freezer drink. The water was still technically toxic to drink, so the glasses she and Lotte were enjoying were rather small. But that was fine, because even a sip of it was a little too much.

She groaned as another wave of cold pained her entire head. Her drink was strawberry-flavored. It did taste a lot like it. “I’m gonna die,” Barbara said. Only three sips and she had already downed half her glass, but really, she was kind of dreading having to finish the other half.

Lotte chuckled. “Wanna try mine?” She offered. Hers was orange. With a sigh, Barbara nodded, handing Lotte her own glass.

Three. Two. One. Another sip.

She closed her eyes with strength and pressed her lips in an exaggerated gesture as the colder-than-ice drink went up to her head again. The air escaped her lungs and she had to pause for the duration of the freeze, until she slowly felt her mind warming up again. How did it actually work, this thing? The liquid didn’t actually go up to her head, so why? “Yours is tastier,” Barbara admitted after being allowed to speak.

“You can keep it, if you want,” Lotte offered. Barbara shook her head, changing glasses with her again. Lotte was to her left but to her right sat a young girl without hair. Without _any_ kind of hair. She didn’t seem bothered by it. It was kind of alien, but Barbara supposed the girl could be called pretty.

To Lotte’s left sat a tall man. He must have been on his late forties or early fifties, and he wore one of those vests with rocks over a long-sleeved t-shirt. He was muscular.

Barbara looked at what remained of her drink. Two sips, maybe three if she drank very little. _Screw it,_ she thought, and she downed the thing in one go.

God, the pain. It shot through her head like an arrow, and she was left completely unresponsive for a full minute. As the pain slowly subsided, she noticed Lotte’s hand slowly stroking her hair as she spoke soothing words, though she wasn’t still able to understand them.

“…there, you look better now,” Lotte said once Barbara was able to open her eyes.

“That was the worst thing I’ve ever had in my life,” Barbara said. She looked at her empty glass. “Good thing we’re never coming back to this planet.”

Lotte chuckled. She was so calm all the time. How did she do it? But that didn’t mean she wasn’t emotional. She smiled a lot, she could get angry and sad. She was just so… soft about it. Soft and squishy. Those were perfect words for Lotte. Barbara smiled as she took the hand on her head into her own, and their fingers interlaced in front of them.

Barbara looked at Lotte’s drink. “Wait, when did you finish it?”

“When you were having your crisis,” Lotte explained. Barbara didn’t believe it. Lotte’s drink had been fuller than hers. “I also asked for this, though,” she showed Barbara another glass. Warm water.

“That’s cheating,” Barbara complained, but Lotte just shrugged as she finished the last of it.

Both of them soon found themselves walking out to the chasm again. They wore their masks, as per the bartender’s suggestion, because the drink had really shortened the amount of time they could go on without them. It had been so not-worthy, but the sign in front of the local had said _‘Subzero, the drink of the moment. Try it! You may never get another chance!’_

And Barbara was now damn glad she’d never get it. Good lord.

“I liked it, honestly,” Lotte said. Well, maybe it was a little sad she’d never get to go there again.

“I didn’t, but…” she paused. She was feeling dizzy. “How much alcohol did that thing have?”

“Not much,” Lotte said. “I think it said something like one percent, why?”

“Maybe I caused permanent damage to my brain,” Barbara said, walking over to the chasm wall and using it to support herself. “With all the freezing and shit.”

“You fine?” Lotte looked at her with worry. “You’re pale.”

“I’m dizzy, and… No, yes, that’s nausea,” her stomach seemed to churn at the thought of puking. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done that last gulping,” Barbara admitted. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”

Lotte swiftly put Barbara’s arm around her. “Here, let’s take you to the inn,” she said. Slowly, they worked they way through the crowd, some of who looked at them weirdly. It took them a while, but when they finally stepped into the Inn, Lotte carried her to one of the couches in the lobby and dropped next to her. Barbara was still dizzy, but she had managed to keep her food inside her stomach. She felt Lotte’s arms around her and it seemed to make all the difference.

“Uhm, hello,” a voice said, and Barbara turned sharply. _Too fast,_ she thought with a wince as she felt another wave of dizziness hit her like a truck. In front of them, however, was a good looking guy wearing a suit. His green eyes were uncomfortable as they darted between Barbara and Lotte.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Barbara said, not bothering to hide the hostility in her voice.

“I wanted to speak with Ursula, but she’s out again, so…” Barbara stared daggers at him, and he seemed to grow actually uncomfortable. “I know I’m probably not welcome here, but I need to do it.”

“What do you need to talk about?”

“She and my father got into a little argument when she suggested they should withdraw from the race rather than be disqualified. Father insisted that as long as they weren’t disqualified there was a chance, Ursula said that the chance didn’t matter and that they should just get this over with…” Andrew grimaced. “I want to give Ursula some advice on how to deal with Paul, mostly.”

“Oh, _now_ you want to handle your father,” Barbara felt the cold that still lingered in her slowly fade away as the heat of anger overtook her.

Andrew seemed earnest.

That wasn’t enough.

“I… Think it’ll be better if I come by later,” Andrew said, slowly rising with an uncomfortable look.

Barbara scoffed. “It’d be better if you didn’t show your face around here, and that’s it,” she said. Andrew, who had already turned, paused.

“I’m sorry,” he simply said as he walked out. Sadly, being ‘sorry’ didn’t fix what his father had caused.

Or Daryl, or Akko, or herself, or… “Barbara, relax,” Lotte squeezed her. “He’s gone.”

Suddenly, Barbara felt like crying again. Her two best friends were trapped in a damn pit in the middle of an alien planet, all because of circumstances that escaped their control, and now this ass of a guy wanted to pretend her cared? If she hadn’t felt so bad she’d stand up, give chase to Andrew and kick him in the balls for being a two-faced piece of shit.

“Ok,” Barbara finally said, slowly melting into Lotte’s arms. She also wrapped Lotte on her own pair of them, and they sat there in comfortable silence for a while. “You think they’re ok?”

“I would bet they are,” Lotte said. She sounded certain, though Barbara knew she didn’t feel that way. It was hard not to worry. But it was also hard not to imagine Diana getting out of any situation.

Barbara nodded, and she slowly drifted off. God she felt horrible, but with Lotte next to her, she felt much stronger. The race would start in like ten hours. If it started without the human team, they would be instantly disqualified. No matter it lasted three days. All teams needed to be present for the start or it wouldn’t count.

But maybe that was for the better. Barbara was starting to get tired of all the drama these alien planets seemed to bring with them.

 

Diana woke up to the soft feeling of the Rod’s turret. Sleeping in her g-suit had been comfortable enough, though she usually preferred to sleep in pajamas and feel the warmth of her own body. Still, she had rested well, and she felt well, and she was ready to tackle that which she should have done from the beginning: Apologizing to Akko. Saying the truth. Hope they could remain in good terms with one another.

She shoved back the feeling of dread at the prospect that Akko might not want anything more to do with her. But that was fine. She was fine. She would own her mistakes, even if it hurt her. She needed to apologize to Hannah and Barbara, too. But one thing at a time.

Diana exited the rod, and was surprised to find that Akko was no longer in the cockpit. _Well, of course she wouldn’t be,_ she shook her head. _Staying in one place for so long must have been torture for her._

She must have been really hurt. Diana’s heart clenched at that, and she tried to take a deep breath. Amanda and Hannah were nearby chatting softly. Diana swallowed the lump in her throat and walked to them. Amanda watched with wary eyes, though Hannah smiled as if nothing had happened.

“So, how are you feeling?” she asked.

“Much better,” Diana said. “Thank you. And thank you for what you did,” Diana absent mindedly put her hand where the punch had landed. She probably had a bruise there. “I needed it.”

Hannah nodded energetically. “You did. So, where’s Akko?”

Diana blinked. “I was going to ask you the same thing, actually,” she said, looking around. The chasm was empty, save for them two. “You… haven’t seen her?”

Amanda and Hannah exchanged a look. “Oh boy, just what we fucking needed,” Amanda was the first to stand and stretch. “Fucking hell, I swear.”

Understanding settled on Diana slowly as she realized what this meant. “Where could she be?”

“She didn’t walk down the main cave,” Hannah said. She was starting to sound worried too. “Ok, she couldn’t be stupid enough to keep walking if she’d realized she was lost, right? Let’s just try to thoroughly check every chasm we can while calling out to her.”

Diana nodded. “Though be careful. We don’t know what kind of things could live down here.”

Hannah and Amanda soon were ready to go, wands by their sides. Diana had little energy left on hers, but she didn’t care. “Hannah, you go left,” Diana said as soon as they reached the first branching cave. “I’ll take the right and Amanda can go left on the next intersection. Walk in a straight line, and if the path becomes less obvious turn back.”

“Yes, yes, we’ve done this more than you,” Amanda said, walking away. Hannah took a deep breath and ventured alone into the dark.

And Diana went the opposite way.

She really needed to talk to Akko.


	108. Chapter 108

Darkness.

Akko had stopped walking long ago. She wasn’t lost – not as long as she kept track of the wall she was resting on right now – but she wasn’t exactly sure of where she was either. She found that she didn’t care, either. The darkness and absolute silence soother her. It allowed her to go numb, to stop thinking. She wasn’t a good thinker, and much less when she was forced to stay still. She was curled in a ball, her head between her knees, and everything seemed to be going just fine.

Save, maybe, for the crippling sadness that had crawled from her heart and into her body. She didn’t want to move. She’d decided she’d stay there. If no-one found her, she couldn’t be forced to get back to Earth. Diana. Akko was amazed at how well she could picture her cabbage-like hair, her blue eyes that shone with curiosity. Her smile, in the few occasions that she showed it, her movements, her piloting.

The inside of her mouth, her body. Akko recalled their kiss back on The Island.

And again, she felt like crying. _I wish I had never fallen in love with you._ She almost heard them echoed through the caves. In the darkness, Akko faced her own feelings. She knew she wouldn’t really stay there, no matter how stubborn she was. She still wanted to stay there for longer. Not having to look at Hannah and Amanda being happy, not having to feel Diana’s presence.

Steps.

Akko raised her head, though of course, it was meaningless, as she couldn’t see anything. Her ears worked just fine, but… what was that? Her heart started pounding and she sat there, completely paralyzed with fear of the unknown. _This was a bad idea. It’s going to be some crazy rock animal. I’m going to be eaten. I don’t wanna get eaten, I have much to live for. I haven’t finished reading that demon manga, and my parents would be really sad, I can’t…_

She stopped panicking when she noticed a light. It was around the corner, and it was pale green. Magic.

She let her head drop between her legs again as her heart settled back into a normal rhythm. Amanda or Hannah, probably looking for her. She’d been gone for… what? Two, maybe three hours? The time she spent in the cave was irrelevant, really.

From her peripheral view she finally saw the light of the wand enter her cave, and it paused with a small gasp coming from its carrier. Akko didn’t bother looking up. She didn’t want to show her face to anyone, right now. Kind of the point of why she’d gone into the dark caves alone in the first place.

The girl approached, and as Akko was about to look up, she spoke. “Akko? Are you ok?”

It was Diana.

Akko didn’t answer.

Diana paused. She had sounded worried. Not angry, or sad, or anything else. Just that, worry. Akko didn’t want to look at her. She didn’t want to talk to her. The mere fact that Diana was present there felt like if something was squeezing her heart, beat by beat, wanting to crush it. Akko heard the steps getting a little closer. “Akko? Are you awake?”

Akko grunted. It was all she could do to signal she was fine. She feared her voice would break if she tried to talk. Diana finally stepped up to where she was next to Akko, but she didn’t touch her.

“We should go back, the others are worried,” Diana said. Akko didn’t move a centimeter, and she didn’t plan on doing so. Not with Diana. Why was she here, anyways? Well, she probably didn’t want Akko dead, even if she wasn’t in love with her. “You’re… not going to listen to me, are you,” Diana stated that as a fact, not a question.

Then, after a brief pause, she sat down next to Akko. Akko didn’t look at her. She couldn’t. In fact, she was starting to feel the tears well up behind her eyes again.

“I don’t know… I don’t know how much what I said must have hurt you,” Diana said. _A whole damn lot,_ Akko thought. “Not only before. Ever since… Ever since the beginning. Since I told you we should hold on. Wait to get into an actual relationship. You’ve been nothing but patient, and yet I snapped at you multiple times for no apparent reason.”

Akko felt like nodding. Diana had, in fact, hurt her. Wasn’t she good enough for her to try out a relationship even if she wanted to focus on the race? Didn’t she trust Akko to control things?

No, of course she didn’t.

“I hate my life,” Diana said. That took Akko a little off guard. “I’ve been… Cold and unemotional since I was very little. I’ve been chasing after my mother’s dream since as long as I can remember. My family is in shambles, my house is in danger, my name loses more and more prestige each day. So, I thought, I have to be perfect,” she spoke slowly. Almost as if to herself. “I have to be the best. Because in the world, no-one is going to give me things for free. I have to prove that I can be the best, because if I don’t, then I lose everything.”

And Akko was a distraction to that goal, probably. Was that what this was? Diana trying to explain why she had said what she’d said and make Akko feel less shitty about herself? It wouldn’t work. It couldn’t work. Akko clenched her fists, action that Diana must have noticed, for she took a deep breath.

“And yet, I still lose most in life. I don’t have big groups of friends. Most of my acquaintances are older than thirty, and the only two people in this world I can call actual friends started being so only because of my name. Because of that prestige I’m losing. Because of my hair, of the way I act. That was one of the first things I discovered, when I was a kid. Act big and people will treat you like so. I’ve always been called mature for my age. I took one of those ‘mental age’ things when I was ten. My mental age ended up being twenty-five. Can you believe that?” she laughed sadly. Akko didn’t. Where was she going with this?

“But then, you… You came along,” her voice went down a pitch. “You didn’t care about my name, my money, my prestige, my family or whatever else I may have. You… You just declared me your rival and then went on to treat me like a friend. Even if one of your teammates hates me. Even if you should have hated me, for all the things Hannah and Barbara said to you without me stopping them,” Diana’s voice was beginning to tremble. Akko was now listening completely, even if Diana wouldn’t have seen the change.

“You showed me a whole new side to friendship. A side of nonsensical conversations and of listening to the other even though you have no idea of what she’s saying. And then you showed me even more. Kindness. True kindness, not interested kindness. You visited me almost every day and… well, I think you get where I’m going with this,” Diana said. She was trying to sound casual, but she was failing. “You saved my life.”

Well, that much was true.

“And I don’t mean only the Pan thing, or the fact that you caught us when we fell here,” Diana continued. Akko was a little surprised. She believed Diana didn’t know about the pan thing. She didn’t want her making a big deal out of that. “You gave me back something I didn’t though I had in me, Akko. The ability to smile genuinely. Being able to look ahead at something else that a day full of work and homework and research. Being able to be open to another person with my feelings,” she sighed. “And then Daryl seemed to suck it all away. I was so affected by that dinner, I missed the forest for the trees.”

Akko was listening carefully. She wouldn’t lie, pretend that her heart was ice cold and that nothing of what Diana was telling her mattered. Because it resonated. It seemed to play just the right kind of melody.

“When I told you I regretted falling in love with you…” And with that, the melody stopped, and Akko closed her eyes again. “I…” Diana paused, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t mean it that way, you know. I know how it sounded. But what I should have said is that I regretted ever confessing to you.”

 _Geez, thanks, that makes it so much better,_ Akko thought. Her knuckles must have been white under her suit with how strongly she was making those fists.

“Because I felt that I wasn’t worthy. Of you,” she explained. “I didn’t think I deserved your love, Akko. I felt like an intruder. You could be so much happier if you fell in love with someone simpler than me. If you…” Diana struggled to continue. “If you moved on. If you just looked past me and…” she paused again, obviously in distress. “…and decided to show your kindness to someone else.”

Again, Diana paused. And Akko realized, by means of a little sob, that Diana was crying.

She finally looked up, unable to take it anymore. And there was Diana, lit by her wand. Her cheeks showed trails of wetness where tears had fallen. “Akko, I’m so sorry,” Diana said, her voice breaking as she finally started sobbing in full. “I’m… I’m a horrible friend,” she said as her face morphed into one of pain. “I said horrible things to you. I treated you like garbage, and yet you still were there to save me when I needed it. You gave me your food, too,” Diana said and her wand fell from her hand. Luckily, it stayed lit, though now the shadows covered both of their faces. Save for those beautiful blue eyes. “Please forgive me,” Diana said, leaning forward as if she had lost strength. Akko caught her out of instinct, and Diana clutched to her with her life. “Please, I know I don’t deserve it,” she said between sobs. “I know we can never go back to how we were. But I’m sorry. I really am.”

Akko didn’t answer, but not because she didn’t want to anymore.

It was because she didn’t know what to say. Everything was slowly falling into place, and her angst was slowly receding, giving way for something else. Something Akko was still afraid of feeling.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said. You’re a great pilot. You deserve to be the leader, and most of all, I trust you and your instincts. I was just jealous, and mad, and sad and I wanted so badly to apologize before but I just kept messing up and being weird and, well, I just…” She was crying and speaking at the same time in a voice that was barely understandable. “I need you to know that I…” another sob interrupted her. “That…”

But one word seemed to rise above them all.

Trust.

As if the key to a chest, the word opened Akko’s heart again. Her whole body suddenly felt warm, and somehow, even through her g-suit, she thought she could feel Diana’s warmth too. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know how to say it, and she couldn’t even think about what speaking would do.

So she didn’t do it.

Her hand slowly moved until it was placed softly below Diana’s chin, and Akko gently pushed the crying face out of her chest to look up at her. Two beautiful blue eyes locked with her own. And Akko understood. She supposed she had always understood, in a way.

“I love you,” Diana whispered among her tears, and those three words were all Akko needed to hear to forget everything that came before.

She leaned forward and placed her lips against Diana’s, trying to convey everything through the exchange. Heat surged through her whole body, and electricity spread from her lips and into her spine, giving her goosebumps. Soft, warm, intoxicating. She could feel Diana’s guilt in the way she barely moved, or in the way her breathing had stopped, as if she was afraid to scare Akko away.

The kiss lasted only a few seconds, but she felt like she’d poured her heart into Diana’s, and vice-versa. Save for, maybe, one thing.

“I love you too,” she whispered back, and she noticed tears had begun streaming down her face too.

 

Akko and Diana walked out of the cave together. Slowly. They had taken their time. They had set things straight. Akko had apologized for her outbursts too, and for playing the ‘the Rod is mine’ card like a five year old. But they didn’t mind. It didn’t matter. Not any longer.

Everything was right in the world.

“My god, you two look awful,” Amanda said first as soon as she saw them emerge from the darkness. “Did you fight again?”

“Quite the opposite, I guess,” Diana said. She and Akko were holding hands. Akko wished she wasn’t wearing her g-suit, though.

Hannah, who was also there, nodded. “See? Was it that hard?”

Diana shook her head. Akko then noticed that she had a dark bruise in her left chin, as if something had hit her. “Diana, what happened to you?” Akko asked, softly tracing a path around the bruise with her thumb.

Diana smiled at her. “Some tough love,” she smiled at Hannah. “And just what I needed.”

Akko wondered what had happened, but she supposed she didn’t really care as long as Diana was fine. And an instinct overtook her. As if craving what had been missing from her life the past week or so, she stepped forward, threw her arms around Diana’s neck and again captured Diana’s lips on her own.

“Wow, hey, I know we’re all in love here, but at least get inside the Rod before doing anything too crazy, ok?” Amanda said. Akko ignored her, and while Diana was taken by surprise, her arms soon wrapped around her waist and their lips moved in relative unison. Neither of them were practiced at this.

That seemed to make it more interesting.

“Ok, I’ve had enough,” Hannah sighed. “I’m going to take a bath. If you need me, I’ll be on the pool a few hundred meters into the cave.”

But Akko and Diana ignored her. Because, for the first time in what felt like forever, both of them could enjoy each other’s company without anything between them.

 

“You’re suspiciously not telling me to stop following you,” Amanda said as she trailed behind Hannah, who had very clearly stated that she was going to take a bath. They’d discovered earlier that the pond they’d found had less of those things that made the water glow, and even if some remained, they were surprisingly easy to clean off anything.

Including the human body.

Hannah, also suspiciously, didn’t reply immediately. “I’m glad they finally figured it out,” she said, completely evading the question. “Guess all you need really is a dark, humid cave to come to understand someone else.”

Amanda paused. “Was that sexual innuendo?”

Again, Hannah didn’t reply.

The glow of the pool was near, and Amanda’s mouth had begun to dry up in anticipation. She knew what was coming. Or at least, she hoped. She wished.

Hannah walked rather mechanically, right now. She wasn’t speaking, and she seemed to be making a point of staying _ahead_ of Amanda and not next to her, like the other times they’d come. And soon enough, they stumbled into the small room-like cave that held the tear-shaped pond of green glowing water. And Hannah paused. She finally looked back and Amanda saw something in her eyes. A glimmer, the spark of something new.

Then she started undressing.

She did so slowly. Her every movement seemed to carry weight to it. Not in the physical sense, but in the emotional one. Even more so than the previous time she’d done that. And while Amanda couldn’t really pick out much detail, as they had turned off their wands and Hannah was now backlit by the pond, the simple silhouette of her body made Amanda be completely entranced.

Hannah took off her g-suit completely, neatly closing it and folding it, then putting it on the side. The sides of the pond were lacking in pebbles and such, though the inside of the pond itself did have some. At least they didn’t cut their feet when walking into the pond.

But Hannah didn’t do that quite yet. With slow and trembling hands, she started to unhook her bra. She was failing miserably, and while Amanda found it cute, she could understand the nervousness. So, without saying anything, she got closer to Hannah and simply unhooked her bra for her. Then, to give her space again, she stepped back.

Hannah hesitated. Once again, she looked back at Amanda. There was the briefest moment of eye contact. A question. Amanda nodded, almost reverently.

Hannah took off her bra, and from behind, all Amanda could do was look as each time she turned her body slightly, the silhouette of her boobs popped into view, the nipples clearly erect and perfect looking. Amanda had to do everything in her power to not step forward and take Hannah into the pond. Well, everything in her power and more. The heat spreading through her body wasn’t technically new, but she’d never felt it so strongly, so… passionately. She couldn’t help but lick her lips, trying to get rid of the dryness of her mouth, as Hannah’s hands very slowly and very carefully moved down to her waist.

She started pulling down her panties, and Amanda tried to disconnect her brain from her body. She almost reached forward. She almost took that step towards her girlfriend. But when Hannah put her underwear next to her g-suit, she looked like she was about to die from nervousness. That gave Amanda strength to hold on. To give her space, to let her prepare and be herself.

And then she stepped into the pond. The light surrounded her, and for the first time, Amanda got a full view of Hannah’s naked body. Her relatively small but still beautiful breasts, her slender figure. She had even started to receive some muscle too. Her butt was round and amazing, and her crotch was covered with a thin layer of hair. Which color was it? Black or auburn? Amanda couldn’t tell in the strange green lighting.

As Hannah walked to the center of the pond, her movements became more and more alluring. The way her hips seemed to bounce from side to side, the way she kept her arms stuck to her body in an obvious conscious effort to not cover herself. She reached the center of the pond, and then, slowly she sank in. But even with the glow, through the translucent water, Amanda could see her naked body.

She was getting wet again. Correction, she was _already_ wet.

Hannah met her eyes. And this time, the message was clear. Amanda wasn’t nearly as ceremonious as Hannah had been. She took off her g-suit in a heartbeat, and the same went for her underwear. She threw them aside, uncaring of where they fell, and she walked right into the pond.

She slipped.

Her butt hit the water with a splash, and she was left confused for a moment. _The g-suits have better grip than our feet,_ she recalled. She hadn’t slipped the first time because of her suit. And now she was blushing furiously, feeling like an absolute idiot.

Hannah chuckled. “You fine?” she asked. The air of nervousness seemed to have fleeted from her, and Amanda allowed herself to laugh at her own stupidity too.

“God that hurt,” she said, rubbing her butt as she decided to crawl her way next to Hannah. Their shoulders touched, their legs too. But both sat with a laid-back approach, the water reaching right up to their shoulders. It was warm. Comfortably so, in fact. Amanda didn’t even try to pretend she wasn’t ogling Hannah, and Hannah seemed to be on the same page, because she also looked Amanda up and down.

“You can touch, if you want,” Amanda said softly.

Hannah pressed her lips, but said nothing as one of her hands slowly brushed Amanda’s stomach. It rose slightly, and when it reached Amanda’s boob, her breath hitched. The touch had been soft, subtle, barely perceptible. Yet Amanda had felt it with the strength of a hammer. Hannah seemed to hesitate for a moment, but when Amanda nodded, she continued.

She took a hold of the whole breast, and then, softly, she squeezed.  Amanda tried to resist as Hannah did as she’d asked, as she explored, but it was hard not to felt every little bolt of pleasure as it spread through her body. She subconsciously slipped a hand between her legs, but stopped herself right before starting to stimulate it.

Amanda wanted Hannah to do that, too.

Amanda couldn’t resist it anymore, and she leaned to the side. She softly kissed Hannah, and they quickly shifted positions to face each other. Hannah’s hand never left Amanda’s boob, and she certainly seemed to enjoy it. But soon, Amanda got tired of Hannah’s mouth. She needed more, oh so much more. Her face moved down as she started to place careful kisses in her chin, across her jaw, on her neck. She lingered there, enjoyed it. Her lips brushed the soft skin, sucking on it where she felt like it, and the grab on her breast slowly weakened as Hannah started to feel the pleasure of Amanda’s soft touches across her body.

Because, she realized, she was doing that. Her hands had taken to explore the body she had oh so much desired over the past few weeks, and she found that she liked that. The soft curves, the trembles of her skin, the shape of her butt. She explored every last bit of Hannah’s body and wasn’t about to stop there.

She did feel the need to relieve herself, but her nature had taken over, and she was now completely all over her girlfriend. Hannah, in the meantime, had taken to a hug. Tight hug. Sexy tight hug. Amanda smiled into Hannah’s neck and then she finally let her right hand move over where Hannah’s special place was.

She brushed some hair, and even through the water, Amanda was able to tell Hannah was wet. The simple stroke on the outside sent a shiver through Hannah’s body, and she finally let her voice out, moaning. Amanda felt all the more inspired to continue, and her capacity wouldn’t be met until…

Wait. She paused. Hannah grunted, obviously frustrated, but Amanda had to think.

Capacity. Why had she thought that word? Limit. She didn’t do fancy talk. Capacity was too fancy a word.

Capacity. Capacit… or?

“Capacitor,” Amanda whispered.

Hannah opened her closed eyes, looking at Amanda with need. Amanda almost forgot about her current thread of thought and went back to giving Hannah all she had to offer. But no. This was important. Why did that seem so… relevant?

Capacitor.

Magic capacitor.

Amanda’s eyes widened and she bolted upright, her mind suddenly forgetting all about sex and focusing on this thing. “It’s not impossible, but if the Magic Capacitor breaks, then your whole broom might be stuck in a limbo between operating and not doing so, and you won’t be able to fly it until replacement,” she said.

Hannah was now clearly confused. “I’m sorry, did you just get possessed by Constanze’s spirit or something?” She asked.

Amanda was smiling. “Hannah, I think I know what’s wrong with the Shiny Rod!” she exclaimed. And the annoyance left Hannah’s face, replaced by hope. “It’s the only thing I half-heard on that class about brooms Ursula gave us!”

“Oh my god,” Hannah rose. Amanda was so excited by her revelation that she didn’t even… no, well, she did care about having this gorgeous girl in front of her, but that care was overseeded by everything else. “We need to go tell Akko right now.”

“You’re totally right,” Amanda said, and she moved to go. Then she stopped, turning. “Uhm, hey…”

Hannah seemed to come to kind of the same realization as she in the same moment. “We can finish this once we’re safe and in the comfort of our beds. Not sure my first time being on a glowing pond of water is…” she paused. “No, no, it is actually pretty incredible. But if I have to chose between an alien glowing pond of water and the softness of a bed, I think I know what I’ll choose.”

Amanda looked at her with eyes that were still hungry. “I see you’ve finally gotten over your timidity,” she mentioned as she walked out of the pond and started to shake away the water.

Hannah followed, and Amanda was surprised when a finger suddenly pressed her rather precisely on the nipple, sending a wave of pleasure through her body. “Being blueballed, I think, makes that to someone,” Hannah said.

Amanda looked at her apologetically. “Sorry. Really. I promise I’ll make up for it.”

Hannah sighed. “Well, if nothing else, next time I’ll try not to be such a pushover.”

“Sorry about that too. I’m used to being the lead…”

Hannah held a hand in front of her. “I’ll let it go. Now get dressed and let’s get the hell out of here.”

Amanda nodded. She could get behind that plan.

 

Akko opened the panel that was right behind her cockpit. It led to all the mechanical stuff of the Shiny Rod. And with Diana on one side and Amanda on the other, they looked for it.

“There,” Diana said, pointing at the small capacitor, a white circle stuck where a bunch of magic circuits met. Akko pulled it out. It was burnt, definitely. “I can’t believe this little thing is guilty of all our problems here,” Diana said.

Amanda took it from Akko’s hand. “Infinite energy means nothing if it can’t reach the systems. Like dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean…” Amanda looked at Diana. “Think the Unicorn’s capacitor might be able to replace this one?”

Diana thought about it. “Unlikely,” she said. “The Rod is much more advanced. But it won’t hurt to try.”

Both of them nodded. Akko looked at the capacitor with a strange mixture of anger and gratefulness. Diana thought she understood why. Without that thing, Diana and Akko would have never made up. Ok, and maybe without the punch to the face neither.

They quickly moved over to the Unicorn. Diana opened a similar panel on her broom, though hers was in the front. The three of them looked for the capacitor, and Amanda took it out. They compared the two. The unicorn’s was black, but other than that, they did look mostly the same. Maybe the Rod’s was a little bigger.

They exchanged looks. “It can’t hurt to try,” Diana said.

Amanda and Akko nodded. Hannah watched all from a safe distance. She seemed to be completely against interfering. Truth was, she wasn’t very good in mechanics.

After placing the new capacitor in, Akko and Diana rushed to the cockpit. Akko took a deep breath before she tried really carefully to turn the Shiny Rod on again.

A rumble. A shift, a tremble. Suddenly, the white broom moved. “Oh fucking thanks,” Akko said, and Diana shared the sentiment. It didn’t even took a minute for Hannah and Amanda to climb into the turret. “Alcor, you hear me?”

 **Yes, Akko,** the bird said, and Diana had never been happier to hear two words together.

She had been happier to hear three of them, though. Her eyes naturally fell on Akko, and Akko’s excited face. She turned that face to her, and their eyes met. “Amanda,” Akko said. “You’re a damn genius.”

“I know,” Amanda claimed, clearly proud of herself. “Now can we get the hell out of here?”

Both Akko and Diana nodded. Akko sat on the pilot’s seat and Diana lingered behind. Still, she placed both her hands on Akko’s shoulders. “And we’re still on time for the race,” Diana said. Akko looked up with a raised eyebrow. “Just a comment, though,” Diana laughed nervously.

“No, you’re right,” Akko said. “Actually, I’ve thought about it. The rules only said that the race would count as finished as long as the two pilots crossed the finish line. It never mentioned it had to be with two different ships.”

That gave Diana pause. “When did you have time to think about that?”

“When I was depressed and overthinking everything because I thought you hated me.”

Diana felt her gut twisting with guilt, but she pushed past it. “I… think you’re right. We can do this. We _should_ do this, assuming we’re still on time. But we should hurry getting out of here first.”

“I second that idea!” Hannah cried from the turret.

Once again, Diana and Akko met eyes. And it was decided.

Akko was about to shout the command for teleportation, probably, when something else changed. In front of them, written in bold Comic Sans letters – why that font? Was it some kind of sick joke? – a series of words appeared. Diana didn’t need to investigate much to know exactly what those were.

“Should we say them?” Akko asked.

“We?” Diana was a little surprised by the word in there.

“Yes, we. I’ve the feeling we unlocked this one together,” Akko explained.

Well, if Akko wanted to… “Let’s do it,” Diana said.

“Ok, on the count of three,” Akko said. “One… Two… Three!”

And then, both of them, in unison, cried: “ _Sybilladura Lelladybura!”_


	109. Chapter 109

Change. Diana and Akko both felt it within themselves as the rod stretched and thinned. The engine compressed, and a couple of small wings appeared on the back of the ship. Right now, the Shiny Rod was a good giant version of a pen. The engine, the giant thing behind them, had also compressed, and now it looked like the nozzle of a welder.

And their minds, they were… connected. At a superficial level. But She could tell. Diana could sense all the things crossing Akko’s, and Akko could feel Diana’s lingering guilt every time she looked at Akko. The entirety of the cockpit morphed as the seat widened and both Diana and Akko knew that they were meant to pilot together.

“Alcor, how much time left until the race starts?” Akko said, though Diana had heard the thought cross her head before Akko had said it.

Akko could feel Diana’s confusion at the situation, something they shared. But it also felt right. Just right. Like this had been meant to be.

**In about twenty seconds.**

_Seconds?!_ Akko and Diana thought in unison. And Akko pressed the accelerator. She felt Diana’s doubt. The Shiny Rod wasn’t fast enough to get there in even just forty-five seconds, particularly if… Diana looked behind them. And somehow, Akko saw it too. They had a tail of light. How fast were they going, exactly? The thing about breaking the speed of sound was that you couldn’t exactly hear it when you did.

Akko didn’t seem to care, and Diana’s mind was already making calculations. The clashing thoughts mixed together, and soon they found a strange middle ground in which Diana had just concluded they were going _really damn fast._

They exited the deepness, to the surprise of many people who had been looking down on it, and shot into the sky. Akko opened the map and steered them towards the starting line of the race. They didn’t feel like they were moving faster than other times. In fact, Akko was sure it had taken them at least a full minute to get there.

It hadn’t.

They reached the starting line, with sixteen different ships prepared to go. And in front of them, a rock was falling. A small rock that had previously been floating. Akko could access Diana’s knowledge on this, and she understood that the method of starting a race in Vorago involved a floating rock charged with some kind of magnetic energy. The race started when the rock fell.

The rock seemed to fall in slow motion. But Akko and Diana reached the end of the line of brooms right as the rock touched the ground. The brooms begun moving, but they too were in slow motion.

And by standard IPR rules, they were technically in the race.

Akko didn’t hesitate to point upward with the Shiny Rod, and as she suspected, the entire ship was able to completely ignore normal broom limitations as it shot into the air.

It barely took them any time to get to the surface of the planet. And Oh boy, what a surface it was.

“It’s beautiful,” Diana whispered. She could tell Akko had been thinking the same.

Because it was.

The world that expanded before them was _nothing_ like the chasms below. The surface was cracked, but the patterns it formed were intriguing. The sky was black and covered with stars, even though Akko could see in the distance a relatively small sun. The dark stone that formed the planet _reflected_ a lot of that light, and a range of cracked mountains extended to the left.

The most beautiful thing, though, was the balls of fire.

Like a rain in slow motion, hundreds- No, _thousands_ of meteorites were constantly falling from the sky, red tears in the planet, that crashed and sometimes created craters, but most of the time just seemed to bounce off the absurdly strong rocks. Akko moved to dodge one, and they were definitely falling too slow. It was definitely an effect of the Shiny Rod’s current form. The balls of rock and fire were so easy to dodge that Diana almost found it laughable.

Akko moved again to dodge another one, and only then both Diana and Akko realized they were mimicking each other’s movements. Perfect sync.

And once they realized that, everything sped up. Not for them, but for their sense of time. They reacted to every meteorite with skill and precision, a mixture of Diana’s fore-thinking and Akko’s instincts, and they were headed in a straight line to the finish race. The more they worked together, the faster the Shiny Rod went, and the slower the world seemed to be.

And while it would still take a while, from _their_ perspective, they both understood that they’d win this race with barely an effort.

 

“We’re going so fast,” Hannah said. She and Amanda were rather uncomfortably pressed together on the turret. It had narrowed somewhat, and now there wasn’t much room for movement. Not that Amanda minded, if she was being honest.

“I know,” Amanda nodded. They were. The turret hadn’t been turned on, and she could _feel_ the speed outside. Her stomach seemed to empty, and she got that tingly sensation one usually got when falling without having eaten anything.

And then they fell into an awkward silence.

“So,” Amanda made an effort to break it. “You’re really sexy, you know?”

Hannah blushed slightly. “I know, thank you,” she said, trying to sound confident. She was really cute.

“If I had some movement freedom I’d probably ravage you right here right now,” she continued.

Hannah paused, then smiled. “Or maybe I would ravage you,” she said. _God,_ Amanda smiled, _it’s like she’s a completely new person._

“You’re different, aren’t you?” Amanda asked.

Hannah nodded. “I already laid all my carts for you to see. I’ve nothing else to hide from you. I… I really enjoyed you touching me, you know,” Hannah said. “I know I’m not an expert, but I hope I’ll be able to satisfy you, eventually.”

Amanda managed to wiggle a little to wrap her arms around Hannah and kiss her forehead. “You will,” she said. “I’ll make sure to teach you.”

Hannah nodded. “God your boobs feel really nice,” she said, slowly sinking into them. Amanda had unzipped the front of her suit, as she wanted to be able to feel Hannah’s warmth. Hannah had thought the same, apparently, and now her face was right against her chest, her breathing tickling ever so slightly. “I never thought I’d like boobs so much.”

“Yours are nice too,” Amanda said, wishing she could move her arm easily to snatch one of them, maybe even put it in her moth and… She shook her head. Not the best moment to be getting horny. Again. Did her head only work in terms of sex? It felt that way. But, well, being with Hannah did that to her.

And so much more.

“So, where exactly do you live?” Hannah suddenly asked, looking up at her.

“That was out of left field,” Amanda said, raising an eyebrow.

“I want to know more about you,” Hannah explained. “Not only about your body, but about _you.”_

Amanda took that in. She liked the sound of it. She nodded slowly. “I live in Powderly, Texas, in a small Irish neighborhood.”

“Huh, seems cozy,” Hannah said.

“It was, kind of. Until I was old enough to start wearing dresses and being trained to be a princess,” Amanda tried not to let too much bitterness slip into her tone, but she was clearly failing miserably. “Sorry, didn’t want to hit you with my problems.”

Hannah bit her lip. “You know,” she said. “Your problems… Well, I…” she was clearly looking for the right words. “You can tell me about them. I know I haven’t had a hard life and whatever, but I still want to understand you.”

Amanda considered this. Her mind flashed back to her grandmother for a second. The anger that flared within her was enough to make her understand this wasn’t really the time. She couldn’t really explain it to Hannah. “I’ll tell you when we’re not cramped like this. I don’t want to punch you accidentally.”

Hannah smiled at her joke, though she clearly wasn’t feeling it. She looked disappointed, and Amanda punched herself internally for that. She’d tell Hannah soon. She just needed to be on the right frame of mind. “Do you really think this can work?”

Amanda cocked her head. “What can?”

“Our relationship. This. What tells you we won’t have a big fight tomorrow and we’ll be like Diana and Akko, but without having a chasm forcing us to coexist and make up?” Hannah asked.

It was a tough question. Amanda thought about it. What could she answer? Well, the truth was a good start. “I don’t know,” she whispered. Her own tone was a little too serious, even for her, but it felt right for the moment. “I can’t tell the future – as much as my family wants me to – and I can’t tell you what’ll be of us tomorrow,” she proceeded to place a kiss on the tip of Hannah’s nose. “But I _can_ tell you that right here, right now, I don’t want to ever be apart from you, ok?”

Hannah nodded slowly, her chin brushing softly the upside of Amanda’s boobs, and she had to take a deep breath.

“I may be a romantic, but I really hope we never break up. You brought something so new to my life, something I never expected. Hell, it was as unexpected as that time you said I looked great when I was about to start my date with Andrew. But… I like it a lot. An unexpected compliment from a girl I hated,” Hannah said. A smile appeared on the corner of her lips. “You know, I get the feeling that’s where it all started.”

Amanda couldn’t answer, because Hannah was probably right, but also because something else had popped into her mind. “Remember back when you first told me you were Diana’s gunman?”

Hannah paused. “It feels like that was forever ago,” she said. “Why?”

“I remember you telling me, and right as I was about to say something, you cut me off,” Amanda looked down at Hannah.

Hannah paused. “I… think I remember feeling like you were about to say something stupid, so I shut you up to stop you from doing so.”

Amanda smiled. Yes, that was very Hannah. “Well, I just remembered what I was going to say. Curious, right?”

Hannah paused. “I suppose. What was it?”

“That I thought you being a gunman was pretty cool,” Amanda said.

“Yeah, sure,” Hannah rolled her eyes. “Don’t try to pretend our every interaction had romantic undertones to it now that we’re together.”

Amanda shook her head. “But I’m serious,” she said. “I’m actually wondering, if I’d decided to drop that compliment instead of listening to you, could we have developed a relationship faster?” Amanda, while looking into Hannah’s eyes, was looking also beyond them. “We could have been more cordial to each other, maybe. And, well…”

“We wouldn’t have discovered how fun it was to tease each other, and we wouldn’t have fallen in love,” Hannah said. “So stop thinking about the past. We’re here, now. That’s all that matters.”

Amanda slowly nodded. “I guess you’re right,” she squeezed Hannah’s body with love. Wait. “Wait.”

“What?”

“You just said ‘fallen in love.’”

Hannah looked surprised. “I… guess I did,” she smiled a little. “Don’t expect to hear it directly said anytime soon, though.”

Amanda kissed her forehead again. “That’s perfectly fine with me,” she said. And she felt like they’d made progress.

 

“Oh fuck,” was all Croix could say as she saw the Shiny Rod appear from out of nowhere and disappear into the sky. “Oh god fucking damnit,” she instantly picked her communicator. Connections with the Noir Rod had been lost, however. Those daemons were going to be the end of her. Horn particularly. The alien had a particular attitude towards failure that most other members of his race didn’t. He didn’t take it well. In any situation. Ever.

Particularly when his victory should have been secure and easy.

“Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it…” Croix popped her wand into a device in her lab and a screen lit up, showing the current status of the Noir Rod. Everything was fine. The shapeshifting was still in experimental phase. Croix needed more examples on the Shiny Rod before she could…

The image onscreen started to shift slowly. The front of the Noir Rod started to rearrange itself piece by piece. Soon, the entire ship seemed to have taken the shape of a winged animal, though rather grotesque and mechanical. And they, too, flew up into the air, disappearing in a flash of light so fast that cameras of the Planetary Alliance were left behind.

Croix pinched the bridge of her nose. “I already had to rebuild the Blood Sailor from scratch,” she said to the screen. “I swear that if you make me rebuild the Noir Rod I will kill you, Horn.”

But he couldn’t hear.

And Croix couldn’t do anything to stop him.

 

The meteorites were easy to dodge, and in all honesty, they were beautiful to look at. But Diana did have to wonder if this whole experience was only but a dream. Who knew, maybe he had never apologized and she was still sleeping.

Akko sensed this, and she softly touched Diana’s hands. Both of them had their own sets of controls, and they had realized a while ago that as long as both of them kept track of at least one thing, they could pilot it. That’s what having their minds tangled like this meant. There were no secrets. Every time she felt guilty Akko would reciprocate with a wave of reassuring confidence. Every time Akko grew doubtful Diana hit her with all the love she could muster.

And when both of them noticed, at the same time, something black and red approaching from behind, they exchanged a look.

Diana could feel the sudden panic in Akko’s head. It would have been accurate to say that she felt it too, like if someone had suddenly put a chain on her feet. It didn’t seem plausible. They were going so fast!

They accelerated. There was a sort of innate understanding of the broom now. They knew its limits, and they knew that in this form, the Rod was nowhere near them. Their now increased speed seemed to make things better as the Noir Rod – now looking like a bird mid-flight – wasn’t able to keep up with the speed.

Akko started feeling ever so slightly cocky, so Diana counteracted with her worries. That seemed to get them in the right mindset again, and they kept up their amazing speed. How much distance had they crossed now? A fourth of the way. They had been flying for maybe an hour and they’d already crossed one-fourth of the distance that should have taken them three days to cover. Well, being able to go in a straight line and at full speed – actually, _way faster_ than full speed – seemed to have that kind of effect in the race.

Something shot from behind. Akko and Diana easily dodged the Inferno projectile, but more came after that. They didn’t worry too much. The projectiles were too slow, and even if they somehow hit, they would hit their engines. They would be disqualified…

Then, both of them realized, there were no cameras following them. Nobody would know. Well, they supposed it was time for a defense mechanism. Akko moved over to turn on the turret. Then they realized, the turret wouldn’t be turned on. The Shiny Rod didn’t do turret and transformations at the same time. Why not? Diana was annoyed. They had infinite energy, for crying out loud.

But that was it. No time to worry about that as they started to worry about how things were going. Both of them thought it was a little unfair that the ship that was supposed to mimic the Shiny Rod somehow managed to keep up with it _and_ shoot at them at the same time. Diana felt Akko’s intention to maybe shift transformations and go with the one she’d used last race, but Diana knew doing that would just make them drop to the surface of the planet – they were now way above it – and it wasn’t worth the risk.

The Noir Rod didn’t have infinite energy. Probably. Which meant, this was a battle of resistance. They just needed to dodge. Diana had already begun to think about ways to lose the daemons – that mountain range to their right was an option. They could lose themselves on some of those peaks and maybe get the Noir Rod to crash and burn. But that seemed extremely implausible. The daemons were as good as them. Arguably better, really.

They kept going. For the better part of the next hour, the daemons didn’t get to them.

Yet, as all good things, it came to an end. A blast hit them, and even though it didn’t do a lot of damage, it kind of sent Akko and Diana into a panicked overdrive.

Something needed to be done. In this aspect the Noir Rod clearly had the upper hand, and the both of them were beginning to grow mentally tired. The connection, the mental link, was taking a toll on them. It was hard to not really know which thoughts were yours and which ones were from your partner anymore. With their feelings shared, it was as if their exhaustion was exponentially more powerful.

They needed a plan. Akko wasn’t good with them. But if Diana tried to think too much about something, Akko’s nature brought her down a notch, and this shared-mind thing that had been so fun at first was now kind of a drag. Not because she didn’t love Akko, but because she liked _Akko,_ not herself. And at this point she was starting to get really annoyed.

Diana slowly worked through her ideas, but still allowing Akko not to feel too overwhelmed. It was a tortuous project, and it took them at least another fifteen minutes. They’d been hit two more times. With Diana’s mind no longer in the racing, they had made some more mistakes. One of those blasts could take them out, and Diana wasn’t willing to do that. If only they could…

When her head came up with the idea, Akko felt it too. She smiled, and both of them instantly understood that it was a good one. Because even if they wouldn’t technically win, they still had a better chance at it than the Daemons. Curious, how they’d exploited last race’s rules yet had failed to see the loopholes in this one.

So, they slowed down. They allowed the Noir Rod to pass them, and as they hoped, it stopped attacking after they fell behind it.

Both of them now felt like they wished the race to be over already. This connection was giving them a headache.

 

When they landed, having crossed the finish line, they instantly undid the transformation.

Suddenly, Diana felt as if she could breathe again. “That was a rather… interesting experience,” she said as she stood and the Shiny Rod went back to normal. Curious, how the cockpit thinned but the broom itself widened. In front of them was the Noir Rod, having one back to normal, with Horn and his gunman standing on the side. Both of them were talking, and Diana made a decision.

She stepped out of the cockpit – to Akko’s surprise – and walked up to the daemon. He looked at her, expression unreadable, though he seemed to stand a little taller.

“Well played,” Diana said, offering a hand.

Horn took it without hesitation. He spoke, but Diana didn’t have her translator, so it was nothing but a series of screeches to her. One thing, though, she did make out. _Diana Cavendish,_ spoken in screeches. Almost like the sound of metal grinding against metal. It was rather chilling, but she thought she could actually read something from that. His three long, slender fingers pressed her hand with a little more strength than needed.

Akko was soon there too. She offered her hand to the gunman, who said nothing, and then to Horn. Again, Horn said something, finishing it with an _Atsuko Kagari,_ though his G was more of a strange rumble from the stomach than an actual letter. It did the job well enough – which meant it was really creepy. His blue eyes watched them intensely, unblinking.

Akko and Diana then slowly turned around and left. “Why’d you do that?” Akko asked. “God it feels good to be able to _talk_ to you, not feel it.”

Diana smiled. She really agreed with the sentiment. “Because I felt like it,” she said. Then she noticed that no-one was around. The finish line was marked, but there was no crowd. Well, of course there wouldn’t be. They had finished the race sixty-eight hours earlier than anticipated. “But right now, we should really head back and tell everyone we’re ok.”

Akko nodded. Amanda and Hannah had come out of the Shiny Rod too. “What? It’s already over? Now that was anticlimactic,” Amanda complained.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “We lost to them?” She asked, pointing at the daemons.

Diana and Akko shared a look. “We don’t know quite yet,” Diana said.

Amanda and Hannah seemed to take that at face value, and both of them sighed. “Fucking hell,” Amanda said. “I feel like crap,” she started stretching right there and then.

“It was way too cramped in there,” Hannah explained.

Diana was about to ask more details, but then something sounded from behind. Loud and scary, it made them all jump. As they turned, they realized that the Noir Rod had suddenly… fallen apart. Where it had stood just a moment ago now remained only a black and red pile of metal and circuits. Neither Horn nor the gunman seemed surprised. Then again, it was impossible to know what they felt.

“What the fuck?” Amanda said, stopping her stretches.

Diana paused. “I guess…”

“Ha!” Akko suddenly barked. “It’s just a cheap knockoff, after all! It wasn’t able to handle the pressure!” she claimed triumphantly, a big wide smile on her face. Diana felt her heart skip a beat when looking at it. Akko was gorgeous when she was being childish.

Still, Diana’s scholarly side kept her train of thought intact. “The Noir Rod must not be built to keep those transformations for long. Kind of like the outburst abilities of the Blood Sailor if I had to compare it to something,” she explained. “They were really lucky.”

Hannah snorted. “Yeah, well, maybe we can throw all of those pieces into a chasm and…” she paused. “Oh, ignore it, there’s a camera there,” she sighed, pointing.

Diana followed the direction with her eyes. There, right above the big red holographic sign that changed languages but always said ‘finish’, there was a small white floating thing. A camera indeed.

“Let’s just get back and get some actual sleep,” Akko said, yawning. Right, she’d been the only one not to pop into the turret to rest. Actually, now that Diana thought about it, that might have been one of the reasons of the exhaustion she had felt while in that weird connection. Out of concern, she took Akko’s hand.

“You ok?” She asked.

“Yes, yes,” she said. She suddenly looked oh so very tired, but she still smiled. “Come on.”

Amanda and Hannah didn’t argue. All of them jumped into the white broom, and Akko teleported them right to the front of the Inn. All of them headed inside, not sure of what they’d find.

The first person to see them, curiously enough, was Sucy. Diana raised an eyebrow. She’d been pacing, and the second she saw them walk into the lobby, her face had lit up.

She had actually, genuinely smiled. And were those tears? No way in hell. But she quickly shook her head to hide them and walked to them. “So you didn’t die,” she said in a careful, monotone voice. And it hit Diana. Wasn’t that… the same _she_ did? Sure, Sucy had a meaner approach to it, but she suddenly noticed all the signs. The way Sucy didn’t emote at all, the way she stared at the eyes with an intensity that was uncommon. The collectedness in her voice clearly being a cover for something else. Her calculated words.

Akko didn’t care for any of it. She instantly hugged Sucy with all her might – Diana did feel a pinch of jealousy, but she quickly got over it – and surprisingly enough, Sucy hugged her back. Smiling.

It was for just a second, though, and she quickly pushed Akko back. “Ok, enough contact for a year. Have you talked to Ursula?”

“I was gonna go for my helmet,” Akko explained. Sucy sighed, pretending to be the same kind of annoyed as always. But it didn’t fool anyone. She was clearly relieved.

Maybe Diana had been unfair to her. They seemed to share more in common than she’d first assumed. Even if Sucy hated her, she could give this a shot.

After seeing that Akko got some sleep, of course. All four of them headed upstairs. Akko didn’t take long to contact Ursula, and in less than half an hour, the room Akko and Diana had been sharing – Akko’s – was raided by Ursula, Lotte, Barbara and Andrew.

Diana was surprised to see him here. Barbara’s glare implied she didn’t _want_ him here. Diana couldn’t say she didn’t agree.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” was the first thing Barbara had said before hugging her so strongly that Diana almost ended up spitting her lungs. “At least you made up with Akko.”

Diana smiled as she saw Lotte give a similar treatment to the brunette. Soon after came Ursula, as she did a full checkup and worried over her bruise and the cut in her head. “I’m so glad you’re ok, girls,” she said, hugging both Akko and Diana. It felt nice. Nostalgic, somehow. “I don’t know what happened but you need to know you were actually admitted into the race. Last-second appearance or not, you did show up,” she spoke in a rush. “So no worries, ok?” She looked at Diana particularly. “I tried to get you sign you off the race, take the pressure out of you. I wasn’t allowed, so if you need to…”

But Diana was smiling. “I get it,” Diana said, interrupting. “Thank you, coach,” it felt kinda weird to use that term so directly, but she kind of thrived in the interaction. Then she looked at Barbara. “Sorry for the other day. I’ve been a jerk,” she explained. “I really should have let you talk with me.”

Barbara nodded. “You should have, yeah,” her voice stung a little, but then she smiled. “But now you’re here. Is it wrong if I ask you how it was down there?”

Diana was about to answer when someone cleared his throat. She looked at Andrew with caution. The guy looked as uncomfortable as he must have felt. “I… am glad that you’re ok,” he said in an overly polite tone.

“Thank you,” Diana said in a similar tone.

And that was it. For both of them, that probably was the best they could do, and that was fine. He politely excused himself and walked out.

“Can anyone help me?” Amanda suddenly entered the room. From her hung both Constanze and Jasminka. She barely seemed able to move. “I’m sorry Jasna but I’m gonnaAH” and with that, she fell to the ground. Neither of her teammates let go.

Hannah walked right behind her, staring daggers at the three of them. But then her eyes met Barbara’s.

In a hearbeat they were all over each other, hugging and crying. “I thought I was gonna die,” Hannah said.

“I thought you were gonna die,” Barbara said in unison.

Somehow, the mention of death washed all over Diana’s body, and she felt like she was really alive. Even on the darkness of the room. “I guess we still need to sign out of the race, though. We don’t have the Unicorn. And there’s no way to retrieve it.”

At that, Akko hummed. “There may just be a way, I think.”

Diana raised an eyebrow, but Akko just smiled slyly.


	110. Chapter 110

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Diana asked Akko, who was standing next to her with a wide smile as Constanze worked in reconnecting the Unicorn and the Shiny Rod.

“Yes,” Akko said. She was confident. Well, as confident as she could be with her crazy ideas. Which, in truth, was a lot.

Diana eyed her and then slowly nodded. They were standing to the side, watching a few stanbots come and go as the mechanic commanded.

“You look different,” Akko said, looking at Diana. Her hair seemed to be completely green on the light of the glowing river, and damn if it didn’t look gorgeous. And maybe for the first time since confessing, Akko could look at her without the slightest hint of guilt. It was great.

“I _feel_ different,” Diana explained. “Maybe because I opened my heart to you, I suddenly feel like I don’t have to worry so much anymore,” then her eyes met Akko’s, and for a moment, the world seemed to stop. “I’m sorry for what I made you go through,” she said, guilt flashing through her eyes.

Akko took Diana’s hand and squeezed it hard. “Get over it already,” she said. “You were going through a rough time. I should have been more-”

Diana put a finger to her lips. “Don’t say understanding, please. You’re the most understanding person in the world, Akko. I went overboard and that’s it,” Diana’s tone put an end to the discussion, because Akko really couldn’t come up with a retort.

“Ok, but please stop feeling guilty. You’re forgiven, everything’s fine now,” Akko said.

Diana smiled softly. “As long as I’m with you, yes, I feel like everything’s gonna be fine,” she said, stepping closer. Their shoulders touched, and at her words, Akko’s face heated up.

She looked at Constanze. She really hoped this would work. If it didn’t work she was going to feel really embarrassed. But she trusted in the Shiny Rod. And if this went well, then maybe…

“What’s with the serious face?” Diana asked.

“Oh, you’ll see,” Akko said. She watched intently, slowly growing impatient. She could manage, though, as long as she could keep the contact with Diana. Both of them had changed out of their g-suits and had taken a much-needed shower before doing this. Diana had received some more proper medical care for the wound on her head, which luckily hadn’t been infected.

Diana raised an intrigued eyebrow, but got the message that Akko wouldn’t say it out-loud. It was strange to imagine that the race was already over for them, while fifteen racers were still out there traversing the chasms as best as they could.

Speed form. That’s what she’d decided to call the one she and Diana had unlocked together. However, she didn’t plan on ever using it again. It was clear two people were needed for that, and even more importantly, it was clear that both Akko and Diana hadn’t been fans of the mind-sharing thing.

It had allowed them to grow even closer, though. Akko now understood a lot about how Diana’s thought process went, and Diana understood hers. Akko could look back at the past few weeks and see why Diana had acted the way she did, and could honestly and from the bottom of her heart forgive her. She would have anyways, but the understanding she’d gained was precious to her. Understanding Diana was precious to her.

Now she was meeting her eyes. Gorgeous blue eyes, that under the light of the river looked more like a sea-green, maybe. Still perfect, though. _I want to kiss her,_ Akko thought. She was sure Diana felt the same way.

Well, what the hell was she waiting for, then?

She turned and locked her arms around Diana’s neck. Akko felt her body start to tingle as Diana slowly wrapped her own arms around her waist, and then they were kissing. Experience or not, both of them slowly grew into it. What began as simple lips touching had grown into a steamy mess, and Akko started wondering if she should use her tongue. Akko had no experience kissing anyone but Diana, but she was sure Diana was the best kisser in the world.

She was perfect, after all. Even with her imperfections.

Suddenly, something touched Akko’s legs, making Akko jump back with a mouse-like squeak. Diana looked at her with amusement at the sound, and Akko blushed. Why had she done such a noise? Whatever. She looked down at the stanbot, who was pointing up at Constanze.

Constanze was giving them a judgmental look accompanied by a thumbs up, and Akko understood both messages. “Ok, then,” Akko said. Her heart started to slow down after the kiss, but her face wasn’t letting go of the heat.

They got inside the Shiny Rod. “Status report,” Akko said. Soon, an holographic blueprint of the Shiny Rod appeared.

And it included the Unicorn too. Diana stared at it in wonder, and then she turned to Akko with an inquisitive look. “I noticed it before we dropped into the deepness,” Akko explained. Diana cringed at the mention of the event, but she kept listening. “I’m fairly certain the connection makes the Shiny Rod think of the Unicorn as a part of itself. Look, there’s magic running through the entirety of the Unicorn now. The Rod fixed the capacitor,” Akko pointed. “And now, for the moment of truth…” Akko took a deep breath.

Constanze was waiting in the cockpit of the Unicorn, and she gave them another thumbs up.

“Noctu Orfei Aude Freator!” Akko exclaimed, and then they teleported. In an instant, they were on the _Dragon’s_ hangar, and even white lighting had replaced the green of the river. Akko would miss that river, even if she had bad memories with it. Thinking about missing something made her remember Elizabeth, the alien bird that had taught her how to take curves. One of these days she had to teleport back to Machina to say hi.

“Ok, we need to call Ursula,” Diana said, picking up her helmet and putting it on. She slowly started exiting the Rod as she begun to talk with the coach, and Akko then met Constanze’s eyes. The tiny girl got the message and nodded, subtly getting out of the Unicorn and unplugging the hose from its engine. Then, she ran up to the Shiny Rod and hopped in the cockpit behind Akko.

Diana, who had been slowly walking as she talked, turned around, as if to say something to Akko.

She was just in time to see the Shiny Rod teleport away once more.

 

Diana was left there, standing, seeing the white broom popping out of existence with a flash of light. The Unicorn remained, though. “Diana?” Ursula asked after Diana didn’t say anything for a minute.

Diana took a deep breath. “Akko just teleported away and I have no idea of where the hell she went,” Diana explained.

“No problem, I’ll tune into the Rod’s communication to ask her. Maybe she went to the Inn or something,” Ursula said. Diana hummed and agreement and wondered what she should do now. Wait for Akko? She was fairly certain the brunette would come back for her.

Sitting down in one of the rear wings of the Unicorn, she started replaying the day in her head. She absently touched the spot where Hannah had punched her and smiled. Hannah would probably tell the heroic story of how she made Diana Cavendish herself go back to being a rational being. And, well, she wouldn’t be wrong.

Akko. Now Diana could think about the brunette and her energy without restrains. She could imagine her kissing, hugging, holding hands. She could imagine holding Akko close at night and going to sleep peacefully. She could imagine herself exploring Akko’s muscles with her hands and…

Maybe it was a little too soon for that. They’d just gotten back together. They could warm up to the rest of their relationship at their own pace, and honestly, Diana was so mentally exhausted that the mere idea of having her first sexual experience was making her yawn. Of course, that was what she believed now. If the kiss she’d shared with Akko back at The Island was any indication, it was easy to throw everything out the window to enjoy Akko’s company.

It was a little surreal. Two months ago, Akko and her had barely known each other. Now Diana felt… fulfilled. Of course there were doubts, but there would always be doubts. Teenage love rarely lasted, according to the many accounts she’d heard through her life. And while she usually was the kind to over-think things, she now found more comfort in not doing so. She trusted Akko. Plus, for being only sixteen, they’d been through a lot together already. The way Diana had changed surprised even herself. In fact, while something tugged at the strings of her heart while she thought of The Pony, she found comfort in what Hannah had stated. She was right. She would be rich and she would get it back, some day.

Plus, her mother would probably have preferred Diana to choose a girlfriend over a rusty old broom. Diana thought about her, and about how kind she always was. When around her, even Daryl hadn’t dared be too bitchy. Bernadette hadn’t been for long in Diana’s life, but her impact would always stay with her. Diana couldn’t be her mother – she couldn’t be laid back, or have a great sense of humor, or be able to calm anyone with just a couple words. But she could be kind, something that she should have remembered when she had gone visit her house.

Diana received a message on her helmet. “Akko isn’t picking up,” Ursula said. “Actually, I don’t think my messages are getting through. You think she could have gone back to the deepness for some ungodly reason?”

“I’m not sure,” Diana confessed. Had Akko forgotten something there? “I don’t think so. I think she went with Constanze, too. Maybe she’s just not in the Rod any longer.”

Ursula didn’t sound convinced, so she asked Diana to try calling Akko too. Diana did so, and indeed, her communication just wasn’t getting through.

She tried many times over the next fifteen minutes, and with each passing minute, the more worried she grew. Maybe something had happened. Maybe Diana should have stayed in the Shiny Rod. Could it teleport on its own? Maybe it was failing due to the wrong capacitor. Diana had crossed her arms and was tapping one of her fingers when, suddenly, a flash of light to her right.

She turned, growing relaxed at the fact that Akko had finally come back. She dropped to the ground, ready to go ask where she’d been.

And then she froze.

Akko opened the cockpit and looked at her with a timid smile, and while Diana thought that was the cutest thing she’d seen in her life, she couldn’t really put her eyes away from the space next to the Shiny Rod.

There, a vintage brown broom waited. Looking like the unicorn, with the wider front and the crescent-moon back wings, but lacking the blade-like nose. Diana blinked a few times. Was she hallucinating? There was no way this could be real. She couldn’t even take another step. Her legs suddenly lost strength, and as she was about to fall to the ground, Akko caught her.

“Diana? You ok?” she asked, worried.

But Diana wasn’t listening. She stared at the pony, expression blank, as she tried to process what had happened. It shouldn’t be here. Its magic circuits had been impossible to repair, at this point. How… How had Akko…?

Akko had just kidnapped her mother’s broom.

“Oh god, I shouldn’t have done it,” Akko said. Diana was crying. Akko tried to get up, but Diana held her down, unable to formulate words. She had just stopped working entirely, and while she didn’t really care, she still didn’t want Akko to go.

So she pulled Akko into a tight embrace as she started to sob for real. Relief had hit her so damn hard that it was impossible to explain. Akko had done that. Akko had just solved the only thing that still bothered her of this entire situation, and she’d done it without Diana ever asking her for help. Because that was Akko.

“D-Diana, you’re kind of scaring me. Are you fine?” Akko asked.

Diana let her get away. She wanted Akko to see her face, and notice that she was smiling. Even through the tears. “I haven’t cried in as long as I can remember,” Diana said, her trembling voice mixed with a chuckle. “And yet you’ve made me cry two times in the same day.”

Akko looked at her with worry. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Diana rolled her eyes and decided that dense Akko was something that she’d needed to work through. “I’m fine, Akko,” she said as she wiped the tears from her face. “I was just a little overwhelmed,” she sniffled, letting Akko help her up.

Akko showed her to The Pony, where Diana was surprised to see the cockpit actually lit up. “Honestly, the hardest part was finding it,” Akko said. “It wasn’t in that hangar thingy you have outside the house.”

Diana cocked her head. “It wasn’t?”

Akko nodded. “It was in this big dining room at the back of the mansion, behind a big curtain,” Akko explained. Then she hopped on the Shiny Rod and took something framed in wood. “And this thing was in a small table nearby.”

Diana looked at the property papers of The Pony with amazement. “Behind a curtain, you say?”

“Yeah. The room was full of chairs, as if…” she paused. “Oh. Your aunt was going to auction it, wasn’t she?”

Nodding, Diana smiled. “Guess you were just in time,” she said. Then she imagined Daryl’s face at finding out The Pony had disappeared. Of course, the right papers Diana now held were just a copy, but the originals couldn’t be taken out of where they were without Diana’s direct approval, so Daryl couldn’t actually sell anything without the broom and the copies. “I wish I could see my aunt’s face right now.”

Akko shook her head. “I don’t get why you call her ‘your aunt’. Like, it sounds too respectful. You should call her by her name. Or insult her.”

It was a valid point, but Diana shook her head. “I won’t step down to their level. Petty insults and plots to make others miserable are their thing,” she explained. “Now that the pony’s here, they have nothing on me.”

“What about your house? The mansion?” Akko asked.

Diana paused. She had many good memories there. Yet, after five, those good memories had stopped. “I don’t care,” she said. “Plus, I doubt Daryl would even think of selling that.”

Akko smiled. “You just called her Daryl.”

“I do so on occasion, don’t push it,” Diana said with a smile. Both of them chuckled.

Still, Diana’s heart was warm. Really warm. As she looked at Akko, she wondered how she’d ever be able to repay her. After everything she’d done, Diana still felt slightly inadequate.

But one day she’d make up for it. For everything. And she’d double it. Triple it.

Scratch that, she’d just make sure Akko never needed anything anymore. And on impulse, she stepped forward, took Akko’s head and pulled her into a kiss.

 

Ursula was trying to let off a little steam by means of taking a shower. The hot water ran through her body like a purifier, seeming to take away her worries. She’d decided to do this on the _Dragon,_ since she really needed to be able to take her time, and the shared bathroom of the Inn didn’t really offer that option.

As always, hot water turned her hair red. Ursula wasn’t exactly sure of why exactly it happened, but it did. Another reason not to use any public baths. Magically dying your hair was essentially impossible with modern-day tech. She was using knowledge she’d gained thanks to the Shiny Rod, but even then the current technology just wasn’t enough. So while her dye was good, it faded away after about a year, and it turned back when hit with hot water. Well, sometimes a high enough temperature was enough too. Saunas were another no-go for her.

Still, taking baths was kind of the most wonderful things in the world. For a minute, Ursula was allowed to forget about all of her life problems and just relax. As she scrubbed her body with a sponge, she thought about nothing and hummed to herself.

Her nice time was over when she heard knocking on the door. She took a deep breath. She was technically done washing herself, but she wanted to stay longer under the water. However, the knocking came again, insistent. She couldn’t ignore it, as it was maybe one of her students.

She exited the shower and started shaking her head, tossing her hair around. The water on it cooled, and in about twenty seconds it was back to being blue. She had originally tried to make it black. She had failed, but whatever, the only purpose to do this was to hide anyways. The insistent knocking came again, and throwing a towel around her body, she exited the bathroom and opened the door.

On the other side, Croix stood.

Croix’s eyes instantly fell down to her chest. Common reaction, and while it annoyed Ursula, she did her best to give her a smile. “Hello,” she said. “Care to give me a minute?”

Croix shook herself out of the ogling and nodded. Ursula closed the door and threw on some simple clothing quickly. She didn’t bother with a bra, so she hoped Croix didn’t want to take her away from the room.

Then she opened the door again. Croix was, strangely enough, in casual clothing. No fancy outfit, no utilitarian uniform. Just a black shirt, blue jeans and boots. She still had her ridiculous hairstyle, though. “So, uhm,” Croix said. “Can we talk for a minute?”

Ursula nodded, inviting Croix into the room. It was a simple room, with a bed, a desk and a chair. It was slightly better than her previous ones, though, as this one included a small sofa. It was comfortable, so Ursula took it. The lavender haired woman sat in the bed that Ursula hadn’t yet used.

They stayed in silence for a while.

“Croix?” Ursula asked. Croix looked nervous, maybe even guilty. What had she done? Ursula’s mind instantly raced through some of the worst possible scenarios. But she stopped herself. She had decided to give Croix another chance. She’d been harsh on her because of what she’d done in her teenage years. She hadn’t actually done anything to earn their mistrust during the race.

 _Well, she kind of kidnapped Akko,_ Ursula reminded herself. But even then, she hadn’t harmed her. Croix’s obsession with the Shiny Rod was something to be wary of, though.

“Sorry, I… Listen,” Croix locked eyes with Ursula, and Ursula raised an eyebrow. “I came to warn you, maybe it’d be better if you drop out of the race.”

Ursula paused. “Why?” She asked, not jumping to conclusions.

“Because now things are going to start getting dangerous. Really dangerous,” Croix explained.

It didn’t take long for Ursula to start frowning. She took a calming breath and stared at Croix, trying to judge her demeanor. “Dangerous how?” She asked, trying really hard not to mistrust her from the get go. It was hard, though, to put all of her biases aside.

“Dangerous as in _pilots may die_ dangerous,” Croix said, her teal eyes serious.

“And why is this race so special, so different from the others?” Ursula raised an eyebrow.

Croix took a minute to answer. “I can’t answer that, Ursula. Sorry.”

She looked sincere. Ursula examined her, and tried really hard to judge the situation. Was she going to believe Croix? Was this a strategy? After ten  years of wishing she could see Croix again, yet being afraid to do so, the fact that they were now in her room talking quietly felt like a bit of a dream, like a piece of reality had bended the wrong way, and that made her feel strangely light.

“What is the Grand Prize?” Ursula asked.

Croix was taken aback. “Why do you ask?” If she was nervous before, she was even more so now.

“I’m fairly certain that has to do with it,” Ursula said. Croix looked away, clearly wanting to avoid eye contact. “The Aos Sí mentioned it when they tried to bribe us out of the race. We’ve heard it mentioned here and there. The plants cheated, the octopuses changed their traditional racing circuit. Something’s definitely up.”

Croix cursed in a low breath. Then she looked at Ursula with regretful eyes. “I suppose you’d hear about it eventually,” Croix was tapping her foot. Unusual. Ursula said nothing, waiting for her to continue. It was clear Croix didn’t want to continue talking. Whether that was for a good reason or not, Ursula wanted to hear it. Croix’s expression changed as she pressed her lips. “I… can’t tell you,” she said.

“So, you can’t tell me anything, yet you’ve come to warn me?” Ursula raised an eyebrow.

Croix nodded. “I know it sounds stupid, but… Well, I…” she took a deep breath, and when she looked at Ursula again, there was determination in her eyes. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Or your students.”

“Then change the rules. You’re the head of the IPR, aren’t you?” Ursula tried to ignore the worry that now ran through her body. Or the way Croix eyes were looking at her. That look… she hadn’t seen it in so long. Longing. Her mind went back to the accident when both of them had ended in the floor. They had so many unresolved issues that they were purposefully avoiding in their conversation.

“If only it were that easy. Look, Ursula, I’m the head of the IPR, doesn’t mean I make all the calls. Decisions usually have to be run through me for it to be approved, but we have many different branches,” Croix explained. “I’m the face of the IPR, I deal with administrative problems and am the one to make most deals with the Planetary Alliance to set up whatever we need. Most race-related decisions go through my underlings, though, and I don’t have the power to change them all on my own,” Croix explained.

“Weren’t rules for the races random?” Ursula asked.

“The danger won’t come from the rules, Chariot,” Croix said. Ursula wanted to correct the use of her old name, but there was no point. Not with Croix. She ran her tongue through her lips in a nervous gesture. “I just… Listen, Chariot. If I tell you the truth you _will_ hate me again,” she explained. “I don’t know if I want that.”

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “If you know that, then why are you doing whatever you’re doing?” she asked, expression darkening.

Croix’s expression darkened too. “Because I know it’s right,” Croix said. Her expression spoke sincerely. The problem was, Croix had a gray kind of morality. She was the do-what-it-takes kind of person. As long as the end result was worth it, then the steps to get there didn’t matter.

Ursula couldn’t agree. For her, there was no merit in achieving something by the wrong means. That difference of ideals was what had separated them originally. And now that they had kind of formed this strange but not unwelcomed connection, she wasn’t sure she wanted that to break them apart again.

“I’m sorry, but if you don’t tell me more, I won’t drop out of the race,” Ursula explained. Well, that wasn’t the whole truth. She didn’t really have the power to do that. No, that was Paul Hanbridge’s job. Ursula growled just thinking about him.

Croix sighed. “I guess I should have expected that,” she said. Then, she stood. “I guess there’s nothing more to discuss, then,” she looked regretfully at Ursula. “But at least promise me you’ll keep an open mind about this. I know you’ll see what I mean once the race goes on.”

Ursula stood too. Croix’s eyes flickered down to her chest again, and Ursula suddenly was self-conscious of her lack of bra. The problem was, Ursula was kind of happy for that. Deep within, she found that the fact that Croix was still attracted to her after all these years was something she was maybe hoping for.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ursula said. Croix nodded and walked to the door. Ursula accompanied her, though it was only a few meters.

Now Croix would go and who the hell knew when Ursula would see her next. It could be tomorrow, it could be in a week. Well, Croix was a busy woman. And Ursula was not without her responsibilities. She’d just have to deal with it, even if she didn’t want to.

So, she was a little surprised when she found herself reaching forward and taking Croix’s arm before she left. Croix turned, expression curious. “I… Thank you, for the warning,” Ursula said. “And thank you again for what you did the other day.”

Croix snorted. “Please, I didn’t do anything. Your girls saved themselves,” she said.

Ursula shook her head. “It’s the intention that matters,” she said. Her hand on Croix’s bare arm was something she couldn’t help but notice.

As the last time, Croix looked uncomfortable with the physicality. Ursula let go, letting Croix relax. “I’ll… see you around,” she said, and then she turned and left. Ursula stepped outside to watch her walk down the metallic corridor.

Something had been lit inside her. Something old. Something she knew she shouldn’t be feeling.

But then again, Croix had always complained that Ursula always did all the things she wasn’t supposed to.


	111. Chapter 111

Hannah tried not to cringe as Barbara’s smile grew wide. The both of them had chosen to spend the day following the deepness ordeal together. Because they kind of missed each other, and also because of what Hannah had just told Barbara.

“You almost had your first time on a random pool on the depths of an alien planet,” Barbara resumed. “You’re quite the girl, aren’t you?” she shoved Hannah lightly with her shoulder.

Hannah pressed her lips. “I don’t know. I…” she thought back to it. The heat in her body, the slickness between her legs, the way Amanda’s hands had touched her everywhere. “It’s like I couldn’t think.”

“And then you stopped because Amanda had an epiphany,” Barbara said. “Kind of anticlimactic.”

“Well, tell that to me,” Hannah shook her head. “If this is what being blueballed feels like, I understand why people get so mad about it. And, honestly, having to stay in close proximity with Amanda for the following hours didn’t help.”

Barbara’s grin was getting under Hannah’s skin. Then again, she’d always been kind of the more outgoing of the two in sexual matters. Hannah was more the starry-eyed girl who thought about pure romances.

Though right now, there was nothing pure about what she wanted to do with Amanda.

“I’m just surprised. Did you do it when you got back?” Barbara pried.

Hannah pressed her lips. “We haven’t. Actually, I think Amanda feels kind of guilty about that, despite the fact that I totally wanted to do it too,” she sighed.

“Then tell her that,” Barbara said.

Hannah blushed. “I can’t do that! I…” she struggled to explain. “I kind of led her but, well, uhm… I don’t know. She’s so beautiful, too! I don’t get how she fell for me. I’m so plain by comparison.”

She received a light smack on the back of her head. “Don’t say that. You’re really pretty and cute, and Amanda totally likes you,” Barbara said.

“Loves me, according to her,” Hannah corrected.

Barbara nodded. “She’s not messing around, then,” she said. “What about you?”

Ah, yes. That was the million dollar question, now wasn’t it. What about her? What about Hannah? How did _she_ feel? Was it love? She was tempted to say yes, yet doubt took hold of her. She was still wondering if maybe this wasn’t just the novelty. Falling for a flaming redhead who she had chemistry with.

Of course, those doubts were stupid. She knew that, but she couldn’t shake them off. She really wanted to say it to Amanda. But… “Love is stupid,” Hannah said. Barbara raised an eyebrow. “Before we started dating, Amanda told me that.”

“Fairly certain she’s probably changed her mind.”

Hannah nodded. That much was obvious. “It’s not so much about that as it is about waiting for the right moment, I guess,” she explained. “I don’t know, Barbara. What if all of this is a mistake? What if we’re not really meant for each other?”

Her friend stepped closer, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t think like that,” she said. “Love isn’t about what’s ‘meant’ or what isn’t,” she spoke seriously. “It’s about how the two of you feel. If you feel liked with her, if you feel like you want to be with her, then there’s no need for ‘meaning’.”

Hannah listened to the words and took them to heart. Barbara was right, she admitted. She did feel liked with Amanda. Hell, she felt way more than that. She didn’t just want to be with her. Her mind was already getting used to the idea of being in a relationship, and thinking about Amanda made her heart skip a beat most of the time. Those emerald eyes, that two-layered red and orange hair that spread out all on its own but that looked so good when put down, the way Amanda clearly lusted after her but held back for Hannah’s sake.

“It’s funny,” Hannah said. “A couple days ago I punched Diana because she felt like she didn’t deserve love, and now I kind of feel the same way,” she explained. It was just so… strange. Could Amanda really settle down? She had spoken about how she liked to go around and sleep with many girls. Maybe she was just feeling what she felt now because she didn’t have that option. Maybe Hannah wasn’t really a true love, but just a way for Amanda to cope with her inability to go out at night.

The thought terrified her. More than she’d been willing to admit.

“Shut up,” Barbara said. “You deserve to be loved, and the simple fact that you’re having all of these worries is proof enough of what you feel for her,” she explained. “Now get over here, let’s have a few drinks and catch up,” Barbara said, pointing at a small bar near the entrance of the human chasm. It was relatively full, and she had a strange expression on her face.

Hannah wasn’t sure of what to answer. Speaking to Barbara did make her feel better, though, so it was fine. She followed her best friend inside the local and let Barbara order. What was this ‘subzero’ thing, anyways?

 

“Come on, Constanze, I’m alive and well, let go,” Amanda said as she walked. Constanze had taken to grabbing her shirt. “And Jasminka, I don’t really mind, but you’re grabbing a little too tightly,” she said looking at the other side, where Jasminka had a tight hold on her hand. Amanda was glad Hannah had decided to go out with Barbara today. She was cute when jealous but even Amanda was feeling slightly overwhelmed with all the attention both her teammates were giving her. “Don’t you guys have, like, things to do?”

Both of them shook heads, and Amanda sighed.

They had been like this since they’d come back, and Amanda was really glad to be alive to see them like this. Then again, it was hard to walk. She wondered if these two girls had crushes on her. But that was unlikely. Jasminka would have told her, and Constanze… well, it was hard to know what Constanze felt, really. Her clinginess was cute, though.

As everyone else today, they had chosen to walk. There was nothing else to do, really. Save for playing videogames on one of Constanze’s consoles, maybe, but Constanze was too busy making sure Amanda was alive for that. They had been gone for like only a day and a half, maybe two days, but everyone had felt the impact of their short absence.

Jasminka finally released a little of her grip. Despite how often she ate greasy things, her hands were surprisingly clean. After years of doing it, she had clearly perfected the craft. Her hand was warm and squishy. Like, really warm. Jasminka had a naturally warm body. It probably came from the fact that her ancestors lived harsh winters and needed it to survive. Global warming had kind of changed the landscape of things in Russia, though, and now their winters were actually pretty tame.

Amanda’s thoughts, as they walked, slowly drifted away. She was in the deepness, in the pool. And she had interrupted a passionate… what? Make out session? No, it was definitely more than that. Or, it would’ve been, if she hadn’t had that epiphany. Would Hannah be angry about that? She’d been annoyed, that much was clear.

Suddenly, she started feeling embarrassed, and heat climbed up to her cheeks. The way she slipped came back to mind. She was so lame.

“Ok, can you please let go? Really, girls,” Amanda said. She wasn’t angry or annoyed. Well, maybe mildly annoyed, but she just suddenly felt the need for some space. “I’m trying to walk like a normal person.”

They ignored her. Amanda sighed, but couldn’t help the smile that crawled onto her face. If anything else, at least she knew there were people in the world who actually cared if she went missing.

 

Lotte, Akko and Sucy were playing something in a small fair that had been set up after what happened to them. It was near the center of the city and even some armors were enjoying it.

Lotte took a deep breath and calculated the distance from the rock to the hole at the end of the slightly inclined table. Then, with the pole she’d been given, she poked the side of the table. The mechanism was weird and hard to figure out, but Lotte believed she had the hang of it. Upon touch, a small ripple of some kind of energy was sent to the table, and the rock laying there suddenly shot forward.

It missed the hole by a centimeter.

“Damn it,” Akko said. She wanted to get tickets to win a free meal from one of the many food stands going around the fair. These carts wouldn’t give them free meals, like the ones in the _Dragon,_ and Akko refused just buying them because ‘that was no fun.’

“These things are rigged, you’re never getting what you want,” Sucy said. She’d been complaining about the fair constantly, but Lotte could see from the corner of her eye that she’d been also smiling the whole time. She clearly enjoyed it.

The muscled man behind the counter put a final stone on the table. “Last chance,” he said. Lotte had gotten five chances, and only two of her stones had made it into the hole, though those had been on accident.

Well, worst case scenario, they could always pay a little to eat. By doing this they were already technically doing so, anyways.

She poked the side of the table. A second later, the rock – flat, but not completely regular – shot forward. And though it seemed like it was going to miss, it suddenly steered to the right and caught the rim of the hole, doing a couple of laps around it before falling in.

The muscled man sighed. He had no hair, and he must have been in his twenties. “Here, nine tickets,” he said, reaching across the counter to drop them in Lotte’s hand. Lotte took them with a nod and then the red team was off to walk around again.

“Ok, we need twenty more of these and we can eat for free,” Akko said, fire in her eyes.

“What’s the point of working so hard to get tickets if we’re just gonna end up spending the same amount of money we would’ve used for the food itself,” Sucy said.

Akko ignored her complaint and sighed. “If we could only find something I’d be good at,” she said. So far, she had failed miserably at trying to get tickets for them. The games in the fair were rather alien.

Then, from behind the group, a voice called. “Too bad there’s not a trivia game about Chariot,” Diana walked up to them. She’d been in the bathroom. She smiled as she and Akko intertwined their hands. “Oh, wait,” she paused, sounding surprised. “There is!”

Akko stopped moving, looking at Diana. “Really?” She asked, excitement in her voice apparent.

Diana nodded energetically, pointing backwards. “Saw it on my way here. Seems like the locals don’t hate your idol as much as humans back on Earth,” Diana said. She looked different. There was this… glow, to her. Lotte hadn’t seen her use that mask of her even once since coming out of the chasm. She looked relaxed and as if she was enjoying herself. Lotte wanted with all of her might to know what happened down there, but neither of them would tell. That was weird, as Akko usually told them about everything.

They quickly steered back to the booth Diana had seen. No-one was going to it, and the older woman behind the counter looked bored. She brightened up when Akko approached and then she gave her a sheet with a bunch of questions. Depending on how many she got right she’d get a varying number of tickets. Akko nodded and started filling in the blanks without even hesitating.

Diana stood back, next to Lotte. “She’s so excited, isn’t she?” Diana said.

Lotte nodded. “She really does like Chariot.”

“‘Likes’ is an understatement,” Sucy said. “She’s absolutely obsessed.”

Both Diana and Lotte nodded. They stood in silence, and Lotte noticed that Sucy shot a few angry glances at Diana. Diana either didn’t notice or didn’t care, for she didn’t react to them. That was fine, Lotte figured.

When Akko handed back the sheet, the woman’s eyes got progressively wider. “Wow,” she finally said. She had a bit of a strange accent, though Lotte couldn’t place it. Italian, maybe? “You’re a real fan of her, aren’t you?” she looked at Akko a bit mystified.

Akko nodded. Then, the woman proceeded to hand her a small bag full of tickets. “A hundred tickets for a perfect score,” she said reverently. Akko’s smile grew from ear to ear as she took the bag and thanked the old woman. She then came back excited.

“Ok, now we have enough for all of us!” She said.

“Hurray,” Sucy said with faked enthusiasm.

“Let’s go, then,” Lotte said. Truth be told, she was starving.

Akko nodded, and then led them to the place she wanted so badly to try. It sold burritos, for some reason. They did smell good. And as they ate, Lotte couldn’t help but smile at the way Akko and Diana shared theirs. Whatever had gone down in that chasm, she figured, it was something to celebrate.

 

 

 

The Shiny Rod stopped. The tallest mountain of Vorago had a big ass crater on the top of it, and as they stepped out of the broom, they soon realized they’d have to do some climbing to get to see the world below.

“Good thing no meteorite shower now, huh?” Amanda said. Hannah nodded, and as the four of them looked at each other, what they were going to do became obvious. Diana and Akko walked in one direction, chatting softly. Amanda and Hannah walked in the opposite one. It was pretty clear all of them wanted to kind of spend the time alone. Alone together. Was that a thing?

Amanda climbed out of the crater with ease. Hannah, on her part, found it harder. The rock wasn’t slippery, but she did find the rubble in the ground to be annoying. “Diana says the air this high up should be as pure as Earth’s,” she said as she reached the edge of the crater and climbed over it.

“Doesn’t matter, since I’m out of breath,” Amanda whispered.

And it made sense. The world they were looking down on was, quite simply, stunning. A shattered planet, formed of rock plateaus that had been incessantly barraged by rocks from space. There was no sun above, but instead a small line of four moons in close proximity seemed to chase each other across the sky, all of them a different size. The place seemed so empty, yet so full at the same time. It made Hannah feel kind of melancholic as she sat down next to her girlfriend and they looked at it.

Amanda hesitantly put a hand around Hannah’s waist, pulling her close. They had chosen not to wear g-suits, and Amanda was wearing the same jacket she’d worn back on The Island. Hannah was tempted to tuck herself in it again, but this place wasn’t really as cold as it had been back there. Plus, the heat she was feeling right now was more than enough to withstand it.

They looked down, in silence. A comfortable silence, unlike most of the ones they’d shared in the past. Hannah let her head rest on Amanda’s shoulder, and even if a misstep could send her tumbling down the side of the mountain, she felt safe and protected. Amanda looked at the horizon with hunger. Was she imagining herself in flight, maybe?

“We’re leaving this cursed planet tomorrow,” Amanda said, finally breaking the silence.

Hannah nodded. “Well, I wouldn’t say it was too bad,” she said. “Though the results of the race aren’t up yet. They’ll be done in a couple hours, probably.”

“We do know that we came up on top, though,” Amanda said with a smirk. That much was true. Due to the way the scoring worked, the humans had gotten nineteen points. While the daemons could have gotten that too, if they came in fourth place, the armors had beaten them to it, leaving them with only eighteen points. Which meant, humanity was one point up from them. “And I suppose this really wasn’t _that_ bad,” she said.

Hannah’s mind flashed to the pool. She gently rested her hand on Amanda’s thigh, which earned her a hitched breath of surprise. She smiled. “For being so overly sexual, you sure seem to be surprised whenever I do something like this,” Hannah said.

“Shut up,” Amanda said. “It’s just the effect you have on me, I guess.” She hugged a little more tightly, and Hannah decided it was as good a moment as any to do what she wanted. She rose, to Amanda’s surprise, but then dropped down between her legs. Amanda tended to sit with her legs open. Probably due to not wearing many dresses. Actually, she probably opened her legs even when wearing them.

Pushing the hot thought out of her head, she put the jacket around her and then accepted Amanda’s hug wholeheartedly. She sighed, feeling extremely relaxed as Amanda rested her head on her shoulder.

“I think this is the most comfortable way of sitting I’ve ever experienced,” Hannah said, taking Amanda’s hands into her own. While not too cold, the warmth she was now getting definitely felt nice.

Amanda chuckled. “Oh boy, just wait until we’re naked,” she said.

Hannah blushed. Though not as hard as she once would have. “I think that if we’re sitting like this while naked then we’re not really doing what we’re meant to be doing,” she tried to sound playful. It must have had an effect, because Amanda kissed her cheek. Now that got a real blush out of her, for some reason.

“I love it when you try to sound like that. It’s cute. You’re cute,” Amanda said, squeezing her.

And then, Hannah’s mind went back to her doubts. Should she address them? She bit her lip. A party girl with lots of experience meets random virgin with silly ideals. They had their banter, and Hannah did feel great about their relationship. But… could she really tell Amanda of all these things? Would Amanda see her as stupid?

“You look worried,” Amanda said. “I’m not being too clingy, am I?”

Hannah looked back, surprised. “Clingy? I was the one to sit here.”

Amanda pressed her lips. “I know. I just… I’m just feeling strange,” she said. “I’m really sorry for what I did, back then. It must have seemed like I ran away or that I wasn’t paying attention to you,” she spoke with an unusual vulnerability.

Hannah felt her heart sink a little at this. Amanda was speaking up her issues. Why shouldn’t she?

“It didn’t feel that way at all,” Hannah said. She turned her head and bent it back to place a kiss on Amanda. “You basically saved us and allowed us to partake in the race. You’re great.”

Amanda relaxed, that much Hannah could feel, and they shared another little kiss. “I love you,” Amanda whispered again. Hannah simply kissed her, and for a second, she completely forgot about her worries.

But when they stopped, those came back. “Ama,” Hannah still wasn’t used to the nickname, but she tried to use it anyways. Amanda’s face seemed to get hotter with its use. “Is it wrong to be jealous?”

Amanda paused. “It depends, I guess,” she said. “Being too jealous kind of denotes mistrust. But everyone gets a little possessive about their things, and their loved ones. It’s ok to feel some level of it. I won’t lie, I was a little jealous of Barbara when she took you out for a walk today.”

Hannah smiled, finding the concept amusing. “I’m worried,” she finally confessed. “I’m worried that if you go to parties, or stuff like that, you’ll realize how boring I actually am and move on.”

“This again?” Amanda said. “Don’t…”

“Don’t overthink it, I know” Hannah finished. “But… I can’t help it. I’ve never been in a relationship.”

Amanda sighed. “Well, I guess I also worry about stupid stuff. Like, when is it right to be forward, or me completely failing to read the mood when you’re around. This stuff is new to me too. I guess I’m just a little better at dealing with it because I’m way more mature.”

Hannah lightly nudged Amanda with her elbow. “Who’s more mature than me? You? Yeah, sure,” she said, feeling slightly offended.

“But I do get it,” Amanda continued. “I have told you about how carefree I am with love and sex and stuff. But it’s different, when I’m with you,” she explained. “When you touch me I feel like I’ve never felt before. When I look at you I get more wet than I’ve gotten in entire nights. Hell, I’m daydreaming about you even when you’re not next to me. I’ve _never_ done that before.”

“So you daydream about me, huh,” Hannah said. Slowly, Amanda was lifting the weight that she had placed by herself in her chest, and it was nice. The world below her seemed to brighten up a little. Well, as much as a desolate wasteland of rock could brighten up.

“A lot,” Amanda whispered. And then, to Hannah’s surprise, she blew softly in her ear. That sent shivers down her entire body, and those seemed to all meet in a single place on her lower half. She used her tongue to wet her lips, and suddenly became very aware of how easily Amanda could just slip a hand under her shirt and explore her. She could imagine a hand going down into her pants and panties and…

“You’re killing me,” she managed to say even through the haze that had suddenly placed itself on top of her senses.

Amanda chuckled. “Now you know how I’ve been feeling for a while now,” she said. Hannah nodded.

“Hey, Amanda?” she whispered.

“Yeah?” Amanda placed another kiss on her cheek.

“When we go back, I say we go to the _Dragon.”_

“Why?”

Hannah had to pause as she felt another slow kiss, this one on her neck. “Because I don’t want to keep everyone else awake at the Inn.”

This time, Amanda didn’t laugh.

 

Diana and Akko sat on the edge of the crater, looking down at a ruptured world. One they’d likely never forget.

Akko stole glances at Diana. Her beautiful girlfriend. Because they were girlfriends now, right? They hadn’t said it out loud but come on it wasn’t really hard to figure out. No-one had chosen to wear g-suits for this occasion, though Diana had maybe gone with too light clothing. Akko noticed her hugging herself. She put one hand around her.

“Want my hoodie?” She offered.

“I don’t want you catching a cold, thank you,” Diana said, shaking her head.

Akko frowned. At that moment, a breeze came. It made Diana’s hair wave, and she shivered. “And it’s ok if _you_ get sick?”

Diana smiled. “I suppose you have a point,” she said. She leaned closer to Akko. “I don’t suppose you brought a heating potion, did you?”

Akko shook her head. “I could ask Sucy to make one, probably, but she’ll end up adding some other stuff and I’ll be blind for a few hours or something. Plus, I don’t have a medical wand with me. Or a normal one, for that matter.”

Diana chuckled. She put her arms around Akko, tucking one of them in her hoodie’s pocket. Akko put the hand she didn’t have around Diana in the same pocket, taking the hand in there. “It feels nice,” Akko said, closing her eyes and enjoying Diana’s warmth. “To be able to be with you without holdbacks.”

There was a low humming. “I shouldn’t have been such an idiot,” Diana said. “Maybe we could have figured this thing out together, if I’d been more open.”

Akko squeezed Diana’s hand inside her pocket. “It’s ok, Diana. I know you’ve had it rough. All’s well that ends well, am I right?”

Diana snuggled up, letting out a drawn out sigh. “Why didn’t you tell me what you did for me on Pan?”

The question took Akko by surprise. “Because it doesn’t matter. I just went and picked you up because I was worried.”

“We were fighting at that time, weren’t we?” Diana said.

“So?”

“We were also fighting – and much more heavily – when you saved me from falling down into the chasm,” Diana had closed her eyes. She looked so beautiful that Akko blushed a little. How could this… this _goddess_ be in love with her?

“It doesn’t matter if we were fighting or not. I could have hated you and I would have still saved you,” Akko said. “Because I know you’re a good person.”

Diana sat quietly for a while, and Akko started paying attention to her soft breathing. It felt hypnotic, and for a second, it made her wonder if maybe Diana had fallen asleep. “You know, I think I see why the Shiny Rod considers _you_ the pilot.”

“Pfft, it’s just because I found it at random. You could have picked it up and it would be the same.”

Diana seemed to want to object, but instead, she just smiled. “I’m glad I didn’t found it. If I had, we wouldn’t have gotten the chance to go on this journey together,” she looked up, meeting Akko’s eyes. “I don’t care if we win or lose, at this point. I think I’ve already gotten the best gift I could have asked for.”

Akko understood the implication. It felt like a good moment for a kiss, so she leaned down and kissed Diana. Warmth spread through her face and body. They soon separated, leaving Akko with the lingering feeling that she was going to have to get so much more of those lips before ever being satisfied.

Assuming she could _ever_ be, which right now wasn’t probably the case.

“Still no word from Daryl about The Pony?” Akko asked.

Diana smiled. “She’s probably panicking right now, trying to figure out where it is. Without it she has basically nothing of actual value, save for the land itself,” she sounded oddly satisfied. “Is it wrong, that I feel good thinking my aunt may be having a bad time?”

Akko was having a little trouble focusing, since Diana had started delicately tracing circles against the small of her back. Her hand had sneaked in between the hoodie and shirt, and the touch was severely hampering Akko’s ability to form coherent thoughts.

“She’s an ass,” she managed to say. “Next time she may think twice before trying to sell stuff that isn’t hers. I hope her party was a failure and she became the laughing stock of everyone there.”

Diana chuckled. “Knowing her, she probably managed to convince everyone that the theft was a tragic incident, and asked for donations to get her past the rough times.”

Grimacing, Akko sighed. “I hope I never have to see her again.”

“Trust me, I wish so too,” Diana agreed.

And, as they looked down on the planet, Akko couldn’t help but smile. At least everything was going relatively fine. She didn’t dare wish for too much, but she did ask for one thing of the universe.

_Please, never let Diana go through something like this again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of batch... Or is it?  
> Technically, it is. The next chapter is more of an extra, a .5 chapter if I were actually giving this shit numbers. As you may guess, it's NSFW, but it's irrelevant to the plot.  
> In any case, hope you enjoyed! Leave your comments!  
> See you next batch!


	112. Chapter 112

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you didn't read last chapter's end notes: This chapter is NSFW. If you don't feel comfortable with that feel free to skip it, as it is _not_ important to the plot.

After being dropped in the _Dragon_ by Akko, Hannah and Amanda walked down the corridors with an electric silence between them. What they were going to do was clear in Hannah’s mind, and maybe for the first time, she didn’t feel embarrassed about it.

Because, she realized, she was horny. The heat in her entire body, and particularly between her legs, was something she was going to have to grow accustomed to with such a hot, beautiful and absolutely equally horny girlfriend. They walked side by side, both of them going straight to the rooms that had been theirs during the previous week. Whether they were still theirs or not was but a technicality. They probably wouldn’t be occupied, so it didn’t matter. They just needed a place, a private place.

Each step seemed to be too slow for Hannah. Each breath seemed too shallow, and her heart didn’t seem to be pumping enough blood to her head. Looking at Amanda, their eyes met. There was a hunger in those emeralds. A hunger like one Hannah had only seen once, back at the pond.

So it was that, when they reached their old set of rooms, they walked into the first one and jumped over each other ravenously. The door didn’t even finish closing and Hannah already found herself against the wall of the short corridor leading to the room proper, Amanda’s lips upon hers and taking away all the bits of rationality that were left in her brain.

The kiss was hot. God, Amanda had experience with this, and it showed. Like with dancing, she was able to direct Hannah in the most wondrous of ways, her tongue slipping inside Hannah’s mouth and Hannah not hesitating to meet it. The way Amanda moved, the way she tasted, the way she sometimes nagged at one of Hannah’s lips or sucked, the way she sometimes swiped the tongue across her lips and the feeling of a couple of hands on the sides of her face, pulling them as closely together as they could. It all made Hannah more and more aroused, in a way she’d never been before. She was already getting wet, and damn if it didn’t feel good.

Amanda let go of her face, never stopping the kiss. She got rid of her jacket and undid her belt, also throwing off her pants. She then grabbed Hannah’s waist and slowly guided her. She punched the wall with more strength than needed for the bed to come out, and she finally stopped their kiss, allowing Hannah to catch breath as she pulled her shirt over her head, revealing underneath a strapless bra and a pair of panties.

“This is in the way,” she mumbled as she took Hannah’s shirt and took it off, and her eyes lingered on Hannah’s small breasts. It didn’t last long, though, because she soon was pushing Hannah down on the bed with another kiss, and she firmly put her now bare leg between Hannah’s, applying a soft but overpowering pressure there.

Her mouth then moved away from her face. Hannah could barely think as her hands explored Amanda’s bare back. Amanda started placing kisses on her chin, then the underside of her jaw, then her neck. She sucked and licked sending shivers through Hannah’s body, earning a few moans, and she noticed she had been slowly rocking her hips against Amanda’s leg, trying to take care of the newfound throb she felt down there. She wished she was naked. Why had she chosen to wear pants? A skirt would have been so much better.

She couldn’t help but feel as Amanda’s hand slowly crawled up her side, her thumbs going over her belly, and they came just short of her breasts. She applied some more pressure between the legs, and Hannah whimpered. The sound seemed to cause a whole new effect on the redhead, who instantly pulled up her bra and with a careful hand pressed one of her boobs. She pushed, squeezed and then she started to play with her nipples, and Hannah was starting to get overwhelmed. When Amanda started to trace circles in her areola, sometimes flickering her thumb across it to stimulate the nipple, Hannah couldn’t help the moans and groans that had started coming out of her mouth.

Amanda’s face moved down again, and she placed her mouth around her other breast and sucked. Not too strongly, but the slightly rough feeling of the teeth, and the way the tongue seemed to mimic the movements of the thumb in the other breast made Hannah flash white. Was _this_ what she had been missing on, all of these years? God, it was horrible. Horrible but perfect. She was suffering, but in a good way. “Fuck,” she whispered.

Amanda let the hand playing with her breast slid down from it. She seemed to leave trails of fire across the surface of her belly as she slid them down. Hannah’s body was shaking, and her hands had taken to cling to Amanda’s head like if her life depended on it. Because, at the moment, it felt like it did. Her hips kept moving, searching for that release that no matter how much she tried it just didn’t seem to come.

Amanda’s hand made a painfully slow job of the button of her jeans, and then the zipper started going down. The throbbing and tingling down there worsening by the second. Had the wetness penetrated to her pants? It was likely, but she couldn’t care.

Then Amanda slid her hand in her pants, touching Hannah’s crotch across the thin cotton fabric of her panties. Even that was enough to elicit another moan, a loud one, followed by a hitched breath when, for only an instant, her finger ran atop her clitoris. The touching of that spot sent Hannah down a whole new world of overwhelming, and she believed she was going to pass out. “Ama,” she said in a pleading voice, but it didn’t seem to get the message across.

Amanda continued applying pressure and massaging, all through the cloth, and when Hannah thought she wouldn’t be able to take it anymore, Amanda slid a finger under her panties and ran a finger through the entire length of her vestibule, ending with the lightest of touches on her clitoris.

Hannah felt her muscles contracting. Her back arched as she pulled Amanda closer, her legs trapping the redhead as a long whimper left her lungs, leaving her breathless, and her insides clenched with strength she hadn’t thought possible of being down there. Even through that, Amanda kept sucking on her breast, and it drew out the sweet release for a blissful extra seconds of blank-mindedness, until suddenly every single muscle in Hannah’s body relaxed at once, and she was left panting.

Amanda then dropped next to Hannah, still wearing her bra and panties. Hannah couldn’t speak. She could barely think. What had just happened? Her legs were shaking. Her heart was going at a thousand beats per minute, and her mind seemed to be nothing but a blank slate that could only try to process what was going on around her. She didn’t even remember what her name was.

“I think I’m gonna have to do the laundry,” was the first thing she could say as she tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

Amanda smiled. “Damn right. I could feel your wetness even through the pants. You really wanted this, didn’t you,” she said with a smile.

Hannah couldn’t do anything but nod. She laid there, Amanda now slowly rubbing her arm as if to comfort her. Slowly, Hannah started to regain her wit. “What about you?” She managed to ask. “Don’t you want this, too?”

Amanda smiled. “Of course I do, but maybe gain some experience before trying to do me,” she winked.

Hannah frowned. “I’m not ok with this,” she said, angry. “I want to do you too.”

Seeming to find the idea amusing, Amanda took a deep breath. “Ok then, let’s do this: Take off your pants,” she said. Hannah complied, noticing the clear humidity in the crotch. She hadn’t brought a change of clothes with her. Now that would be a pain.

Amanda stood for a second, and she got rid of her panties. Hannah was about to rise when Amanda pushed her back, and she proceeded to straddle one of her legs. “Now lift your knee,” she said. Hannah did. “A little lower,” Amanda said. Hannah complied. She couldn’t help but look at the orange, thin carpet covering Amanda’s lower lips. And then, Amanda moved down. She put her arms on both sides of Hannah and proceeded to place her crotch against her leg. It was warm, and slick, and it made Hannah warm and slick too. Then she started rubbing herself on it, slowly. Hannah watched, entranced, as Amanda closed her eyes for focus. She started silently, but slowly, her breathing became heavier and her voice started letting out.

Hannah did the only thing she kind of knew how to do, and she pulled down the strapless bra. A couple of breasts started dangling before her, and with extreme curiosity she picked one and started softly squeezing and pressing. When she first heard Amanda moan, she almost didn’t believe it. The redhead picked up her pace, and she had at this point lubricated half of Hannah’s thigh with her juices. The rubbing became rougher and stronger, the thrusting faster. Hannah wasn’t sure of what she was doing with the breast, but whatever it was it did seemt o help, because when she pressed on the nipple, Amanda seemed to be left without breaths in between moans.

And suddenly, she became still, though she was still pushing heavily against Hannah’s knee. Hannah felt the movement and contraction of Amanda’s outer lips as she slowly came to orgasm, and a soft, long moan left her mouth. When she was done, she dropped next to Hannah once again. This time, however, a big satisfied grin took over her face. “I had never before come so quickly with only that,” she confessed. “Touching you caused a strange reaction in me,” she said. “I swear I could reach orgasm by only touching you.”

Hannah felt flattered, and she couldn’t help but check without restrains the body before her, now covered only across the belly with the strapless bra. Toned muscle all around, and abs had definitely begun showing.

“You can let go of my tit,” Amanda said. Hannah hadn’t even realized it was still in her hand. She gave it one final squeeze for good measure, which made Amanda close her eyes and press her lips for a second. What a cute reaction. Hannah could totally get used to it.

However, while she wanted to say something funny, she realized she had begun feeling that heat between her legs again. “I want more,” she said in a low voice. Amanda paused, but she seemed to understand. After a second, she pushed herself on top of Hannah again – it seemed like that was going to be a theme tonight – and then planted a kiss on her midriff. She went down, each kiss augmenting what Hannah had begun feeling, and she was soon throbbing again. When she reached the waistband of her panties, she paused her kiss there for a second as her hands came down Hannah’s sides and she slowly pulled them off. She then placed kisses on the insides of her thighs, the teasing making Hannah want to close her legs but leave them open at the same time. And then, with hands keeping a tight grasp on her legs, Amanda ran her tongue across her center, then along it, and then she slid the muscle inside her vestibule and made Hannah start moaning and grasping for air all over again. Hannah was now keeping a tight hold of the sheets, as she felt her mind start to slip away again.

And then it was that Amanda slipped inside her, and for real.

It only took a couple of swipes around her vaginal entrance. The sensation was so new, so stimulating, that Hannah’s mind flashed to white and a shiver was sent down her spine, her entire body stilling in contractions as she reached the second climax of her life. Amanda remained down there, as if wanting to taste her more, but as soon as Hannah relaxed again, she slowly went up and wiped her mouth.

Hannah was panting, but this time it was a little easier to recover. “Is it always like this or are you just this good?”

“I believe I had already told you, I can make you orgasm more times in a month than any man will ever be able to in his entire life,” Amanda said, obviously taking pride on what she had just done.

Hannah looked at her and, when Amanda laid down again, she pulled her into a kiss. “Maybe I’m just getting into the heat of the moment, but I believe you.”

Amanda chuckled. “You know, not everyone is willing to kiss after I just licked you all down there.”

Hannah paused. It was kind of gross. She also didn’t care, so she kissed Amanda again. A slow, passionate kiss. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Amanda said. She was lying, Hannah could tell. But, well, she was a little too afraid of trying to do anything down there to actually push her.

“Fuck,” Hannah said as she laid on her back again. “I’m never going to forget this, am I?”

A hand was soon stroking her hair with a caring softness, and when she looked to the side, the most heartwarming smile she had ever seen was plastered in Amanda’s face. “I hope you never do,” she confessed, and Hannah felt her the need to kiss her again.

So she did.

And she hugged Amanda, the sensation of their naked breasts pressing against each other an entire world of its own.

But she was tired, now. Like, really tired. And, in between loving kisses and soft caresses, she slowly gave in to the world of dreams, slipping into unconsciousness. She felt safe and warm, tucked in the redhead’s arms as she was, and maybe for the first time ever, she slept so soundly that she didn’t even have dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!


	113. Chapter 113

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New batch!  
> A short one, though. It will be just 4 chapters long. You _will_ notice a change of pace from now on, as we have technically reached the final act of the story. I hope to have this ready before november, though that's kind of my final deadline. Hopefully I'll be done sooner.  
> In any case, don't forget to comment!

As the _Dragon_ took off into space, the Inter-Planetary Race had become an emptier competition. With the ‘mysterious’ disappearance of the appali pilots, and with the plants and cyborgs disqualified for not finishing the three-day race, only seven teams remained in the competition.

 _Croix warned me that things are gonna get dangerous,_ Ursula thought, tapping her foot as she watched the massive world-hopper go up into space through the massive glass panels in the first deck. Her mind kept going round and round with the concept, and it became clear to her that if things really were going to become that bad, the first thing she needed to do was make sure Akko and Diana got the most out of their training. And that meant, maybe, giving away some secrets.

 

Croix watched as her roombas re-built the Noir Rod with an annoyed look.

Her heart seemed to be on her throat. The breaking of the ship had actually allowed her to make some modifications, which meant that things would go better this way. It kind of reminded her of her old prototypes of the Noir Rod and how they sometimes would teleport randomly across space and she’d never see them again. But thinking about how Chariot would react once things were said and done was something she could barely handle. By the end of this race, it was very likely an inter-planetary war would start.

Everyone would be benefited from it in the long run, however. And that’s what Croix aimed for. Things would be lost, but more important things would be _gained._ She had seen how humanity progressed in the future. She knew it. And she didn’t want it to go that way.

She was hell-bent on her goal. Sometimes, her intensity even surprised _herself._ But that’s how things were. If she had to sacrifice the newfound relationship she had with Chariot to do it, so be it. The Noir Rod was so close, so damn close to being able to replicate the Shiny Rod’s most important feature. All she needed was that extra push.

But what if Akko managed to unlock the true power of the Rod before her?

Well, she could still use that. She’d wait and see how the next race went. Something inside her told her not everyone would make it out of the next two races unscathed. The Noir and Shiny Rods, though, would probably be just fine.

After all, having near-infinite energy was quite the perk.

 

“Why are the Unicorn and the Shiny Rod connected with the hose again?” Diana asked with a raised eyebrow, looking at Ursula, Constanze and Akko.

Ursula took a deep breath. “This trip will only last three days,” Ursula said. “We’ll make the most of it,” she looked dead serious. Diana found it kind of ominous, but she wasn’t against it. “Your practice will be harsher and more intense. No more taking turns. We’ve been testing it, the Shiny Rod will be able to simulate two races at the same time with the connection to the Unicorn. Diana, you’re going back to normal controls. Yes, hand ones. As one might expect, the Shiny Rod can do practically anything, including restructuring the Unicorn so that you may go to a wayof piloting that will let you get the most of your abilities,” Ursula spoke fast, as if she wanted to get it out of her system. “Training in the gym will now shift between one and two hours between days. I want you to focus, and more importantly, I want to prepare you for the second half of this hellish race,” she met each of the girl’s eyes, and when she met Diana’s, it sent a shiver down her spine. “Now get in there,” she pointed at the brooms.

“Do we know what planet we’re going to?” Diana asked as she moved.

“Not yet. I want us all to take it in together,” Ursula said. Well that was a waste of time, but Diana decided not to point it out. Ursula probably had her reasons.

Diana walked into the Unicorn’s cockpit only to find it changed. The helmet was gone, replaced by more common joysticks. The control panels were also slightly changed, probably to make up for the lack of brain-to-system thinking. Diana still nodded. The Unicorn not doing things exactly as she wanted had also been a great source of frustration. While her pride was slightly hurt, she decided this was for the best.

She settled down and waited for everyone to do the same. She stretched her fingers across the joysticks, which were very high-end, and then she relaxed her shoulders. It was fine. She was going to be fine. With these controls she could just go back to being the great pilot she was before the accident.

Or, maybe she could just fail miserably, throw in the next race and go back to earth to have fun with Akko without having to worry about all this race stuff.

She smiled at the idea. But then, she took a deep breath and focused. She still planned on doing her best. And she would.

“Alcor, tell us our next destination,” Akko finally said. Diana was a little surprised when the 3D map of the _Dragon_ appeared in front of her. As usual, it moved across space and time until it zeroed-in in a planet Diana had some trouble recognizing.

“Wait,” she said when she finally did. “This can’t be right.”

Ursula didn’t say anything. “Hielo,” Akko read. “Ice in spanish? I assume it’ll be a cold planet.”

Diana paused. “But it can’t be. It’s a desolate planet  without a star, a frozen hell of nothing,” she recalled what the book she’d read about it called it. “Races happen inside Planetary-Alliance planets, always.”

“Well,” Ursula said, not sounding half as surprised as she should, “this race has really been special. Guess it’s just another one of its quirks.”

“A quirk?” Diana sounded more offended than she wanted. “Hielo exists in a perpetual temperature of thirty degrees Kelvin!” she said. “It’s barely got an atmosphere and not even our g-suits would be able to withstand _that_ level of cold. We wouldn’t be able to step outside without our brooms!”

Luckily, their brooms could technically be used in the emptiness of space, though they wouldn’t be too effective. This meant they could withstand the cold temperatures, assuming they weren’t stupid enough to open their cockpits at any point while on the planet. “If something goes wrong we’re dead, basically,” Amanda summarized.

“Maybe we should have dropped out of the race after all. I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like,” Hannah added.

“Akko, start the simulation,” Ursula ordered, ignoring everything else.

And Akko did. As the simulation was created, she read some of the curiosities in the Shiny Rod had given her. “It’s ten times as large as Earth, and its gravitational pull is about four times as strong. So not only would it be impossible to survive because of the cold and lack of breathing, but also because of the gravity,” she said. “Oh, it has twenty moons, two of which used to be parts of it, apparently.”

Diana nodded. She knew all of that. Why did she knew that, though? She had read about most planets explored by humanity, because she was interested in them, but she should have only focused on the inhabited ones, in retrospect. Sure, there was a massive world of nothing but ice out there, but that was about everything one needed to really know about it.

Who knew she’d get to visit it, one day?

And the simulation was done generating.

In front of Diana stood a world of darkness.

“I can’t see shit,” Hannah was the first one to speak.

Diana was a little surprised herself. She had imagined a white landscape of nothing. But, of course, this planet had no star. It was but a glorified giant asteroid drifting through space. The sky above twinkled with innumerable stars, but starlight wasn’t enough to see by. The Shiny Rod and the Unicorn both turned on their lights, and the world ahead now showed a colorless frozen ground.

“This is entirely unprecedented,” Ursula said, “but that doesn’t mean this will be any different than other races,” she explained. “We’ll practice with standard rules but always be aware that they seem to be going wilder by the race. Don’t get too comfortable with how things are going.”

Diana nodded. There really was nothing here but ice and cold. Since the surface of the planet was frozen liquid, it didn’t even have much variety in the terrain. In a way, this was the simplest of planets. A landscape of nothing. Like the infinite plains of Appal, this would make for a very barebones kind of race. Unless some really strange rule set applied.

Six other ships appeared lined up next to Diana. Only six. It would have been relaxing, if not for the fact that the least pilots the more chances she had to being focused on. Humans and Daemons were first in the leaderboards, and unless something changed wildly, there was no going back. This race was to be decided between the two of them.

That put a big neon red and white target on their backs.

“Good luck, Diana,” Akko said through the communicator.

Diana smiled, and the nervousness of going back to piloting like normal seemed to melt away. “Thanks, Akko. Do your best.”

“Will do,” Akko said.

And then the big three appeared in front of them. Two.

One.

The race started, and Diana fell into her old habits. Controlling the Unicorn manually was a strange experience, but nothing she wouldn’t grow used to after a few hours. It was really responsive, but most of all, Diana felt as if she instinctively understood the ship and its quirks. The way moving to the sides was more dangerous than going up and down due to her horn. The way the ship would autocorrect its speed in a heartbeat on a curve – though there weren’t any of those here.

She realized this was because she had, after all, grown used to practicing with her mind. She had learnt to understand the ship by being connected to it.

Slowly, her confidence grew. The first minute of the race went without much incident. The Blood Sailor did look kind of different, now that she noticed. It no longer had that white streak across its side, and the cockpit seemed to have been moved closer to the back. The blades at the side, too, were longer and thinner, now looking more like long swords rather than short ones. The ship in general looked a little more though, too. Bulkier wasn’t the right word, though Diana wouldn’t have known how to describe it.

Suddenly, the lights went out.

Diana feared a failure in the simulation, but she still had the sensation of flight. What had just happened? It was as if…

“Shapeshifter attack!” Hannah suddenly shouted. “Sorry Diana, those fuckers are invisible here!”

Diana nodded. The other races had light sources to see by, which let her see where they were, and most of their attacks had some kind of light to them – Inferno glowed, same for the electricity of the medusa. The giant spheres of the armors were incrusted with tiny little specks of luminescent mold, probably because the armor also needed to know where those were at all times. Reptile weapons usually brightened when shot. The octopuses seemed to be going full on defensive this time, but their weapons also used firepower so one could see when they shot – but the shapeshifter just dropped a little piece of itself and bam, done. The ship itself didn’t even have lights. If it stayed behind them all, it was that, invisible.

Luckily, no-one bumped into the Unicorn before Diana was rid of the smoke and blindness, but she had fallen behind due to worry. She should grow past that, in this planet. There was no obstacles here. She wouldn’t crash.

“Damage report says we’re fine,” Hannah said. Even if they were useful for their smoke, the attacks of the shapeshifters were still not to be taken lightly. Those little explosions, in the right spots, could take apart a broom.

Diana ended up behind the daemons. Everyone kind of flew in a line, going back and forth as attacks came and went. The Blood Sailor’s abilities here would be mostly useless. No-one would risk getting ahead of them, and even if they dropped that Inferno screen it would be easy enough to go around it.

The darkness around them made Diana nervous. Would the Shapeshifter be somewhere in it…?

Right on cue, the reptilian ship suddenly seemed to trip on something mid-air, and a dark cloud surrounded it. Diana swallowed. Yes, this was the shapeshifter’s playing ground right now. They could stay behind and try to take everyone out one by one while hiding in the dark, then do a final burst of speed near the end, get ahead of everyone and take first place. That’s what Diana would have done, at least.

Another explosion of smoke shook the Blood Sailor. Diana had to throw the Unicorn to the side to avoid it, and she sighed. “Hannah, what are you waiting for?” she asked, mildly annoyed.

“I’m trying to figure out why the fuck we don’t have lights on our weapons, thank you,” Hannah said with annoyance of her own. “Seriously, why don’t we? We have to ask Constanze to add them if we want to have a chance against the shapeshifters.”

Diana paused. She was right. Why hadn’t that occurred to her?

She let go of the joysticks. “Akko, pause my simulation please.”

The simulation stopped. “You heard that, right, coach Ursula?” Diana asked after a few seconds.

“I did,” Ursula said. “I’ll tell Constanze to do it when this training session is over,” she sounded like she meant business. Whatever was going on with this thing, Ursula seemed to have come to an understanding of something the rest of them were missing.

Akko quickly asked Alcor to include that into their guns. Then, the simulation restarted.

This time, Diana could pilot comfortably. Hannah kept a watch around them, and while the shapeshifter still tried to get away from the lights – making the entire Unicorn into a lamp would have been better, but that wouldn’t really be realistic, now would it – it was far easier to keep track of where he was. Hannah sometimes gave it warning shots.

Diana, on her part, was slowly coming to terms with the new way of handling the Unicorn. Attacks came to her from right and left. Lightning from the medusa, blasts from the daemons. Smoke bombs from the shapeshifter still came too, of course. But as she flew, Diana managed to avoid most of them with relative ease. Was she going crazy, or did the world seem to go slower to her? Like what had happened when they unlocked the command of the Shiny Rod down in that chasm, but…

She didn’t have much more time to think, as she noticed the Blood Sailor, now to her right, start to glow. What was it going to do? The finish line was still about a minute away, and with nitro Diana would be able to close the distance even if the daemons did that attack-nitro-thing they had already done a couple times.

But it didn’t do anything. It stayed like that, glowing, and then it stopped.

The simulation glitched for a split second.

Diana was surprised by the sudden flash of white and green that took over the screen, so she almost instinctively tried to dodge a non-existent attack. She went right and inadvertently aimed the horn of the Unicorn at the blood sailor.

There was no time to dodge. The daemons would have to do it… but they didn’t. Flying steady, Diana prepared for impact. She was fairly certain she could come winning out of this exchange, but only if-

She went right through the black ship. Or, more accurately, the second she touched it, the Blood Sailor seemed to disappear. It was there, then suddenly it wasn’t, then suddenly it was. Teleportation? No, Akko had done something similar but it wouldn’t have allowed an entire ship to pass through that split second. The ship itself hadn’t even changed relative positions. No, it had been an automatic defense of some kind.

“What just happened?” Hannah asked, sounding as confused as Diana felt.

Diana ended up thinking about that a little too much, and by the end of the race, she finished in third place behind the daemons and the shapeshifter.

“I need to watch the recordings of that,” Diana said.

“Right now?” Ursula asked. She hadn’t seen what Diana had, obviously, since she was in the Shiny Rod.

“Something strange happened,” Diana said.

“Alcor, show us a recording of Diana’s last simulated race,” Akko said without hesitation. Diana would have been a little more warmed by that if she weren’t trying to piece out what was going on.

“Add light to it,” Diana said. Akko did as so, and suddenly Diana was looking at a completely different race, one happening in a white – if dirty looking – landscape of nothing. She ignored all of her little mistakes as she grew used to the controls and focused on that moment.

From the eagle view they were getting, it looked like Diana had just gone through the Blood Sailor. Or maybe under it.

“Wait, what was that?” Akko asked, noticing it too. The simulation rewinded and they looked at it from a different angle. The other ships didn’t matter right now – though Diana noticed with a curious glance that a smoke bomb had hit the medusa, yet it didn’t seem to care at all – so they zoomed in on the Blood Sailor.

From this angle, it was clear that Diana had quite literally just phased through the Blood Sailor, as if it was nothing but a hologram.

“Hey, that again! I knew I wasn’t crazy!” Akko suddenly cried out. Everyone paused, and Diana suspected Ursula was giving her a confused stare, because Akko sounded a little less enthusiastic the next time she spoke. “Oh, uhm, I mean, back in The Island, when I used that massive attack, I swear I saw some of those laser-beams of magic phase through the Noir Rod. It only lasted like a second, though. It’s weird.”

Diana started considering the possibilities. “Do we have a confirmation that the Noir Rod can teleport?” she asked.

“No,” Ursula said. “But I suspect it can. Why we have never seen it do it, though, is a mystery to me.”

“But that’s not how teleporting works,” Akko said. “The Unicorn just went right through. If it had been teleported, the…”

“Wait,” Hannah stopped her. “When we went through, for a second, it looked like the Blood Sailor had disappeared. But that’s not at all how it looks in the simulation. It just looks like if the ship was just an illusion.”

“Right,” Diana nodded for no-one to see. “It’s a matter of perspective, I guess,” she said.

“So you didn’t see the inside of the ship, it just seemed to disappear when you touched it?” Ursula was trying to catch up. “It might have been a fail in the simulation,” she said, though she was clearly not convinced.

“I did see something strange when the Blood Sailor activated its ability,” Diana said. “Like, for a moment, everything flashed white.”

Ursula remained silent. Whatever she was thinking she kept to herself. “Girls, you keep practicing. I’m going to go check the recordings of the last race, see if this is something we should actually worry about or not. Akko, you’re growing cocky, you’re not allowed to transform the Shiny Rod during practice. I’ll see you later,” and with that, Diana heard the cockpit opening through the communicator.

Diana took a deep breath. “Ok, she’s right. We’ll worry about it later,” Diana’s body seemed to scream at the idea of not pursuing this mystery further, but she had no time for it. She’d let Ursula do it. “Akko, would you do me the favor of restarting my simulation?”

“Any day, Miss Diana,” Akko said in a cartoonish butler’s voice. Diana smiled as the next simulation started. She’d ask Akko to go on a date later that day. They had a lot of lost time to make up for.

 

Ursula tapped her foot as she watched the recordings. She had been at it for an hour, but even at four times the speed, it wasn’t nearly enough. It’d take a while for her to get through it all, and if she was being honest with herself, she believed she already knew the answer.

A scream piercing her ears. A hasty turn of the wrist. A flash of white. Knowledge.

She closed her eyes at the memory. If there was one person in this world with the ability to do what she’d just seen in that simulation, it was Croix. Should she ask her? She doubted she’d get any answers. And, as she thought about it, her heart seemed to grow nervous too, because it fastened.

After her initial bursts of anger and feelings of betrayal, Ursula had found that Croix hadn’t changed that much over the years. She was still smart, good looking and ambitious. She had never shared what she’d seen that day in the Shiny Rod, but Ursula had gotten a glimpse at it. Croix had always defended her actions as being the correct ones, even if they were wrong in the small scale.

But, adding a useful things to a ship wasn’t wrong in any way, if one wanted to win a race.

 _Depending on what the prize is,_ she thought involuntarily. Giving Croix a second chance didn’t exactly mean she’d start trusting her right away, sadly. And maybe it was better to be wary. She didn’t like to think like that, but well…

She paused the recording, throwing her head back and staring at the ceiling. The ceiling, gray and sterile. Metallic. Cold. A white lamp ran in a line across the room, lighting it all.

She closed her eyes. She wanted desperately to get up and go see Croix. But was it because of the questions she had? Or did she want more? Something she’d wanted for ten years, now?

Regret flooded her. All that time hiding away, pretending to be someone she was not. Her name, her hair, her eyes. She had changed them. Yet Croix had somehow known who she was.

Yet, Ursula couldn’t go there. Not right now. Besides this research, she still hadn’t given in her report for what had happened after the race. It had been kind of a mess, and her anger at Paul Hanbridge definitely didn’t help. Paul, too, seemed to understand this, so he hadn’t even bothered trying to pressure her into hurrying it up. Why did the stupid higher ups want the report, anyways? Everyone knew what had happened. Those meetings were always a drag.

Not to  mention, Ursula wasn’t sure she wouldn’t just straight up pop one of her magic capsules in her mouth and punch Paul square in the face if she saw him.

With a stretch, she stood, decision made. With a nervous heart, she exited her room.

 

Croix held her head, trying to deal with the headache. “You know we can’t do that,” she said to Deep Darkness. The guy was a lot more level-headed than Horn, at the very least. But they also knew that, so when Croix had refused to accept Horn’s proposal, he had sent his albino friend to try and negotiate.

“While I understand your doubt,” Deep said, “I would still appreciate it if, at least, you allowed us to make a couple of test runs.”

Croix shook her head. They didn’t get it. The second they tried it, they wouldn’t be able to go back. The technology was game-changing. Or in this case, race-changing. “I can’t allow it,” Croix said. “It’s still in a test stage. If it went wrong you could simply destroy the ship. I’m not in the mood for rebuilding it yet again.”

There was a hum. Well, in daemon voice, that was more of a low-pitched muffled screech, like the sound of a saw buzzing in the distance. “You do understand that, if you outright deny us, Horn will just end up using it anyways,” he stated as a fact.

Croix sighed. “Yes,” she admitted. “Yes, I do.” After a pause, she just looked up. “Ok, look, you can do the test – but when I say you, I mean _you,_ Deep Darkness,” Croix had found the name stupid at first, but after years of working together, she had grown used to it. “Use the Blood Sailor. If things go wrong you can use the backup. I don’t have a Noir Rod backup, as you may guess.”

The backup, however, was more of an old prototype of the Blood Sailor. Croix had not expected anyone to be able to destroy it. Much like in the past, she had underestimated the Shiny Rod’s power. Understanding it meant she was confident around it. Big mistake, not one she’d make again.

She sighed as she slowly settled on the terms for the test. She’d hire a couple of practice pilots – the Noir Rod was immune to the thing they were going to test out, so Horn wouldn’t be able to do it – and then she’d hope Deep Darkness had enough of a sense of honor to keep his word. Sense of honor was weird in daemons, though, so she wasn’t sure. They had strange mentalities on what lying exactly meant. To them it was about more than just saying something that wasn’t true. Well, ‘lying’ probably wasn’t the right concept either, there was just no word in English to describe it. They could say something completely untrue, they could be hypocrites to your face and then be surprised when you were offended by it. That was the problem Croix had found when dealing so much with so many different cultures. Everyone had a different concept for everything, from concepts as abstract as morality to the simple act of walking. The Athenians for example, a race of what people usually described as winged elephants, were well known because if the wind blew the wrong way one day, their entire society could crumble. Superstitious didn’t even begin to describe them. That was because wind was usually steady for them, and the slightest shift on it was seen as a sign.

Well, those usually didn’t bother with IPRs, so Croix didn’t have to deal with them. But the few times she’d met them she’d discovered they were one of the strangest societies in the Planetary Alliance.

“Oh, and I think the Shiny Rod is simulating races again,” Deep said.

“Yes, yes, they do every single day,” Croix blew some of her hair away from her eyes. She had recently taken a shower and hadn’t bothered to even dress up yet, wearing only a towel around her body. “Make sure to activate the defense mechanism I put in the Blood Sailor after rebuilding it. Wouldn’t want your new abilities to leak-” Suddenly, she heard a faint knocking to her right. She froze. She was in her room. “I have a visitor. I’ll talk to you later, we’ll settle on how to do the test later today,” she said in haste. “Just a second!”

Croix quickly threw on her tight pants, boots and dress shirt. She’d leave the straps and cape for later. Should she do her hair? Nah, it would take too much. Who could be bothering her at this time? Everyone in the board of directors knew not to annoy her outside of the set schedules, so maybe this was an emergency.

She opened the door only to find a g-suited figure with long blue hair, looking at her from behind a couple of glasses which served absolutely no purpose other than hide her identity a little better.

“Chariot,” Croix said. “Uhm… Hello?” She wasn’t sure how to react. Her heart sank a little when she saw a small smile tug at the sides of Chariot’s mouth.

“Hey. Do you have time?” she asked. Chariot was definitely looking at her messy hair.

“Well, actually…” Croix was about to make some excuse so that she could go back to speaking with the daemons, but her heart skipped a beat when Chariot’s expression seemed to sadden. _She still has too much of an effect on me,_ she chastised herself mentally. They were no longer teenagers. This shouldn’t be the case anymore. “I guess I have a couple minutes, come in,” her mouth betrayed her.

Chariot entered the room. Or should she say Ursula? She didn’t seem to care anymore. Croix just couldn’t get used to the new name. What kind of stupid name was Ursula, anyways? Chariot fit her. It was a fine name.

The room was mostly empty, save for the bed she had just been using, and that could disappear into the wall at any time. Croix spent more and more time in her small room back at the lab, as uncomfortable as it was. That was, of course, if she didn’t fall asleep on her desk. “So, our next destination is Hielo,” Chariot said as she sat down on the bed.

Croix remained standing. It was a little uncomfortable to not wear any kind of underwear, but she hadn’t really expected to have to speak to anyone for long. She just hoped it wasn’t too obvious. At least the fabric of her shirt was thick.

“I could have you kicked out of the race for that knowledge,” Croix said. Chariot gave her the faintest of smiles. Croix had to hold back the impulse of looking away and kicking her out. She didn’t want her here. She didn’t want anything more to do with this woman, this still young, sexy, beautiful woman who she couldn’t stop thinking about. The closer they were, the harder it’d be to go forward.

But she couldn’t find it in her.

“I know. I also think you won’t,” Chariot said. She was slowly tracing shapes on the sheets with a finger, obviously nervous to be there. “Nice room. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it with the lights on.”

Croix started. “It’s literally just a bed,” she stated.

“Which is very you, I think. You probably sleep in your lab all the time, don’t you?”

Was Chariot asking after her wellbeing? “Yeah, I guess,” Croix said. She was feeling extremely awkward. It was wrong. She had felt in control for the past ten years of her life, but suddenly her old love appeared back in her life and everything was thrown into chaos. “Uhm… what did you come here to talk about, really?”

“Well, first things first,” Chariot said. She locked eyes with Croix, and for a moment Croix felt the really uncomfortable need to take those glasses off and stare at the couple of bright red irises directly. Why was she feeling so guilty? “I’m gonna ask you if the Blood Sailor has new abilities.”

Croix blinked. “You make it sound like you already know it does, so why even bother asking me?”

Chariot smiled. “Because I wanted to confirm it, and thanks to that answer now I have.”

Feeling her heart shaken by the storm of emotions within her, Croix put a hand up. “Chariot, are you trying to use me to gain intel on your enemies?” She tried to sound offended, but to be honest with herself, she almost wanted Chariot to do something underhanded like that. It would make her feel less guilty.

“We both know you probably fed all the info about the Shiny Rod to the daemons,” Chariot shrugged. “Plus, confirming what I suspected was true is not the same as gaining completely new knowledge.”

Well, there was some logic behind that reasoning. Croix was starting to have trouble focusing. This whole situation felt surreal. Something had definitely changed somewhat when her students had fallen into the chasm. Or, more precisely, when Croix had agreed to help. She didn’t seem angry at her anymore. She was actually giving her another chance.

Five years ago, Croix would have killed for that opportunity. Now? It was just putting at risk everything she had. Flirting and teasing Chariot had been a way of keeping their relationship under control when they reunited. Now that those efforts seemed to actually be having an effect, Croix wished she had never done that. She should have allowed Chariot to believe she hated her.

Because Croix didn’t want to do it again. She didn’t want to break Chariot’s heart like she’d done before. But she’d have to.

Or, maybe, if she managed to get the Shiny Rod kicked out of the race before it discovered the remaining forms… but that was a long shot. Still, she could maybe get an opportunity at that soon. Ugh. Why had the Shiny Rod even returned? Sure, learning about Akko had been helpful, but she’d had things almost ready.

“Fine, whatever. Is that what you wanted to do, confirm your theory?” Croix asked. She sounded a little more annoyed than she really was.

Chariot looked at her. “I…” she seemed to be looking for something in Croix. A signal, maybe. Something.

Croix didn’t give it to her. She couldn’t, for her own sake.

“I guess that was it,” Chariot said, standing. “Though, I think I understand your warning. It was about the planets, wasn’t it? Is the rest of the race going to take place in uninhabited, hostile environments?”

“I can’t answer that,” Croix said. The answer was complicated.

“I guessed that. Still, thanks for the info from earlier,” Chariot said. And, to Croix’s surprise, she stepped forward and kissed Croix in the cheek. It had been a normal greeting for her, once. That was all it meant, right?

Yet those lips lingered a second longer than needed on her face, and the contact seemed charged with way more than a simple goodbye.

“Uhm, no problem,” Croix said once Chariot stepped away. The blue-haired teacher smiled one last time before leaving the room, not without throwing Croix a look that took away her ability to think for a minute.

 _Ah fuck,_ Croix thought, finally dropping on her bed. _This is going to be troublesome._


	114. Chapter 114

Amanda approached Hannah from behind, slid her hands under her arms and hugged her, placing her nose against her head and taking in the shampoo’s scent. Something citric, this time? “So, what do you want to eat?” She asked.

“I’m not sure,” Hannah said. She took out her wand. “Let me message Barbara to ask were we’ll meet.”

Amanda paused. Right, they were going to have a double date today. Akko and Diana had also been invited, but they had decided they wanted to do something on their own for lunch. Amanda watched as both pilots walked away, hand in hand. They had solved their differences, but it was clear they still had a hesitance to them. The slow way they walked, the extra shoulder or so of distance they had added between them that wasn’t needed. Amanda suspected that it would take a while for them to really get comfortable.

Or maybe Amanda and Hannah were too outgoing and moved too fast. Who knew? Amanda didn’t care, since right now she was the happiest human in the world. On impulse, she leaned and kissed Hannah’s nape. Hannah paused for a second, but didn’t react otherwise. _Guess that finally having sex had an effect on her,_ she thought, closing her eyes and wishing they could go to their room and…

“And don’t forget, girls,” Ursula suddenly said from behind. Hannah tensed, but she didn’t jump out of Amanda’s hug, which was nice, “To not eat too heavily. Leave that for dinner.”

“Yes, yes,” Amanda said as the teacher walked past and directed herself to the elevators.

“Oh, here we go,” Hannah said. She showed Amanda her wand with the place they were going to, and Amanda nodded.

About twenty-five minutes later – Gold Deck was particularly annoying to traverse today – they stood in front of a library. They exchanged a look. The place looked old – though, of course, it was only for aesthetic. The wooden-wall would have metal underneath, the wooden framings for the door and windows purposefully scratched here and there to make it look used a lot, the yellow lighting of the place meant to simulate old light bulbs, probably crafted with colored glass. From the outside it looked like that, a mere small library. But according to Barbara, she and Lotte were already inside. Maybe they wanted to read some books before eating, to extend the double date or something?

“Well, let’s go in, I guess,” Hannah said. Amanda nodded, and both of them crossed the threshold into the unknown place. It was located on the outskirts of Shopping Town, relatively far from the main ‘streets’, so it was no wonder Amanda didn’t really remember the place. Not that it helped the bustle. In days like these, every street was crowded and annoying. At least not many ventured into the strange place.

The inside of the place was packed full of books, as one might have expected. Bookshelves went up to the ceiling and the space in between them was barely enough for Amanda to fit through comfortably. The books looked old. Really old. Why did people even bother with physical releases, anyways? They were crazy expensive because of how few of them were made nowadays. Digital releases were just more comfortable.

The floor was carpeted in blue, and the carpet itself was all nice and fluffy. Kind of made Amanda want to drop down and see how it felt. It must have also been a pain in the ass to clean, though if you had the right spell for that it probably wasn’t much of a problem. Cleaning spells, though, were expensive.

After reaching the end of the small book-walled corridor, Amanda and Hannah stumbled upon a small… coffee shop?

“Hmm, I know it’s not that unusual for libraries to have something like this, but it seems a little overkill,” Hannah mentioned, and Amanda agreed. The place only had two tables – which had been brought together by an already waiting Lotte and Barbara – and four chairs, and the ‘bar’ was about two meters long and had a small coffee machine, an old man as bartender and a microwave.

“Hello,” Lotte greeted. She was wearing a long blue summer dress, and Barbara turned around to show that she was wearing Lotte’s glasses.

“Hey,” Amanda approached and dropped on one of the remaining chairs. The other one was taken by Hannah directly across from her. She had worn a soft yellow tank-top that showed a lot of skin, and it was impossible for Amanda not to let her gaze fall upon those exposed shoulders as she recalled the shape of her naked body.

“Fancy place, huh,” Hannah said as she looked around.

“It’s a good place to pause and read for a while,” Barbara said. She was sitting next to Amanda. She rose a hand and the old man behind the bar approached. “So, what do you want to drink and eat?”

Amanda looked at the man. He only had some hair left on the sides of his head, all of it white, and he was all wrinkled. Yet he had a kindly smile and the bartender outfit seemed to go well with him, as if he’d been wearing it for a long time. “What do you have?”

“Well, for eating, we have sandwiches and salads. For drinking, hot beverages and juices,” the old man said. They all took a minute to think about it, and after ordering, the man walked to the back wall. Amanda was surprised to see one of the wooden panels opening, kind of like a secret door, and the man disappeared within it.

“So,” Barbara said, looking at Hannah. “How’s it like, having a girlfriend?”

Hannah paused. Amanda looked at her as she got all flustered. It was cute. The ambience of the small library was really silent, which also encouraged them to talk in low voices. Amanda wasn’t one for libraries but it was easy to see the appeal.

Hannah met Amanda’s eyes and blushed furiously. “It’s nice,” she said with a smile. She couldn’t look at Barbara.

Barbara paused. Her eyes started darting between Amanda and Hannah, and in a second of realization, she smiled broadly. Lotte had also gotten the message, apparently, because she was also blushing slightly. Without her glasses, her eyes looked really small. Why was Barbara wearing them, anyways? “Oh my god,” Barbara said. “You actually did it, didn’t you? That’s why you didn’t come back the other night.”

Hannah was obviously having trouble with this, so, Amanda decided to take the reins. “Why are you so surprised? You and Lotte were already sharing a bed like two days after starting to date,” she pointed out.

Barbara chuckled. “Yes, but we were already used to the idea,” she said. Then she pointed at Hannah with a smirk. “Two weeks ago she didn’t even know if she was into girls or not, and her experience in sexual matters was zero.”

Hannah pressed her lips. “Well, I don’t recall you ever having much sex before me,” she crossed her arms, offended.

“Well, at least I knew what to do with my body,” Barbara said. Then she looked at Amanda. “So, how was it?”

Amanda paused, eyeing Hannah. “I’d say it was good,” she wondered if talking about this would be going over the line.

Barbara rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, but come on, give me details. Did _she_ do anything or did you do it all?”

“Barbara, that may be a little personal,” Lotte said from the other side of the table. “Maybe they’re not comfortable talking about it.”

Barbara paused. She eyed Lotte, took off the glasses, and sighed. “I guess,” she sounded disappointed. She looked at Hannah again. “Did _you_ like it, at least?”

Hannah, still with her ‘I’m offended’ face, looked straight at Barbara for a few seconds. “Yes,” she said in a low voice.

Barbara beamed. Amanda felt her cheeks getting kind of hot. It was one thing to say she had liked it inside the bedroom, but hearing her say it to someone else had a strange effect on her. She found her leg reaching forward under the table, and she softly brushed Hannah’s. They looked at each other, and the private exchange was one of the nicest things Amanda had ever felt. Hannah dropped her pose and smiled lightly. “And what about you?” She asked to Barbara, looking away from Amanda.

“We like to ERP,” Barbara explained.

“Barbs, they don’t need to know that!” Lotte complained.

Barbara gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry,” she said.

Amanda half-expected Hannah not to know what ERP was. However, that incredulous look said that she knew full well what it was. Amanda wondered if they could do that, some day. She tried to imagine acting as some other character in bed.

She cringed, hard. No, she couldn’t do it. She liked things to be straightforward. And, given Hannah’s expression, it was clear she wasn’t sold on the idea either. “I really didn’t need to know it, Lotte was right,” Hannah said, shaking her head.

At that moment, the old man stepped out of what Amanda assumed was the kitchen. He brought them their drinks – Amanda had gone for a coffee, since she hadn’t gotten much sleep. She eyed Hannah as she sipped. Attraction was such a strange thing. Amanda was so conscious of the slight touch of their legs under the table, of the way Hannah also stole glances of her from time to time. They moved on to more mundane topics, like practice and the next planet they’d be visiting, and soon after their food arrived. Sandwiches for Amanda and Lotte, salads for Hannah and Barbara.

“It’s strange,” at one point, Barbara took Amanda out of her musings. “How six of us got together in a single trip.”

“Well, being in constant contact with one another kind of forces you to socialize,” Amanda shrugged.

“I just find it funny,” Barbara continued. “I mean, Hannah falling for a girl? _Diana,_ of all people, getting a girlfriend?” she chuckled. “Avery is going to be so confused when we go back.”

Hannah paled. “Oh god,” she looked at Amanda. “She’s gonna make fun of all of us, won’t she?” she covered her face. “I fell for troublemaker extraordinaire, you fell for the invisible girl and Diana fell for Luna Nova’s number one idiot.”

Barbara laughed. “Hey, at least you can tell her you went on a date with Andrew, that’ll make her jealous.”

Amanda set her jaw. “It wasn’t a date,” she said a little more angrily than she wanted as she took a bite out of her sandwich to hide her sudden shift in mood.

“Oh, someone’s jealous,” Lotte pointed out, smiling. She had put her glasses on again, of course.

“Why would I be?” Amanda said after she swallowed. “It wasn’t a date and it was a total failure. Plus, it was kind of thanks to that that I ended up finding out that I love Hannah,” she finished her sentence by crossing her arms.

Barbara raised an eyebrow. “It’s curious how casually you say that,” she said, then looked at Hannah. “Does she say it a lot?” she asked. Hannah nodded. “And do you feel the same way?”

This made the table fall into an awkward silence for a minute. Amanda saw hesitance in Hannah’s eyes. “Well…” Amanda was the one to break the silence. “She _did_ say that we wouldn’t have sex until she said she loved me.”

Barbara’s eyes shone with curiosity. “Did she say it, then?”

“No,” Amanda said. “But I don’t think she needs to,” she winked at Hannah.

Hannah blushed. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “I’ll say it, I promise.”

“What’s stopping you?” Barbara asked.

“I don’t know, shut up,” Hannah said, still flustered, as she shoved some lettuce and tomato into her mouth.

Barbara sighed. “Why do you always have to make things so complicated?”

“It’s important to me, ok?” Hannah replied. “When did you say that you love each other?”

Lotte and Barbara exchanged a look. “About a week after starting to date, maybe?” Lotte asked. “We said it a couple times during roleplaying and at some point it just stopped being roleplay, I guess.”

Barbara nodded.

“Well, I don’t feel the need to say it so soon, ok? It’s…” she shook her head. “In romantic stories these things can take like months, or years.”

“I mean, maybe months,” Barbara said. “But years? What do you read, sixteenth century romances?”

“Isn’t Romeo and Juliet from the sixteenth century?” Amanda said. “Now that’s a good story about a couple of stupid teenagers not knowing how love works.”

Barbara shrugged. “Point being, you just say it when it feels right. Yeah, we may be exaggerating,” she looked at Lotte. “But hey, what are you going to do? Keep it inside for fear of a breakup?”

Amanda looked at Hannah. She had voiced similar doubts. Maybe that was the reason she hadn’t actually said it yet. Not that Amanda wasn’t faced with similar doubts herself. Would Hannah’s family be ok with it? Amanda’s probably wouldn’t on the simple logic that, if Amanda liked her, Hannah couldn’t be good. Not that Amanda cared in the slightest about what her family thought, but Hannah had said her parents probably wouldn’t like her.

Then again, since when did Amanda give a shit about what anyone thought of her? If Hannah’s parents didn’t like her they’d have to deal with it.

“I’ll figure it out, ok?” Hannah said in a low voice. She looked troubled, and Amanda made sure to give her a small nudge with her leg to let her know it was ok.

Hannah looked at her with a smile, and the lunch continued without much incidents.

 

“Come on Diana, you can do it,” Akko said as she tried to get Diana to stretch all the way down. Diana was in good physical condition, but it was as if her body just wasn’t made for it. Everyone planning to ever mount on a broom _had_ to have a good body, but some – like Diana – stopped near the minimum required. Clearly, Diana just hadn’t expected to be on an IPR so soon in her life. “If you do it I promise not to sleep all over you again.”

For the past couple of nights they had slept on the same room, and keeping each other company had been just so wonderful. Sometimes there was this spark between them as they talked, but neither of them seemed interested in pursuing it quite yet. Cuddling was enough, for now. Akko and Diana were taking things slowly. Akko wouldn’t lie and say she wasn’t interested in seeing more of Diana, but she felt absolutely no need to rush.

“If you say that I’m just going to stop trying, don’t you think?” Diana said. “I enjoy your physicality while we sleep.”

“Well then, try or I’ll stop!” Akko continued pushing Diana down. Diana grimaced as she was forced to stretch, but she finally managed to touch the tips of her toes with her fingers. Akko kept her there for ten seconds, and as Diana was about to burst from the effort, Akko let her go. Diana almost fell to the padded floor, but Akko helped her up.

“Stretching is the worst part of workout,” Diana said.

“Come on, it’s not so bad,” Akko couldn’t help but notice the sweat running down Diana’s face. They had just finished their two-hour session of today and it had certainly taken a toll on them all. Even Ursula ended up being winded by the end, and Hannah was now laying face-down on a bench with Amanda lightly teasing her.

“Ok girls,” Ursula clapped to get everyone’s attention. Jasminka had joined them too, though she hadn’t followed the regime with the same intensity. Akko was fairly certain she only came because she enjoyed spending time with others like this. “Today’s practice races went well, and Constanze should have those new lights installed on the Unicorn by tomorrow, assuming Roberto stops being an ass and accepts that now with the Unicorn connected to the Shiny Rod, he no longer needs to maintain it in any way.”

“I should just steal his credentials,” Amanda muttered. “Then we can blackmail him.”

“That’d be illegal,” Ursula gave Amanda a flat look. Amanda shrugged. Ursula shook her head. “Now go to eat and sleep, girls. Tomorrow’s a new day and with it comes more practice. There’s not much left of it, come on, I know you can do it.”

She was oddly supportive, though Akko smiled nonetheless.

Diana approached her. “Haven’t you noticed Ursula a little… changed?”

“I think the deepness incident changed us all a little,” Akko explained. Diana pressed her lips, obviously not buying it. Akko wondered what exactly did she mean, then. “Do you want to talk to her?”

“Maybe,” Diana cringed a little. “I’m just not sure how exactly I should approach her. I’ve got some questions but they’re kind of inconvenient.”

 

Ursula entered the Goodwill. She’d been there once before, but the place still surprised her. So beautiful, so calm. People on the main street mainly ignored it. Despite being small, it was probably never full. It gave off such a cozy feeling, with the white flames silently burning in the walls, giving off their bluish light.

Inside, Akko and Diana were already waiting for her. Circular, the table was dark and held no tablecloth. It was just about big enough to let all three of them sit comfortably in it, and soon after a dark-grey shapeshifter approached with drinks in one arm and a pen and notepad on another couple of them. They could truly morph their bodies into essentially anything.

“What shall I bring you?” He asked. He had no visible mouth, or eyes, or… anything, as his face was but a hint of what a human face would look like. Yet his voice was unaccented and he spoke perfect English.

“We took the liberty to ask for drinks,” Diana said. “And I know what I’ll have, but I don’t know about you.”

Ursula could see that Diana had some kind of goal in mind for this meeting. After deciding on a hamburger with some alien stuff in it – she liked to try new things – they were all set to begin talking.

“So, miss Ursula,” Diana said. “I’m sorry for bringing this up so out of the blue, but you may have noticed before that I haven’t been exactly on the right mindset for a while. However, your actions today kind of reminded me of a couple things.”

Ursula looked at Diana with a curious glance. What would the prodigy want to talk about with her? She looked rather serious. “So, you didn’t seem too surprised at the Blood Sailor’s new ability,” Diana said.

 _Oh,_ Ursula thought. _Oh no,_ she started to grow nervous. “Well,” she said. “They had to rebuild it, right? It makes sense for them to add new stuff to it.”

“I suppose. But again, you also weren’t too surprised about the sudden change of pace with the uninhabited planet. No matter how strange the race has been, it’s hard to imagine they’d change something so basic,” there was a glimmer of something else in her eyes, and Ursula could tell this wasn’t the end of it.

“Well, I suspected something like this may happen…” Ursula said.

“I could tell that,” Diana nodded. “Now I ask _why_ did you suspect it,” she held her gaze. Damn this girl knew how to hold a conversation.

Akko, on her part, looked a little confused. She shifted between curiosity and confusion as she looked at Diana and Ursula, probably trying to piece out what Diana was trying to say. Ursula decided she’d have to be careful with how she answered, and evading would obviously make her more suspicious.

“Well,” Ursula said. “I had gotten the info that the race will start being exponentially more dangerous from now on,” she explained. “And I just assumed that a race in Hielo fit rather well that description.”

Diana nodded. However, instead of asking who the source was – either she knew Ursula would deflect or she had her own assumption – she looked at Akko for a second before looking back at Ursula. “And, if I may ask…” she hesitated. Strange, in her. “How _did_ you confirm it was a new ability and not a flaw of the simulator? It didn’t happen again in any simulation.”

“Well, I…” Ursula was about to say she had seen it in recordings of the previous race. But that look on Diana’s eyes… She knew it hadn’t happened, didn’t she. “I got the info from an inside source,” Ursula explained.

Diana smiled as if she’d been victorious. Ursula waited with a small feeling of dread as she stood in silence for a minute, and it was because food arrived. As soon as the shapeshifter walked away, Diana looked at Ursula again and pointed with her spoon. “May I ask _who_ this source is?”

Ursula saw that one coming. “I’m sorry, but I think it’d be safer for…”

“It’s Croix Meridies, isn’t it?” Diana cut her off.

Ursula was staggered and stumbled for words. “Who is that?” Was the first thing she tried to say in trying to hide it. Then she realized she sounded stupid. No, beyond stupid. “I mean, why would you think that?”

“Well, a number of reasons, but I think maybe the most important one is the fact that you went to Luna Nova with her,” Diana said. “She was friends with Chariot. You have said you knew her. It’s possible that you two were at least acquaintances?”

Ursula was loudly screaming on the inside as she calmly replied. “Well, I guess you figured it out,” she said.

But Diana wanted more. “Which is the reason why we’ve been receiving such a special treatment during this race. Constanze breaking the law a couple times particularly seems to be what comes to mind.”

Ursula took a sip of the red wine-like thing the girls had asked for to give herself some time to think. It was sweet and a little more thick that she’d expected it to be, but good nonetheless. “I can’t really disclose that information, as you may guess, Diana,” Ursula said, going for the safest route.

“Yes, I may guess it…” Diana said. “But then I start to ask, why would Croix have inside info on the Daemons? And how did you get them to agree to save us – once the race was over, of course?” she asked. Ursula didn’t bother trying to reply. Instead, she slowly felt her heart sink as Diana came to her own conclusions. “Croix is obviously a genius, and those roombas she’s always using are rather impressive. She has designed a number of things that she only keeps to herself, though I did notice a strange thing about her inventions.”

“They use Inferno…” Ursula began, predicting what Diana would say.

“They use Inferno Energy,” Diana said. She paused for a moment at Ursula’s prediction, but she didn’t let that deter her. “And at first I thought she may have just figured out it was more efficient than magic, but…” She looked at Ursula. “I’m gonna be straight. Is she the one who built the Noir Rod?”

Akko was completely lost, as denoted by her expression, and she held up a hand. “Wait, you’re telling me she works for the enemy?”

Ursula smiled. “I’m not allowed to speak about that either, sorry,” she said. Diana seemed satisfied with the answer anyways, and it was pretty clear she knew the answer anyways.

“Why not? That’s cheating!” Akko claimed.

“Akko, an official of the race being a mechanic for a team isn’t technically cheating,” Diana said. “It may be seen as immoral, but it’s not against any official rule.”

Akko didn’t seem satisfied with that. “But she could be using her position to help them.”

“She won’t,” Ursula said. “As far as I can tell, she takes testing the Noir Rod seriously. If she cheated to give an advantage to her team, then what’d be the point?”

Diana looked at Ursula as if she’d just said something funny. “You just confirmed it _was_ her,” she pointed out.

Ursula instinctively put a hand on her mouth. “Please forget I said that,” she said, feeling tremendously stupid. Why had she felt the sudden need to defend Croix? _Damn it, I need to get ahead of this thing,_ she thought.

“We won’t tell anyone,” Diana looked at Akko. “Right?”

“We should probably…” Akko paused at Diana’s stare. “Ok, fine, I won’t tell anyone,” then she met Ursula’s eyes. “But why would Croix want to copy the Shiny Rod? Wasn’t she friends with Chariot?”

Ursula paused. “Well, maybe she understands how great of a ship the Shiny Rod is and wanted to make one herself…”

Diana and Akko softly began chatting among themselves in a low voice. Ursula took the chance to nonchalantly take a bite out of her sandwich. It was spicy, which she didn’t mind too much, but she was surprised at how sweet it was too. A strange mixture, since the bread was saltier than usual. This sandwich was all over the place in terms of flavor, but it also seemed to be in a strange harmony. It wasn’t the best thing Ursula had ever tasted but she figured it was good enough.

“Ok, then,” Diana said. “Miss Ursula, do you think you can ask Croix one thing for us?”

Ursula raised an eyebrow. “I guess it would depend, we’re not exactly close,” she said. _Aren’t we, though?_ She thought. It was hard to figure out.

“Ask her why the grand prize is so important,” Diana said. “We’ve heard it since the first race and it’s always been annoying how we can’t figure out what it is. She probably won’t tell you directly, but if she gives you some details we can slowly figure it out. Maybe it’ll be a good motivation to win, or will give us a reason as to why everyone seems to be such an asshole.”

“With everyone you mean Paul,” Ursula suggested.

Diana nodded.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ursula said with a sigh.

She doubted she’d get any answers, particularly seeing as she’d already tried. But… Well, it was as good of an excuse as any to go and talk things out with Croix a little more. Who knew? Maybe Ursula would find out what she was planning. Maybe it wasn’t too late to stop her, assuming she was doing something bad.

Maybe one of these days Croix would apologize for what she’d done…


	115. Chapter 115

_“We did it!” Chariot beamed._

_Croix nodded, but her mind wasn’t in the moment. She accepted Chariot’s hug – how could she not – and stepped back, looking at the Shiny Rod. They had just won the last of the qualifier races. The cheers around them were overwhelming. Croix was wearing her entirely gray g-suit with the polarized crystal. She didn’t want people to know who she was. It was best this way. Chariot had more charisma, and the mystery of who her partner was would only add to it._

_This win, she… Didn’t feel anything. She hadn’t done anything, as far as she could tell. Even surrounded by all of these people, even wrapped in Chariot’s excited arms, she felt empty. This isn’t how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to feel a thrill, she was supposed to be excited._

_Instead, she could only look at the white broom and wonder how it worked and why. She had her theories, but those were obviously starting to fail her._

_A couple of reporters approached them, and Chariot went to them. One tried to get an answer out of Croix, but as always, Croix didn’t answer a single one of them. Her g-suit hid her gender well, thanks to modifications she herself had done._

_Maybe they should stop this. Croix really didn’t want to go on a months-long trip into a dangerous race to feel nothing. It was simple, really. Chariot could get anyone else to be her gunman anyways. There was no need for her to…_

_“…and of course, my gunman,” Chariot suddenly pointed at Croix. “I couldn’t have come this far without their support and friendship. And skills, of course”_

_She beamed at her._

_In that moment, Croix sighed. She gave Chariot a thumbs up, slowly coming to the realization that she wouldn’t be able to do that. If someone was to go with Chariot on a three months long trip to space, it would be none other than Croix._

_And she finally allowed herself to smile for their victory._

Croix had realized she’d been dreaming for a few seconds now. For some reason, she’d kept her eyes closed and her mind shut down to let the memory end on a brighter note. When she opened her eyes, she felt strangely energetic. She stretched, having for once slept on her room’s bed. She was surprised at the lack of back pain or her surprisingly clear head. She was in a surprisingly good mood and…

Wait, how much had she slept?

She looked at her clock. Twelve hours, at the very least. _Oh hell,_ she thought, hesitantly looking around and noticing a roomba waiting for her. She had the horrible feeling this day was going to be complicated.

As expected, she had about a million messages to answer to. Yes, this was why she didn’t sleep in her room more often. She was always so tired that her body forced her into deep sleep. She just wasn’t able to hear alarms anymore. She needed to sleep in uncomfortable positions to be able to keep up with her schedule. She had missed a meeting. She had three different calls from Horn, all of them asking about when the test would be performed. And, curiously enough, one call from Chariot. Croix had forgotten Chariot was technically in her chain of command, therefore had means to contacting her.

She was tempted to call her back, particularly after her dream. But she had more pressing matters to attend to, so there was no way in hell she’d do that. After a quick trip to the bathroom and dressing up, Croix was ready to start with her day. She answered to the messages, returned important calls and made sure Horn didn’t do anything rash – as cool as collected as he acted around others, he was a really passionate individual.

Two hours after waking up, all the energy she’d gained from twelve hours of sleep seemed to have been spent. It was incredible, how talking to stubborn old people could drain your soul, particularly when those old people were also powerful and egotistic assholes. One could not raise to power without being an asshole, the same way a bunny cannot live among lions without getting eaten.

But finally, she was technically done. She had scheduled another meeting a couple hours from now, and even though meeting with aliens who weren’t part of the IPR right now wasn’t really her top priority, she decided dealing with the Aos Sí was better than others. At least, with beings so powerful, she didn’t have to care for schemes and such. They were straightforward in their requests and attitudes. Sure, they were dangerous, but there was little they could do outside of Sídhe.

She got out of her room. It was tiring being there. Maybe walking for a while would do her some good. She wasn’t in great physical condition but she could handle a long walk. Sure, she kept herself from gaining too much weight, but her nutritional values were probably on the negative numbers. She chuckled as she imagined what Chariot would think of her current diet. It was based mostly on instant noodles. But hey, she tried to get different flavors, so she was totally getting all the vitamins she needed.

Probably, at least.

Her trip around the _Dragon_ was, as always, filled with stares. Either people recognizing her or wondering what the hell she was wearing. Her clothing, as many other things, had a clear purpose. It drew attention to her, it was outside of every fashion but at the same time it looked like it could belong anywhere. It was daring and, yes, silly. But it proved a point. Croix didn’t care for what others thought of her. Sure, getting dressed each morning was kind of a pain, but it felt good to have a unique style that only she could do. Because, as silly as she may look, she also knew she rocked the outfit.

Bronze Deck, then Gold Deck, then Platinum Deck. Her trip took about an hour and a half, enough to unwind and let her relax a little. Last night she had finished a relatively important project in her lab, which was why she had celebrated by sleeping on an actually comfortable bed. She ignored Silver Deck, which was the most popular among kids particularly, and Magic Deck was kind of small and useless on the big scale of things. Magic Deck, particularly, was what happened when some space remained in a ship and someone with too much money decided they couldn’t go a couple months without visiting a spa. In Croix’s opinion it wasn’t worth the price at all.

And, when her trip ended, it was almost time for her conference. As she walked through the bowels of the _Dragon,_ in their metallic comfort – though Croix was aware most people found them cold – she decided to do what she’d been putting off for a while now.

She took out her communicator and put it on, calling Chariot.

“Gimmie a second,” Chariot said as she answered. Croix waited for a while. “Ok, sorry, Iw as in the middle of a simulation. Always late in returning calls, aren’t you.”

Croix felt her body tense a little at her old friend’s voice. At her old love’s voice. Or, more precisely, at her nonchalant voice. No anger, no suspicion. She closed her eyes for a second. _You’re too kind for your own good, Chariot,_ she thought. “Sorry, you could say I finally got a good sleep,” she went with instead.

Chariot sighed. “So, my students kind of figured out our connection,” she admitted.

“I suppose they haven’t discovered your identity, though, as you seem too calm about this.”

“Not yet, though at this rate Diana will probably figure it out by the end of the week.”

Croix chuckled. “A smart one, isn’t she,” she said. Diana Cavendish. The girl had so much potential that it almost scared Croix. What could _she_ have done with the Shiny Rod?

Well, Atsuko Kagari had unlocked five of the seven commands in such a short amount of time… Croix wondered if maybe now she could get Chariot to cooperate a little. Probably not, though, and she’d rather not ask.

“Yes,” Chariot sighed. “They wanted me to try and ask you what the hell the Grand Prize is. You know, that thing you won’t tell me anything about.”

Croix paused. The Grand Prize. It was a grim reminder of why her relationship with Chariot would never work, in the long run. “I can’t tell you anything, sorry.”

“Well, I expected no more,” she didn’t sound angry. “So…” Chariot hesitated. “What are you doing?”

 _Small talk?_ Croix wondered. She pressed her lips, unable to answer right away. She should end this. Right now. “I’m going to a meeting,” she said instead. _I should just push her away,_ Croix thought, trying really hard not to feel guilty. She turned a corner and she saw her conference room. It was near the main bridge of the ship.

“With the IPR officials?”

“Classified information,” Croix said.

Chariot chuckled. The sound seemed to punch Croix in the gut. “And who do you think I’m gonna tell? My students?”

“Well, maybe, I dunno,” this conversation was getting light-hearted. Too light-hearted. Casual-levels light-hearted.

Friendly-levels light-hearted.

“And it’s about to start,” Croix lied. “Sorry, I need to go.”

“Oh, ok,” Chariot said. Was that disappointment in her voice? _Please don’t let that be disappointment,_ Croix thought with a grim expression. “I’ll call you later.”

 _You shouldn’t. Why would you call me? We have nothing to talk about,_ Croix thought. “Ok then. Later,” she said instead, cursing herself for being such a coward.

She shook her head as she entered the empty conference room. A big table stood in the middle of it. This was her private one. Other officials had their own conferences in other places. Croix just liked to be where she could keep track of people trying to bug her.

She dropped on her usual chair at the head of the table and let out a tired, drown out sigh. The conversation with Chariot seemed to have helped her a little, but it also left her feeling anxious. _Damn it,_ she thought. _You can’t have your cake and eat it too, you moron,_ she chastised herself.

But this… it felt like the fruit from paradise. Low-hanging, juicy looking, easy to grab. What harm could a bite do?

A lot. A lot of harm. Croix covered her eyes with her forearm and tried really hard not to think about it.

She failed.

 

Constanze looked at her masterpiece and smiled. The Shooting Star now showed a bunch of new small lines all along its fuselage. From far away they wouldn’t be noticed, but if one looked at it from up close, now the ship seemed to be made of smaller pieces, like a puzzle put together in the shape of a broom. She was really proud of what she’d done. As she slowly walked around the ship, patting each and every stanbot in the head and silently thanking them for their good work, she started to grow excited about the perspective of getting to see how it worked. Of course, she needed Akko for that. As Sucy had explained, the amount of energy needed for it to work was crazy.

But with the Shiny Rod it was perfectly feasible.

Other than those lines, the Shooting Star felt basically unchanged. Piloting it would also barely feel any different than normal. It was truly a marvel of engineering and mechanics. Constanze wasn’t just proud, she was now certain this would be the talk of everyone if she showed it to the public. Studying the Shiny Rod had helped a lot, of course, but this was even better than that. In her opinion at least.

She came out of the garage triumphant. There, in the waiting room, she saw Roberto. The guy had been kind of depressed for a while now. Constanze did feel a little guilty for him. He wasn’t a bad guy. Not worse than most adults, at least. He was a normal person with biases and beliefs, and dreams and stuff like that.

After considering it, she entered the waiting room. Roberto looked up from the movie he was watching, and for a second, his eyes flashed with anger. Then he just relaxed against the couch and sighed. “What is it now? Need more pieces? Want to threaten me with one of your mechanic gnomes?”

She shook her head. Instead, she approached. She tried some gestures, but he clearly was uninterested in ever trying to understand them, so she went for the easy route. She handed him the tablet she was using. As a sign of peace.

“What’s this?” He asked, looking at it. “So old fashioned,” he criticized. He was right. Actual, physical screens were old-fashioned. Constanze didn’t care much.

The head mechanic kept looking at her screen, sometimes touching it. He blinked purposefully a couple times, as if unable to believe what he was seeing. After about five minutes, he stared at Constanze with a look of… fear? Reverence? Hard to tell. “You’re nuts,” he said, handing back the tablet.

Constanze nodded.

“Why would you even build something like this? What’s the point?” He asked, baffled.

Shrugging, Constanze smiled. Then she started walking away. “Hey, can I at least try it when you test it?” He asked before she left.

Constanze didn’t pause as she left the waiting room. Maybe she’d let him, assuming he wasn’t too much of an ass in from now on.

 

“We’ll be landing tomorrow,” Akko said as she re-entered her room after a shower. Diana had been waiting there in the bed, going over recordings of their latest simulations. She found it so strange that the Blood Sailor hadn’t used that strange ability again, no matter how much they pushed it.

“Yes. By the end of the day, though,” Diana said. She’d already taken a shower. Today’s gym session was chiller than the previous day, but she was still tired. Having Akko cheer for her was a definite plus in both cases, however.

Akko’s hair was still humid when she came out. She had her pajamas already on, and as she was about to drop on the bed next to Diana, Diana sat up and stopped her. “What is it?”

“You’re gonna leave the pillow all wet,” Diana scolded her. “Don’t you have a dryer?”

“Lotte has one, I think,” Akko said, looking around. “She’s probably in your room tho.”

Diana sighed. With some reluctance, she sat Akko next to her and flicked her wand. A minute later the door opened, letting a small floating spell in the shape of a cylinder enter. It moved closer to Diana and Diana took it. It was just the right size to be able to hold it comfortably. With another flick of her wand, its sides suddenly folded into it, and air started being blown from one of the sides while being absorbed by the other. Diana then started to softly brush Akko’s hair with her fingers while using the other hand to dry it. The spell didn’t make too much sound.

Akko was a little surprised with the whole situation. “You don’t use that to dry your hair, though,” Akko said, though she didn’t seem to care about Diana’s touch.

“Well, my hair is kind of special. If I blow-dry it, it tends to end up being a mess,” she explained. She usually didn’t have to put much effort into it. Magic usually kept it good.

“This is kind of uncomfortable,” Akko said. She suddenly stood from Diana’s side, and Diana thought she was having to pursue Akko as if she was some five-year old not wanting to do something like this. Instead, Akko just sat on the floor between Diana’s feet, putting her hair in a perfect position for Diana to dry it.

“You have really pretty hair,” Diana said, slowly working. She enjoyed the silky feeling of Akko’s hair, the way fell straight to her back. She hadn’t made the usual little ponytail she carried behind it, but that had its own appeal.

“My hair is common. _You_ have pretty hair,” Akko said. She turned for a second, but Diana used a hand to put her head back in position to keep working. “It’s so wavy and beautiful.”

“It looks like a cabbage,” Diana said. She’d been teased about it, a couple times. It wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Well, maybe, but it’s still pretty, like you,” Akko said.

Diana felt a smile tug at her lips. She had to make conscious efforts to compliment Akko, yet it often seemed like Akko just did it without thinking. Feeling warm, Diana bent down and placed a kiss on the back of Akko’s head. She smelled of shampoo. Relaxing. “I love you,” was all Diana could say as she kept working.

“Me too,” Akko said. “I mean, I love you too, not that I love myself too. Not that I don’t love myself, it’s just…”

“It’s fine,” Diana stopped her rambling girlfriend. Akko seemed content with the situation. And, when Dianaw as finished, she stood and stretched.

“Can I come into the bed now?” She asked.

Diana laid down against the wall and patted the bed. “Come here,” she said. Akko didn’t hesitate to drop down and hug Diana, nuzzling against her chest in content. Diana placed a small kiss on the girl’s forehead. “Don’t get so comfortable quite yet, I’ve got something to show you.”

Akko looked up. “Do you?”

Diana nodded. She took out her wand. “A message arrived today.”

“Oh, you mean when Andrew came and handed you that small black thing?”

“Yeah, the Entangled Communicator. Anyways, look,” Diana had saved the message because, well, why wouldn’t she?

 _‘The Pony was stolen. Hope you don’t mind.’_ The message read.

Akko chuckled. “I can feel her anger through this,” she said. “Man, I should have stayed around to catch her reaction on camera or something.”

“Maybe you could upload it to the internet. ‘I steal my girlfriend’s broom from her aunt! Worth millions!’” Diana suggested. She wasn’t one to use social media a lot, but as any kid her age, she had grown up with it. “Maybe add a [GONE WRONG] somewhere.”

“But nothing went wrong,” Akko pointed out.

Diana chuckled. “Well, it’s for the clicks, you know,” she turned to the side, facing Akko again.

Akko had one arm around her waist. Diana had placed a hand on her hip, and though she hadn’t really thought much about it, it was clear to her that Akko was definitely feeling the touch. Diana got the impulse to tease her a little, but she decided not to. She felt like it was too soon to be teasing her like that. After how she’d acted, it’d be a time before she could forgive herself for what she’d done and said. She’d enjoy Akko’s company as it was.

They could figure out the rest of the stuff later.

She moved her hand up casually to softly cup Akko’s face. “You’re cute when you’re not soaking our pillow,” Diana said.

“So now it’s ‘our’ pillow, eh?” Akko raised her eyebrows with a smile.

Diana felt herself grow a little red. “I mean, if you don’t mind,” she said.

Akko chuckled and moved closer, pecking Diana’s lips. “Of course I don’t mind, silly,” she said. It was followed by a yawn. “Man, Ursula’s really working us to the bone.”

“She just wants us to be ready,” Diana said. Then she closed her eyes. “Too bad she didn’t get any info on the prize. I wonder what it is. A fortune, maybe? Some piece of technology? A political favor?”

“Whatever it is,” Akko said. “I’m sure we’ll win it.”

Diana smiled. She pressed her forehead against Akko’s. Her breath smelled of mint, as she’d washed her teeth recently. “I don’t really care if we win,” Diana said. “But I’ll make sure to give my best. For you.”

“You’re too corny,” Akko said. “I like that,” she placed another kiss on Diana’s lips. Slow, heartfelt. “I just wish we’d discovered that with the hose I can pass the Rod’s abilities to other brooms earlier. The we wouldn’t have had to fight like that.”

Diana felt the comment a little like a gut punch. “Sorry,” she apologized automatically.

Akko sighed. “Stop that,” she ordered. She pulled Diana closer, pressing their bodies tightly and nesting her head against Diana’s neck and shoulder. “I’ve already forgiven you.”

“Doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty,” Diana confessed. Akko sighed, and Diana pulled closer too. Through the thin fabric of the pajama, she could tell Akko wasn’t wearing a bra. It made her blush slightly, but she was too tired to even consider the possibility of doing anything else right now.

Akko sighed. “You’ll have to forgive yourself too, you know,” she said in a low voice. “I’ll make sure you do…” she trailed off, still hugging Diana tightly.

A few seconds later, Diana felt the hug loosen, and Akko’s breathing slowed. She had fallen asleep. Somehow, knowing that Akko could fall asleep literally hugging Diana was kind of embarrassing. Not that Diana wasn’t like that. Luckily, temperature on the _Dragon_ was always adjustable to the ones sleeping in a room, so it was really hard to get hot or cold. Ventilation also made sure to bring in fresh air.

Even then, Diana felt really warm as she wrapped her own arms around Akko and made sure she didn’t get away. _I’ll make it up to you,_ she said. “I’ll never push you away again. I promise,” Diana whispered, though Akko didn’t hear. “I love you.”

And then, the tiredness beat her, and she fell asleep.

 

Sucy entered the read team’s room after dining – though, at this point, they should just label the rooms based on which couple slept there – and scrunched up her nose at the sight of Diana and Akko all over each other sleeping on Akko’s bed. Damn couples, did they really need to flash their relationships everywhere?

With a sigh, she prepared her own bed for sleep. She moved carefully, as to not wake them up. Sucy still found it hard to believe, that after all that happened they still ended up together.

She looked at Diana for a second. At the very least she seemed happy, not at all like the stoic stuck-up bitch Sucy had always assumed she was. Sucy sighed, feeling inadequate in the room. Not like a third wheel, but like she had intruded in a private moment. Problem was, she’d feel the same way no matter the room. The green team one was full, anyways. Jasminka and Constanze didn’t care about Hannah and Amanda, so they slept there. Barbara and Lotte, on the other hand, got the room all to themselves. Sucy was sure they were enjoying it.

Diana and Akko, though, were boring. They slept together but did little else. Not that Sucy cared to watch if they ever did go further, but she’d rather have an excuse to seek shelter in another place. Right now, leaving would be kind of lame. ‘I can’t stand watching two people be affectionate’ was kind of different from ‘I’d rather not risk walking in the two of them having sex.’

Sucy stretched a little as she changed into her pajama. She looked at her vials, set on the desk. There were also a couple mushrooms growing there. One of them taken from Vorago, she wanted to see if she could take the bioluminescence it showed and pass it on to other things. Animals, particularly. Magical genetic modification was slowly starting to make really big leaps. Give it ten to twenty years and genetically superior humans would really start to be born. Eugenics would really take a hold of society and the Earth would probably be thrown into the dirt for a couple hundred years until societies finally got a hold on how to handle the disparity.

But Sucy was, right now, too tired to delve into the moral and philosophic debates of genetically modifying – and improving – living organisms. Slipping under her sheets, she yawned and looked at the ceiling until the light turned off on its own.

She found the way Diana’s and Akko’s breathing had synced up really distracting, but eventually, she managed to leave the waking world behind.

 

Protect the pilot. When inside the turret, Amanda had no other drive, no other purpose. Her emotions were thrown in the trash, her memories irrelevant. All that remained was that ever-present thought, that permanent presence inside her brain that pushed her to do as it commanded. The outside of the Shiny Rod was dark, but it barely mattered. Amanda knew where each racer was. She could feel their energy, she could feel their speed and agility. Sometimes she wasn’t fast enough to protect the Shiny Rod, but that was because she had shackles on her hands. She couldn’t move as fast as she should be able to. The true power of the Shiny Rod was something to fear, something to avoid.

But right now, she was but a fraction of infinity. A tiny bit, bigger than a human mind could comprehend on its own, but none in comparison to what she _could_ be.

And, at the moment, she was fighting.

The world seemed to shift under her perception. Seven points of view became three as she applied a shield to the side of the broom. A bomb of darkness exploded, a material made from Darkworld itself. The shapeshifter’s ship moved around, putting itself on the back of the Shiny Rod, the being inside it controlling it like it would a mind-controlled animal. Sometimes, it was better to trust instincts than to try to control everything.

But Amanda didn’t lower her guard. She dropped the shield, focusing on protecting. The shapeshifter likely wouldn’t attack from behind, too high a risk of hitting their engine. But those little smoke bombs were dangerous, and-

Suddenly, Amanda woke up. She looked around, disoriented for a second. She was in the turret. Weird. She had grown rather used to the disorientation of waking up after a training session, but this felt… different, somehow.

“Was there an accident?” Amanda asked. She kind of remembered the other couple of times this had happened.

“I just tried to use the command I unlocked with Diana the other day and suddenly the Rod shut off. I don’t think it liked that.”

Amanda sighed. “Stupid broom,” she said. “So what now?”

“I'll restart it,” Akko said. Amanda closed her eyes, preparing for impact.

And everything made sense.

 


	116. Chapter 116

This time, when they landed, Akko wasn’t waiting by the exit.

In fact, she was having burgers at McDonalds, because nothing said good diet like the artificial trash they called meat of a Big Mac.

No one would be getting out of the _Dragon._ The terrain outside was too harsh to be safe. There was nothing to see there anyways. Truth was, this was a boring planet. There was nothing but ice everywhere. Well, there was probably something _under_ the ice, but Akko didn’t care for that.

“Oh, a message from Ursula,” Diana said. Akko took another bite out of her burger as Diana looked at her wand. “Seems like we’ll only be here for a day. The rules for the race will drop in twelve hours, the race will happen in eighteen.”

“Six hours between rules and race. Means they want us to get some practice,” Akko concluded, speaking with her mouth half full. She took a sip of coke to help her swallow. “Do you think it’ll be something crazy?”

Diana, who had taken a bite of her own meal – nuggets – finished and nodded. “There’s little interest in Hielo as a planet. So the excitement will have to come from some crazy set of rules,” she said. The way she ate the nuggets was mesmerizing. She took little bites, and spent a good amount of time with each one. Between each bite she always wiped her fingers on the paper napkins.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll win,” Akko said, feeling determined.

Diana nodded. “Let’s do our best.”

Akko continued eating her Big Mac. Of course, she left the fries for last, as any sane person would do.

 

Ursula got a really bad feeling as she looked at the rules that had just arrived in her wand. _They’re not messing around,_ she had to remind herself as she re-read them.

Diana finished her simulated race – Ursula often shifted between the Shiny Rod and the Unicorn to monitor both of them – in first place and sighed in satisfaction. She took about a minute to go back to a relaxed mental state before starting another race. She no longer had the pressure of having to drive the Unicorn with her mind, and it showed. She had gotten the hang of the Unicorn in no time and now used it as well as any professional pilot would have.

“Let’s take a five minutes break,” Ursula said. The girls nodded, following her as she stepped outside. Ursula waited a little anxiously as the girls gathered and then took a deep breath. “Rules arrived. We’ve got six hours to prepare for this, and…” she shook her head. “Just read them.”

Ursula passed her wand around. All of the girls looked outraged, save for Amanda.

“Ok, so, let me get this straight,” Hannah started rubbing her temples. “We can’t use our lights. We are not allowed to use any kind of light to guide the way.”

Ursula nodded, understanding why Hannah was so annoyed. Who wouldn’t be, after all, if they were told they would be forced to fly practically blind?

“This puts us at a huge disadvantage,” Diana said. “With our glowing engines we’ll be even more of a target than we already are.”

“And we can’t bump into others!” Akko said. “Isn’t that nuts?”

“The rules state that if two ships touch, both will be disqualified. I doubt anyone will risk that,” Amanda said. “Particularly because if you’re disqualified in both categories you’re kicked out of the race.”

Akko looked a little surprised by the realization. “Oh, right,” she said, shaking her head. It was incredible hw sometimes she could sound so smart yet others fail to grasp the simplest of concepts.

“It won’t help us in the long run, though,” Diana said. “The Daemons and we are dangerous enough that some race might risk getting disqualified in one category to see if maybe we can get disqualified in the other. Two or more races could make a deal on this,” she explained.

“Which is why you will stop worrying about it and get into the brooms to keep practicing,” Ursula said, crossing her arms. “No use in speculating what _might_ happen, go in there and get used to flying in the dark.”

“Right,” Akko said, nodding with energy. She took off towards the Shiny Rod, determination showing in her movements.

Hannah hesitated before moving on. “So Constanze’s upgrade was useless in the end, huh…” she mumbled, sounding incredibly annoyed, and then took off too. Amanda lazily walked towards the Rod too, as uncaring s always. Diana, on her part, lingered in place, looking at Ursula with a raised eyebrow.

“What is it?” Ursula asked.

“I just feel like you should be more annoyed at this, miss Ursula,” Diana said.

Ursula smiled. “Let the analysis for later. Go practice, we’ve only got six hours.

Diana sighed but nodded, walking off. Ursula closed her eyes and refocused. Well, the Shiny Rod would be able to deal with this anyways. It didn’t have night vision but Amanda should still be able to react to most other ships around her and their attacks.

Save, maybe for the shapeshifters. But, then again, they would probably take the spotlight in this race.

Or, more like the spot _dark._

Ursula paused. She almost punched herself, but she refrained. Puns, not even once.

 

Diana stretched her fingers. She took a deep breath as the door of the hangar opened, and she piloed the Unicorn through its massive door into the cold darkness of Hielo. Nothing. That was it. Even if one could see beyond the darkness, this was a place of ice. Just that.

In a way, it was oddly comforting. No complications. No obstacles. No turns, no nothing. Just a straight line from point A to point B. It was hard to not feel a little fear as one looked around. Running out of energy here would be one of the worst possible ways to die, in Diana’s opinion. Frozen and alone in the vastness of a sunless planet. A sad, lonely death.

But enough thoughts about dying. The race would start in a short while, and she needed to get to the starting point as soon as possible.

“You ready?” Hannah asked. In the distance, the bright red line of the start was visible. There were no seats for spectators. Just a bunch of different ships from different planets. No living being would be crazy enough to step out of their ships here.

Diana wouldn’t have risked going out with her broom either, but then again, she was the pilot.

“Yes,” Diana said. “We’re gonna do this and we’re gonna do this right,” it was strange, really, how certain she was of that statement. She somehow lacked that nervousness previous to all races. That need to focus. She still had a drive to win, but…

She’d just found something better than winning, she supposed.

She fell into her position at the starting line. Nose to nose with everyone, she glanced to the sides. Most still had their lights on. To Diana’s right, the reptilians and their ring-like ship. To her left, the octopuses. In fact, Diana noticed the three ships with an engine were all standing on the right side of the formation. The armors, daemons, medusa and shapeshifter were to the left of the octopuses. Was this starting positioning a deliberate choice?

Just as Diana was wondering how the race would start – since no race lived here, who would apply their traditions to it? – a big ten appeared in front of all of them.

All lights went off. Only one thing remained. The ten.

“Good luck,” Diana received from Barbara. She nodded. Slowly, she started receiving the good wishes of everyone. Though, as it seemed to be normal, it was from everyone _but_ one girl, who maybe realized what she was doing, maybe not. Diana was surprised to hear even Sucy and Amanda among the ones speaking, though.

And, when the countdown hit three, Akko spoke. “Go get’em, Diana! I love you!”

Well, more like yelled.

Diana smiled. The race started. The Unicorn shot forward.

The race was a simple straight line that would take maybe five minutes to complete. In fact, everyone could make it out of the race without being disqualified as long as they didn’t move to the sides. That, of course, was being too optimistic. Just as Diana was thinking this, in fact, Hannah shot a laser. _Well she’s off to a strong start,_ Diana thought with a grimace. As far as she could tell, she’d fired at the reptilians for being too close. They were a little too eager, it seemed, to be disqualified.

And then Diana noticed that she didn’t know where three of the racers were. She didn’t panic – she’d dealt with the situation in the simulations – but she did prepare herself. The armors, funnily enough, had actually covered their weapons with some sort of cloth, since their glowing stones wasn’t something they could actually turn off. Some light still slipped through, but not nearly as much as, for example, the Unicorn’s engine.

“Shapeshifter, eight o’clock,” Hannah suddenly said. She probably had seen only the shadow of the black ship being illuminated by the magic fire of the engine, but they had learnt to be wary at all costs. There was no being too paranoid in this situation.

Diana risked a look backwards, but was unable to see what Hannah had.

What she did see, however, was the fires of the reptilian ship suddenly moving. In their direction. In a split second decision, Diana pressed nitro, shooting forward and avoiding collision. The reptilians kept their momentum, and instead of hitting Diana, they ended up hitting the octopuses. _That’s two of them disqualified,_ Diana thought, feeling safer.

Except, she wasn’t. The reptilians kept going after her. And now the octopuses joined.

“What are they doing?” Hannah asked, watching both ships increase their speed to try and catch up. In the glow of their engines Diana saw movement. There was a flash of light from the medusas as they attacked, and she saw the silhouette of the Blood Sailor moving quickly to dodge, but then everything went dark again.

“They’re disqualified now,” Diana realized. “But the rules still apply. If they hit us we’ll be disqualified too.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Hannah complained, and Diana was tempted to curse at them too.

But there was no time for that. Suddenly the Unicorn rocked and everything went dark. Well, _darker._ Diana was completely blinded. One of the smoke bombs. The shapeshifter smoke clung to thinks like if it was alive. It was really intriguing and Diana would have loved to study it if she didn’t currently find it so incredibly annoying. The smoke could last up to ten seconds.

“Left!” Hannah said suddenly. She must have noticed what Diana was going through. Without hesitation, Diana decided to jump with the Unicorn and the follow it with a barrel roll. Whatever was going on, she didn’t hit anything, so luckily she’d done good. “Behind!”

Diana did another barrel roll, then made sure to keep still so that Hannah could tell her what was going on. The smoke started to let up to show her that the octopuses were now ahead of her, their dozens of tiny fires around their pillar of a ship somewhat visible through the dark. “Right!”

Again, without stopping to think, Diana decided to drop down as low as possible. It seemed to work, because she saw a sudden flash of light go over her. That’d be the reptilian engine. And then, the shield suddenly popped up. Diana wondered why had Hannah done it until she realized a bunch of tiny projectiles hitting it. Each hit left a small dark spot that seemed to cling to the magic in the shield. It wasn’t usual for the shapeshifters to use simple projectiles like that.

Wait, the angle of the attacks came from the front right… _They’re ahead of us,_ Diana realized. She muttered a curse as another flash of powerful light signaled more lightning attacks from the medusa. The octopuses seemed to suddenly stop dead on their tracks, and Diana was barely able to jump and accelerate in a burs to get over them and not hit their ship. But right at that moment the reptilians attacked. She wasn’t going to be able to avoid them, and the shield wasn’t powerful enough to stop a full-on impact from another ship. This wasn’t the Shiny Rod.

And yet, Diana realized, she knew exactly what to do.

Maybe it was her years of training, but as she came down from the jump, she let go of the accelerator, letting only momentum carry her forward for a second as she turned the Unicorn around. Hannah attacked the Reptilian ship, hitting one of its sides with a full blown laser and forcing it to fly vertically as it approached them. With the sudden spin, the ring of the reptilians was aligned with the Unicorn, and as if through a hula hoop, the broom went right through it without touching it. Then Diana realigned her ship and pressed nitro to regain her lost seconds.

“That’s what I call teamwork motherfuckers!” Hannah celebrated, though she sounded angry.

The end was near, she could see the finish line in the distance. Did she have enough fuel to nitro her way forward? No, sadly.

Still, she made sure to go at her maximum normal speed. The laser left the reptilian ship unable to go forward, and the sudden stop of the octopuses left them where they wouldn’t be able to recover to chase Diana down. Wait, why were they making focus on the humans? The daemons were almost first too!

And speak of the devil, Diana saw a sudden trail of red creating at her side. _The Blood Sailor just used that skill to move forward,_ and now she had two rival ships ahead of her. Diana took a deep breath. She could do this, she could…

Armors suddenly got in her way. Diana noticed one of their giant balls no longer had a cloth, which meant they were probably disqualified.

Which meant they could now, too, join the ‘let’s disqualify the humans’ party. Since they’d already lost, they might as well try to take down another racer too.

The finish line was close now, and Diana could see the daemons firing at seemingly nothing. They had engaged with the shapeshifter. Red inferno flew in seemingly all directions as the shapeshifter moved around with its crazy maneuverability. Sometimes, Diana thought of it as more of a bird than an actual ship.

It was useless, anyways, as it was night impossible to hit the shapeshifter in the darkness.

Diana, however, had to keep moving. The armor attacked her in a constant manner. Not only did it use its weapons but also its main body, so Diana had to juggle between the three objects. When a ball came from the right, the other came from the left, and the main body of the armor’s ship would be waiting to see if she went up and down to try and hit her. Sometimes the balls tried to come from up and down, but then again, it was useless. Plus, with both of the weapons attacking, it was often hard to tell where the main body of the ship was unless it fell within range of the light. It was, in fact, a great strategy. And Hannah was reluctant to attack. Not because she was a coward, but because Diana was moving around so much that it was hard to aim at anything.

But then, Diana saw an opening. Small one, but she didn’t hesitate to take it. The finish was so close that she could taste it, and she pressed nitro. She kept it going, her fuel depleting fast, but now she _did_ have enough.

And ahead, she saw the daemons and the shapeshifter. Being this close to the area lit by the finish line, the silhouette of both black ships was in full display. Right at that moment, the daemons landed a hit, making the shapeshifter slow down. She could do it, she could beat them, she could…

She crossed the finish line. It took her a second to realize it. She’d been so focused on the daemons and shapeshifter that she didn’t even process that the big red holographic sign was not ahead anymore. She turned the nitro off.

And then went back to see the results.

Daemons, ten points. Shapeshifter, nine points.

Humans, eight points.

Diana blinked. Then, she took a deep breath, waiting for it. A stab of sadness, a burst of anger. Instead, what she felt was calm acceptance. She just hadn’t been good enough.

And that was fine. Because even if she failed, there was someone else she could place her trust on to win.

“FUCK THEM ALL!” Hannah, clearly, didn’t think the same. “That was so damn unfair! Everyone was out to get us! Screw them, we should ask for a rematch!”

“Hannah, I somehow doubt they’ll consider it cheating,” Diana said. She tried to sound calm, but she was surprised by the quiet anger of her voice. “We’re a theat. They tried to take us down. It’s what it is.”

Yet, the more she thought about it, the more Diana found that she wasn’t really ok with that. They could have been killed. If the Unicorn had received one of the hits from the armors, for example, they would’ve been done for. Break the broom and they’d be frozen in ten seconds flat.

But she couldn’t let that anger get to her. Because, in the end, she had still managed to come out on top.

“Let’s just get back,” Hannah said through probably gritted teeth. “I need to punch something.”

Diana did share the sentiment. She was a little surprised by the lack of talking through her communicator, but she suspected the others were waiting for them to come back to see their moods.

 

Croix took a sip of coffee as she scrambled around her things for the one she was looking for. It was important that she got it _now_ , least everything be ruined. It was even more important to her than the race that was about to start. The Noir Rod and the Shiny Rod could destroy each other as far as she cared, without this, life would lose meaning, without it, she might as well die- “There you are,” she said, feeling a rush of release as she picked her goggles and put them over her head.

When wearing her utilitarian work suit, not wearing her goggles was akin to being naked. She had to have them either on her head or hanging from her neck or she just didn’t feel fine. Now she was ready. She sat down on the only current desk that didn’t have any project on it and three roombas lined up to generate a big holographic screen depicting the race. Not only did she have the big point of view overlooking everyone, but on the corners she was also focusing on the Shiny and Noir Rods ones. She took another sip of coffee. She was going to need the caffeine later.

The race was about to start. Hielo was a boring planet to watch a race on. In fact, Croix looked at the little tablet next to her. The ratings were the worst they had been. Truth was, the seventh and eighth races usually were bad in ratings, so that’s why Hielo had been chosen to be the seventh planet. The eighth one, though, that one was a little more interesting… But it didn’t matter, not right now.

The race started. The lineup had been the same, essentially, as in the previous race. This time, however, the daemons had been placed in the exact center of the formation. The Noir Rod flared with light as the ships moved, and the same went for the Shiny Rod. Their massive escapes and engines were easily the brightest things around. The Shapeshifter didn’t even bother trying to go behind them, as the light was enough to make it visible. Instead, it remained strictly on the sides or ahead.

The Noir Rod started to glow. Croix knew this would be coming. The Shiny Rod had begun dodging as the reptilians tried to take them out by hitting. They no longer had any hope of winning the race, so it seemed like now they wanted to take out at least one of the winners. It didn’t really help them. Atsuko Kagari had grown immensely as a pilot, and she moved around dodging like a pro.

The Noir Rod finally stopped glowing. Nothing changed. Stupid Horn. As always, he didn’t do as she asked. What he’d just done was dangerous. One bad movement, or grow overconfident, and the whole thing would just be ruined. Hopefully Greed would be able to deal with things if Horn failed.

Sometimes, Croix still wondered if Horn was the right pick for the Noir Rod. He had determination and was definitely more emotional than most daemons she’d seen. If you knew how to read daemon body language, he truly wore his emotions like a coat.

Then again, he was a great pilot too. Not better than Deep Darkness, but he was far more compatible with the Noir Rod.

Croix watched as the Noir Rod seamlessly started dodging every attack thrown is way, almost as if able to see them coming. Almost as if it was predicting the future.

In a way, it was.

 

Horn, with his brain – on his lower back – connected directly to the Noir Rod, felt alive. To him, challenge was everything. His vision moved around the ship, his soul itself – or that’s how he liked to see it – controlling the ship at will. The new ability that the daemon ships had was almost incomprehensible to him. Croix had spoken about probability and stuff, but as far as he knew, he could stare into the future. His real eyes focused on the point directly in front of him, where the Noir Rod was projecting the images of the future. The Noir Rod had become the ultimate observer. Whoever entered the radius of its sensors would be subject to it. The ship would predict its path and, for the minute that Horn had been using it already, it hadn’t failed once. If the projection showed him the shapeshifters about to land a hit on him, he moved out of the way. If the projection showed him anything, he’d believe it.

A lightning was coming. He slowed down, and even before the medusa let out that little spark it always did before attacking, he had already dodged. The light didn’t blind him. Unlike other races, such as humans or appali, daemon eyes weren’t weak to light. If something was too bright, his eyes would just process out most of that extra light to get rid of it.

He moved his consciousness around the ship. It was strange, how deeply he could feel every bolt, every circuit. When the Noir Rod received damage, _he_ received damage.

Horn wasn’t about to let himself be damaged. Not with how he was now. Never again. This race was his. The grand prize was for his people to take. With it, maybe he would finally be allowed to have a son. He didn’t really _want_ one – which was the reason he hadn’t been allowed to have it, but he just wanted those around him to stop bothering him. He’d have a son and then focus fully on his flying.

Because he knew, deep down in his head, that he _would_ become the best pilot of the universe. He’d be a legend. He’d be so good that his father would have to link his hands before him. He had been extremely disappointed when Horn had decided to run away from his challenge to become a cook. But cooking wasn’t for Horn. No, that was for fancy elegant daemons who thought they were better than others for no reason.

Horn _was_ better than others, and he’d show it by becoming the most powerful daemon in Erebus.  

Now, however, he’d focus on winning this race.

He saw what was about to happen. The Shapeshifter would manage to hit the octopuses. They would lose control of their ship, and then they would direct themselves at him. If he didn’t change directions, he’d be hit.

So, even before the shapeshifter shot, he had already gone up.

The octopus ship, with its dozen shield-holding arms moving around wildly, passed under him, having gone crazy.

It ran directly into the medusa’s bubble. The medusa dropped all intentions of moving forward and instantly shot to the side. The octopuses had touched the bubble, but at least it hadn’t burst. Having the bubble burst here would be nuts.

Horn didn’t care much about it anyways.

He moved forward. His gunman sometimes attacked those who got to close, but Horn could see that too. And, with the reptilians helping him out, trying to take out the humans, the only weakness of the Noir Rod, he trusted he was going to do just fine.

Accelerating, he finally saw the final line approaching. Five racers remained on this particular race. The shapeshifter was being really cocky, but at this point Horn didn’t care. He saw in the future that a smoke bomb was going to hit him. He dodged the soon-to-come attack and of course avoided it. The thing about being the ultimate observer was that things, for you, were set in stone. As long as he kept the Shiny Rod out of the Noir Rod’s range, he would be perfectly fine.

He dodged more attacks from the shapeshifter, and even some from the armors, who were flying in technically the middle of the party. Armors. Those were lower than eyeless bastards. Useless, on the verge of greatness but unable to reach it. Most other races were either _good_ – Humans, Daemons, Shapeshifters, Medusas – or _bad_ – everyone else. The Armors, though, they were on the middle. Usually a threat, they had taken part in most IPRs. But they were also never good enough to actually end up in the first places. The other planets, they really fought to see who could end up _higher._ Unlike the big four, they didn’t really aim for the top spot. Armors, though, they tried but failed. To a daemon, that was one of the most shameful things to suffer. To try and fail was a waste of limited time. Life was short. Life was all about making the most of it. To try something and to fail at it meant that you had wasted who knows how much amount of time in something ultimately useless.

It was one of the reasons not many daemons dared participate in these kinds of competitions. To win against strong opponents was to fulfill his purpose. However, if Horn didn’t win the race, he’d be shamed for the years wasted in his training. There would be no second chance. Daemons didn’t do seconds.

Horn, at least, was sure of his victory.

That was when the Shiny Rod got inside the Noir’s range.

Intantly, the Noir Rod’s ability stopped working. The Shiny Rod was even more powerful. It was the best observer. _It_ defined the reality around them, now.

Horn ran his tongue through his layers of teeth in frustration. He relaxed his hands to try and keep his focus on the race, and then started piloting like usual. After flying while being able to see the future, normal flying felt dull. He had trained for a long time though, so it wasn’t as if a few minutes of novelty would take away his instincts and habits.

Both the medusa and the octopuses stayed behind. Maybe they decided to go back to their ships. The octopuses were now out of the race entirely, as they’d been disqualified in both categories. Horn didn’t care. The only ones he wanted out of the race were the humans. The Shiny Rod kept drawing closer. Horn dodged as the armors kept attacking both him and the reptilians, though the Shiny Rod was clearly having trouble to keep up with everything. Too bad, though, that the reptilians had been unable to get Diana Cavendish disqualified.

Now they were definitely tamer, though. Even if drawn in by his promises, they didn’t really want to be disqualified from the race. Even if they managed to get the Shiny Rod out now, they would only ultimately get themselves out of the race.

They were now closer to the finish line. Horn felt little shocks of electricity run through his body in excitement, his pulsing blood strengthening. Yes, he could see it now, the shapeshifter. Now knowing where it was, he could risk doing what he wanted, using the burst of energy the Noir Rod would allow him.

So his ship started to glow. It was technically not a light, so it wouldn’t get him disqualified. He had of course discussed this with Croix. He could do it. He could-

He was hit. The thing about the Noir Rod’s abilities were that they needed some charge time. It was often but a second, but in that second, everything could go wrong. What had hit him? He felt the pain, a stab on his side. It burnt. Magic. That had been Magic. Anger filled him, making his muscles tense and relax in rhythm with his pumping blood. Stupid humans. If the Shiny Rod wasn’t so close he’d seen that coming. Worst part was, he could tell that he hadn’t even been hit on purpose. The Shiny Rod had been aiming at the reptilians with their stupid double-ringed ship.

And the finish line was right there. Without the burst of energy and everyone going at their maximums, he realized he wasn’t going to make it. The shapeshifters, however, didn’t have the cooldown that he did. In a split second they shot forward, leaving a small trail of smoke behind them.

Of course, the humans followed. While Horn tried his best to follow too, he was too late, and his burst of speed came half a second after the Shiny Rod’s.

The shapeshifters had won. His anger grew and with it he was slowly tensing more, his back getting straighter, his moments of relaxation shortening.

And then he just let go of his anger, shutting down his emotions. His blood went back to normal, his muscles became just the right amount of tensed, and he allowed himself to be flushed with determination. He raised a little his lower back, he brought up his chin. And then he let out a small screech that signaled that he admitted his loss, though he’d never let it out in public.

Now the humans were one point above them _again._ He could deal with that. There were still three more races to go. One point was nothing in face of what was to come.

Nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of batch! Short one this time, eh? Hope you don't mind.   
> Don't forget to comment and stuff.  
> Thanks for reading!


	117. Chapter 117

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New batch! Sorry, this one kind of got delayed for several factors - me taking a day and a half of break, then having to rewrite about half a chapter (which is another day worth of writing for me) - but here we are, back a it.  
> Don't forget to comment and shut like that.  
> Hope you enjoy.

“You can’t still be angry,” Amanda said, eyeing Hannah and her white bikini as they walked to Silver Deck. Amanda had suggested it, since Hannah liked swimming.

“Everyone was out to get us!” Hannah said. “You don’t remember it, but Akko also had it rough! What was up with the reptilians, anyways? Did they _want_ to be completely disqualified? Their way of competing is so fucking weird. They did something similar back in Trashcan, too, when they essentially sabotaged themselves only to bring Akko down.”

Amanda herself was wearing her black bikini. The setup reminded her of the night she’d confessed. She smiled, remembering it. Such a stupid way of confessing. _Ok,_ she thought, kind of happy because even though they had technically lost both races they were still top on the leaderboards, _mission: Get an underwater kiss._

She’d go for more, but in a public place that was probably not a good idea.

“They probably were like ‘If we gonna die you gonna come down with us’ or something. You know, since there’s literally no other way for them to win the race,” Amanda explained.

Hannah snorted. “Don’t care. Cowards, that’s what they are. They should try to win, not to make others lose.”

Amanda smiled, not saying more, finding how annoyed Hannah was to be cute.

They reached Silver Deck and went to the designated meeting point. Constanze and Jasminka were already swimming in one of the bigger pools – today Silver Deck was kind of empty, probably because Hielo was a frozen hell and people weren’t exactly in the mood for some summer-like fun – joined by Sucy, sitting on the edge, feet under the water.

“Ah, yes, the first couple is here,” Sucy said. “Wasn’t this _your_ idea? One would think you’d arrive first.”

“I had to convince Hannah that it was ok to use the same swimsuit as last time,” Amanda said. Hannah crossed her arms, shrugging. “Don’t be like that, no-one cares if you wear the same one twice.”

“I do,” Hannah said.

“Well you’re an idiot,” Amanda said. Hannah turned around, clearly offended, but Amanda didn’t wait to be scolded and jumped into the pool. The last time she’d swam… It had been at Poseidon. The water there did definitely feel different. Normal water just felt better. Slowly, Amanda let herself float up. She closed her eyes to the enjoyable warmth of the hot lamps above and-

Water splashed on her face.

She stopped floating, glancing to the side, where Hannah pretended to be innocent. She splashed in her direction, returning the favor.

“Hey!” Hannah said.

“You did it first,” Amanda shrugged.

“You called me an idiot!” Hannah used both hands to throw a good amount of water in Amanda’s direction.

Amanda was about to counterattack when a stanbot surged out of the water between them. _Oh sh-_ she wasn’t even able to finish thinking before its head started spinning like crazy, throwing insane amounts of water at both of their faces. Amanda sank and swam towards Constanze, who as always, wore her floater. She came out of the water and spit water at the mechanic, who shielded her face with a hand. “That’s cheating, you little ass,” Amanda complained. Constanze shrugged.

Hannah came out behind Amanda and clung to her back. “Hey, that was cheating!” She complained to Constanze, who again shrugged.

Amanda sighed, shaking her head to get some of the water off. “Stop hitting my face,” Hannah complained from behind her. Amanda shook it one last time for good measure and turned as she saw another couple of people arrive. Akko and Diana. They walked hand in hand, and while Diana looked like a model in her black single-piece, Akko looked more like a normal teenager with her frilly red bikini.

“Hello,” Akko said, raising a hand.

“I kind of fail to see the point of this,” Diana said. “Neither of us really won. We’re still first in the leaderboard but our victory was shal-” she got cut off as Amanda slapped the water with enough strength to send it up to her face. Diana blinked in surprise, seeming outraged.

Akko laughed.

“Come on, let’s swim!” the brunette said, diving into the pool. Wasn’t diving against the rules? Like Amanda cared, anyways.

Diana rolled her eyes, but followed and threw herself into the pool like a cannonball, splashing everyone. She came out, and it was interesting how her hair managed to remain slightly wavy even when wet. Now _that_ was magic.

“Why are you looking at her, huh?” Hannah suddenly forced her to turn around. “Wouldn’t you rather look at me?”

She was clearly joking, but the blush covering her cheeks at the faked attitude was so damn adorable that Amanda couldn’t help but lean down to kiss her. _Not underwater,_ she thought. Still worth it.

“God, you sicken me,” Sucy complained.

Amanda glared at her. Still, Sucy didn’t seem particularly angry. She was clearly just exaggerating her reaction. Whatever the reason for it, Amanda didn’t really care for it.

Akko and Diana had begun a little war of their own on the water, throwing water at each other and laughing. Amanda had to admit, when Diana was laughing and not being a stoic stuck-up bitch, she kind of looked like a normal person.

And a few seconds after, two people suddenly jumped in the middle of the entire group. The wave they generated ended up soaking even Sucy, who now growled.

Lotte and Barbara came out of the water a few seconds after, smiling. “It’s a little cold, isn’t it?” Lotte asked to no-one in particular. She wasn’t wearing glasses. Could she see? “I thought they’d put it on a more neutral temperature, you know, since the planet outside is freezing.”

“It probably wasn’t worth it,” Sucy said as she tried to dry herself. “We’ll be here for just a day. Space, really, is way colder than Hielo.”

Lotte paused. “Right. But it doesn’t really feel like it, you know? Looking outside the dragon and knowing there’s a frozen planet outside makes you feel colder than just being in the emptiness of space.”

Sucy sighed and shrugged.

Then, Amanda was tackled. She yelped.

She was suddenly underwater, struggling with Hannah, who had suddenly grabbed her knees and yanked her under the water. Amanda tried to free herself, but Hannah suddenly moved up and grabbed Amanda by the waist, sticking her face to her stomach. Amanda tried not to laugh and let her air out as she spun around, and a few seconds later, both the girls were out of the water. “What was that for?!” Amanda said, though she wasn’t angry.

“I just felt like doing it,” Hannah said, shrugging. Her hair stuck to the front of her face, so she threw her head backwards, making her hair flare and throw water around as it moved.

Amanda smiled and moved closer. She decided now would be as good a moment as any, so she extended her hands to try and push Hannah down.

Hannah, moving fast, suddenly jumped away. “Hey, come here!” Amanda said.

Hannah had a playful smile on her face. “Try to catch me!” she said as she swam away.

 _You’re on,_ Amanda thought with a smirk. She instantly dropped under the water and gave chase. She through she’d heard someone above the water calling for them to stop doing stupid things, but she didn’t really care. Hannah, in her white bikini, moved ahead and _fast._ Amanda chased her down, swimming around people – some of who acted annoyed, screw them – and shifting between going over and under the water. _Damn she’s fast,_ Amanda couldn’t help but think. She considered herself a good swimmer, but Hannah was definitely more skilled.

They eventually went through one of the small canals connecting the different pools. Amanda couldn’t help but stare at Hannah’s ass as they swam. It was really hard not to, when she was pursuing. She was totally justified.

Then, at some point, Hannah did a bad turn. She suddenly found herself without an exit, so Amanda came from behind, ready to finally take her. In a rush, Amanda threw herself against the auburn-haired gunman, ready to pin her down in the water and steal a kiss.

However, Hannah suddenly turned. She grabbed Amanda’s hands with her own, and in a surprising twist, Amanda found herself to be the one being pinned down.

Hannah was smiling as a few bubbles escaped through her mouth and nose, and then she leaned and stole a kiss from Amanda.

It was more of a peck, and when both of them opened their mouths in a rush of bubbles, Amanda got a mouthful of water inside. The feel of Hannah’s wet lips against hers was somehow familiar yet completely new, and while it was obviously a clumsy kiss, it was totally worth it.

Amanda would have loved to keep going, if not for the fact that Hannah started laughing and had to go out of the water. Following her, she surfaced to the laughs of her girlfriend.

“Feeling better?” Amanda asked, smiling too. “That was fun.”

Hannah nodded, looking at her. They were drawing looks from the people around them. Hanna didn’t notice or didn’t care. Amanda, of course, couldn’t have cared less. Hannah swam closer. Their feet didn’t touch the ground here, so both of them were rocking slightly as they stayed afloat. “Yes, it was…” Hannah kept drawing closer.

She had this look to her. Unusual, but one that implied that she was really dropping all pretense and just wanted to have fun. And it was, without a doubt, incredibly alluring.

“Wanna see if we can keep water from getting into our mouths?” Amanda suggested.

Hannah smiled. “You read my mind.”

 

“Well, that would be all, miss Callistis,” Captain Kannazuki said. The bald old man spoke in a curt voice, and Ursula always got the distinct impression that he didn’t like her. It was impossible for him to know who she really was, right? Yet when he spoke to others he seemed to be in such a better mood. Ursula sighed, nodding once in respect to the other members of the directive group of the human IPR committee and planetary alliance, and then turned around. She exited the conference room and stretched, feeling incredibly inadequate. Why did it always seem that whenever she had one of these meetings she lost an entire day? The _Dragon_ would be taking off soon, and with soon she meant in about half an hour, and she _really_ needed to sleep. She was so tired after the day’s events. At least they were still firsts on the race, which was something.

Determined to go to her room and take a nap, she was surprised to turn around and see a purple-haired figure with a long red cape and stupid clothes. “Oh, hey Croix. Waiting to get in?” Ursula asked, smiling kindly.

Croix shook her head. “I wan…” she shook her head. “I came to see you. Wanna talk for a moment?”

Ursula nodded, walking up to Croix. The difference between her many layers of clothes and Ursula’s plain purple g-suit was making Ursula kind of self-conscious. Not of herself, but of how stupid Croix really looked.

“Why are you wearing that?” She finally asked. The _real_ question.

“Because it looks cool,” Croix said.

“I mean, if you’re a teenager…” Ursula was finding it kind of hard to believe that Croix, a grown adult, would actually think that.

Croix looked at her with a smirk. “Sorry, Ursula, I feel like I’m in a good enough position in life to prove that I’m not exactly a bad decision maker,” she spoke with that condescending tone she had used often during the first times they spoke.

Ursula rolled her eyes. “You used to prefer simple clothes,” she recalled. “What changed?”

“Fashion.”

“I am one hundred percent certain there is no fashion in the entire world that would approve of the way you look,” Ursula declared.

Croix kept smirking. “That’s because, you see, I _set_ the fashion,” Croix explained. “I’m the head of the Inter Planetary race, Ursula. I’m still kind of new to it, but soon people will look up to me and try to imitate me. I _will_ set trends.”

“Kind of cocky, aren’t we?” Ursula asked. They were walking through the corridors, though Ursula wasn’t sure of where Croix was taking her.

“I feel like I’ve the right to be,” Croix said. Then, her smirk dropped, and she got a serious look on her eyes. “So, how are you feeling?”

Ursula paused. “Uhm, fine, thank you,” why was Croix asking after her? “How about you?”

“I’m kind of worried,” Croix admitted. “Your students could have really died if anything went wrong in that race, you know. And that’s not going to change going forward.”

“You do know we have the Shiny Rod, right? We also discovered some useful tricks with it,” Ursula hinted.

Croix raised an eyebrow. “Really, now? Another word?”

Ursula shook her head. “Classified information,” she said with a smile.

“It has to do with that hose, doesn’t it?” Croix said. Ursula started, and Croix nodded. “Yeah, I’m not sure what it is, but I guess it has something to do with the sharing of energy.”

“I hate you right now,” Ursula said in a playful tone.

Croix stopped suddenly. Ursula wondered if it was because of the joke, maybe she’d taken it seriously or hadn’t liked it. However, she didn’t seem angry or sad. Just… Worried. “Have you realized that she’s just two words away from removing all limitations on the Rod?”

Ursula nodded, though softly. She didn’t really want to talk about _that._ She had the feeling talking about the Rod was kind of… dangerous. Even now, Croix’s eyes seemed to grow slightly distant.

“It’s unlikely she’ll find the remaining ones soon,” Ursula said.

Croix shook her head. “I’m not so certain, really, but… Well, we’ll have to wait and see,” she started moving again. “If she manages to do it, then maybe…” she trailed off. She got that distant look again. Ursula wondered if what she was thinking was good or bad. With Croix, telling was nigh impossible.

“So, what was it that you wanted to tell me, really?” Ursula asked, trying to draw her back into the conversation.

Croix sighed. “Mostly a repeat of the last time. You can still drop off. Do so while you haven’t had any of your students hurt.”

Ursula shook her head. “Thanks for the thought, but we’ll manage.”

With a hand to the shoulder, Croix stopped Ursula again. “I’m serious, Chariot,” she said, turning Ursula around and meeting her eyes. “The three planets to come, each one will be more dangerous than the last.”

“And yet you will not tell me why,” Ursula sighed. “I can’t really prepare for things I don’t know,” she tried to leave the spike of anger out of her voice. She did understand Croix’s position. It was more than about breaking the rules, it was about fairness.

“I…” Croix took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “Look, we didn’t contact each other for ten years. Because of what I did, because of how you took it,” Ursula was a little surprised that Croix decided to go there. “But I need you to understand that…” she paused. “I...” again, she breathed in and out. “I still _care_ , ok? I never stopped caring. I just believe that there are things in this world more important than one’s feelings.”

It was impossible not to notice the intensity in Croix’s eyes. But was it because of Ursula or because of something beyond? “I still can’t do it, Croix,” Ursula shook her head. “Not only my higher ups wouldn’t let me, I’m not sure my students would allow me.”

Croix let go of her shoulder. “Ok, I get it,” she said reluctantly. Then closing her eyes and straightening, she began walking again. Her whole demeanor seemed to tell Ursula to not follow. “But you _will_ come out of this hurt, Chariot. And I won’t apologize for doing the right thing.”

She turned a corner, and she was gone. Ursula stood there, thinking. A tempest of emotions raged within her, from fear to joy. _She cares,_ was the dominant thought. And yet, what she said sounded so ominous. What was she planning, what was her goal? Ursula would probably not find out until the very end.

 

“I wonder what the next command of the Shiny Rod will be,” Akko said as she prepared to go to sleep. After the race and then swimming, she was so tired that she was certain she’d sleep for twelve hours.

“You shouldn’t worry too much,” Diana said.

“I think Ursula knows what the commands are,” Akko said. She was sure Ursula knew more than she let on, but maybe she didn’t say more because it was dangerous or something. “Maybe she’ll tell me if I ask nicely enough.”

Diana pressed her lips. “Maybe it’s because the Shiny Rod isn’t a big fan of you getting ahead of yourself. You know, like yesterday.”

Akko nodded, but didn’t say much more. Seven commands. She already had five. Only two more to reveal all the mysteries of the Shiny Rod. Had Chariot unlocked them, ever? What if she had disappeared because of that?

“What brought this on?” Diana asked as Akko started to cuddle next to her.

“Well, I technically won the past two races thanks to commands,” Akko explained. Diana was about to object, but Akko put a finger on her mouth. “It’s fine, I can accept it. Doesn’t mean I didn’t do my best to win on my own,” she quickly explained, making sure Diana didn’t get the wrong idea. “And I was wondering if maybe the next command can help us. The first one allows me to teleport – which is cool – and the second gives me that axe thing and it’s pretty useful, I think, but only in specific situations. The third one is a hook, not very useful – though it did let me save you, so of course I’m thankful for it,” Akko quieted for a moment while Diana kissed her forehead lovingly, “and then the fourth one is powerful but kind of a last-resort thing, plus if I used it in any race I’d probably get disqualified. And then the fifth one, which seems to be perfect for races, but we can only use it together, I think.”

“So, I guess the point is, I wonder if the next command would be more or less helpful. I _know_ I’m missing the one that allows the Shiny Rod to use the Shiny Arc. That’d also be helpful. Chariot won three races with it, one in her seventh IPR race, one in her third one and one during the qualifier tournament. The speed it gives is amazing and since it leaves only the cockpit it’s essentially impossible to stop.”

“But you can only use it in specific occasions. Once you shoot the cockpit the race is over for you,” Diana pointed out.

Akko nodded, snuggling into Diana’s chest, allowing her warmth to cover her entire body. “But it would’ve been helpful last race. If I’d used that and the nitro, I probably would’ve been able to get ahead of the shapeshifter.”

“Don’t beat yourself over it,” Diana said. “The shapeshifters aren’t our priority. It’s extremely unlikely they’ll manage to get ahead of us with points alone in the remaining three races. What we need to deal with is the daemons,” Diana said. She had been so calm when she had lost before. She had smiled at Akko and told her she could do it. Akko had managed to keep them on top of the board, but even then she’d kind of felt like she’d failed.

Still, having Diana next to her, hugging each other, sleeping together, it all seemed to make her troubles disappear. She yawned. “I know. Still, I should ask Ursula how to get the next command. Maybe it’ll help.”

“Well, you can try,” Diana said, squeezing her. Akko returned the gesture. “But now you should probably sleep…” Diana sounded as tired as Akko felt, and it made sense. Both had been really active today.

Akko nodded softly. She was slightly aware of the fact that she and Diana were falling asleep at almost the same time as she slowly fell asleep. It was, in her opinion, one of the best feelings there was.

 

“I still care,” Croix said the words, as if tasting them, as she looked over the readings of the Noir Rod. Horn was practicing right now, as he almost always did. The Blood Sailor was practicing too, but not with the Ultimate Observer ability on. Croix had racked her brains to see if she could somehow place it above the Shiny Rod somehow, but even in its limited state the white broom was just too damn overpowered.

“I. Still. Care,” she repeated after eating some more of the instant ramen she had in front of her. Why was she so hung up on the words? She had been about to say something much worse, anyways. She almost said she still liked Chariot. Now _that_ would have earned her a slap, probably. Just ‘caring’ felt simpler, yet somehow she felt like she should have gone all the way. Better to get things done fast and efficiently.

But she was hesitant. Saying ‘like’ was implying much. Too much. And she couldn’t do that. Not to herself, and not to Chariot. Because Croix wasn’t blind. Or dense. She could tell, Chariot still liked her too. She shouldn’t. She really shouldn’t, but she did. And that was a problem, kind of. The kind of problem Croix couldn’t solve, as she was essentially clueless as to _why_ Chariot would still feel anything for her. Because of the help she had intended to provide her students? Yeah, no.

Croix could measure feelings in humans and daemons. She could analyze them, try to figure out how they resonated with ships and advanced AIs. What she couldn’t do was know what created them or why they had such power over one’s actions. More and more, Croix felt herself slipping back into the past. Where she and Chariot were a couple, were days were simple and the future unfathomable.

Nowadays, all Croix could think about was about how little time she actually seemed to have. What were a couple hundred centuries to an eternity? Less than a blink.

“I still care,” she tried another intonation. She didn’t seem to get it right. How exactly had she been feeling when she said it? She had wanted to push Chariot against the wall and kiss her. Damn it, she had known from the start that Chariot would make a mess of her, but she was really starting to get overwhelmed.

She had a choice. Go on with the charade, pretend she wasn’t going to end up making Chariot hate her, and enjoy some time together as friends.

Or be an adult.

She pressed a button on the panel in front of her and a roomba came. “Follow me around. Warn me if Chariot is nearby,” she ordered to the flying disk. It beeped to show its understanding and then it stayed there, floating. Croix was used to having one of those follow her, so it wasn’t too annoying. It could be annoying for others, though, she had to have in mind.

Whenever Chariot was near, she’d run away. It wasn’t as if they would run into each other, anyways. Their current set of rooms was actually near the main bridge, but this trip would be short and Croix didn’t have any meeting scheduled during it.

Croix sighed. Just two days to prepare for the coming race. The rules, of course, were already settled. Would they actually come out of this one? The other high directives of the IPR referred to it as ‘the dangerous race’. All of them were, but this one…

Well, the Shiny Rod should be fine. Hopefully nothing too bad would happen to the Unicorn, though.

 

“You can’t be serious,” Diana said. She sounded shocked. “This _has_ to be a mistake. This place is so dangerous that our explorers don’t even bother going down!”

It has strange to see such bursts of emotion from Diana, but Ursula couldn’t blame her. The Shiny Rod had just predicted their trajectory for the short three-day trip. “It’s not a mistake,” Ursula said. “I guess it’s true, then. Things are only going to get more dangerous from here on out.”

“I don’t get it,” Akko said. As always, she was oblivious. “What’s the problem with this… TDE place? Why’s it TDE, anyways?”

“Too Dangerous to Explore,” Diana said. “It’s a placeholder name that kind of stuck to it. It’s a hostile world where plants are like predators, where predators hunt predators and where those predators are the food of other predators. The planet has ten times Earth’s gravity and it’s got a strange situation of being in the middle of two different stars orbiting each other, but it’s so dense that the stars haven’t ripped it apart. All life in the planet is also extremely dense, and it has been theorized that the bones for some of its animals are probably as hard as diamond, with their skins being essentially impenetrable by human standards. The planet’s got a surplus of _arsenic_ in its waters, and the air has _sulfuric dioxide,”_ she spoke all the while still sounding like she didn’t believe it. “Some animals in the planet are giants ten meters high, and that’s only what we’ve seen with our explorers. Thing is, none of them ever last long. Most plants in the planet react to movement and end up crushing them. And if you try to send down drones, they get shot down by the different kinds of flying creatures around.”

“And we’re gonna go _there?_ ” Hannah joined in on the outrage. “My god, those things could rip apart our ships, right?”

“Yes,” Ursula said. “But I’m sure the planetary alliance wouldn’t just allow us to go there unprotected. They probably set an area without danger for the race or…” _Or Croix tried to warn me and I underestimated what ‘dangerous’ actually meant. I expected more planets like Hielo, not outright hostile environments._ “I fear what the rules for this race might be. We get to practicing, we keep up the schedule, and we learn to deal with the planet as we go.”

Akko nodded with determination, but Ursula could tell she was nervous by the way she gripped the joysticks. It was kind of hard to imagine her actually scared, but if even Diana was so, then Akko must be taking it seriously.

“Will the Shiny Rod be able to recreate the environment correctly?” Diana asked. “Everything in the planet is so different…”

“Yes, it should be able to,” Ursula said. “But we should give it a go. Akko?”

Akko nodded. “Alcor, simulate the TDE environment,” she said with an ounce of nervousness.

The hangar disappeared and the world shifted.

The first thing to appear was grass. Red grass. Grass that didn’t ripple with the wind, as it stuck out of the ground like needles. Straight, pointy, it didn’t grow taller than a finger, and every blade grew maybe a centimeter apart from each other, though there were strange places where they grew closer. Then the underbrush, with a variety of plants ranging from white to red in color, passing through all shades of pink and some even orange. Pastel-colored vines crawled through the ground in between the needles of grass, and things that grew taller had either red or orange stalks with bone-white thorns all over them. Some things had leaves – all of them ridged in sharp looking formations – usually on the softer side of the pink colors, while some others seemed to have their tips encapsulated in strange fruits that made them kind of look like lollipops. Other plants had longer, wavier leaves that seemed to whip at each other, and those were definitely dangerous, as Ursula watched one of them cut a small black dot that she assumed was an insect in half.

Then the trees. Their bark was, surprisingly enough, yellow. Some were bright, others not so much, but it was the predominant color. Some orange too, but it came from the younger trees. The most surprising part was that most of them lacked any kind of branch. Just straight poles that sprouted a bunch of long bat-looking red leaves that inexplicably grew wider the further they got from the tree. The leaves could bend and twist, almost like tentacles, and different trees sometimes started fighting each other with those. Ursula didn’t want to imagine what being hit by one of those would feel like.

Those, of course, were the ones in the area. This, in general, was just the flora of _one_ area. The underbrush grew maybe as tall as Ursula, with the trees growing up to maybe twenty meters at best, though most of it stayed at around eight to twelve meters. The higher trees had longer and stronger-looking leaves, and Ursula suspected why that was.

And, right on cue, animals began appearing.

“What the hell is _that?_ ” Akko asked, pointing at something moving in a tree. Ursula looked at it. It was maybe as big as a small dog and flat looking, blue skin striped with red. It had four spindly legs that moved between the thorns without actually touching any, and while it seemed to move lethargically, it had a tail twice as long as its body that moved with the speed of lightning as it grabbed one of the long-whipping leaves from the plant it was resting on and shoved it in its mouth, which opened to the sides rather than up and down like a human’s. If it needed to chew, it didn’t show it.

Another animal appeared on the ground, this one being a light green. It had six legs that seemed to have four joints each, and it moved stepping _on_ the needles of grass, never touching the ground. It was clear it was trying to avoid the vines crawling down there. It was maybe as big as a human head and it moved quickly. It was surprisingly precise with each step. Its reflexes must have been pretty damn good.

But that was just the beginning. For such a hostile environment, dozens of creatures started appearing. While at first the Rod generated the smaller ones, soon it began creating the ones that had driven away explorers in the first place. Many-limbed creatures as big as the Shiny Rod that stomped on the needles of grass and passed through the thorn-ridden underbrush as if it was nothing. Spindly animals that jumped from tree to tree with long, anti-natural looking arms that held leathery membranes, like flying squirrels. However, those leathery membranes seemed to ooze some kind of liquid that made other creatures nearby shake their heads – if they even had one – and move away. A feline-looking creature walked through the forest, as tall as the Shiny Rod when floating, though it held no fur and its skin seemed to be made of brown armored osteoderms. It even had three rows of ridges on its back, like a crocodile. It had four legs that seemed to hold two knees each, with big hoof-like feet that stomped the ground without a worry. It’s head looked too big for its body, and its long, sharp face held a slim snout that upon opening showed sharp black teeth that seemed capable of crushing anything. It looked around with two pairs of eyes, on the front and sides of its head. Since the simulation wasn’t quite done it didn’t notice the Shiny Rod.

Of course, then the big one appeared. An animal that was probably fifteen meters high suddenly stepped around them. It had eight powerful, thick legs that somehow managed to traverse the forest without destroying many trees. It completely ignored the hits of the trees trying to bring it down, the whips of the plants and the vines trying to trap it. Other animals ran away from it, and Ursula couldn’t actually see anything but its belly, which showed grey scales and little else.

“Is that a fucking dinosaur?” Hannah asked in awe.

“I… maybe,” Diana said, sounding just as awed.

Ursula looked at the floor where the giant thing had stepped over the grass needles. The things had been nailed into the ground, but they slowly began popping up again. It was clear the ground wasn’t exactly soil. No animal left prints in it. It didn’t look like stone, though. It had the grainy feel of dirt to it. Maybe that’s what it was, just really compact dirt.

“This place looks like an edgy teen’s dream,” Amanda said.

“I doubt an edgy teen would like to live here, but that’s beside the point. Is it ok to kill animals during a race? Because if one of those things attacks us I don’t really want to know how strong their bones are,” Hannah said, grimacing.

Ursula didn’t exactly like the idea of killing animals or even plants, though she could understand the sentiment. If it was about survival you don’t really have the privilege to choose whether you’re ok with it or not.

“Let’s practice a few races,” Ursula said, starting to really consider the possibility of dropping out of the race.

She’d see how things went and decide.


	118. Chapter 118

“Crococats,” Akko suggested.

“I’d say they look more like horses. Crocohorse?” Amanda counter-suggested.

“They’re clearly feline, though,” Hannah said.

“They’re ‘clearly’ nothing, they’re fucking aliens,” Amanda complained. “And if we’re going with ‘clearly’ they’re more crocodile-like than anything else. Maybe we should call them super crocodiles.”

Diana shook her head. The four of them had taken a break from training – TDE was a fascinating planet, but one Diana wasn’t really looking forward to visit – and were now drinking water and waiting for Ursula to come back from the bathroom. “Crococat sounds better though,” Akko said.

“We’re _not_ calling them Crococats, it sounds stupid,” Amanda said.

“I agree,” Hannah shook her head. “What is the scientific name of crocodiles?”

Everyone looked at Diana. “Uhm… Crocodylus, I think?” She tried to remember. “Though, if it helps, I believe the creature looks more like a gharial than a crocodile.”

The three of them looked at her.

“I’ve no idea what that is,” Amanda said. It was clear by their looks that Hannah and Akko didn’t either.

“They’re also called fish-eating crocodiles. They’re similar, their snouts are just thinner and I’d argue they look meaner.”

The others nodded and restarted their discussion on what to name those alien-creatures that looked like a random mix between a crocodile, a big feline and a horse. The Shiny Rod had been unable to give them a name, as no-one had actually bothered to study the creatures long enough to give them one. Diana, herself, was trying to piece out how to get through the landscapes of the place without killing anything. She wasn’t a big fan of slaughtering innocent life for the entertainment of the masses. Sure, everything in TDE was trying to kill them, but they had no business being there in the first place. And it wasn’t just a problem of not shooting anything. Their speeds were enough to kill small things, and if they even considered hitting one of the bigger animals they would kill it and themselves in the process.

What would the rules for the next race be? Hard to tell. What if they were asked to _kill_ animals? Of course, that had nothing to do with a race, but at this point Diana kind of started to expect the unexpected.

“…saying, if we want to name it, we should try to take into account _all_ its features,” Hannah explained. “And seriously, stop starting it every time with a damn ‘croco’. Gharial sounds cooler.”

“No-one knows what the hell a gharial is, Hannah,” Akko complained.

“Diana did.”

“But Diana is Diana,” Akko said, as if that was explanation enough. Surprisingly, the other two girls nodded at it. Diana couldn’t help the slight annoyance that followed. Then again, she was fairly certain she’d used Akko’s name in a similar way before. Seemed like they had that in common. People using their names as explanations for their actions.

“Well, what about Ghaline?” Amanda suggested.

“Ghaline… as in gharial plus feline?” Hannah asked. Amanda nodded. “There’s no horse in that.”

“For crying out loud, you were the one who a minute ago said the thing looked more like a cat than a horse,” Akko complained.

“But it had hooves!” Hannah explained.

“There’s tons of animals with hooves!” Akko cried.

“They looked like it, but we can’t be sure,” Amanda said. “Let’s just leave it at Ghaline.”

Diana pressed her lips. “I’m fairly certain there’s a character in some famous book saga named like that,” she said. “Though I can’t place which one right now.”

Hannah’s eye twitched. “Oh come on! Gharialine, then?”

“Sounds stupid,” Amanda said.

The three girls started arguing again. Diana wasn’t really interested in naming the creatures. If some day someone decided to explore it they’d probably use a more scientific method for naming them.

“How about Crocolion, then?” Amanda said.

“It sounds just as stupid as Crococat, but bigger,” Hannah said.

“How about aliongator?” Akko suggested. Diana almost felt like she had been punched in the face by the stupid ass pun. She still smiled, though.

“It’s so bad that I want to kick you,” Hannah said.

“I think it’s so bad it’s good,” Amanda chuckled.

“You can’t be serious,” Hannah said.

“I quite like it too,” Diana added.

“Then aliongator it is!” Akko claimed triumphantly, a broad smile across her face. Diana felt her heart flutter at the sight. Her girlfriend really was the cutest out there. _Girlfriend._ Hell, she had barely gotten used to the idea of having friends, and she had upgraded that term. How would Daryl and her family react? Diana wasn’t sure of why, but she couldn’t help caring. Not exactly about their opinions but about what they would _do_ with those opinions. They had clearly not liked Akko the first time they’d seen her. Maybe that was reason enough to like her, though.

“Aliongator,” Hannah mumbled. “I hate you all,” she crossed her arms.

“A lion-gator,” Diana said. “It’s actually two puns in one.”

Akko nodded, proud of herself. Diana wasn’t sure _this_ was something to be proud of, but she wouldn’t complain. If Akko was happy, she was happy.

 

Aliongators were the worst.

Akko had already figured they’d be bad, but those darn things were absurdly fast. Impossibly fast. Wasn’t the gravity on TDE ten times stronger than on earth or something? How the _hell_ did that thing move so fast? Even now, as she piloted through trees that from time to time managed to punch or whip the Shiny Rod, unable to go too fast due to the trees and such, two of the creatures gave the rod and the shapeshifter chase. This, like Pan, was a terrain that heavily benefited the mobility of the smoky ship. They’d have to ask the Rod to take them to some other part of the planet to be able to practice in some other terrains.

One of the aliongators blasted through a tree that was trying to hit it – this one had leaves that went down in spirals, and they attacked kind of like springs, tightening and releasing their leaves. Akko sometimes felt the strength of those hits, but the creature didn’t even blink – and jumped, its triple-jointed limbs helping him easily reach the Shiny Rod. Akko went up, not allowing it to bite the ship, but the creature just wouldn’t give up. They were clearly the lead predators in the forest, as any and all other animals ran from them.

Akko wished she could just shoot them. And, well, her wishes had been granted a couple times, as Amanda had attacked them. Problem was, the creatures were impervious to damage, apparently. Akko wasn’t sure what that skin they had was made of, but when magic hit it the aliongators barely noticed it.

In fact, this barely felt like a race against the others. The shapeshifter was in a similar situation, constantly trying to outrun the creature, but not being able to. Some other times other predators also joined the chase – Akko had seen a monkey-like thing with multiple arms that somehow managed to swing itself from tree to tree, and the plants didn’t attack it – but they were all eventually either left behind or chased off by the aliongators. Sometimes, the giant feline-reptiles would attack each other. Their teeth, those _were_ enough to penetrate each other’s armors. Akko didn’t want to think of what they would do to the Shiny Rod if they managed to catch it.

The end of the race was a messy one. By the end of the simulation, only she, the shapeshifter and the daemons had made it. The medusa, armors and reptilians had probably been destroyed by the fauna or flora of the planet. Akko shook her head. She had won, technically, but it didn’t feel like it. The simulation had paused in a small clearing where the needle-like grass grew a little taller and where every bit of free space was met with pink vines that sometimes twitched like worms.

Upon looking back, two creatures frozen in time were looking at Akko. One of them had an open mouth, and with curiosity she noted they didn’t have tongues. What that meant she had no idea. The mouth just seemed to be a mess of bright yellow veins in between a really dark shade of blue. Its eyes were round, with a small red dot in the center that could have been a pupil.

Akko stepped out of the Shiny Rod. She didn’t think she’d actually tried this before, but since she _didn’t_ want to end the simulation, it just didn’t. When she fell on the ground, the needles didn’t hurt her. In fact, they phased right through her feet. Holograms. Akko recalled the experiment she’d done before, the one where she had simulated Diana. When she approached the giant creature, though, she again phased through it. It was armored down to its hooves, and Akko wondered if by asking she could make it smaller to study it better.

Ursula would have probably complained about her doing this instead of practicing, but she had suddenly felt claustrophobic. She kicked at some vines on the ground, but again, it felt like a marbled floor, not an imperfection, and her feet didn’t touch anything. She stumbled, almost falling.

Suddenly, everything disappeared. Akko found herself blinking in surprise as she stared up at the face that had broken the simulation. Diana, with a worried face, had opened the cockpit without even knocking. Akko forgot about what she was doing when looking at her. “You weren’t answering, I thought something might have happened.”

Akko cocked her head. “You knocked?” she asked. Diana nodded. “Huh, I didn’t hear it,” she tried to think. Maybe it was because she’d gotten away from the rod in the simulation? Weird. She didn’t understand the mechanics behind simulations completely. She probably never would.

“You sure you’re fine?” Diana asked.

Akko nodded. “What about you? The aliongators are annoying, am I right?”

Diana nodded. “They lack instinctual fear to the unknown. They treat us like prey. I could swear they’re having fun. I wonder how smart they really are.”

She had that look in her eyes, the one she had whenever she was thinking about smart-people stuff. Akko found it cute, and she slowly rose to place a kiss on Diana’s cheek. She had to stand on her tiptoes, even though Diana was crouching.

“What was that for?” Diana asked, putting her hand where Akko had kissed her.

“You’re beautiful,” Akko explained.

Diana blushed. “You’re way prettier than me,” Diana assured.

They stared at each other for longer than needed. God, it felt good to be able to _look_ without feeling like she was breaking a rule. Akko was about to climb out of her cockpit to kiss Diana again, but then a blue-haired figured appeared. “Less staring lovingly at each other and more practice,” she clapped her hands. “Come on girls, those trees need a new punching bag.”

Akko grunted a response, not fully catching what Ursula had said, but finding her appearance wholly unfortunate. She’d been busy staring into a couple of blue eyes. Diana, however, stood and nodded, giving Akko one last smile before returning to the Unicorn.

Ursula then proceeded to climb behind Akko.

Akko didn’t restart practice.

“Uhm, coach,” Akko said, feeling like this was as good a moment as any to do this. “Do you know what the next command is? It may be useful, you know…”

“Akko, you need to discover them on your own. You know that.”

“But if it’s something useful…”

Ursula paused. “I promise you, it’s not something you’ll be able to use in a race, so don’t worry.”

Akko nodded, starting the simulation again. Yet something felt strange in the answer. In the way now Ursula looked like she was thinking of something else. As Akko started, she didn’t even seem to be looking at what she was doing.

Then Akko hit a tree and Ursula told her to focus. Akko did, slowly forgetting about the strange feeling.

 

Croix paced around her lab as she read some of the documents she had to sign for the coming race and snacked on a bar of chocolate. The rules for the following race, she had figured, would probably get a lot of backlash from fans. The question was, in this case, whether that was good or bad. In terms of marketing, this move would either put them at an all-time high rating or at an all-time low. It was unlike everything that had come before, and maybe more importantly, it would overshadow all that had come before this race. Croix could imagine the anger that would overtake most racers and their coaches. Including Chariot.

If she had to bet, she’d go for all-time high. Humans were curious creatures, and more so morbid and disgusting. The documents were meant to put them at peace with the planetary alliance. Of course, the other directives didn’t care about the possible cost. The grand prize of the race would make any expense worth it.

Hopefully, no one would die. Then again, that was nothing but wishful thinking. The chances of no-one dying were so slim that Croix would consider it a miracle. If the racers didn’t’ end up killing each other, the planet would. She didn’t really have a problem with the planet itself, but the fact that it had ended up bearing this specific set of rules just ended up making it all the more daunting.

Maybe Chariot would begin hating her even before her plans came to fruition.

 

Akko blushed as she watched Diana jogging next to her. On the treadmills of the gym, they had coordinated their running time so that they could be next to each other. Diana was one hundred percent aware of the fact that Akko’s gaze was nailed to her chest.

Diana was blushing, too.

Hopefully to the others it’d look like it was just from the running. ‘Hopefully’ being the keyword. Diana didn’t believe that’d be the case for a second. And, if she was being honest, she was just doing her best not to look at Akko too, who unlike her seemed to be able to keep up with the rhythm without problem. And then further down the row of treadmills there was Ursula, jogging at twice their speed and looking like if she were just casually walking. Just how _fit_ was that woman?

Once they finished – the jogging today was twice as long, as to match the double-length schedule – Diana puffed her breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a towel. She had tied her hair into a ponytail, but it was at moments like these that she considered straight up cutting it, as it stuck to her sweaty neck and it was pretty damn annoying.

The gym seemed to be rather full today, too. A couple – or at least, Diana assumed they were a couple, as they wore matching pink t-shirts with a big red heart on them – seemed to be daring each other to see who could do more pushups. Half the treadmills were being used, and all of the bikes save for two were occupied too. Diana and Akko only had stretching left to do, but Diana wondered if something had prompted this activity or if it just happened that they had been using the gym during a less crowded timeslot the days prior. Time was hard to tell. Diana had long ago given up on trying to keep track of it.

What day was it now, on Earth? December fourteenth, maybe? Fifteenth? Somewhere around that, she figured. It’d been a little over two weeks since they had been on earth, and they’d left the place on November twenty-seventh.

Why did she care? Oh, right, Christmas. Diana seemed to recall Akko enjoyed it. It was near, so… what could she do for her? She knew for a fact there was nothing inside the _Dragon_ that she wanted to gift to her. Maybe just being there would be enough, but Diana wanted it to be more special. The first holidays Akko would spend away from her family… For Diana, this would be bliss. For Akko, though, she wasn’t sure. She’d smile and say she was fine, sure, but Diana still wanted to ask if she was going to be ok.

She shook her head. She was taking it too seriously. It was just another day. Just one where materialism was heavily encouraged due to religion and a bunch of other things.

“Diana?” Akko asked. “You coming?”

Diana snapped out of her train of thought. “Yeah,” she had been zoning out, standing still. She always preferred to stay still when thinking, which made it all the more obvious when she was in situations like this. Then again, others pacing when there was no need wasn’t much better. Different ways of doing things, after all.

They did their stretching exercises, and Diana definitely enjoyed the feel of Akko’s hands as she helped, and then her chance to touch the sweaty brunette. It was strange, how exercise could suddenly gain a whole new level of enjoyment if you did it with the person you loved.

When they were done, Akko placed a soft kiss on her lips. “You actually managed to grab your toes today, I’m proud.”

Diana blushed. “Don’t speak of it as if it was some big achievement, I beg of you,” she said, though she didn’t reject the second kiss.

They drew some stares. Of course, the two pilots of humanity being a couple would be a great subject for gossiping. And Diana being a Cavendish, well, it would only magnify it.

When they separated, Akko was smiling. Diana too, probably. She wasn’t really thinking much. “I really need a shower,” Diana finally said, noticing how sweaty she was.

“We both do,” Akko nodded. They moved over to grab their stuff right as Amanda, Hannah and Jasminka stepped up to the bench too. Diana wondered why exactly Jasminka kept coming here. It was clearly not for a diet, as she ate as always – and Diana knew she had some kind of illness so being skinny for her wasn’t really an option – but Diana really couldn’t think of much more. She also did stuff they didn’t like bench presses. She was really strong. And Diana suspected that her arms were more muscle than fat at this point.

“I’m gonna die,” Hannah said. Diana was probably worse than her in terms of tiredness, but Hannah kind of liked to make a show of it. “Do we really need these longer sessions?”

“Have you _seen_ what TDE is like?” Akko said. They seemed to be getting along better, which made Diana happy. She still had to try to connect with Sucy, she recalled. It was just hard to find a chance, particularly with how intense things were at the moment. “You’ll be glad for this if we get stranded or something.”

“If we _do_ get stranded, we’re dead anyways. We can’t outrun anything on the planet. We can’t even _run,_ the grass is made of needles,” Hannah said with a deadpan.

“Well, not everywhere,” Akko said. “I raced on this open plan where the grass looked normal. Save it was dark red, but it didn’t seem to be pointy.”

“With a mountain range in the distance?” Diana asked. Akko nodded. “The grass there can spring out of the ground and trap anything that steps on it. It’s why the plain is absolutely empty.”

“Oh,” Akko frowned. The realization crossing her face was cute.

“Seriously, what kind of wicked planet is that?” Hannah complained. “Ugh. Whatever, let’s go,” she took Amanda’s hand and dragged her towards the exit.

Diana couldn’t help but smile. It was kind of incredible how little Hannah had actually changed even though she was now dating Amanda, when Diana herself felt so different.

She looked at Akko, and was surprised when a finger poked at her cheek. “Ha! You fell for it!” Akko claimed.

“How did you…?”

“Well, I just figured looking at them would make you think of us, and so I prepared, like the master strategist I am.”

Diana chuckled as she put her bag over her shoulder. “You sure are,” she said. She leaned down to kiss Akko again. Despite having grown used to the feeling, she still felt that heat within her, that electric spark wherever their bodies touched.

She hoped it would never go away.

 

Roberto rubbed his face. It was itchy with a three-day beard and he was wondering if he should let it grow or shave it. Having a beard was a pain in the ass but it did make him more handsome, in his opinion. His girlfriend didn’t like them, though. He’d probably just go for the shave, as always.

Earth’s team had gone to sleep hours ago, but he was still on duty. Plus, he _wanted_ to observe what was about to happen. A bunch of the stanbots had built a shiny-rod replica out of scrap metal – Roberto wondered how Constanze had gotten access to their deposits, but whatever – and the green Shooting Star now hovered over it, facing in the opposite direction. This test wouldn’t last long, as it required the Shiny Rod to be really functional, but if it went well then the tiny girl would move on to the real deal.

Roberto, despite himself, really wished the test would go well.

The Shooting Star was longer than the Shiny Rod, but the body wasn’t wider. As Constanze started to go down, Roberto couldn’t help but cringe a little. If she failed, the Shooting Star would’ve been ruined for nothing.

Then, the green ship started to shift. Roberto had no idea how the tiny mechanic had come up with the idea, but as the main body split in two, and the wings came nearer the body, folding unto themselves, he was awed by the transformation. Looking like a giant pair of scissors, the Shooting Star clasped the sides of the Shiny Rod and adapted to its shape. Its back wings extended again in a different shape while other parts of the ship – the cockpit had been completely removed – started to fall into place. A couple clasped the Rod’s lambda-shaped engine, connecting to it, and in the blink of an eye, Roberto found himself staring at something out of this world.

The Shiny Rod - this one was gray, as Constanze hadn’t bothered to paint it – was the main body of the ship. The back wings of the shooting star became a couple of legs, reinforced by the structure of the engine. The front wings made shoulders as many other pieces of the Shooting Star started rearranging themselves to form long, spindly arms that ended in hands made up of the four guns of the Shooting Star. It didn’t have a head, which he would have placed over the Shiny Rod’s engine, but he suspected the Shooting Star didn’t have many spare pieces to use in aesthetics.

The robot moved for about ten seconds before falling still, only having managed to test out the movements of its arms. It was spindly, and it definitely looked like it would fall over if it tried to pick up the real Shiny Rod. But, that was just it, with the energy provided by the real Rod – Roberto wasn’t sure of the exact calculations, as Constanze hadn’t shared it – it _would_ do it.

Constanze opened the cockpit – now looking completely different, as the seat had shifted positions to seat her upright - and froze.

She didn’t have a way of getting out. A little stanbot approached Roberto, who looked amused at the glaring flaw in the design. **We need a ladder.**

Roberto sighed, but to hide the chuckle that was coming. Even then, he still thought the thing was the coolest thing he had ever seen. A freaking transformer. In real life. It was like a dream.

He went to get that ladder. He _would_ get to pilot it, even if he had to pay.


	119. Chapter 119

The following two days were kind of a blur to Hannah. Wake up next to Amanda, breakfast, kisses, practice, lunch, practice, gym, shower, kisses, sleep, repeat. She had grown to know a lot about TDE – about those giant rodents that lurked in the mountains, their two tails strong enough to pierce stone. About the winged monkey-like creatures with shark-like teeth that roamed the sky and seemed to be a plague, since they were _everywhere,_ about the forest of deep blue pines with acid needles that the ten-meter-tall creatures avoided.

Yes, she probably knew more about the planet than anyone else in the planetary alliance.

And _god_ she hated it.

Everything tried to kill them, either passively or, usually, actively. They’d be landing on the stupid place in a few hours, so Ursula had decided to give them some free time. Was about time, too.

Right now, she walked hand in hand with Hannah. The entire group of nine had decided to hang out in Bronze Deck. It was surprisingly empty. They walked through the fair, and then through the outside ring of smaller shops. The difference between Gold and Bronze decks was mostly in the amount of things to do, but Hannah was surprised to see a couple of really cool shops in the place. She hadn’t expected it.

Someone bumped into Hannah. She looked down to see Constanze, who had been clearly lost in thought. She didn’t bother trying to apologize. Hannah hid her annoyance. This was one of Amanda’s best friends. She would have to grow used to their quirks.

“You’re wearing the bracelet I gave you,” Amanda suddenly commented. Hannah watched her left wrist, where the amethyst bracelet stood. She had paired it up with a blue t-shirt and jeans. It was subtle, but she liked how it looked.

“Well, I like it, and I thought it went well with the attire, so…”

Amanda simply smiled, leaning in to kiss her. Hannah tensed up, and Amanda paused. She looked disappointed, but understanding. Hannah tried to relax her muscles as she threw her arms around her neck and kissed her, but even in the kiss she was tense, and it felt forced.

“Its fine,” Amanda said when they separated. “Not everyone likes to be too forward in public, don’t push yourself.”

Hannah drew her lips to a line. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

“Shut up,” Amanda said. She took her hand again. “This is more than enough, now let’s see if we can grab a bite. What do you guys want?” Amanda turned to the rest of the group.

Hannah let Amanda guide her as they moved towards wherever they were going. Hannah wondered if she’d ever grow to be actually comfortable with this kind of stuff. Diana and Akko seemed to be so open with it, though Barbara and Lotte were more reserved in public. Hannah logically understood that Amanda was being honest and that she had no problems with Hannah as she was, but it was hard not to feel like a fish out of water.

How did Amanda really feel about this? She told her it was fine, but Hannah could see the disappointment every time she didn’t do it. Was Amanda afraid Hannah was embarrassed? Did she think Hannah to be no fun? And she _still_ hadn’t told her ‘I love you’. Why was it so hard, anyways? Just three stupid words.

“Here,” Amanda said. Hannah hadn’t realized it, but Amanda had gotten her a hot dog.

“Thanks,” Hannah said. The thing Amanda handed her barely looked like one. It had fried potatoes and cheese on top, the bread was toasted and Hannah could’ve sworn there was bacon in there. “Wait, what the hell is this?”

“A hotdog.”

“It looks like a full meal packed on top of a sausage,” Hannah wasn’t even sure how she was supposed to bite it.

Amanda smiled. “It’s a… Super-hotdog,” Amanda read the small poster on top of the food stand. “Just taste it,” she added, taking an impossibly big bite out of her own.

Hannah tried – and failed – to get a bite from one of the ends, so she decided to instead begin by taking some of the fries on top of the thing, shoving them in her mouth. They were good. And yes, that was a layer of bacon under the cheese. God, this thing would make her gain two kilograms in a day.

“This is good, I don’t understand why we don’t eat in these places more often,” Akko spoke, her full mouth barely getting out the words.

“Because we’re civilized humans who don’t want to die of a heart attack in a week,” Barbara replied. She was sharing hers with Lotte.

Hannah sighed. She and Diana seemed to be the only ones having trouble while eating. Even Constanze, who one would think would have it harder since she was so small, ate without pausing, still focusing on whatever it was she had going on in her mind.

When they were all finished, though, Hannah felt good. It had been quite the good meal, in her opinion, and she was happy for it. They were all sitting on the center stage of the deck, which had apparently had some kind of event the day prior, as there were still big amplifiers on opposing sides, and a bunch of confetti on the floor. They were all so busy with the race that they barely got a chance to know what happened outside the hangar. Well, Hannah and the team was, at least.

“What happened here?” Hannah asked Barbara.

“Oh, there was a battle of the bands,” Barbara said. “We didn’t come, but I think it was pretty successful.”

“Huh,” Hannah said, thinking. The fact was, she wasn’t even aware of what kind of events were going on in the _Dragon_ right now. The race was coming to an end. Would there be something big for the last trip? A dance, maybe? Hannah really wanted a dance. They had all missed the big one in Vorago, and Hannah regretted not being able to see Amanda in a beautiful dress and dance together. Maybe that green dress, and she could let her hair down and get it out of the way of her eyes with a couple of golden pins. She could make the whole thing come together, maybe, with a gold necklace and a single gold bracelet, mixing with the golden embroidery of her dress. Maybe emerald earrings to bring out more the color of her eyes, and…

“Why are you smiling?” Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hannah thought about her answer. “Just thinking about how beautiful you are,” she confessed.

Amanda seemed a little taken aback by the answer. She proceeded to smile, leaning forward and kissing Hannah’s forehead. “You’re the best, you know that?”

“Well, of course,” Hannah said, cockiness in her voice. “You’re a close second though,” she smiled.

Amanda chuckled. Hannah was the one to reach over and take her hand this time. Maybe kissing in public was too much for her right now, but this she could do. Amanda gave her a gentle squeeze, and Hannah gave her a strong one.

“Want some?” Jasminka popped out of seemingly nowhere, offering them… gummy bears? The bag was enormous, too. Just _where_ had that come from? Did she have a magic pocket or what? Was she secretly doraemon?

“Sure,” Amanda said, grabbing a handful. Hannah hesitated, decided not to. Her calories intake for the day was probably enough for a month. “Hmm, what a dilemma.”

“Huh?” Hannah asked.

“I want to eat these, but I lack another hand to do so one by one,” she looked down at their intertwined fingers. “If only I could use it.”

Hannah was about to let go, when she paused. Then, hesitantly, she reached over and grabbed a red bear from Amanda, holding it up. Amanda smiled. Was this what she’d been aiming for? It felt like it. “Here,” Hannah said.

Amanda opened her mouth, and Hannah placed the gummy bear in it. When it closed, Amanda’s lips brushed Hannah’s fingertips. For some ungodly reason, Hannah blushed. Amanda smiled and gave Hannah’s hand a squeeze.

Hannah repeated the motion. Each time, Amanda seemed to make sure her lips just barely touched Hannah’s fingers. Hannah found her chest warming up. She reached for another gummy bear, but there were no more. She paused, feeling an immense sense of disappointment.

Then Amanda took her other hand too and kissed it.

Hannah smiled. Slowly, her worries seemed to be melted away. Amanda really didn’t seem to care at all about stuff. They locked eyes, and despite the fact that everyone else was around them, Hannah felt like it was a really private moment.

It was broken when Jasminka offered them more gummy bears.

This time, it was Hannah’s turn to be fed.

 

Ursula wondered if maybe she _should_ have taught Akko the sixth command. TDE was a dangerous place. Maybe she’d need it. But teaching it to her like that wouldn’t do much, really. She’d only be aware of the command, unable to use it.

Now, however, she looked at the images in a book about TDE. So little was known about the planet that it was impressive. The land was made up of different shades of red. The oceans looked like blood, even. The whole planet seemed to scream ‘don’t you dare come close’. A planet with no night, where the two stars kept it lit all the time.

What a pain.

This was the first time during their entire journey that Ursula felt like such. She really didn’t want to go down to the planet. Hell, she was afraid that if they landed some unknown monstrosity in the sea would end up destroying the _Dragon._ Could they save everyone in the world-hopper with the Shiny Rod?

“You look nervous,” a voice said. Ursula turned, surprised to see Akko standing behind her.

“Akko?” Ursula looked around. She had been in Bronze Deck, sitting on a bench near the – now closed – giant windows that normally served to look outside. “How’d you find out where I was?”

“We saw you,” Akko pointed. In between the people walking around the deck, in the center stage, a group of eight girls talked and ate together. Diana saw Akko pointing and waved. Ursula hadn’t seen them, and was surprised she’d missed such an obvious group of people.

“Oh. Well, how are you doing? Enjoying your break?”

“Yeah,” Akko nodded. She moved over to sit next to Ursula. “So, are you reading about TDE?”

“Kind of,” Ursula shrugged. “It’s an incredibly underexplored planet,” she explained. “The information is short and mostly useless to us.”

Akko looked at what Ursula was reading. It was a book, she was reading it in a holographic screen. Not her wand. They both sat in silence as Ursula read through some of the notes on TDE.

“Wouldn’t you rather spend some time with your girlfriend, Akko?” Ursula said. “As soon as we land, it’s back to our regular schedule.”

“It’s fine,” Akko smiled at her. “You look so lonely, coach. Why don’t you come hang out with us?”

Ursula smiled. She understood Akko’s good intentions, but the truth was, Ursula felt kind of out of place among the group of teenagers. She was more than a decade older than all of them. She was nearing her thirties while most of them were sixteen and seventeen. “Don’t worry about me, Akko, go have fun.” Ursula said, ruffling Akko’s hair.

“Ok, well, the invitation stands. And if not, you should at least try to hang out with some friends of your own,” Akko said, standing. “See you later.”

She took off towards the group of students, and Ursula watched her go with some envy. Akko reminded her of her old self, of the better days. How did she wish she could go back and fix some of her mistakes.

Well, not really. She’d weighed the possibility a number of times, and had decided against it.

Still, hanging out with friends sounded better than she cared to admit. Friends… Well, maybe she had one…

She took out her wand. She sent a message. Why did she get nervous? She was an adult, for fuck’s sake, there was no reason to- A reply. She instantly opened it. _‘I’m busy with work, can’t chat.’_

Ursula sighed, disappointed. Of course Croix wouldn’t be available at any random time, particularly with the landing in the coming planet so close. Wait, was she even on the _Dragon?_ Had other races landed? Ursula shook her head. She really wanted to hang out with Croix…

She paused. She _did_ want to hang out with Croix.

 _God, what are you doing, Ursula?_ She thought, shaking her head. Why did Croix have such an effect on her? Why was it _always_ Croix? The one person in the whole world that Ursula shouldn’t care about. She closed her eyes, blowing out the air of her lungs.

That day had changed everything. In a way, it’d been her fault.

_Chariot, still confused by what she’d just seen, didn’t have time to think as she jumped out of the cockpit. She saw Croix on the floor under the Shiny Rod, seemingly unconscious._

Ursula shook her head, trying to get rid of the images flooding her mind. But she couldn’t.

_“Are you ok?” She’d asked._

_Croix opened her eyes. Were they glowing? Was that magic? “Better than ever.”_

_“I heard you scream.”_

_“It was an overreaction. Don’t worry,” Croix’s smile seemed to put her at ease._

But she had changed. She’d often looked around with a judging look. She’d be distant. Even when she was caring, Ursula had felt that a part of Croix wasn’t actually there, but somewhere far away. She wasn’t so different now, but she seemed to be way more focused.

Was that good or bad? Ursula wasn’t sure she could be objective. Her feelings for Croix were such a mess, a tangle of desire and fear, of betrayal and love. Ten years they had spent apart, and yet more and more Ursula felt like ‘moving on’ had been a laughable concept, in retrospect. All of her feelings were resurfacing and it was a scary concept. The power Croix would have over her was…

Well, what it had always been. Save for the fact that Ursula was maybe still in a position to distance herself and not get burnt again. For now.

Thing was, she didn’t want to distance herself from Croix. Could she really begin to fall for her again, even knowing she might get hurt again? Why had life decided to become so complicated all of a sudden? Space races, meeting with an old friend, lives at stake… _I wonder if Croix has these kinds of doubts too. Probably not._

She probably never doubted herself. So confident, so smart. Croix was all the things Ursula was not.

_I should learn a little from her…_

_“I wish I was as careless as you,” Croix said to Akko. No, not Akko. Chariot. Another dream?_

_“Shut up,” Chariot said, putting on her helmet. She was wearing her white g-suit. This was during the IPR, then. “Come on, we can do this.”_

_“You’re gonna get us both killed and I’m totally gonna tell god it was your fault we died,” Croix said, sighing. She put her polarized helmet. How did she hide her chest? Her g-suit made her broader in the shoulders than she really was._

_“Come on, let’s go,” Chariot climbed on the Shiny Rod. Croix crawled under it, and in no time, Chariot was ready to go. They were in a small garage-looking place. A planet with buildings? The walls seemed to be made of metal. Oh, this was probably Chariot’s first IPR race, then._

_They exited to a planet with a bright purple sky and a red sun. This was the planet of the reptilians, wasn’t it? No plants were in sight, having been destroyed by the city. Everything had a metallic look to it. No living creature was in sight, only rows of square houses and a metal road. The reptilians really liked their metal, for some reason._

_“Let’s go,” Chariot said._

_“Good luck, Chariot. Be careful,” Croix said as Chariot turned on the turret._

_“Don’t worry…”_

Akko woke up. “Akko, we’re about to land,” a voice said to her ear.

Akko groaned. She was tired. She could tell she hadn’t slept much. “I don’t care,” she said.

Diana kissed her temple. “Really now?” she said. “You sure you don’t want to be the first one outside?”

Akko shook her head. Who would want to step outside in this hellish planet? Screw that, what she wanted was sleep. She used the arm that was already around Diana to pull her closer, nesting her head against her chest and enjoying the warmth of the blonde’s body under the sheets.

“Come on, this is why I told you not to sleep yet,” Diana said. She was tracing circles with her fingers in the small of Akko’s back, and it was so relaxing that Akko barely heard her, sleep overtaking her. “Akko…” Diana’s voice faded.

And then, Akko felt Diana’s hand go lower, and lower, and- “I’m awake!” Akko said, opening her eyes and looking straight ahead, unable to ignore the fingers that had barely begun touching one of her lower cheeks. Diana was smiling at her, though she was also blushing furiously.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Diana begun apologizing, though she didn’t really retrieve her hand.

“It’s ok, I…” Akko fumbled for words, unable to think due to sleepiness. “I like you.”

“Uhm…” Diana raised an eyebrow. She smiled. Akko had just tried to convey something while saying something completely different. She was being stupid. She was acting stupid. “Come on, get up, we need to get ready.”

Akko sighed. “Do we really need to go? Who cares if we’re not there? I don’t want to get attacked by some random animal.”

“Don’t worry, they’ll put a barrier around the Dragon. We’ll be fine,” Diana said. Akko looked around. They were alone – the rest hadn’t really wanted to sleep quite yet.

Akko looked at Diana again. “I’d rather stay here,” she said, tightening her grip around Diana. “With you.”

Diana didn’t answer for a while. “I believe it is incredibly unfair for you to do that,” she said as she begun stroking Akko’s hair slowly. “It becomes impossible to say no to you.”

With a smile, Akko kissed Diana on the neck. Diana’s breath got caught, and Akko paused, realizing what she’d just done. “Sorry, I didn’t reali-”

“It’s quite ok,” Diana interrupted. Then, after a pause, she kissed Akko’s forehead. “I like you.”

Akko blushed. And she still couldn’t get past the feeling of Diana’s fingers on the edge of her butt. It was but a touch, but it seemed to suck in her attention span like a black hole. “Let’s stay here,” Akko said, closing her eyes again. Diana finally moved her hand up to Akko’s waist, though the other was still softly brushing her hair.

“Fine, but don’t complain later,” Diana said, cuddling so close that Akko started to lose track of where her body ended and where Diana’s began. What would it feel like if they were naked?

Thoughts for another day.

With a yawn, she nuzzled her face against Diana and slowly allowed herself to fall asleep again.

“Love you…” she mumbled before drifting off.

“I love you too.”

 

The ocean looked like blood. Amanda honestly believed it was kind of cool. She didn’t have the hatred the others seemed to have developed for the planet. The sky of the planet was of a soft pink, not at all menacing, and the sun that was currently up was white. There were mountains in the distance, though they were of a dark gray speckled with beet red here and there.

Diana and Akko hadn’t bothered to show up, while Hannah had come only reluctantly and was now standing on the wooden platform next to Amanda. Gravity was fine here, though Amanda had tried putting her hand out of the field and had almost been thrown to the ground with how strong it was there.

The rest of the team looked around curiously. For being so red, this planet was way less creepy than Amanda had anticipated. That was, of course, when she saw a giant creature swimming not far away from the _Dragon,_ only a spinal fin and a giant snail-like eye poking out of the water. The beady black eye seemed to have a white slit across it, and Amanda could’ve sworn it was looking at her.

“Boy, I sure hope we don’t die,” she joked, though Hannah next to her didn’t seem to find it funny. She looked around with obvious anger in her eyes and Amanda wondered just what had happened during those simulations to make everyone hate the planet so. Sure, it was aggressive, but it couldn’t be all that bad.

They were wearing their helmets and g-suits, though it was probably irrelevant inside the magic field. The side of the _Dragon_ loomed behind them, offering little shade for the sun. Not that they could feel the temperature with their g-suits, but Amanda was sure it had to be hot as hell.

“Well, everyone’s ready for adventure?” Ursula asked as she went down the gangplank to meet with them. Hannah shook her head, though the rest of them shrugged. “We’ll be here for a whopping four days,” she said. Hannah instantly let out a growl of complain. Ursula looked at her wand and sighed. “The race will be in seventy-two hours and the rules will drop in twelve.”

“Soon,” Lotte pointed out.

“Which means they’ll be some complicated bullshit they want us to practice for,” Amanda said.

“Of course they choose this shit planet to have a complicated set of rules,” Hannah complained, shaking her head.

“But they’re chosen at random,” Sucy said. She was looking at the water with a strange interest.

“Yeah, my ass,” Hannah snorted. “Like the previous race, right? The only race where the rule about not turning on the lights would have actually mattered and it ‘randomly’ gets chosen. Fuck off.”

Sucy shrugged, obviously not up for discussion. Hannah did make for a good argument, though. The ‘random’ part of the rules wasn’t truly random, or not completely. “They’re probably random but taking into account the planet they’ll be set in,” Amanda said. “That or the random part is bullshit.”

“I’m sure it’s the latter. I don’t believe for a second they’re random at all. They’re just trying to make things interesting while screwing with us,” Hannah said, clearly offended.

“Well, whatever the reason,” Ursula shook her head. “I don’t want you girls out here. Let’s go back inside. We’ll resume practice in a couple hours.”

Amanda sighed, but nodded. She really didn’t care much for practice. She’d much rather spend time with Hannah, but well, she understood things were growing dangerous and they needed all the practice possible. “Hey, Hannah,” Amanda called to her.

“Huh?” Hannah was clearly not paying much attention. Amanda leaned closer. “Can I call you Hunny?” She asked the thing she’d been thinking about for a while now.

“Yeah, su- wait what?” Hannah suddenly looked at her, red creeping up her face.

“I mean, you sometimes call me ‘Ama’ and I’ve been looking for nicknames, and Hunny kind of sounds like your name but it’s also cute and… I dunno,” Amanda shrugged.

Hannah paused. Then, she grabbed Amanda’s arm and hugged it. “Fine,” she said. “But if you do it in public I’ll kill you.”

Amanda smiled. “Got it, Hunny,” she said. It was low enough that no-one would be able to hear it, but it didn’t stop Hannah from using her elbow to hit her. Amanda chuckled.

Well, whatever the rules for this planet would be, they couldn’t be all that bad, could they?

 

“I’d say I’m surprised,” Diana said as she and the others looked over the rules. Twelve hours of practice after landing hadn’t really done much to lighten up their moods. “But I think I’ve come to expect it.”

“I don’t think this could even count as a race,” Hannah said.

“I wonder if they want to make a videogame of the IPR and that’s why they’re throwing all these wacky rules at us,” Amanda said.

Diana expected to hear Ursula’s opinion, but she was clearly troubled by the rules. In fact, Diana felt like that, too. Because these weren’t really the rules of a race. These were the rules of a slaughter. However, she remained calm.

“Is this even legal?” Barbara asked. She and Lotte had joined them for lunch, and so all of them had gotten to read them together.

“Does it matter?” Amanda barked a laugh. “The heads of this event have so much money that they could buy new laws if they wanted to.”

Diana didn’t often agree with Amanda’s cynicism, but the fact was, these outrageous rules would have probably never been allowed if the event were of a smaller scale.

The race was an elimination one. From this race only three teams would come out. Essentially, it was a battle royale. Or, something similar. The two categories would participate, twelve racers. A team would be considered disqualified once they gave up or their two ships touched the floor. When only three teams remained, the race was over. And last but not least, they weren’t allowed to attack each other with ranged weapons.

The rules were very specific about there being _no rules_ other than those. Meaning, everything was fair game. “They want us to fight, basically,” Akko said. She didn’t seem happy with the rules. Well, no one was.

“They want us to _kill_ each other,” Hannah corrected. “If we manage to leave someone on the floor, they’re just going to end up being killed by the planet. Maybe we should just not move and wait for the aliongators to take everyone else out on their own.”

“Assuming the battle area will be a habitat for them,” Diana pointed out.

“I’m sure the rockyphants would be able to take everyone out too,” Hannah deadpanned her. The rockyphants were creatures with only three legs that kind of looked like giant boulders with long trunks coming out of their fronts. No eyes, no visible mouth. Just that trunk. However they perceived the world, they were way faster than their stumpy legs should allow and their trunks were strong enough to send trees flying around with a flick. In the simulations, when they managed to grab their ships, it was an instant game over.

“Girls, if you don’t want to race,” Ursula finally spoke, “you don’t have to. This… I don’t know if we really want to take the risk,” she spoke in a low voice, and she wasn’t looking at any of them.

Diana exchanged looks, as did everyone else. The rules had certainly settled badly with all of them. Ursula’s pale face, however, slowly started to make Diana wonder if she was taking it too lightly.

“We can train a little and see how it goes,” Diana suggested. “If it’s too dangerous, we’ll pull out.”

Ursula simply nodded.

Akko hadn’t said much at all either, actually. Diana looked at her girlfriend and was surprised to see her almost as grim as Ursula. “I don’t like this,” Akko said. “It feels like they’re just toying with us.”

“Oh, and last race they weren’t?” Hannah asked.

Akko shook her head. “This is different. They’re actively telling us to harm each other. This is definitely against the spirit of the race,” she explained.

Diana looked at her for a curious moment. The bustle of the McDonalds around them had slowly died down as people had chosen to remain quiet around the famous people, and the smell of fast food overwhelmed Diana’s nostrils. Akko’s worried face as she looked down at the rules was cute, but it also made Diana feel like Akko. She was right, this really felt completely unlike an IPR race.

“Whatever, I’m sure with the Shiny Rod there’s nothing to worry about,” Amanda said. “The Unicorn can stay behind and let us do all the work.”

“Yeah, like we’d do that,” Hannah snorted.

Diana didn’t really follow the discussion that followed. Instead, she tried to imagine how the race would go. Attacking other racers directly… Dangerous indeed. At one point, Ursula stood – her burger only half-eaten – and left without saying anything, the trouble in her face still strong. Diana had the feeling she knew where she’d go, but… Well, better let her.

Though she probably wouldn’t be able to change anything.


	120. Chapter 120

Ursula hesitated in front of the door. She wasn’t even sure if Croix would be in there. Plus, what’d she say? Croix _had_ warned her. In an indirect way, but she had. Ursula couldn’t really be mad at her. What’d she do? Beg her to change the rules? Croix didn’t have the power to do that just because she was the head of the IPR.

Still, she knocked. If nothing else, Ursula wanted to at least know what Croix thought of this. The idea of putting a bunch of teenagers in such danger made her stomach churn.

There was no answer. The door was still dented where she’d banged it previously, though it had obviously been fixed to allow it to open all the way. Ursula sighed, wondering if she should try to contact Croix through message. Was she using this as an excuse to see her? Maybe. She didn’t even know if Croix was here. She had the apparent ability to teleport via that little room of hers. As far as Ursula knew, she could be back in Machina partying with cyborgs.

She looked to the sides. This area of the _Dragon_ was always empty, so the metallic corridors were mostly silent, save for the far-reaching echoes of distant conversations. Maybe she should have tried to open the door on her own… No, without the strength magic gave her she wouldn’t be able to. And she wasn’t going to waste one of her capsules on this.

Putting her back against the door, she slid down to the floor, letting her head hang. Her students… Ursula had seen what TDE could do. The armors definitely had an advantage with the current rules. Without lasers, no ship stood a chance against its defense. Well, save for maybe the Shiny Rod in its axe form. Because, well, that was it. Akko would have to use the axe form if they wanted to win. Would she even want to do it?

Could she, essentially, _kill_ someone? Because that’s what this was. Leaving other racers in the ground would, most certainly, end up killing them.

The answer was no, clearly. Ursula wouldn’t allow it. If the girls insisted on participating on the race, their strategy would be clear: stay away from everyone else, let them take each other out. Or let the planet do it.

Suddenly, she heard a noise. She fell back as the door opened, not letting her react. She looked up and saw a roomba opening it. With some hesitance, she scrambled to her feet and entered the room. Croix’s room. She expected that familiar feeling of weightlessness, but it didn’t come. Instead, the door closed, and the red roomba stood, glowing with Inferno, in the middle of the room, perfectly still. Ursula started to feel the wall until she found the control panel, and then she turned on the lights. The room was big, bigger than any of the ones they’d gotten, but it was empty. A desk and a bed – a bed that wasn’t even properly made. Ursula shook her head. That was a telltale sign of Croix living somewhere. She didn’t even leave the _Dragon’s_ maids do it for her.

The roomba continued there. Was it waiting for something? Maybe it could only teleport at certain times or under certain conditions.

Ursula sat in the bed. She was slightly hesitant, though this place was obviously not Croix’s headquarters. She would probably be sleeping in her lab. Or working there. Or on some meeting.

With some curiosity, Ursula allowed her body to fall into the mattress, laying with her face up. Her head hit Croix’s pillow, and she was surprised to find the smell of hair gel in it. Well, it made sense, with that stupid hairstyle she always showed. In a way, it was very unlike Croix. She had always preferred simplicity, before. It was strange, how her attitude and personality had changed so little, yet other parts of her…

Ursula wasn’t tired enough to fall asleep, but she felt a strange peace. Even with all her worries, she wondered what’d happen if she slept here and allowed Croix to find her. She wished Croix would stop everything to come meet her, but the truth was, she was now far too important to make that a possibility. She was a busy woman and-

Wait, where was the roomba?

Ursula hadn’t noticed, but at some point, the roomba had disappeared, teleported away. Why hadn’t Ursula gone with it? Was it only the center of the room that worked? Damn it, had she missed her chance? She closed her eyes, sighing.

She was about to raise from the bed in a defeated gesture when she heard the rustling of cloth. Suddenly faking to be asleep, she dared crack one eye open, surprised to see Croix standing there, looking towards the door. “Why is the light on?” she mumbled. There was a roomba hovering over her shoulder.

 **Chariot is nearby,** the roomba said. Croix, who had moved towards the panel on the wall, froze. “What?” she asked, turning around towards the roomba. Ursula closed her eye in a panic, and by the sudden quietness of it all, she suspected Croix had finally spotted her. “… Chariot?” she asked with suspicion in her direction.

Ursula didn’t move, but she could start to feel a blush. She was embarrassed to have laid down on Croix’s bed, as if they were still teenagers. She hoped Croix would just move on with her day and then she’d slip away and pretend this hadn’t happened.

Instead, she heard the steps of Croix in her boots. She was dressed in her fancy outfit, so she had clearly been preparing to leave, but she still took her time to approach the bed. “Are you awake?” Croix asked in a low voice, though it was filled with uncertainty. Ursula wondered if she should open her eyes and show Croix the truth. But… well, she should’ve done that from the beginning. Doing so now would be kind of embarrassing, and it would place Ursula in a less than stellar position.

Croix sighed.

“It’s kind of hard to avoid you if you fall asleep in my room, you know,” she said. Her voice had lost all its edge. She had fallen for it? Hopefully she wouldn’t notice that her face was growing redder by the second. But what did she mean, avoiding her? There was a moment of silence. Croix was clearly thinking about something. “… ah damn it,” Croix said. There was a soft sound as she moved around. “Send a message to the other heads, tell them I’ll probably be late. I can’t really leave a potential intruder unattended.”

The roomba made a beeping sound and then everything grew still again.

“… should I wake her or…” Ursula heard Croix mumble. _No, just go to your meeting,_ Ursula wanted to scream. Then again, that would probably – just maybe – give her away.

After a few extra moments of silence, Ursula was surprised to feel the bed sinking next to her. Croix had sat on the edge. Why was her heartbeat spiking? Damn it, she had to focus to keep her breath steady. “You were always a heavy sleeper. Yet the second you woke up you’d spring from bed and start being obnoxious,” Croix said, though there was no recrimination in her voice.

Ursula felt a poke in her shoulder. “God, you’ve only gotten sexier with the years, you know that?” Croix whispered, sounding annoyed. _Great,_ Ursula thought, _as if it wasn’t hard enough to keep calm._ So it _was_ true that Croix still liked her, at least on some levels.

Then, Croix grew more serious in her voice. “If only I wasn’t…” she paused, sighing again. She moved, and for a second Ursula thought she was going to rise and leave. Instead, Croix hesitated and sat back down. “I wonder if we could have remained friends if I hadn’t had that accident,” she whispered. “If we could’ve remained lovers. If we would’ve married, maybe have children,” she spoke in a neutral voice, but Ursula had to do her best not to let her breath get caught. She’d… She’d been thinking like _that?_ “Well, probably not that last part. I hate kids,” she chuckled.

This… This was an incredibly personal moment. Ursula knew that if she broke the act now she’d just end up pushing Croix away. Had she really just said that? Marriage, kids? Ursula, to her surprise, felt her embarrassment slowly dwindling. She had _never_ heard Croix talk about such things. Even when they’d been at the height of their love.

“I don’t even know why I’m talking out loud. I guess I kind of expect you to be awake, and maybe…” she paused. “Whatever. You, don’t let her enter the lab, and…”

She froze. And right she would, because as she had moved to get up from the bed, Ursula’s hand had shot out and caught her wrist.

When Ursula opened her eyes, she was looking at a flushed Croix. Now _that_ was an unusual expression on the woman. “W-why did you fake being asleep?”

Ursula sat up, coming eye to eye with Croix. “Did you… Did you mean that?” she asked.

Croix paused. “No,” she lied. It was clear she was lying, maybe giving Ursula a chance to get out of it. “I was just testing you out.”

“I don’t believe you,” Ursula admitted, keeping her adamant grip on Croix. She looked straight into her eyes. Teal eyes. Almost the color of magic.

“You…” Croix closed her eyes, turning  her head. “You don’t want to do this, Chariot. You _really_ don’t want to do this.”

Ursula brought up her other hand. With it, she forced Croix to look at her again. “Croix,” Ursula spoke in a serious voice. “You don’t get to tell me what I want,” she finished. And, in a moment of impulse, she leaned forward, pecking Croix’s lips.

She had _missed_ that, she realized. Even after ten years, Croix’s lips still felt familiar. Ursula held her gaze, and when she pulled away, Croix sat there, as if paralyzed.

“Also,” Ursula said. “The rules for the next race are completely unacceptable, and though I know you can’t change them, I wished to speak my mind.”

“You’re making a big mistake, Chariot,” Croix said, and Ursula could see guilt in her eyes.

She was too entranced to care.

Ursula leaned forward again, stealing another kiss from Croix. This time however, Croix reciprocated. And it was like everything was right in the world again. Ursula released her grip on Croix’s arm, instead throwing her arms around her neck, and Croix moved to grab her waist with some hesitance.

It didn’t take Ursula long to swipe her tongue on Croix’s lips, and Croix allowed her entrance. She tasted like toothpaste. Ursula could feel herself melting against Croix, and though Croix’s hug was weak, Ursula was pulling her with a ravenous attitude. It had been so long. It had been _too_ long. Why had she ever gotten mad with Croix? Why had she acted like an idiot? This… This was _right._

Ursula pulled Croix down on top of the bed with her, which interrupted the kiss with a soft yelp from the scientist, but she didn’t lose time reclaiming the lips that were hers. They had _always_ been hers. And now that she’d regained them, she wasn’t about to let them go easily.

“I missed you,” Croix said, and Ursula had to pause for a second, stunned. “You have _no_ idea of how much I missed you, Chariot,” she repeated, and the earlier doubts in her face had been replaced with the kind of hunger Ursula felt too.

“I missed you too,” Ursula replied. And, to her surprise, Croix proceeded to completely ignore her mouth, instead choosing to place a kiss on her cheek. Then on her ear. She moved down from there, placing kisses on her jaw line, in her chin. Every kiss seemed to grow in tenderness, as if Croix was slowly re-learning how to do that, and it wasn’t long until Ursula started to _feel_ them. Slow, warm, the brush of Croix’s lips as she slowly moved down was everything Ursula had wanted for so, so long.

And, when Croix reached the lower part of her neck, where her g-suit stood, she brought a hand up, taking the zipper in the front and slowly sliding it down. Ursula let it happen. God, the way Croix was looking at her would be enough to melt steel, and that confidence as she finished unzipping the g-suit and moved one hand over Ursula’s chest. Could she remember the things Ursula liked? Could she forget?

Croix pulled open the front of the g-suit, revealing Ursula’s black bra. She looked at her breasts with hunger, but continued with her earlier ritual, placing a kiss first on her clavicle, then lower, then lower. A single finger slid below her left neckline, and Croix started to pull down, revealing, slowly, more and more skin. She placed a kiss on the top of her breast, and started moving millimeters at a time, obviously enjoying every second of it. _That_ was new. More methodical, more…

A beeping. Croix paused just before the entirety of Ursula’s breast got freed and turned sharply to the roomba. **Urgent message,** the roomba spoke. Croix’s eyes came back to linger on Ursula for a second before she grunted and moved to read something out of the small panel of her roomba.

“Sorry,” Croix said, turning to Ursula, who was in the process of redressing herself, having smelled what was going on. “Responsibility calls.”

Ursula stood. “So, this…” she pointed at herself and at Croix. “You think we can make it work, again?”

Croix pressed her lips. “I…” she shook her head. “I’m going to hurt you again, Chariot.”

“Then don’t,” Ursula said, stepping closer.

Croix’s expression darkened. “I’m not gonna stop. Not now, when I’m so close. I’m sorry,” she said.

Ursula stepped yet closer and pecked Croix’s lips again. “Then maybe I’ll try to stick around and try to stop you,” she said.

Croix examined her for a second before smiling. “Ok, do what you want, but don’t blame me later,” she turned around. “Also… you really are gorgeous, Chariot. Please don’t sleep in my room like that, it was hard to hold back.”

Ursula smiled as Croix walked away. _Well, this didn’t go at all as I intended._

Somehow, she didn’t feel like it was a bad thing.

 

“I can’t do it,” Akko explained to Diana after a break. As usual, they sat on the Shiny Rod, the hangar as empty of people as ever. “It’s impossible to bring them down without leaving their ships vulnerable, and if we leave their ships vulnerable they just end up being beaten by the planet.”

Diana put an arm around Akko. “It’s fine, Akko. You heard Ursula. You don’t have to attack anyone, just focus on staying alive.”

“But everyone comes after us!”

“Well, it’s a good thing you can teleport,” Diana said. “I think that if there’s one race where it will definitely not be against the rules it’s this one,” she squeezed Akko’s shoulder gently and kissed her temple.

“What about you? You’re attacked too!” With their ships connected, they could actually do shared simulations. They _should_ have considered that possibility back in Vorago, but back then they hadn’t even realized the Rod could share its abilities like that.

Diana hesitated. “Maybe we should go into battle connected. If anyone comes close, we both teleport away.”

Akko considered this. It did sound like a good choice. “But that’s not right either,” Akko shook her head. “Deaths in IPRs are accidents, not… this,” she pressed her lips.

“We can do nothing to change it,” Ursula approached them. Amanda and Hannah had gone to the bathroom, and Ursula had been in a call until now. “Listen, Akko,” the coach put a hand on Akko’s shoulder. Akko looked up to meet her red eyes behind those glasses. A kind look. A trusting look. “You can step out of the race. There’s no shame in doing so.”

Akko looked at Diana, who nodded encouragingly. Akko pressed her lips. She… She couldn’t do it. “I need to keep going,” she shook her head. The dreams about Chariot and Croix, those had to mean something. She had been wondering if she should ask Croix about it, but something about those dreams felt so… private. Chariot had had a lover, and that was Croix. Yet they’d had a falling out of some sort. “I want to find out what happened to Chariot. I _need_ to find out,” Akko explained.

Diana gave her another squeeze, though Ursula smiled sadly. “You really think winning will lead you to her?”

Akko paused. Then, she nodded. “I’m _sure_ that if she sees me winning with the Shiny Rod she’ll at least come to congratulate me.”

Both Diana and Ursula seemed to hesitate on that statement. And, well, Akko was aware that she was probably being a little too hopeful. But she just had this feeling inside her, this… _knowledge._ Pursuing this path would lead her to Chariot, and eventually learn about what happened.

Or, who knows, maybe she’d see it in a dream.

“Well, then we’ll try the peaceful strategy,” Diana said. “They can’t hit us if we disappear before their eyes, right?”

Akko nodded. “That way I’ll be able to keep you safe, too,” she leaned to the side, resting on Diana’s shoulder.

“Aaand that’s my cue to go look at the wall,” Ursula said, letting go of Akko’s shoulder and turning around. “Where are those two, anyways…” she mumbled, probably wondering about Amanda and Hannah.

Akko smiled, relishing in the feeling of being embraced by Diana. Even as sick as she was feeling with the following race, she could get through it. Not only for Diana, but for her friends and for the entirety of Earth. She’d see this race through and earn everyone’s trust, and then she’d work on cleaning Chariot’s name.

That couldn’t be too hard, right?

 

Amanda pushed Hannah against the wall, their lips locked with each other’s. Damn it, how could someone taste so good? And Hannah had grown good at kissing, too. Every suck, every nib, every lick. Hannah had slowly learnt what Amanda liked in her kisses and she took full advantage of it.

“We really should be going,” Hannah said after a brief pause. Amanda ignored the comment, kissing her again, eyes closed in the small bathroom. Hannah reciprocated for a few extra seconds before pushing Amanda away. “Really, Ama, we can’t be here all day.”

Amanda sighed. “Come on, we can do a quickie,” she leaned forward for another kiss, but Hannah turned her head away. Instead of retreating, Amanda just aimed lower, placing her lips on Hannah’s neck. “No-one will find out.”

“Ama…” Hannah didn’t sound nearly as determined now that Amanda was sucking on the area right below her ear, where the hairline ended.

“Hunny…” Amanda whispered to hear ear, and Hannah visibly shivered.

But she still pushed Amanda away. “Amanda!” Hannah said, voice kind of weak. “Not… Not now, we need the practice!”

Amanda sighed. “Fine,” she bit her lip. She was totally aroused now, and that meant she was having trouble thinking straight. Well, it wasn’t as if she _ever_ thought straight. “You know the next few hours are gonna be hell, right?”

“Shut up, I know,” Hannah shook her head. “Come on, let’s go, they’re probably already suspecting something anyways.”

Amanda reluctantly followed Hannah out of the small bathroom and into the hangar. She could still feel that burning passion from within her, and watching Hannah walk in front of her with her g-suit wasn’t helping in any way, shape or form. When they approached the Shiny Rod and Unicorn, Diana and Akko were also making out on top of the white broom, though their kiss was slower and more careful than Amanda and Hannah’s.

“Ok, let’s do this!” Ursula ordered as she saw them approach. “Let’s try that pacifist route, got it?” She seemed unusually cheery. She was definitely in a good mood.

Amanda followed the instructions, crawling under the Rod and climbing into the turret.

She was actually grateful when her consciousness faded. God she did not want to deal with how turned on she was.

 

Diana waited, silently, in the forest of pink leaves and yellow trunks. There was no grass on the floor, just that strange ground that wasn’t quite soil but neither was it rock. It was grey, but it wasn’t exactly hard, yet animals didn’t seem to leave footprints in it, or if they did, they were barely perceptible. Still, plants crawled through itwith ease.

The leaves of these trees looked kind of like normal leaves, but the second anything moved in their vicinity the branches of the tree would move around to try and hit it. The leaves would then stick to whatever that was and start releasing a kind of corrosive acid that Diana had already experienced in a simulation. It _was_ strong enough to melt the metal of the Unicorn. Therefore, she and Akko stood very still, hovering but not advancing, waiting for the others in the simulation to get close to teleport away. With the Rod’s radar, they were bound to survive the race.

“It still doesn’t sit well with me,” Akko said as they saw, in the radar, the Second Category armor go down. “Why not make it a normal race? How is _this_ a race? There’s no speed involved, we can’t even shoot so our gunmen are essentially useless. What’s the point?”

“They want to get rid of racers. They’re definitely building up to something here,” Hannah offered.

“I dunno,” Akko sighed. “I wonder if maybe the real purpose of this is making us quit. But we’re too far into the race, no one’s going to quit.”

“Let’s not forget the mysterious grand prize. It better be a fucking magical lamp with a genie inside to grant wishes, because other than that I can’t imagine what might be worth risking your life like this,” Hannah said.

“Noctu Orfei Aude Freator,” Akko said, having noticed a couple racers coming close to them. “At this point,” she continued, ignoring the teleporting, “I don’t even care about the grand prize. Though if it really is three wishes, I’ll wish to meet Chariot.”

“You need to be more specific with genies. They will always try to trick you into wasting wishes,” Diana pointed out.

“What? Why would they?” Akko asked.

“Because they’re immortal beings, tremendously bored from spending all their time in a lamp. They enjoy feeling smarter than their masters,” Hannah said.

Diana looked around. They weren’t sure of how big the area for the ‘race’ would be, so they varied sizes. Right now they had one that was a couple kilometers in diameter, but it encapsulated a couple different biomes. Diana found herself a place with a lot of really small orange trees in between gigantic yellow ones. They kind of looked like upside-down plants, with their roots in the air, and those roots moved around. It was like being upside-down in the underworld or something. Diana wondered how did the roots of these plants look. She couldn’t help imagine a tree upside down and she smiled at the idea. It was silly, but this strategy for winning the race proved to be boring and she was finding ways of amusing herself.

She looked up at the pink sky. It looked beautiful, really. The planet, in general, was beautiful, if one ignored the murderous intent in all of its living beings.

There were some clouds in the sky. Those were of a light blue shade, oddly reminiscent of Earth’s own sky. One of those clouds looked an awful lot like Akko, Diana thought, and she smiled. Things were going so well, even after all her mistakes and fuckups. She probably didn’t deserve Akko’s love as it was, but she no longer thought about that. She just enjoyed the feeling of being loved. Something she hadn’t felt in so, so long. Since her mother had died.

Did Akko know, how strong of an effect she had on Diana? Just how powerful her words could be?

The answer didn’t matter. Because even if Akko did – though Diana doubted it – she wouldn’t use it. Because that’s who Akko was. Silly, maybe a little dumb, energetic. But most of all, caring and kind. Maybe she could be a little… impulsive, at times, but that was just another part of her.

“I love you,” Diana whispered.

“I love you too,” Akko replied, startling Diana. She had kind of forgotten about the communicator. She blushed slightly, glad no-one was looking at her.

“How do you do that?” Hannah asked.

“Do what?” Diana replied.

“Saying that so… carelessly,” she pressed her lips.

“Well,” Diana paused. “I love her, I guess.”

“That doesn’t help,” Hannah complained.

“It’s about wanting to show how much you care. It doesn’t mean you _don’t_ care if you don’t say it, but… It’s a way of putting it in the forefront, you know?” Akko explained.

“I _don’t_ know, that’s the point,” Hannah said, sounding grumpy.

“You’ll say it eventually, Hannah. Don’t rush it,” Ursula offered. Diana blushed a little, realizing she was listening too. It felt totally different when it was an adult that gave them advice.

Hannah didn’t reply, probably deep in thought. Diana shook her head to try and focus on the race. God it was boring. No one was approaching them, probably because no one could tell where they were. No one _would_ be able to tell where they were, as long as they teleported. Just once would leave the planetary alliance cameras behind.

Then, the simulation ended.

“And we won,” she said, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“You don’t sound too thrilled,” Ursula pointed out.

“Camping is no fun,” Akko explained. “But I’d rather do this than, well, you know,” she spoke with obvious resentment. Diana understood, really. They had been lucky this run, at least. No animals had come near them. It seemed that most living beings in this world reacted to movement, so if they hovered in place it was unlikely they’d get attacked. Depending on the terrain, some animals still went to them – aliongators seemed to be a pain in the ass whenever they appeared – but most animals seemed to either ignore them or run from them.

Diana watched, absently, at the frozen image of a small creature jumping from tree branch to tree branch. The trees seemed to ignore it, for the most part. It had very muscular hind legs, and it was armed with plates, like many of the animals in this world. It had four tiny front arms that stuck to the branches, and the hind legs were the ones it used to jump. Why did the trees ignore it? Maybe they couldn’t feel it. It wasn’t bigger than a squirrel. Diana kept expecting it to move again, but then the simulation ended and everything faded.

“Ok, let’s do it again,” Ursula said.

“Do we really need training for doing nothing?” Hannah asked.

“Yes,” the simple, curt answer made every kind of complain Diana might have had die in her throat. Ursula had a different air to her, these days, but it wasn’t a wrong one. It was just… as if she’d finally fallen into that coach role in personality as well as in practicality.

In the end, another simulation started, and Diana tried to at least pay closer attention this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is smut.  
> Again.  
> You can skip it if you don't like such things, it's not exactly relevant to the story.


	121. Chapter 121

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2nd smut chapter. Don't worry, these won't be commonplace from now on. There's 1, maybe 2 more that I have planned, and you can guess what those will be.

The door slid behind Amanda. She felt light-headed, energy running through her body. She looked at Hannah, who simply sighed as she stepped into the room, her light clothing covering _too much_. With a flick of her wand and a twist of her arms, she got rid of her shirt and strode forward into the room. All beds but one had been withdrawn into the walls – Constanze’s bed. Well, it’d have to do.

She stepped towards Hannah, who was stretching her arms after the long day of practice, and put her arms around her waist, resting her chin against her shoulder, which made Hannah freeze for a second. “You’re not wearing your shirt,” she pointed out, voice slightly strained.

“Mmhm,” Amanda hummed, enjoying the warmth of Hannah’s body. “I don’t know if you cooled off, but the thing about being in suspension in that turret is that, to me, what we did happened like half an hour ago,” she explained.

Hannah slowly let her arms down, and Amanda moved her head a little so that her mouth was directly on top of Hannah’s ear, her lips brushing it. “And I’m god damn horny,” she whispered, which earned her a little shiver from Hannah.

Hannah suddenly stepped out of the hug. “A-anybody could enter through that door at any moment,” she said turning around, her ponytail whipping behind her as her.

Amanda smiled as she went down on one knee to get rid of her shoes. She enjoyed the pointed stare Hannah was giving her cleavage, and when she stood, she got rid of her shorts. “I put a spell outside. Burrowed one of Lotte’s,” she explained calmly.

Hannah seemed distracted by looking at her body, which was cute on its own. When had she blushed? “Wait, then everyone’s gonna know we…” she blushed further, covering her face.

Amanda stepped forward. She gently pulled the hands away, looking at the embarrassed Hannah. “Does it really matter?” she asked, looking straight into her eyes.

Hannah bit her lower lip for a few seconds before letting out a sigh. “I… guess not,” she said. Amanda released her hands, which instead of going back to her face found their way up Amanda’s arms, the fingertips softly brushing Amanda’s skin and leaving goosebumps on it. Amanda felt a chill run down her spine as Hannah’s hands cupped her face. “It’s kind of unfair if you ask me while looking like _that,_ though,” she said in a low voice, her eyes suddenly glimmering with the same thing Amanda had been feeling since practice finished.

Desire.

Amanda let Hannah pull her down into a kiss as her hands slid back and around her neck, her fingers digging into a fluffy mess of orange hair. She visibly relaxed into the kiss, eyes closing, body starting to hang on to Amanda’s for support, her warmth radiating against Amanda’s body like that of a heater. Amanda grabbed her waist and pulled her closer, closing her own eyes and melting into the kiss, heart thumping against her chest, the rush of blood getting louder in her ears. She was a little surprised to feel Hannah’s tongue swipe at her lips, silently asking for entrance, but she didn’t hesitate to give it to her, letting out a slight hum of happiness when their tongues met.

Amanda slipped her hands under Hannah’s shirt, which caused Hannah’s breath to get caught for a second. Amanda took that as a chance to break the kiss for a second, gently grabbing the hem of Hannah’s shirt and pulling it up. She did a quick work of it, throwing the shirt over her shoulder, looking hungrily at the couple of black-covered breasts. Amanda’s blood seemed to spread the heat of her chest into her entire body, and she soon stepped forward again. “God, you’re so damn sexy,” she said as she leaned in for another kiss. A kiss that grew in intensity by the second, as if both girls wanted to just fuse their lips into one, licking and sucking, getting in sync with each other’s movements. Amanda trailed her hands around Hannah’s back for a few seconds, making the girl move in curious ways before gently slipping both hands under the girl’s waistband and taking a hold of her buttocks. Hannah inhaled a sharp breath, pressing her body further against Amanda’s.

Seemingly as an answer, Hannah moved and slipped her arms under Amanda’s, clearly aiming for her back. Her touch tickled slightly as she ran her fingers down the bra’s straps, making Amanda smile into the kiss as Hannah unhooked it and pulled it off her. “You’re eager today,” Amanda whispered in between kisses, her nose and Hannah’s brushing constantly.

“I’m the one topping today,” Hannah said as she started to push Amanda towards Constanze’s bed. A mix of amusement and interest spiked within Amanda, her body now tingling with anticipation, wanting to know what Hannah was going to do. Imagining it made the heat between Amanda’s legs ramp up, and having one of Hannah’s hands in her stomach made focusing on anything else kind of impossible.

Amanda fell on the bed, eyes focusing as Hannah kicked off her shoes and got rid of her shorts in a few quick motions. She couldn’t help feel like she wanted to get up and kiss her again, hug her, touch her. She smiled when Hannah finally finished, moving closer to the bed. Amanda sat up as Hannah leaned, and their lips met again with hunger. Amanda found that she rather enjoyed being the one looking _up_ for once, and as she tried to pull Hannah closer by the back, Hannah used her shoulders for a little support.

Hannah proceeded to bring one hand down. She pressed one finger softly against her skin as she did so, tracing a path from her shoulder to her collarbone, then to her breast. She then slowly placed each of her fingers around the curvature of it, every touch its own little shock, and when Hannah slid the fingers around to properly cup the breast, squishing lightly, quickly flicking her thumb over her nipple, Amanda gasped, breaking the kiss for an instant, enjoying the sudden jolt of electricity that seemed to go straight into her crotch.

Maybe as revenge, maybe because she was so god damn horny, she ignored Hannah’s mouth as she leaned forward again, instead placing her lips against Hannah’s neck, kissing softly, trying – and failing – to ignore the way the hand against her breast made her squirm. Hannah’s teasing became more aggressive in response to her kisses, which in turn only made Amanda more eager to keep her mouth occupied. Some of her kisses turned into unexpected hiccups from Hannah, and when she purposefully sucked on a spot, a sudden pinch in her nipple made Amanda let out the hint of a moan, a soft sound that instantly broke the seal of resistance within her.

She allowed Hannah to push her back, Amanda now half-resting against the wall behind her, air escaping from her lungs in a smile huff as the cold metal touched her back. Hannah looked her up and down, enjoying the view for a few excruciating seconds in which Amanda wished for nothing more but to keep going at it. “Come here already,” she whispered, and Hannah smiled as she climbed on the bed and leaned down, one of her legs between Amanda’s, placing a kiss on Amanda’s earlobe, then down on her jaw line, and then on her neck. Amanda moved her head to the side, leaving the area vulnerable for whatever Hannah wished to do. “Do you mind if I try to…?” Hannah asked softly, and Amanda found it troublesome to connect those words to what they meant.

“I don’t,” she finally replied voice trembling. Hannah then placed her open mouth against her neck and sucked. Slowly, meaningfully. Amanda was breathing heavily, but she felt like it wasn’t enough. She took a sharp breath when Hannah’s hand suddenly touched her side in a mixture of a tickle and a caress, one that ran down to her waist and started fidgeting with the fabric of her panties.

Hannah’s sucking became ever so slightly painful after a few moments, but it was not the bad kind of painful. More and more, Amanda found herself unable to focus on anything but that mouth, that hand, the way Hannah’s leg had started pressing a little more strongly against her core as she grew more and more intense.

Hannah gave one final, strong suck to her neck. Amanda moaned, unable to hold back anymore, and Hannah’s hand stilled, as she was probably surprised to have gotten such a reaction. She took a deep breath, her hand down on Hannah’s waist joined by the other. The two of them took hold of Amanda’s panties and then Hannah met Amanda’s eyes.

Amanda nodded without pause. She didn’t hesitate. She wanted Hannah to do _everything_ to her. She’d open her chest and show her heart, if she could.

Hannah pulled the panties down, throwing them on the floor without a second thought. Amanda was wet, _really_ wet. Hannah looked down at her pussy as if it was the first time she saw it, a mixture of awe and pure lust in her expression.

She proceeded to completely ignore it as she moved to kiss Amanda’s lips again. “Wait, what…” Amanda started, but the kiss interrupted her.

“Shhh,” Hannah hushed her. “Not yet,” she said. She tried sounding confident, but Amanda perceived a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Amanda groaned in complaint, but it didn’t earn her more than another kiss. Well, she’d have to let Hannah do things at her own pace. This was going to kill her.

Looking for something to distract herself from the scorching heat between her legs, from that itch deep within her, she put her arms around Hannah, grasping at her back and making her shiver for a second at the touch. With unsteady fingers she let Hannah take complete control of the kiss and undid the hook on Hannah’s back. Hannah went up for a moment, took it off and revealed her wonderful breasts. Amanda almost instinctively went up to suck on one of them, but Hannah instantly stopped her. Amanda looked up at her face, noticing a blushed but determined look. “Today,” she said. “ _I_ do _you,_ ” she insisted, saying each word slowly. Amanda felt her chest well up at the soft intensity of Hannah’s voice. She still brought up a hand and softly brushed one of those tits, though, to which Hannah didn’t object. She pressed her lips as Amanda softly brushed it, but when a soft noise escaped her lips, she finally bent down again and placed her lips against Amanda’s collarbone.

She left a trail of kisses as she moved down, painfully slow, and finally allowed the breast that had been left alone earlier to enter her mouth. Amanda felt steam rise from deep within her body, and when Hannah cupped the boob to get a better hold of it and started using her tongue, the long mixture of a moan and sigh that left her mouth surprised even her. She seemed to be breathless, no matter how deeply she tried to intake air.

Hannah used her tongue to play with the nipple, which made Amanda take hold of the sheets around her. The brief brushes of Hannah’s teeth against the soft meat of her chest forced Amanda to let air out of her with soft whimpers and little noises that only seemed to, in turn, make Hannah more eager to hear them.

“Hunny,” Amanda found herself pleading when Hannah paused for a second to catch her own breath. Hannah was smiling. She again placed her lips around Amanda’s areola, “Hun,” Amanda shortened the nickname, unable to say the longer version. She moaned when Hannah flicked her nipple with her tongue, then pressed against it and then traced circles around it.

Hannah then moved on to place her mouth against the left boob, repeating the motions, but still stimulating the right boob with soft squishes or presses. Good, it was so good. Amanda grasped for shaky breaths, her muscles tensing, her insides clenching. She grabbed on to the sheets as an anchor to the real world, but it didn’t really do much to help her out with the heat that just kept building up, with the thumping pulse inside.

“Hun,” Amanda said in a weak voice, “ _please.”_

Hannah looked up at Amanda. She must have seen the need in Amanda’s eyes, because she finally let go of her breasts. She moved back, placing one full hand against Amanda’s slightly toned stomach.

She stood, out of the bed, looking down at Amanda for a second time. Then she knelt, and Amanda readily opened her legs, showcasing her crotch for Hannah’s hungry eyes.

Hannah started, of course, by kissing her inner thighs. Amanda’s breath kept getting caught, more intensely the closer Hannah got to her center. Each kiss felt eternal, even if it only lasted a second, and with every lick and every touch she sent a thousand volts of electricity running through her veins.

Then, finally, her lips found Amanda’s lower ones. There was a moment of pause. “If I do anything wrong, just, like, tell me,” Hannah said. Her lips brushing Amanda’s pubes and making her intake a sharp breath.

“Do it,” she said, her insides burning.

Hannah softly placed her lips in Amanda’s pussy, and Amanda again felt her air leave her as she instinctively stilled for a second. Hannah kissed her with an open mouth, her breath warm, and then tentatively licked, parting Amanda’s lips with her tongue. The soft whimper that left her lips when she felt the warm muscle against her encouraged Hannah, who proceeded to repeat the motion with more confidence this time, pressing with more force, fully going past the lips.

Amanda started to moan, and even her deepest breaths seemed to be insufficient when Hannah’s tongue touched her. There was some teasing on her entrance, but when Hannah moved up and found her clitoris, Amanda cried out louder than she had expected.

Hannah seemed to be working mostly on instinct, but sometimes Amanda could feel her uncertainty. Awkward pauses, hesitance on her movements. Either that or she was just pausing to enjoy the taste of Amanda’s juices, who knew.

“You’re doing great,” Amanda muttered through shagged breaths.

Hannah looked at her for a second, as if surprised. Did she notice Amanda’s lack of breath? How she felt her heart was going to rip out her ribcage? The sweat that had appeared in her forehead?

Whether she did or not, she seemed to act more confident as she dived back down. She wrapped her lips strongly against her core, her tongue attacking with a newfound passion. She sucked as she came and went, playing with her clitoris. Flicking it, pressing it, circling it.

Amanda was almost losing control of her body, spasms and involuntary twitches constantly happening. Hannah had a hold of her legs, but Amanda could no longer tell if she was pushing against her mouth, wanting for _more,_ or if Hannah was the one pulling her. Her knees were bent, her ankles softly – most of the time – pressing against Hannah’s back.

From time to time, Hannah had to pause to catch her breath, though she continued stimulating Amanda with her hand and fingers. She made sure to smile at Amanda whenever she was doing it. A timid smile, or maybe a pleased one. Amanda couldn’t tell, Hannah had already melted her brain. Her hands sometimes ran up her sides, or brushed her stomach. They caressed her thighs and she also used them to spread her lips and gain easier access to her insides.

Amanda, on her side, couldn’t think. She had kind of given up on trying to fill her lungs, since between her panting and moaning they got emptied fast. Too fast. She sometimes cried Hannah’s name or nickname between breaths, and all she could feel was that pleasure, that warmth building up inside her body.

It kept going. Hannah went slower sometimes, but even then Amanda could still feel it. Like steam in a pot, waiting for someone to take the lid off and release it. And Hannah did. Amanda broke that barrier. Her lips spread, Hannah’s tongue directly on top of her very core, Amanda felt her muscles starting to tense. A high-pitched wail left her mouth – maybe she cried out Hannah’s name again, her focus was elsewhere – as Hannah continued her movements. No, _intensified_ them. Pressing, flicking, pulling. With passion.

With her back arched, her breath completely caught in her throat, it seemed like the only two things in the world to exist were that tongue against her body and the sheets she was so desperately pulling on. The only sound came from her racing heart and the rush of her blood, her eyes open and nailed to the wall behind her. Like if Hannah had opened the lid, the steam was able to escape her body in a big, long rush of pleasure.

Then Hannah let go of her, giving a small kiss above her crotch before pulling away. Amanda was desperately trying to feel like her lungs worked. Panting, feeling peaceful, she barely noticed when Hannah moved closer and sat beside her.

“You’re really cute,” she leaned down as if to kiss Amanda, but hesitated.

Amanda moved up a tired arm and pulled her down into the kiss. Even then, she wasn’t able to keep it going for long, since she was still in her out-of-breath state. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d tasted herself, anyways.

Hannah laid down, placing an arm around Amanda’s waist and resting her head on Amanda’s shoulder, waiting for her to recover.

“God,” Amanda said once she had. “That was incredible,” she turned her head to Hannah, whose smile was definitely one of satisfaction. She pecked her on the lips. “The best I’ve ever felt.”

“You’re totally exaggerating,” Hannah said. She could have blushed maybe, but her face was already red.

“Maybe,” Amanda said. “But it’s how I feel. I… I guess there _is_ a difference between making love and plain old sex,” she concluded.

“I guess? I wouldn’t be able to tell, anyways,” Hannah said. “I hope I never get a chance to find out,” she added in a whisper, almost to herself.

Amanda felt a completely different kind of warmth in her chest as she moved to place a slow, heartfelt kiss on Hannah. “You’re still wearing your panties,” she pointed out after it.

“I am,” Hannah said, looking down, corners of her lips turning up. “Is that bad?”

Amanda smiled. “It’s horrible. Here, let me take care of that,” she said as she sat up.

This was going to be a long night.


	122. Chapter 122

Akko and Diana found a small party waiting for them at the red team’s room.

“What are you all doing here?” Akko asked, looking as Sucy, Jasminka and Constanze did their own thing inside the room. “Not that you’re not welcome, but we were gonna get ready for bed and…”

“The other two couples are having sex. And since you two share bed, I figured letting them stay here for the night was the right thing to do,” Sucy explained, clearly preparing to go to bed, as she was looking over a couple vials with her pajamas already on.

“Oh, so that’s why they had those spells in front of their doors,” Akko said, blushing slightly.

Diana squeezed her hand, as if trying to transmit her feelings through it. Akko thought she understood.

“Yes,” Sucy said. She turned around, looking the couple up and down. “If you’re gonna start having sex too, try to coordinate with the others to at least leave one room available. That or you can have us watching, I guess. Won’t judge you if that turns you on…”

“Sucy!” Akko said, burning red, looking apologetically at Diana.

But Diana was smiling at the joke. She simply shook her head as she stepped into the bathroom. She wouldn’t be able to go for her pajamas, so Akko would probably offer her one of the oversized t-shirts she sometimes used for that and be on with it.

Akko started to undress, uncaring of the eyes of the others, who clearly weren’t interested in her average body. Jasminka climbed on the bed above Akko’s, while Constanze used a stanbot to get to the one above Sucy’s. After putting on her pajamas, Akko sat, waiting for her girlfriend. The room was quiet, safe for the soft crunch of Jasminka’s snacks, and when Diana finally came out of the bathroom – in her underwear – Akko was entranced.

“Careful now, you wouldn’t want to eat an insect,” Sucy joked, and Akko realized her mouth had been open.

Diana nodded thankfully as Akko handed her a t-shirt.

Sucy was the last one to crawl into bed, and when everyone had stopped moving for a while, the lights went out. Jasminka stopped eating, Constanze stopped tinkering with her machines. Soon, everyone in the room was falling asleep. Akko yawned, nesting her head in Diana’s chest as she so much liked to do. Diana kissed Akko’s head a couple times, and warmth ran through her whole body.

Soon, Akko found herself weighed down by tiredness and her consciousness faded.

_“That was absolutely incredible,” Akko said to Croix as they walked around a marbled corridor Akko didn’t recognize. “I don’t know if I would’ve made it past that curve before your modifications.”_

_“You probably wouldn’t,” Croix said, and Akko finally snapped into the realization that this was yet another dream._

_“You still won’t tell me what it is, though,” Chariot playfully complained._

_“I maximized the magic output, nothing weird,” Croix said, though Akko could see she was deflecting. That wasn’t exactly an answer. “In any case, let’s just get back to the rooms. I don’t like this place. It’s creepy.”_

_“It’s not that different from the_ Dragon, _though.”_

 _“It’s plenty different. This place is cold and lifeless. Rocks are… well, rocks. The_ Dragon _is metal, metal is cool. It was forged by us, it was heated and shaped. It’s so much more interesting.”_

_“Who the hells talk about metal like if it was some kind of living thing?” Chariot asked, amused._

_Croix shrugged. “I do. Now can we please go back. Night walks are fun and all but we don’t even know if it’s night outside. The days and nights in this place last only a few hours.”_

_“Fairly certain it’s night,” Chariot said, pointing to a window. The outside world was dark and mysterious. Akko tried to remember the planet’s name, but she was fairly certain this was chronologically at some point after Chariot’s eight IPR race, just before she vanished on the ninth. She wondered, subconsciously, if these dreams were maybe guiding her towards that, towards learning what happened and why Chariot had disappeared without a trace._

_Chariot and Croix turned a corner, and to Akko’s surprise they found themselves in a garage, where the Shiny Rod floated as it always did. It hadn’t changed one bit in ten years. Not a scratch, not a dent. Pristine, always pristine. A self-repairing ship, the only one of its kind._

_“Oh no, we’re not doing another night session. We’re leaving in a few hours, don’t even try it, Chariot,” Croix said._

_Chariot stepped forward. Both of them wore casual clothing. The air of this planet was breathable. “Come on, it’s gonna be fun.”_

_“For you, I hate doing this,” Croix said._

_Chariot pouted. “Fine,” she leaned against the Rod, and Akko could feel its sharp edge against Chariot’s back. Wait, no. She wasn’t feeling the Rod against Chariot, she was feeling Chariot against the Rod. Despite her first person perspective, all of this was, of course, coming from the white ship. The feeling quickly faded, however, and everything started being a normal dream again._

_“Don’t be so sad,” Croix patted Chariot’s head. “You won today, be happier.”_

_“I want to fly,” Chariot complained._

_“Wouldn’t you rather be with me?” Croix leaned forward slowly, and Akko was kind of glad she wasn’t truly able to feel what was going on. Doing this felt too much like she was accidentally cheating on Diana or something._

_Chariot was into girls, too. Akko would have found that information way more exciting, probably, if she hadn’t met Diana. She had already known, kind of, from her conversation with Croix, but this was a different kind of confirmation._

_When they separated, Akko found the expression on Croix’s face strangely cold. As if the kiss had meant little for her, or as if she was focused on other things. Chariot didn’t seem to notice – or didn’t want to – as she stepped forward and sighed. “Come on,” she said to Croix, “let’s go back. If I can’t fly I might as well sleep.”_

_“Finally,” Croix said, smiling. “Now let’s rest properly and…”_

_But both of them paused. Akko felt something. A strange jolt through her body. “You felt that, right?” Chariot asked._

_“Guess we’re flying anyways,” Croix sighed, turning. Akko saw something in her eyes. They were now sparked with interest. Chariot nodded, and both of them stepped towards the broom._

Akko woke up, eyes still closed, in the darkness. She could hear Diana’s rhythmic breathing, feel the soft breeze it created on her hair. She could smell Diana’s scent, feel her warmth. Akko cuddled against her, smiling as she found a position comfortable enough. However, she didn’t fall back asleep. She didn’t feel like she’d slept at all, but she also was rested. She inadvertently fidgeted with the hem of Diana’s shirt – her shirt, actually – and tried to think back to the dream.

Should she speak about them with the others? She really felt like she shouldn’t. A lot of them seemed to be these really private moments, so why was Akko seeing them? She felt like she was intruding in her idol’s life. And Croix’s too, but mostly Chariot’s. What if the end of the dreams revealed where Chariot was? What if in the end Akko learnt everything she wanted? Then she’d have no more reason to win the race. Somehow, that didn’t feel correct. As she nuzzled her face in between Diana’s boobs, she wondered if she should try to talk with Croix about them.

So many of the ones she’d had in the past were fuzzy now. She really felt like she should have written them down, but with her dismissive attitude, at first, she hadn’t even considered the possibility of them being real.

Diana shifted a little under the covers, the arm she had around Akko’s waist relaxing and moving to rest on her side. She let out a sigh. Akko wondered if she was dreaming something. About her, maybe? Unlikely, but it was fun to imagine it.

Then, Akko slowly moved to get out of Diana’s grasp. She clearly wasn’t going to sleep more. She pecked her girlfriend’s lips before slipping out of bed and going to the bathroom as quietly as she could. The lights would require a little more movement from her part to turn on – lest anybody activate them while simply moving on their sleep. She managed to not turn them on, and since she was at it, she turned off the automatic lighting in the control panel of the room. Akko looked at herself in the mirror.

Wait, were her eyes weird?

She looked closer, but then she noticed those weren’t _her_ eyes. She blinked and the strange afterimage of what she believed to be Chariot’s eyes faded. Was she still dreaming? She pinched her arm, and the answer was clearly not. Great, so she was losing her mind.

Akko exited the bathroom and shook her head. She should take a shower, but doing so would probably wake everyone else. Instead, she put on simple clothes and walked out of the room.  She looked at the time in her clock, and was surprised to find that she had slept for only six hours. What should she do, now? She really felt fully rested. There was nothing left for her to do until they resumed practice – it would be long hours of sitting around looking at a radar – so now she had to wonder what to do. She passed some people on the hallways as she walked, and was surprised to see they recognized her and spoke in hushed voices and quiet whispers. She really _was_ famous.

Eventually, she found her way to the Shiny Rod. It wasn’t much of a surprise. She rarely went to the decks nowadays, with how harsh training was, and the Rod was probably the only place where she felt like she belonged – save for, obviously, in bed next to Diana. It was hard to explain, but being inside the Shiny Rod felt like home. It reminded Akko of her time watching Chariot race as a kid, getting excited about her races and merchandising. It reminded her of her parents buying the toy of the Shiny Rod that used actual magic to float around, of the fake white g-suit she wore to Halloween parties until she was ten. It reminded her of… wait, who was that?

Next to the Shiny Rod someone stood. He wore a hoodie and jeans, and his straight hair came down, barely long enough to cover his ears. When Akko approached him, about to ask him who he was, he turned.

“Andrew?” Akko frowned. Without his suit and fancy hair he almost looked like a different person, save for his green eyes. He really was handsome. Akko wasn’t surprised that he had so many fans.

He couldn’t even start to compare to how beautiful Diana was, though.

“Hello, Akko,” Andrew said, waving. “I recently discovered that by dressing in casual clothing I could actually go out and not be recognized. I see it worked even on you,” he smiled.

Akko nodded. “You look like a different person,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“I… I don’t really know. The rules for the next race have been bothering me. They’re not something the IPR committee should have allowed,” he explained. “I’m not fond of the event in general, but this is particularly bad. Have you seen the reactions online? No, you probably haven’t. Anyways, people are really angry, and with reason.”

Akko sighed. “I know. It’s a boring race.”

“It’s not ‘boring’. It’s dangerous,” Andrew shook his head. “Do you know what the grand prize is, Akko?”

Akko’s eyes widened. “No, do you?”

“No,” he seemed disappointed. “But I think it’s a weapon or something like that. I’ve heard my father speak about it, sometimes. He doesn’t exactly want it, he just doesn’t want anyone else to get it.”

“Something dangerous, then,” Akko pressed her lips.

Andrew nodded. “I’d look for more information, but I can’t. Father thinks I’m studying right now. He stopped taking me to all of his meetings after what happened back in Vorago. He didn’t like me raising my voice at him,” he said.

“Well, we didn’t really need the help in the end, but… Thanks to him, in a way, we’re still in the race,” Akko said. She didn’t really want to give credit to that oily old man, but she couldn’t close her eyes to the truth either.

“Don’t give him so much credit. He abuses his authority. If Ursula had called your representative in the Planetary Alliance she could have pulled you out, since you’re minors.”

Akko hadn’t known that, and it came as kind of a shock. So they had someone who technically could at any point declare things had gone too far and take them out of the race? “Who is the representative?”

Andrew shrugged. “I’ve no idea. I think father knows, and the few times he mentioned her it was clear he didn’t like her. Whatever the reason, I assume she’s a nice enough lady.”

Akko nodded. Then, she sat on the Shiny Rod. “Good thing you didn’t touch it. It could have teleported away.”

“I’m aware,” Andrew said. He was looking at the white broom with a mixture of reverence and wonder. “Isn’t it scary? Thinking what might happen if this broom goes haywire? You could end up in the far reaches of space, unable to get back. Dying alone in some undiscovered planet.”

Akko shrugged. “I’m not afraid of the rod, really,” she admitted. “It’s impossible for it to break, so it’s no…” she trailed off. “Well, _mostly_ impossible for it to break,” she cringed as she recalled falling into the chasm. What had, exactly, broken the capacitor? She had the feeling it had been the strain of trying to lift the Unicorn like that, but she wasn’t sure. They’d checked the new capacitor, and the Rod had literally transformed it so that it looked like its old one.

“It’s such a curious ship. I wonder _who_ built it. I’m fairly certain no human could’ve done it. Some of the technology used is way too similar to daemon tech, but then you have the way the crystal balls popped out that one time, looking awfully like something from the armors. And the way it shifts and changes, that’s like the shapeshifters. The Noir Rod clearly tries to imitate that, but fails. Its transformations are too mechanical. When the Shiny Rod changes form it feels alive,” Andrew examined the Rod up and down. He seemed hesitant to step closer, and Akko didn’t really encourage him to do so. She hadn’t given Alcor a direct command not to react to him and she wasn’t sure how that could go. Even now, if anyone outside the racer team touched the Key-wand, no matter how close a friend they were to Akko, the broom would still disappear and lock down until Akko retrieved the wand.

“It probably isn’t a human creation. Though I don’t see it being daemon, either,” Akko paused. “I don’t really know where it comes from.”

“Have you tried asking it?” Andrew looked at her.

“I dunno. Maybe? It needs a password. I used it, once, but then I locked it again. I’m not sure what was it that did it.”

Andrew sighed. “You have easily one of the most mysterious things in the known universe and you don’t seem at all interested in uncovering its secrets. You baffle me.”

“I just want to find Chariot, really,” Akko said. “I don’t need to know where this came from to know it’s great. So what if I find out who built it? What’s that gonna bring me? For all we know they could be dead anyways.”

“But what if it wasn’t any known race? What if it came from some advanced species at the opposite side of the galaxy, or at the other side of the universe? We’re but a speck of dust in the infinite space, Akko. What could a race that built something like the Shiny Rod bring to the table?”

“You sound so much like Diana,” Akko shook her head. “Always talking about how this and that could change humanity, marveling at the technology.”

“Don’t you?”

Akko shook her head. “It’s dangerous. The Shiny Rod is… It’s not really meant to be used by all kinds of people,” she thought back to that uncannily real simulation of Diana, how touching her had felt. She shuddered. “No, humanity – and probably none of the species in the Planetary Alliance – isn’t ready for this.”

“You look unsettled,” Andrew pointed out.

Akko couldn’t really hide her discomfort. “I know some things about the Shiny Rod I’d rather not speak about, honestly.”

Andrew looked at her, pondering over her words. Damn, even the way his face morphed when he was thinking about something was uncannily similar to Diana’s. Did that come with being rich and important? Probably. Akko found herself thinking about the way Diana always looked when thinking. Her brow slightly furrowed, her eyes looking towards infinity…

“What’s with the smile?” Andrew asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m thinking about Diana,” Akko explained.

“Oh,” Andrew grew quiet for a moment. “How are things going with her?”

Akko cocked her head at him.

“I know she doesn’t like me very much, and I can’t say she’s my favorite person either, but I’ve known her for a _long_ time,” Andrew explains. “I was just curious. You don’t have to answer,” he shrugged.

“Well, she’s great,” Akko didn’t hesitate longer. “I’d try to put it into words, but no words can do justice to how amazing Diana truly is.”

Andrew chuckled. “I see,” he nodded at Akko. “I wonder what being in love feels like. Can’t say I’ve felt much of that myself.”

Akko smiled at him. He surprisingly easy to talk to. “Well, it’s like a red dot on a white sheet,” she tried explaining. When Andrew raised an eyebrow, she continued. “You can’t see it, and you want to wash it, but it kind of sticks around, and then there are more of them, and…” she paused, noticing the confusion in Andrew’s eyes. “No, wait, I… I don’t think that’s how it went…” she pressed her lips. “You know what? Just ask Lotte, she’s great at it.”

For a second, Akko thought Andrew would mock her. Instead, he laughed. “I _think_ I get what you were trying to explain,” he said between breaths, “but you explained it horribly.”

Akko blushed slightly. Yeah, she had completely butchered up that discussion. The way Sucy had done it was so impressive. How was it, again? Damn, she really couldn’t remember it…

“I was surprised after the last race, really. When she came out of her broom she looked surprisingly calm and she even smiled when you hugged her,” Andrew said.

Akko frowned. “Hey, how do _you_ know about that? You weren’t there.”

Andrew paused. “Uhm, I guess I shouldn’t have said that…” he looked away, speaking in a softer voice. “There’s a good number of reporters that take photos of you when you’re not looking. Spirits are particularly useful for that. They take videos, too. And they’re kind of desperate, since some higher up is threatening to get them all kicked out of the _Dragon_ if they dare approach you lot.”

Taking this in, Akko suddenly felt like she was being watched. She looked around, and Andrew shook his head. “There’s no-one here right now. Probably,” his eyes darted across the hangar a couple times in a slightly paranoid way. “They mostly do that before and after races. They want to catch particularly emotional moments, but after your first couple of breakdowns there hasn’t been much in the way of that.”

“Well, I can’t be a kid all the time, can I?” Akko shook her head. “Anyways, why exactly are you here next to the Shiny Rod?”

“I just wanted to watch it closely,” he replied. “I wonder what it feels like, to ride it.”

Akko looked at him. “Want a ride?”

He turned his head sharply. “You’d let me?”

Akko shrugged. “Sure. I can’t really move it since it’s connected to the unicorn, but the simulator is literally the same as flying it, you can’t tell the difference.”

Andrew paused, as if considering the offer. Then he nodded hesitantly. “I would certainly like to try it, at least once.”

Akko nodded. “Gimmie a minute,” she said, turning. She entered the Rod, making sure Alcor didn’t freak out when Andrew entered, and then called the guy over, getting off her seat.

Andrew stood at the edge of the cockpit, looking down at the empty seat and at Akko behind it. “Wait, you’re not…”

“Come and pilot, rich boy. I set the controls to easy for your first try,” Akko said with a smile.

Andrew very awkwardly came down into the cockpit, trying to climb down and slipping on the panels before barely making it into the seat with as much poise as he can muster. “I’ve done some basic practice with brooms, but I’d… Wait, there’s only the joysticks and pedals here,” he sounded surprised.

“As I’ve said, controls are on easy, mostly automatic. Wouldn’t want you to crash and burn, now would we?”

“I’m certainly not as bad as you were on that first simulation,” Andrew commented. Akko staggered, jaw dropping. “What? Wondering how I know it? People talk, Akko, particularly about famous people,” he winked at her before. “Welcome to the club,” he sounded a lot more bitter about that part.

Akko shook herself out of her surprise and commanded Alcor to start the simulation as the cockpit closed. Andrew stretched around a little, and the controls soon adapted to his size. Once everything was ready, an infinite expanse of green grass and blue skies opened before them. Andrew stared at it with a nod, turning the Shiny Rod on and getting ready to move.

He nose-dived into the ground. “Hey! Inverted controls?!” He complained.

Akko laughed. “What were you saying, again?” She asked, still laughing as he groaned in frustration.

“You did this on purpose, didn’t you?” He looked at her with unmeant anger. “Just for the record: This is _not_ fair,” he stated.

Akko kept laughing as she asked Alcor to put the controls back to normal. Despite his annoyance, Andrew ended up chuckling too, and soon he was actually flying through the green fields. Akko didn’t feel the same kind of vertigo he must, as somehow the Rod could isolate those to the pilot, which was the reason Akko had put Andrew in there in the first place. He smiled as he flew, and he even tried some maneuvers – which would have probably failed on a normal broom, but the Rod autocorrected for him.

“It’s incredible,” he said, turning. “It really does feel different from other ships, almost like flying in a VR game. It’s so easy. And you don’t fly like this?”

“Used to,” Akko explained. “But to take advantage of the Rod’s capabilities I had to learn to control everything myself. It’s… Uhm… I don’t really remember what the explanation was, sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Andrew said. “Can I get some obstacles?” He sounded excited, like a kid.

“Sure. Alcor, put us in a forest or something,” Akko said.

The infinite plains soon morphed, trees sprouting from the ground and growing, the grass soon being replaced by a smaller kind and with a bunch of leaves and other stuff on the ground. Akko had the distinct impression that this forest was also infinite.

“I understand why you were able to fly so well now,” Andrew said. “Truly magnificent. With a system like this, anyone would be able to get a broom license after probably just a couple weeks of practice. Can Alcor be an assistant? Because if it can, we could reduce the number of accidents and… What?”

Akko was pressing her lips, and her face was clearly showing how uncomfortable she truly was. “Nothing. It’s just weird when you or Diana start saying stuff like that. It kind of makes me feel guilty for not letting anyone study the Rod.”

Andrew’s smile faded. “Oh, sorry, it wasn’t my intention,” he made sure to look forward as he dodged trees. He was pretty good, though Akko could see his movements were amateurish, and he didn’t really understand how to control the broom. Wait, wasn’t _she_ an amateur, still? It felt like so much had happened since she’d first piloted the Shiny Rod… “I was just talking about hypothetical futures, no need to grow nervous. I understand why you don’t want to study the Shiny Rod.”

Akko didn’t say much more, watching as Andrew flew around. He slowly regained his eager attitude, and sometimes he asked Akko to change the environment to feel how flying in different terrains was, and at some point he just started asking for different planets.

“How about the Crystal Peaks in Machina?” He asked. Akko obliged, and she was stunned to find herself in the peak of a mountain, looking down on the metallic world of Machina but with crystals sprouting out of the ground everywhere. Andrew hovered slowly, marveled at the simulation. The grass was still copper colored, though this one in the mountains seemed to have lost a lot of its shine, as if it was old. There was little in the form of trees and such, but their silver leaves seemed to, again, have lost their luster. The trunks were mostly fine, though. The crystals, though, those were beautiful

They were marbled with plenty different colors. Gold, bronze and silver the most common, but some non-metallic ones also sneaked in, like green or red on occasion. In being translucent, the crystals created reflections of like around them, rainbows of different shades that carpeted the grass or – though it was unusual – snow. The snow itself almost had a platinum tint to it. Ever so slightly reflective. Trying to look through a crystal proved to be simple enough, but as they moved around them they seemed to shift and change, their colors mingling on the inside and forming new ones.

“I didn’t know this place existed,” Akko said.

“I’ve always wanted to visit it,” Andrew explained. “I wanted to go when we were on Machina, but of course I didn’t get the chance. It’s said to be the most beautiful mountain range on the entire planetary alliance,” Akko saw, in the simulation, a blue metal bird flying overhead. She squinted, wondering if it could be Elizabeth. But the bird in the simulation had a silver beak, not a golden one, so it wouldn’t be. A shame – though, even if it had been Elizabeth, it would have only been a simulation anyways.

The things beyond the crystals – small trees, boulders and such – deformed behind them, and Akko found it incredibly interesting. These mountains truly were beautiful. “I need to show this to Diana,” Akko said. Diana probably knew of this place, but she had clearly not seen it. It would make a beautiful place for a race, honestly.

And then, Akko began noticing the flowers.

They were similar to human flowers, but also ever so different. Their petals were dark, instead of colorful, but they still had metallic shines to them. From black to a whole rainbow of dark colors, they extended on the entire west – or at least, Akko thought it was the west – side of the mountains. Their stalks, however, were strange. Some were of a strange green, while others were orange or… a strange brown. Only then Akko noticed those colors were awfully similar to the different rusted colors of different metals. The sight, among the countless crystals – some as small as a head, some as big as the Shiny Rod – left Akko completely stunned.

The yellow sky and the cyan sun contrasted quite beautifully with the landscape of dark flowers, and Akko wondered if she could maybe teleport there, grab a couple of them, and bring them back to Diana…

“These are called ‘The Rustflowers’ by us,” Andrew explained as the Shiny Rod slowly floated through them. “They’re of interest to us as they feed off the minerals in the ground, rusting them with chemicals and using the energy released by that to grow. Their dark petals absorb incredible amounts of energy for such small things, which they use to produce the chemical that rusts the metals and bla bla bla,” he explained. Akko nodded. The flowers couldn’t be bigger than Akko’s extended hand, or the stalks longer than her arm, and though they varied, they looked a lot like poppies or maybe roses in some cases. “The way they get their energy through metals could be a really interesting source of energy for when magic stops being viable. They suck it out of the same substance running under these mountains, that when secreted by the earth is what forms the crystals. They take millennia to form, and the local cyborgs have prohibited their mining.”

Akko didn’t really pay much attention to his speech. She was absorbed in watching the way the flowers looked when bathed in light, the way they coldly absorbed the colors shone upon them. It was kind of hypnotic, really.

“Do you know of other places like this?” Akko asked to Andrew.

Andrew hesitated. “Maybe. Let’s see…” He thought for a while. “Oh, it’s said the underwater capital of the northern kingdom in one of the original Octopus planets – though I can’t recall which one right now – has forests of something akin to coral that glow and bathe the oceanic world in a myriad of colorful rainbows. The octopuses on that planet build with crystal and so the light is reflected and amplified, creating what’s called ‘The Rainbow City of Wonders’,” his face got a dreamy expression as he spoke.

Akko tried to imagine it. She was actually about to ask Alcor to take them there when both her and Andrew were startled by knocking on the windshield. Akko reluctantly stopped the simulation and opened the cockpit.

Akko’s annoyance faded in a heartbeat.

Diana was outside. Her eyes widened as she saw Andrew on the pilot seat – with confusion at first, then recognition and lastly skepticism. Akko smiled as she saw her girlfriend. Why was she awake? How much time had she and Andrew spent flying around?

“I didn’t expect to find you here,” Diana said. “Andrew, I mean. Akko I was looking for,” she looked between them.

“I was letting Andrew test the Shiny Rod,” Akko explained.

Diana nodded. Was she angry? Akko paused. Being alone in the cockpit with Andrew… it _could_ be misinterpreted, pretty badly. However, Diana’s expression softened. “If you’ve had your fun, we should probably get started on training,” she said.

Andrew was blushing slightly, as a kid caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Uhm, sure,” he climbed out of the cockpit awkwardly. “Thanks for letting me pilot, Akko. It was fun,” he said. “I should go back anyways, father probably knows I’m not where I’m supposed to by now.”

“See you,” Akko waved. Andrew nodded as he climbed down from the Rod.

“Hey Andrew,” Diana said. He paused once in the floor, looking up. “You look better in casual clothing. You should try it more often,” she pointed out.

Andrew seemed surprised by the compliment, but he smiled and waved as he walked away. “And you should try wearing something that isn’t a g-suit,” he spoke loudly.

“You’ve no right to tell me something like that,” Diana complained, but Andrew kept smiling as he turned and disappeared between the other brooms.

Akko waited for a few seconds. She stood with her arms against the edge of the cockpit, and Diana crouched so that they were basically face to face, though Diana was still a little higher. “Slept well?” Akko asked.

“Mostly,” Diana nodded. A smile overtook her face as she leaned forward and kissed Akko, slowly and softly. A bolt of electricity seemed to run through Akko’s body. When they separated, Diana was still smiling. “ _Now_ I can say that yes, I slept well.”

Akko was still a little stunned by the turn of events, but she didn’t complain as the others arrived. Ursula was quick to round up everyone and tell them to get into the brooms to practice, and in five minutes, everyone was ready for the day.

 _I’m gonna go visit that rainbow city with Diana, later,_ Akko decided, smiling to herself.


	123. Chapter 123

Hannah slid her arms around Amanda’s waist from behind. This caused the girl to freeze. She wasn’t used to these shows of affection, particularly not in public. But Hannah had slowly grown more comfortable with it over the past few days, particularly after what happened a couple nights ago…

She shook her head, trying not to blush. “So,” Hannah said, “the race is gonna happen soon.” Soon meant in about six hours.

Amanda slowly turned around within the hug and hugged Hannah back, kissing her forehead. “Yes,” she said in a low voice. Hannah was very conscious that Akko, Diana and Ursula were around and could see her, but she tried to ignore it. She _wanted_ to hug Amanda and she’d do it. Did they notice Amanda’s hickey? Maybe they- _Just stop worrying about it._ “Are you nervous?”

“Nervous for what? I can’t do anything, and our strategy is perfect,” she asserted. They hadn’t lost a single simulation- Well, save for that one where that random squirrel thing suddenly cut their hose off, but that did _not_ count.

“I just wonder how hard is it gonna be. I’m gonna be unconscious through the whole thing, so if something happens I won’t be able to help.”

“You probably wouldn’t be able to help anyways. What you gonna do? Step out of the ship and be crushed by the tenfold gravity?” Hannah snorted.

Amanda pinched her arm playfully, but Hannah still yelped. “Let me have my ideas, would you?” Amanda complained. Hannah let go of her, sighing.

“This race is going to be one boring hell. I envy your unconsciousness,” she said.

Amanda kissed her head one more time before letting go. Hannah was starting to grow used to that, too. Amanda liked to kiss, a lot. While Hannah _was_ trying to grow more used to the idea of being affectionate in public, she was still too self conscious. So Amanda did things like kissing her forehead, temples or just the head in general. Hannah was ok with those, mostly, and she could feel that as she felt more comfortable with that she was more and more comfortable with the idea of public kissing.

And, maybe, of stating how she felt out loud.

“Ok girls, enough practice for today,” Ursula said. Everyone turned to her with some surprise. “I don’t want you tired of mind before the race. Go sleep or do whatever you want, gather back here half an hour before the race. I’ll have the engineering and mechanical teams do the checkups on the ships,” she spoke with an air of authority the kinds Hannah hadn’t seen from her before Vorago. An air of confidence surrounded her, and while she kept her red eyes hidden behind glasses and her mouth in a mostly neutral expression, she somehow looked happier. Today, for some reason, she wore a complete ponytail, instead of the one she usually just tied at the end of her hair. She wore…

“She’s not wearing her uniform,” Hannah said, with a startling realization, looking at her jeans and long-sleeved black shirt attire.

“Uhm, and my hair is orange,” Amanda said. “And water is wet. Any other obviousness?”

Hannah punched her lightly. “I mean, she almost always wears her g-suit. I thought it was mandatory or something.”

“It probably is. But what are they gonna do if she doesn’t wear it now? Fire her? With less than a month to go?” Amanda shrugged, clearly uncaring. “I’m surprised she’s lasted this long, to be honest.”

Hannah didn’t buy it. G-suits were comfortable and practical, and the only reason Hannah didn’t wear hers more often was because she liked looking differently… and, well, the color of the g-suit really didn’t suit her. It probably didn’t suit anyone.

But Ursula, she was clearly going for another look. Casual but not too casual, simple but pretty, functional.

“I think she’s got a date,” she commented.

Amanda instantly barked a laugh, though she put a hand over her mouth to cover it, drawing looks from the others. “Sorry, sorry. Why’s that?” She asked, amusement in her face.

“She’s trying too hard not to look like she put thought behind her clothes, but she’s constantly checking herself out,” Hannah said. She’d noticed that earlier, but she hadn’t given it much thought until now. “You think it may be with Croix?”

“May?” Amanda shook her head. “Assuming you’re right, it will be.”

“Don’t think it’s gonna help us win this race, do you?”

“Not a chance.”

Hannah sighed. “Yeah, that would probably be counted as cheating, and Akko wouldn’t allow it. Let’s go grab something to eat.”

Amanda nodded, and both of them left the scene as Ursula, Diana and Akko chatted about something else.

 

 _I shouldn’t have agreed to this,_ Croix thought with dread as she walked up to the restaurant. She had put on her ultra-tech contacts that worked essentially as screens for everything she needed to keep track of while in this date. She didn’t wear them often because they only lasted for about two hours before draining of magic, but they’d have to do for this date. She could see at the corners of her view data about the Noir Rod and about her own body, and she’d see if there was any kind of emergency in the meantime.

Truth was, she only wore them hoping to eventually find an excuse to call off the date.

She looked at the sign above the plain door. It looked like a small place, and the sign was quickly translated as ‘Goodwill’. Hmm, why did the name ring a bell?

Whatever. She looked at herself in the small window in the door. She had chosen to wear a summer dress of a silvery color and she hadn’t made her hair up, so it fell wavy around her head, the front way longer than the back. She hadn’t worn a dress in years, and she felt _way_ too light down in her legs. Plus, even though the temperature of the dragon was essentially perfect, she was slightly cold. She was too used to wearing long sleeves. She felt exposed.

But there was no turning back, now. With reluctance, she entered the place. A dark atmosphere instantly swallowed her. Light Flames lined the walls above dark wooden panels – that was why the place sounded familiar, she had heard of the curious restaurant ran by a shapeshifter that used Light Flames as illumination – and the floor was white, reflecting the soft blue light shed by the flames.

Croix walked through the narrow corridor, coming out onto the main room, where round tables waited, unclothed. Chariot was sitting in one of them, near the bar, her blue hair a shade lighter thanks to the illumination. Her eyes had taken a purple tint as they looked at infinity, and her skin seemed to glow. Croix’s too, but she doubted she looked as dashing as Chariot. _She’s not wearing glasses,_ she noticed.

“Hey…” Croix said awkwardly, and Chariot’s eyes suddenly snapped back into reality, focusing on Croix. “You look great.”

Chariot smiled. A blazing white smile, kind of out of a movie. Her hair pulled in a ponytail somehow made her look a lot more serious, but Croix was really starting to lose herself in her. She couldn’t help but look at her lips. She hadn’t felt this strongly about anyone since… Well, Chariot, ten years ago. Her memories of the time were kind of fuzzy, though. With all that was going on in her mind, she had kind of switched on and off between thinking about her visions and completely ignoring them. Sadly, she’d only learnt to deal with her newfound knowledge _after_ her fight with Chariot, and by that point it’d been too late to fix things.

“Thanks. You’re beautiful in that dress, too,” Chariot pointed at the silver attire. “And your hair definitely looks better when you let it down.”

Croix blushed ever so slightly. “So… Why this place?” Croix looked around.

“Because the girls love it, and it definitely has a special charm to it. It’s relaxing, and exotic,” Chariot explained.

It was easy to understand what she meant. Croix absently looked at the bar, and all the bottles lined up, their labels translating automatically before Croix’s eyes. “Huh, they have mercury,” she mentioned.

Chariot turned around at the rows of bottles, then back at Croix. “I hope you’re not planning on tasting it,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

Croix chuckled. “I’m not an armor, thank you,” she shook her head. Then she looked up. “So, then Cha… Uhm, Ursula,” it was really hard to correct herself now that they were in public, “are we gonna be attended or…?”

“Oh, no, I already asked the meal for us. It’ll come shortly,” Ursula smiled in a mischievous way, and Croix couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

She couldn’t help but notice that Chariot hadn’t buttoned her shirt entirely, and some cleavage showed. Was it on purpose? Probably. Chariot _never_ used cleavage. It looked good on her, though. Her eyes were also looking intensely at Croix, who didn’t have a cleavage but showed a lot of skin in other places. It wasn’t long before Croix felt this electricity between them, like back at the room. Energy bottled up for a decade, waiting to be let out, pounding against the cap, restless. Then, she noticed that her heart had accelerated, thanks to her vitals, and her blood pressure had gone up. She locked eyes with Chariot, and even though they hadn’t said anything in minutes, it felt as if they were having a conversation. A good one. A friendly one.

Croix realized, with calm logic, that she and Chariot still had the same chemistry that had brought them together so many years ago.

 _“You only approved because of me,”_ Croix’s old voice rang in her mind.

 _“You say that every time, yet you still help,”_ Chariot had teased her.

 _Because I like you,_ Croix had thought. _“Because you’d be expelled for your horrible notes without me,”_ she’d said instead.

Since when had she known she liked Chariot? At first she hadn’t paid her much mind, but after getting to know her, she had quickly realized her feelings. Yet they hadn’t really hooked up until the Inter-Planetary Race, and the relationship had been short lived thanks to… Well, everything that happened after the fifth race.

 _“I can better the output of the Shiny Rod,”_ She’d said after the sixth race. Everyone had been out to get them. Croix had seen, had known, how to upgrade the Shiny Rod. She just couldn’t tell Chariot. Because telling her… Well, it caused this. _We need the power,_ a part of her had thought. The future, it had scared her. It still did. _I don’t want you to get hurt,_ another part of her had thought, looking at Chariot. Her short-haired bright smile, her red hair of the same color as her red eyes, her always energetic demeanor.

It had required using the technology inside the Shiny Rod itself to make it draw energy from the other ships around it. She had asked Chariot to put Alcor under her direct command until she was done, and once the familiar was unable to ignore her, she instilled in it a series of instructions that forced it to follow her plan. Chariot hadn’t understood how she’d done it, though she had clearly grown sharper over the years.

“What are you thinking about?” Chariot asked, startling Croix, who had been deeply lost inside her mind. “You making a lot of faces there.”

Croix shook her head. “Going on a trip down memory lane, I guess,” she met Chariot’s eyes, and she could see that she understood.

The food arrived.

“Oh, is this Meatflower stew?” Croix asked, looking down at the worm-like plants and the green, thick liquid.

Chariot frowned. “You already know of it?” She asked in disbelief.

“I’ve been in many meetings with Appali, and they’re rather fond of serving this to humans, as we can eat it without risk,” Croix explained, slightly guilty as she crushed Chariot’s fun. “Sorry.”

Chariot sighed. “No, it’s fine,” she started eating.

They ate in silence for a while. Croix wondered if with her knowledge she had killed the mood. The stew was a nice break from her instant noodle diet. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have money for more, instant noodles were just convenient. Heat water, pour it, eat directly from the cup, throw it away. No dishes to wash, no complicated preparations. And hell, they were tasty, in her opinion.

But as she sipped on the broth, with its sweet spiciness and cold warmth, she wondered if she should maybe lead a healthier life. She couldn’t keep trying to stay afloat with magic and inferno. Sure, she was far beyond humans in her knowledge of how to use it to keep her body stable, but if she only kept a proper diet and maybe made some exercise…

“You’ve got broth on the corner of your mouth,” Chariot said. Croix looked up, wiping her mouth with a finger. Chariot pointed at the other side. “There,” she said. Croix swiped her finger where Chariot had pointed, but she didn’t feel it. Weird, really. Chariot reached across the table to point closer. _“There,_ ” she said with annoyance, and Croix finally got it.

“Thanks,” she said, licking her finger to clean it. Chariot watched that movement with clear interest, though Croix did it as non sexually as possible.

They finished eating and then stared at each other in silence. “I felt like this would be a good idea when I called you,” Chariot said. “Guess there’s not much to chat about, as most topics are still sensitive between us.”

“I feel like I’m the one who’s supposed to make those kinds of comments,” Croix said, rising. “But while I think this is a beautiful place, I would rather be at my lab,” she checked the corners of her vision, but there was no messages, and the Noir Rod wasn’t being shred to pieces, so Horn probably wasn’t doing anything too stupid.

When she looked back at Chariot, she could see her deflated, disappointment as apparent in her face now as it would have been ten years ago.

 _Oh hell,_ Croix thought, sighing internally. “Or,” she added, “Walking outside, with you.”

The change was instantaneous. Chariot sat straighter, a smile appeared on her face again, her eyes focused on her. “Yeah, that sounds nice,” Chariot said, raising from her chair. She was slightly shorter than Croix, normally, but since her shoes had some platform to them, she now looked at her eye to eye. “I’m sorry for the boring meal.”

Croix smiled. “You were never good with clichés, anyways,” she offered a hand out of instinct, and surprisingly, Chariot took it.

Suddenly self conscious, Croix broke eye contact, pretending to walk out of the restaurant. No need to pay. Not right now, at least.

Plus, she’d rather be in public with Chariot, where she couldn’t let herself loose like before.

 

Ursula smiled.

She couldn’t help it. She was giddy, nervous. Like a teenager. She wasn’t smiling broadly or jumping around like she’d have done in the past, but she still felt that fluttering in her stomach, that warmth shooting up her arm like if she was getting some kind of drug intravenously.

To her side, Croix was clearly uncomfortable. Ursula didn’t care, keeping a good hold of her hand. “You’re acting like a teenager,” Croix said. She was clearly flushing, though people on the main street of Gold Deck ignored them.

“Maybe I am,” Ursula said. Croix was keeping an obvious distance between them, and though she wanted to close it, whenever she stepped closer Croix would step further.

They walked in silence for a while extra, until they reached the park. The other half of Gold Deck, one Ursula didn’t visit much, was a long, green place, full of trees and grass and other stuff that one wouldn’t expect to find in a space cruiser. This place was always easier to transit than Shopping Town, which also meant that Croix could step even further away. Ursula suspected the only reason she wasn’t trying to shake off the hand was because she didn’t want to directly offend her.

With a sigh, Ursula thought that she shouldn’t force it. Croix had agreed to come on the date. That was enough, for now. She let go of the hand.

Curiously enough, Croix kept a hold of hers.

Ursula looked up, noticing that Croix had clearly grown a little redder. With a smile, she closed her fingers again and stepped closer to the purple haired woman, and this time she didn’t step away. “So,” Ursula asked. “How are you going to handle the next race? People may die.”

Croix sighed. “We have a few rescue teams, provided by the planetary alliance. They’ll try to rescue anyone in a tight spot, but I can’t make any promises,” they walked slowly. The floor here wasn’t wood – or the imitation of – like in Shopping Town. Here it was made of clearly fake stones. It looked pretty enough. Many people sat around on the grass and under trees. Couples, groups of friends, people reading or looking at their wands…

“Want to sit?” Ursula asked, pointing at a lonely tree near them. There weren’t many people around the area, so it was probably a nice enough place.

“Sure,” Croix said. Ursula guided her, stepping on the neatly trimmed grass and sat down against the tree. It was wide, though not very tall. It could only grow up to five meters, after all.

Ursula unapologetically leaned against Croix as soon as she sat down. Putting her head on Croix’s shoulder, she felt the woman tense up for a few seconds before relaxing again. She didn’t smell like her lab, like she usually did. She’d obviously taken a shower before coming. Ursula felt the heat of the bare shoulder in her face, and she closed her eyes against it.

Croix was, in so many ways, still the same person she’d fallen in love with ten years ago. Smart, confident, straightforward. She still seemed to find Ursula slightly annoying, but at the same time she looked at her like she didn’t look at anything else. There was a connection between them, one that had been there since the first time they’d met eyes at the auditorium in Luna Nova.

“I guess you made it pretty far, even if I kind of ruined your research,” Ursula said, apology in her voice.

“It wasn’t your fault, technically,” Croix spoke neutrally, though Ursula felt a strange tiredness behind the tone. “It was interrupted, yes, but I could still do my research.”

 _You couldn’t really ride a broom other than the Shiny Rod, though. You wouldn’t have been able to test your own creations,_ Ursula thought, starting to feel guilty. She had been so self absorbed that she hadn’t really given much thought to it in the moment. But in a way, she knew she had given Croix a severe handicap. She was an amazing pilot, or she had been, and while the effect wasn’t nearly as strong as it was on Ursula, she couldn’t really ride a broom without getting light magic poisoning. Ursula hadn’t tried riding any brooms in well over five years. Even after the Shiny Rod had left her, the effect prevailed.

“I’m sorry for going away like that,” Croix said. Ursula paused, opening her eyes and looking at Croix. She was looking down. “I should have tried to explain, instead of getting angry and running away.”

Ursula could barely believe what she was hearing. It wasn’t the kind of apology she hoped for, but it was also more than she’d expected. Was… Croix actually doing it? “I… I should have tried to understand, too,” Ursula whispered.

Croix, slowly and tentatively, put an arm around Ursula’s shoulders. “Let’s not talk about that,” she said. There was a strange glimmer in her eyes, a shred of… guilt, maybe. Something rather normal, coming from Croix. “You’re still on time to pull out of the race, you know. Just keep your students safe. The planetary alliance… I wouldn’t trust in them, really.”

Ursula shook her head. “We have a good enough strategy. We’ll be safe,” Ursula explained.

Croix looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “I assume you’re not gonna tell me,” she said.

Ursula considered this. Did she trust Croix? After what had just happened… Yes. “Telporting.” Croix cocked her head. “We connect our ships with the hose, which allows us to teleport them both.”

Croix’s eyes widened. “Right, you can do that now. I wish we had figured that out,” she shook her head. “It’s a good strategy. No-one will be able to hit you. You’d just have to wait it out.”

“Yep,” Ursula nodded. “And since ranged attacks are forbidden…”

“I think that rule’s so stupid,” Croix shook her head. “What’s the point of gunmen if they can’t do anything?”

“Well, you can’t do anything about it, now can you?” Ursula said. She felt so incredibly comfortable with Croix hugging her like she was. Slowly, Ursula put her own arm around Croix’s waist. The woman didn’t tense up, this time.

“No,” she shook her head.

“It’s fine. I know you’d help, if you could.”

Croix didn’t say anything.

They stayed there for a while. Ursula lost track of time, and maybe she even fell asleep, though with how peaceful she felt it was hard to tell. Croix had always had a way of doing this. Of relaxing her, of hugging her. Everything about this felt… good.

Ursula smiled. Maybe things really could work out with Croix again. She had somewhat apologized, and they definitely still had that connection between them. Maybe Ursula had over-reacted in the past. Croix’s plan, whatever it was, she could come around on it, assuming it was something bad. Well, Croix had all but directly stated that it was. But she was a logical person. She wouldn’t do bad things for no reason. She’d see that there probably was a better way, if Ursula managed to get the info of what it was out of her.

Croix’s arm suddenly fell from Ursula’s shoulder. She looked up, wondering if she was getting up. Instead, Croix’s eyes were closed, and she was definitely asleep. Ursula smiled, moving up carefully to place a kiss on Croix’s cheek. She didn’t react. Ursula suspected she used some kind of technology to hide the bags she should have under her eyes. If they got together again, she’d have to see that Croix lived like a normal person.

For now, though, Ursula simply took pleasure on the feeling of being next to her.

 

_War. The Earth was out of magic. An invasion. Without magic, it was impossible to fend it off. Humans had come to rely on it too much. This new alien race, it had come for them all. Not only humans. No planet in the alliance was safe. The other races, they wouldn’t bother with the humans. Too focused fighting off their own invasions._

_The earth, desolate. A barren wasteland. The oceans, black. The sky, red. The sun, being blocked partially by a Dyson Sphere. The planets on the solar system freezing._

_Magic. Energy. They needed more of it. Unity. When was this set to happen? A number of centuries in the future. Didn’t matter. Humanity was doomed. They needed unity. They needed help. More and more of it._

_The Shiny Rod. Unity. What was it? A broom. A ship. The broom, the ship. Symbol._

_Power._

Croix woke up with a soft feeling against her lips. She opened her eyes slowly, looking at Chariot, who smiled into her mouth. Croix reciprocated the kiss, though only lightly, disturbed by her dream.

No, not a dream.

A vision.

“We need to get going, I think,” Chariot said, smiling.

“How longer until the race?” Croix asked, suddenly feeling cold. Really cold. Maybe the dream was a sign. A reminder. She couldn’t be with Chariot, not without hurting her. She was being too selfish with this. And she _would_ see her plans come to fruition, whether Chariot liked it or not.

“An hour. You slept for a while, and I didn’t want to wake you,” Chariot said. She stood first, stretching and yawning. “I need to go make sure the ships are ready, and you probably have stuff to do too.”

Croix suddenly noticed the messages that had come in the corner of her view. “Actually, yes,” she said, taking the offered hand and standing. Before her, Chariot smiled and moved closer, clearly expecting another kiss.

 _This could be it,_ Croix thought. _Push her away now, save yourself the trouble. Say that you had fun, say that you enjoyed her company, but that this isn’t going to work. Maybe push the humans out of the way._ Croix wasn’t sure what would happen if humanity won. Any other race she could read. Humanity was too random for her taste, though. What if they destroyed her gift? What if they didn’t know how to use it?

_You should…_

Croix leaned forward, kissing Chariot with passion. Her own body had betrayed her, but _damn_ if it didn’t feel good. So soft, so warm, the way they knew their way around each other’s mouth, even after ten years, was astounding. Croix knew she was going to regret this later, but like an addict, she just couldn’t stop herself. She needed this. She had needed this for the last decade.

When they separated, Chariot wiped her now wet mouth with the back of her hand, smiling like before. “Shall we go?”

Croix nodded, taking Chariot’s hand. “Let’s go,” she said.

This was going to be one hell of a week.


	124. Chapter 124

Akko was ready.

She stretched her fingers, then let them rest, relaxed, against the joysticks. She ran her feet through the four pedals below her, and she looked around her control panel, every button, every measurement screen, every lever and every slider. She could feel electricity in the air, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife and serve it as dinner. This race held no points to them. It was essentially another qualifier round. Six teams, only three of them would make it out.

She heard a yawn.

“You could take this seriously,” Akko said to Amanda.

“I am. I’m yawning very seriously,” Amanda said, yawning again in an exaggerated manner.

“Amanda, please,” Hannah said. “We could die, you know.”

“With our strategy? I think the only thing that could kill us is boredom. So, you gonna turn the turret on or what, Akko?” Amanda said.

Akko sighed. “Sure, whatever,” she said, turning it on.

A sure win. A coward’s strategy, but a sure win. Plus, was it really that bad? Akko looked around. They had chosen a plain as the starting point for them. There was yellow grass below them, which was odd enough, and while in one direction the plain was lost in the horizon, Akko couldn’t really go in that direction without being disqualified. In the other direction, a forest of red and purple for the leaves and yellow and orange for the bark. The yellow grass would join together and extend from the ground, the soil here being softer than in other places, and then try to bring down whatever came near it, with its-meter high, finger-wide blades weaving together to form tentacle-like vines capable of a good hold. Animals roamed nearby. A long, six-legged lizard-like thing with a round head moved close to the Rod, looking at it with interest, but not moving to attack. The grass seemed to mostly ignore it, but when the creature hit the ground with its tail, nearby blades tried to take a hold of it, and then with a yank the creature would rip the grass from its roots. The tail would then bring the food up to the head, which didn’t seem to have a lot of movement options, and the creature would eat.

“Grassyanker,” Akko said.

“Huh?” Diana asked, clearly distracted.

“That thing,” Akko pointed at the lizard-like thing. Its skin wasn’t plated, curiously enough, but it still seemed to be thick. It had two sets of three eyes on the sides of its head. “It yanks grass from the ground, so it should be called Grassyanker.”

“That sounds horrible,” Hannah said.

“You named the Uglargoyle,” Akko said. That was the name of a creature that looked one hell of a lot like a gargoyle. It was just uglier than one.

“Still better than ‘Grassyanker’,” Hannah declared.

“Will you always argue over the names of creatures you won’t be seeing again in your lives, probably?” Diana asked, though there was a hint of teasing in her voice.

Akko smiled, about to reply, when she saw it. A blue light shooting from the woods into the blue sky. Then another one, green. Then a third one, yellow. The three of them exploded in quick succession, like fireworks, but much brighter.

The race had started.

After a few seconds, Akko continued their conversation. “I mean, I plan on becoming the best Witch on Earth, so I _will_ be back in the IPR,” she said.

“This is where I would normally explain that one: This planet isn’t on the normal rotation of IPR planets and two: even if it was, planets don’t get picked out in two consecutive races. However, those explanations seem to fall flat on their faces. This race has certainly been unorthodox,” Diana said.

Akko nodded, even if no-one could see her. Still, Akko really doubted she’d get to be on TDE again. Not that she wanted to.

“Oh god, please no,” Hannah said, huffing in annoyance.

“What?” Akko said.

“I just saw an aliongator in the woods,” Hannah said. “Or something like it. It was bigger but leaner, and the head wasn’t so big. Kind of like comparing a lion to a tiger, I guess. Similar concept, different species.”

“All breeds of aliongator seem to live in forests,” Diana pointed out. “They’re strong, but they’re not good in handling grass from this world. They like to climb trees and they ignore direct attacks, but the grass is too much for them.”

“Guess all creatures adapt to their environment. Maybe one day one of those monkey things will come down to the plains and develop a sapience,” Hannah said.

“I hope not. Can you imagine what kind of society would be born from this place?” Akko said, unable to think about anything but a bunch of murderers.

“I guess,” Hannah sighed. They really were growing bored. No-one was approaching their area, for now at least.

“I wonder if maybe no-one will find us,” Akko said.

“Don’t jinx it,” Hannah said.

“It’s unlikely, Akko. We can infer the direction the other racers started from. Some of them will eventually come here. Not that it’s a worry, though. Even without the radar, starting in a plain gives us an advantage,” Diana explained. Akko nodded. There was really no reason to worry. All she needed to do was…

“Daemons ahead,” Diana said, voice tense. Akko looked up. There, on the edge of the forest, half-hidden behind a couple trees, the Noir Rood floated. It was certainly looking at the pair of ships.

Akko decided that just being seen was probably enough of an excuse to teleport away. She was about to say the words when, suddenly, a laser was shot from the black ship. On instinct, Akko reacted by instead wishing to put the shields up. The shields did so – covering the Unicorn too – and the laser bounced off them with little effect. Akko instantly relaxed. Maybe she should have allowed the laser to hit them, which would have probably caused some damage but it would have gotten the Noir Rod disqualified.

Another laser came. Akko shook her head. She’d rather teleport and let the daemons to someone else.

“Noctu Orfeu Aude Freat-” the second laser, however, hit the _hose._

Cutting the Shiny Rod from the Unicorn.

“-re,” Akko finished, barely able to register what had just happened. She blinked a few times, the Shiny Rod now floating in a small patch of needle grass in the middle of the forest.

Alone.

 _Oh no,_ she thought.

 

Ursula was watching the Shiny Rod and Unicorn do nothing. Then the Daemons tried a laser, which Akko essentially shrugged off with shields. Were they _trying_ to get disqualified?

Then a second laser. Why wasn’t Akko teleporting away? Why…

The laser missed. Akko disappeared.

The Unicorn remained.

Ursula felt a chill. No. No way. But yes, it had happened. The hose had been cut. She blinked a few times, as if trying to clear an afterimage from her sight. But nothing changed.

The Unicorn didn’t stay still. Reacting quickly as its shield disappeared, it moved in an eyeblink, shooting off to the side as another laser came down on it. Ursula couldn’t help but change her communication frequency to match up that of Diana’s.

“…uld have seen it coming!” Hannah was complaining. “God fucking damnit!”

“They never did that on the simulations, but yes,” Diana sounded frantic, but she wasn’t screaming. “Guess we didn’t expect them to shoot. We should have teleported as soon as we saw them.”

“They never saw us racing with the hose, did they? As far as they know, it was just a source of energy,” Hannah said. “Wouldn’t it have been better for them to leave it, to limit us?”

Ursula got a sinking feeling in her stomach. No, no.

“We didn’t end up showing our ability to anyone,” Diana said. “Save for maybe some of the crewmembers. I’m not sure right now,” the Unicorn entered the forest, disappearing between trees as the Noir Rod pursued. Diana wouldn’t be able to fight it off. Well, maybe if she got a _really good_ hit with the horn of the Unicorn, but even then, the Noir Rod was definitely bulkier and stronger.

A few seconds later, the Shiny Rod reappeared on the plain. Akko started moving, probably trying to see where Diana was. She didn’t lose a second and transformed the Rod into its axe form, and she pressed nitro, diving into the forest in a straight line in Diana’s direction. Leaves hit or whipped at the white broom, but even if they did any damage, it wasn’t that bad.

“Oh fuck,” Diana whispered, and the curse was so out of character that Ursula thought she’d heard wrong for a second.

Ursula, given the privilege of watching races with a special app that allowed her to watch any and all cameras she wished, decided to change to the official one from the one following the Unicorn and the Shiny Rod. In it she saw the Unicorn… and in front of it, the Blood Sailor, flying ahead but slower, matching Diana’s movements and forcing her to slow down. It was eerie. Almost as if it could see what Diana was gonna do perfectly, it seemed to mirror her every movement with crazy accuracy.

 _[It looks like our little Cavendish is cornered!]_ The commentator shouted, sounding way more cheerful than he should. Ursula felt her heart racing, as what was going on was clear. The blue ship, against the red underbrush of the forest. The Blood Sailor and Noir Rod, two ships teaming up against one. Those blades in the Blood Sailor… no matter how talented Diana was, she could _not_ avoid two ships forever. The Unicorn hadn’t been totally slowed down, but the Noir Rod was catching up. Ursula saw as it changed and shifted, and four long spider-like legs came out of it, tips meeting at its front and starting to spin with a red light. Diana wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

Luckily, she didn’t have to.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!” Akko screamed from the top of her lungs, the Shiny Rod suddenly coming into the frame from the side of the screen spinning like crazy, leaving a trail of destruction and _smashing_ against the Noir Rod, pushing them both out of the frame again. The camera instantly shifted to either one of the Rods as both ships spun like crazy in the air, hitting trees and getting hit by them, cutting many of them down. The Shiny Rod slowly went back to its normal from, coming to a halt. It stayed in the air, however. The Noir Rod also managed to stay afloat, though two of its crazy spider-legs were completely destroyed and the side of the ship glowed red, a scar of inferno across it. Diana had managed to direct herself in Akko’s direction, but the Blood Sailor wasn’t about to let her go.

“Akko! Are you ok?!” Diana asked, worried.

“I’m fine,” Akko replied, though she sounded dizzy. “Just disoriented. The Shiny Rod isn’t answering, though it still has energy. It think the hit messed with it, it may need a second to reboot.”

“The Noir Rod is having trouble too. Reboot quickly and run,” Ursula ordered, butting in the conversation. “Diana, either lose the blood sailor or destroy it, your choice.”

“Got it,” both girls said almost in unison, and Ursula felt a little more tranquil.

What had changed? Not in a single simulation had anyone thought of sneaking up on them and shoot at their hose, even when Akko had been distracted and allowed anyone too close – including the Daemons. Simulations that had been as recently as six hours ago.

Simulations that Ursula knew, for a fact, were accurate to real life. And she could only think of _one_ reason why the Daemons would change their normal behavior in favor of this, when they shouldn’t have known the real reason for the hose, when they should have even seen it as a handicap for the humans.

Feeling weak, Ursula rose from her bed, keeping her helmet on to watch the race, but started pacing.

It couldn’t have been what she was thinking of. She was being paranoid. A coincidence, that’s what this was.

Was it?

 

Diana could almost feel the breath of the daemons behind her as the Noir Rod prepared to attack, its figure among the trees changing as four spindly legs came out of its body and started spinning.

How was the Blood Sailor doing that? How in hell did it manage to block her every movement, to read her every thought? There was no way she could escape. Her movements got frantic, random even. She started doing things she shouldn’t, she even stopped thinking.

But the Blood Sailor kept blocking her.

The spider-leg-things from the Noir Rod were really getting at it, and Diana had started to lose hope. They had relied too much on a single strategy and hadn’t really thought about what would happen if they failed. They relied too much on simulations and not on their own instincts. Stupid mistake. Stupid, stupid mistake. Diana wasn’t going to make it, but hopefully Akko would-

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

The Shiny Rod appeared from out of nowhere, dragging along leaves and other kinds of stuff, spinning in a mess of white and green, and _crashed_ into the Noir Rod, dragging it away into the trees.

Diana, stunned, was unable to think for a few seconds. The Blood Sailor finally stopped doing that thing for an instant and Diana managed to get away from it, steering the Unicorn in the direction the Shiny Rod had gone.

“Akko!” She cried, worried. That had been a _bad_ hit. “Are you ok?!”

“I’m fine, just disoriented. The Shiny Rod isn’t answering, though it still has energy. It think the hit messed with it, it may need a second to reboot,” she explained. She sounded out of sorts, which made sense.

“The Noir Rod is having trouble too. Reboot quickly and run,” Ursula said, still in the conversation. For once, Diana was glad Ursula was there. She was confused by what was going on and having an adult checking on hem was probably the best they could do. “Diana, either lose the Blood Sailor or destroy it, your choice.”

Diana hadn’t even realized, but yes, the Blood Sailor was now chasing her.

“Got it,” she said, and was a little surprised by hearing Akko’s voice almost in perfect synch with hers.

Feeling like a bucket of cold water had been dropped on her, Diana stopped accelerating and turned a hundred and eighty degrees, pointing her horn at the Blood Sailor. She didn’t want to do this – Akko wouldn’t approve, probably – but right now? Right now she wanted to be rid of the pursuer and she had little choice but to atta…

“Oh, come on!” Hannah reacted before Diana.

One of those black aliongators was pursuing them too, half-running, half-jumping in a strange run that would only be possible with its two knees per limb.

 _How_ did they move so fast? It was crazy. This planet had a gravity ten times as strong as Earth’s, it shouldn’t have been possible.

Did it matter, right now? No, no it didn’t.

Diana had two choices, as far as she saw: Turn around, run from the creature and the daemons, and hope for the best. Or: Attack the blood sailor, hope it dodged, try to dodge the aliongator, and hope for the best.

Both seemed like awful plans. One of them would have to do.

Diana pressed nitro, shooting forward, the g-force of the differences in speed pushing her backward and almost knocking her unconscious. Again, the Blood Sailor seemed ready for this, and it dodged. The aliongator, however, seemed to not have been expecting that, as it stumbled awkwardly when Diana steered lightly to the side dodging a couple trees she barely saw in time, and tried taking a bite out of her. It didn’t manage to. These stupid creatures changed the equation of what was done in the race. Hopefully this one would be the only one around, they seemed to be territorial. They were also quite the nuisance. Diana was just coming out of nitro as she was startled by a shout.

“Diana, keep going at a stable speed!” Akko said suddenly. Diana was surprised as she looked back, seeing the Shiny Rod approach while being pursued by the Noir Rod. The Blood Sailor also followed, though Diana noticed that it was definitely moving without as much elegance as it was before. She frowned. Some kind of ability?

Diana understood the message Akko wanted to give her, essentially: Stay ahead of me. She had her shields up, so she could protect them if needed. As long as she was between them, of course. Diana had her own shields, but she wouldn’t last long with them, which made them not worth the risk unless they were very close to ending.

The sky flashed blue.

Diana had a second of confusion, first instinct being thunder. However, that was just the signal that one of the teams had gone down. Who? She hoped it was the shapeshifters. Not that she wished something bad happened to the pilots, but they were definitely as dangerous as the daemons in terms of ability.

No time to wonder about that, however. The red leaves and different shades of yellow bark suddenly gave way to deep purple pines with orange bark, and as they crossed the pines seemed to shoot needles at them. They didn’t do much to the ships, but it was incredibly annoying as they hit against the windshield, thousands of tiny purple lines blocking Diana’s view. She started having a bad time of dodging trees as she moved.

And, as if that wasn’t hard enough on its own, the reptilians joined in on the party.

Their two ships – the Second Category single-ring one, and the First Category double-ringed one – suddenly appeared from Diana’s right, and they were flying almost on top of each other, so that it was hard to tell which ship was which.

 _Hooks,_ Diana thought. “Oh no you don’t!” Hannah exclaimed, seemingly thinking the same thing, and suddenly the shields were up. That also cleared Diana’s view from needles, and it allowed her to see as _two_ hooks hit the magic barrier and bounced off.

“Thank you,” Diana said.

“It’s my job,” Hannah replied as the shields dropped back down.

Diana thought about her options. The aliongator wasn’t pursuing anymore, luckily, but the reptilians appearing was also a change of plans. It meant that the other two teams flying around were either looking for someone to fight or fighting each other. With three teams joined in one place – Humans, daemons and reptilians – Diana and Akko _really_ needed to shake everyone off. It was as if the others _knew_ they didn’t want to fight, to have this confrontation, to kill.

There had to be something they could do. For now, at least, Diana had the security of Akko protecting her from the Daemons. If nothing else, she could…

There was a bright flash of red light from behind. Diana couldn’t look at what had just happened, but a second later, the Shiny Rod’s shield was down, the white broom spun like crazy, and it suddenly hit a small area full of trees, getting stuck between them. The Blood Sailor hit the ground, seemingly crushed like an accordion.

And the Noir Rod and Reptilians now had no obstacles to hit the Unicorn.

 

Constanze burst into Ursula’s room, frantic. It had only been a minute since the Shiny Rod had stopped working – the destroyed shield had clearly taken up the energy remaining – but Diana was already in a tight spot. Her left wing was trailing magic, and while she tried hard to go faster, she was essentially carrying one of the reptilians, who had hooked the Unicorn.

She had a plan. Akko hadn’t been disqualified. Not yet, since she hadn’t touched the ground. It wouldn’t be long until the Unicorn went down and they realized they had left the job undone. They needed to get the Shiny Rod back into the fight, somehow, and there _was_ one way. Highly experimental and absurdly risky, but there was one.

But the only one they had, probably.

“Constanze?!” Ursula said. She was clearly distressed, but Constanze didn’t lose time. She had already written a message with instructions when running to her room, and she gave it to the coach as she panted. No time for signs, no time for being obtuse. Straight instructions as to what she wanted to do.

“I… My,” Ursula looked at it surprised. “And you’re sure this can work?” She looked at Constanze with hopeful eyes.

Constanze nodded.

“Then I’ll do it,” Ursula said. Constanze, however, raised a hand, shaking her head and pointing at herself. Ursula wouldn’t be able to. Constanze had practice with it from multiple tests she’d done during the last week. As much as she wanted to let the teacher do it, she would just mess up.

No, this was a job for _her._

Constanze pressed her lips, meeting Ursula’s eyes. On her tablet, she watched as the Noir Rod finally managed to chop off one of the Unicorn’s wings. It hit the ground, being instantly attacked by a dozen vines that pinned it down.

“Fine!” Ursula said, looking extremely guilty. “There are no rules besides the ones mentioned officially, so this is allowed, go!”

Constanze nodded, running out. This would have to do.

 

Akko grunted.

She heard Amanda grunting.

Both of them grunted.

“So, we’re out,” Amanda said. “And for fuck’s sake how many needles do these trees have?”

Akko didn’t answer. The needles kept coming, a soft clatter against the Shiny Rod’s structure, like rain. Just, more annoying. How long had it been? A minute? Two? Diana wouldn’t be able to last long. Akko felt incredibly impotent, unable to get the Shiny Rod to work. The Blood Sailor had used that ability of shooting itself forward. Akko had managed to hold it off by focusing all the shield power in one place, but the shield had still shattered and the Rod had instantly gone over its magic output capacity. Had she broken the capacitor again? She hoped not. Damn annoying, that would be.

She couldn’t even get her helm to connect to the stream of the event. She wanted to see how Diana was doing. Maybe she’d managed to fend off the Noir Rod and the reptilians. She was Diana, after all.

Another minute passed. Akko sighed, resting against her seat, wondering if this was really it. The Planetary Alliance’s rescue teams hadn’t come for her because she technically wasn’t out of the race yet. She was resting almost perfectly in these purple pines’ branches. It had been a stroke of good luck, really.

The Shiny Rod wasn’t really _all_ out of energy, either. The system that kept her body strong still worked, for she didn’t’ feel the tenfold gravity of TDE. Cursed planet, everything wanted to kill them.

“Well, I’m just going to imagine it’s raining and take a nap. Wake me when something interesting happens,” Amanda said from the turret.

“I’m down!” Diana suddenly screamed from the communicator. Akko stood up, but she couldn’t do anything. “I’m fine! They cut one of my back wings, but nothing else. System still works, I’ve got energy for about ten minutes if I don’t do anything else. These needles aren’t really dangerous.”

Akko relaxed. Diana was fine. That was a good thing.

“They’ll go for you, Akko. I’ve sent help,” Ursula’s voice came through the communicator too. “Wait there.”

“Not that I’ve got much of a choice, do I?” Akko said, shaking her head. However, maybe she _had_ a choice. Slowly and one by one, the systems of the Shiny Rod slowly started to go back up. Not fast enough, though. Was that red glow in the distance the Noir Rod? Yes, definitely. The Blood Sailor was out of the race, at least. Maybe someone would manage to get the Noir Rod out and the daemons would be kicked out, who knew.

Yeah, sure. There was another flash of blue light in the sky. Another racer down. “That was the medusas. The armors were taken out earlier,” Ursula clarified.

“The medusa, huh? This was a really bad race for them,” Diana said.

“Are they fine?” Akko asked to Ursula.

“One of the medusas hit the ground with its bubble, so it’s mostly fine. The other’s bubble popped, and while it was rescued by the medusa that was no longer in the race, the gravity definitely did a number on it. They come from a place with no gravity at all. I’m not sure if…” Ursula trailed off.

“I get it,” Akko said, feeling sick.

“The armors are fine, though. Sturdy ships, they were brought down by aliongators, actually,” Ursula explained. “Pinned them both down, lost interest as soon as they realized they couldn’t eat the rocks.”

Well, that was a good thing, probably.

“Just a minute more, Akko,” Ursula said. Akko nodded. The hovering system hadn’t gone back on yet, though, and her engine wouldn’t be ready for a while either. The Noir Rod was close now. Whatever help was coming, it definitely wouldn’t make it in time.

Thirty seconds later, the prediction was true. The Noir Rod stopped in front of its inspiration, and Akko watched with a mix of interest and horror as all the red spheres around the Noir Rod started glowing. They wanted to destroy the Rod, didn’t they?

The shields weren’t up quite yet. Well, that was a shame. Akko found herself wondering if she’d survive the higher gravity. If not, she’d be killed by the plants below her.

“I love you, Diana,” Akko whispered.

“I love you too, Akko,” Diana said, sounding concerned.

And then, in a situation that Akko felt strangely mirrored what she’d done earlier, a blast of green magic suddenly took the Noir Rod on the side, right in the scar the Shiny Rod had left. This made the entire ship tremble and it had no choice but to move to the side.

Akko frowned. Maybe the Unicorn had been in a better state than she’d assumed? Maybe the wing wasn’t necessary? But no, that made no sense…

The Shooting Star. In its green glory.

The ship approached the Shiny Rod. “Of course!” Akko said. “It’s not technically part of the race, so it doesn’t matter if it shoots things!”

But who was piloting it? Did it matter? Akko watched as the ship started floating above the Rod, tail on top of nose and vice versa, and then it moved down. In a moment of panic Akko wondered if whoever was piloting It had lost their mind.

But no. The broom split in two, trapping the Shiny Rod within it. Akko watched in awe as a green frame adapted to the shape of the Shiny Rod, and in a few seconds, it had all but transformed into a robot. A couple pieces covered the lambda-shaped engine, and then it was ready to move.

It stood. Akko was glad for the seatbelt as her hair fell down, her body now horizontal, but Amanda cursed as she was suddenly thrown over her head.

The reptilians arrived, and they stopped, as if trying to understand what they were seeing. A relatively small mech, the frame made up of pieces of the Shooting Star with its center being the Shiny Rod. A strange thing indeed.

And, technically, the Shiny Rod wasn’t touching the ground.

Then, the engine came back, the turret turned on. There was a lurch, a sudden movement as the cockpit adapted. Akko was suddenly sitting upright. The energy started to flow through the Shooting Star too, which had connected straight into the engine. The spindly arms seemed to change, extending and getting bulkier until they looked more like actual arms, with guns at their hands. The legs also seemed to strengthen, get more pieces from somewhere. The frame of the ship slowly expanded, and it covered every bit of the Shiny Rod save for its cockpit.

And there was a mechanical sound and a yelp. Akko suddenly looked up, and was surprised to see another seat above her. No, not a seat. A platform.

Constanze was on it, standing, her wrists and ankles surrounded with bracelets holding some kind of liquid, glowing like magic, but slightly… bluer. When she moved, the mech moved.

“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Akko whispered as she watched the mech stumble forward. Why wasn’t Constanze moving forward too? She slid in place, as if walking on a perfectly slippery surface, but she didn’t topple. “How are you doing that?”

Constanze only spared a view for an instant, and Akko got the message. _Not now._

The Noir Rod was now floating nearby, looking at the mech. It was probably wondering what the hell had just happened. No ship moved. Everyone stood floating in place, wary of the mech. Or, in case of Akko and Constanze, trying to figure out what to do. Constanze then looked at Akko and sighed. She made a few signs – mimicked by the mech, which moved around and slapped a couple trees – and Akko thought she got what she wanted her to do.

“Alcor, give me one set of controls for the mech too,” she said.

Alcor complied. Akko was kicked from her seat and floated for a second before a number of circles of light surrounded her wrists and ankles. But not only that, she felt something connecting to the back of her head. She hadn’t seen that in Constanze. And suddenly, she had taken over the controls, and she _was_ the mech. But she was also in the cockpit.

A superposition of views. Somehow, her brain didn’t get overwhelmed by it. She understood what was going on.

And she smiled.

“Let me try something…” Akko said, sounding confident. She was surprised by her own confidence, really. “Phaidoari Afairynghor!” she said.

And then, everything just _changed._

The mech, before looking kind of shabby even with the automatic reinforcements the Shiny Rod had done, grew a few meters. Its green limbs and body suddenly mixed with the white color of the Shiny Rod as its body _extended_ and _intertwined,_ filling in every nook, every cranny, every joint. It bulked up the entire thing. The guns at the end of its arms were also morphed, as if they were made of molten metal, shifting into big hands of black and white. The spheres of the Shiny Rod itself moved through the body, positioning themselves in key places. On the backs of the hands. On the knees, on the elbows.

And in the center of the stomach, right below the Shiny Rod. All of them glowed, connected by straight glowing lines of magic. Akko could feel a surge of power. The mech – How to call it? It needed a name, though she’d think about it later, now looked more like a human than a robot. Maybe a little squarish on its limbs, and maybe the lack of a head didn’t exactly scream human, but it wasn’t at _all_ like the thin-limbed thing Constanze had built.

Akko looked up – inside the cockpit, not outside, a strange dichotomy – and saw that Constanze was nodding with a wide smile on her face. She had _expected_ this. She had built this mech halfway to _allow_ the Shiny Rod to fill out the gaps.

“You’re a genius, Constanze,” Akko said. She meant it, with all of her soul. Constanze was more than a genius. She was a savant. She had an instinctual knowledge of machines and their workings, even if she didn’t always understood _why_ they worked the way they did.

Akko tried some movements. She realized she was synchronizing with Constanze, though inadvertently. Why was she doing that? She didn’t feel the same connection to her that she had felt with Diana when their minds had synchronized on Vorago. This was different.

Akko watched her real hand and the black one open and close at the same time. She extended a finger. The hands on the mech ended in way more prominent claws.

Then they got attacked. A blast of energy hit them, and this one came from the reptilians. Their First Category ship spun like crazy, both of its rings a blur of opposing rotations, and the ship glowed with white energy. The blasts, however, barely annoyed Akko.

She jumped forward. She moved fast, with such big and long legs. Not only that, her reflexes had obviously been enhanced too. The reptilian ship tried to pull away, but she snatched it in one hand. It was a little surreal, watching both the outside world with the orange and purple trees and the pink vines on the floor – where did _those_ come from, anyways? They seemed to sprout from the ground, and they were _everywhere_ – and the inside of her cockpit, where her hand _felt_ the ship she was grabbing, but there wasn’t really anything in it.

The mech lifted the ring with barely any effort. The hand wasn’t really big enough to close around the two sets of rings, but it held to it without an issue, and the ship didn’t feel heavy at all.

They smashed it against the ground, where it instantly got overtaken by vines. Akko spun and raised an arm as a laser hit the… “Grand Charion!” She suddenly cried, feeling like it was a fitting name. Constanze nodded, and Akko smiled in satisfaction. The daemons had attacked, and their laser hadn’t really done much to the structure, though Akko _had_ felt that. She jumped forward, easily rising the Grand Charion a good four meters and planning to kick the Noir Rod down.

The jump, however, was hampered by the Second Category reptilian ship suddenly throwing itself around the Grand Charion’s left leg. It dragged it, making it trip in the air, and Akko fell on all fours on the ground, annoyed. The fall had forced her to accidentally destroy the reptilian ship. Akko felt a stab of guilt. They would be fine… right?

Then, she noticed a strange, white square of white approaching through the forest. That kind of ship… Ah, the planetary alliance’s rescue crews. They’d be able to help. Probably.

Akko shook her head, standing again, and lunging forward. The Noir Rod desperately tried to go back, but it wouldn’t be fast enough. This was it, Akko would be able to-

A blue light flashed in the sky. Wait, wha-

Oh, of course. She had just taken out both reptilian ships with barely any effort. One of them by accident, in fact.

Well, she had passed the race, clearly. She didn’t lose a second, running towards the place where she knew Diana was, thanks to her radar, which now floated in front of her despite the lack of control panel.

She brushed aside branches and ignored the vines that tried to grab her feet, every step determined to reach her girlfriend.

The unicorn was in bad shape. One of its wings completely cut off, the other one smoking with small wisps of magic rising from the hole. That, and the entire thing was almost overtaken by pink vines that were trying really hard to pull it apart.

Diana was still inside.

“Diana?” Akko asked, worried.

“I’m fine,” she said. She sounded awed, and Akko could see her looking at Grand Charion with an open mouth.

“Help is close,” Akko said, thinking back to the white ship she’d just seen.

Why wasn’t one of the rescue crews here? They should…

Akko looked to the side, where a flash of white stood. There, a big square ship like the one before laid on the ground, being bit all over by not one, but _two_ aliongators. Akko froze, and she heard Constanze’s breath catch. Accurate, really, since she’d probably never seen one of the things from up close.

They couldn’t be further than fifty meters away. With the mech, Akko was easily as tall as them, but she still didn’t want to draw their attention. Let them feast on the white ship, that way…

Akko blinked. Then, she cursed. There was someone inside. No, not someone. A sand-alien, like one of the ones she’d seen as a kid. How were they called? She felt like she knew. It didn’t matter. She could see it, being splashed against the ground by the gravity, but it still moved. It wore a hat. A white hat with a red cross on it.

One of the aliongators stopped chewing on its piece of ship and looked in through the hole. The sand alien moved back, but it couldn’t go very fast.

“Akko, what are you…?” Diana started asking, but Akko stopped listening.

Both her and Constanze moved in unison, doing so before thinking, and crossed the distance in a heartbeat, shoulder slamming against the aliongator whose mouth had opened as if in a threat to the innocent alien inside the big white ship. Well, ‘big’ by human standards, anyways. It was about twice the size of the Noir Rod. Probably the size of a medusa bubble, really.

Both aliongators focused on the Grand Charion. Surrounded by trees – that were _still_ shooting needles at all moving things, aliongators included – and the mech’s feet slowly being draped in pink vines, Akko started to feel slightly claustrophobic. She wasn’t, really, but looking up she could see nothing but a canopy of purple needles raining down on her.

The aliongators they had tackled had barely stumbled. The other one watched them warily, gharial-like face unnerving, its jaw opening slowly to show shark-like black teeth that could munch on metal without a worry in the world.

“Akko!” Diana suddenly screamed. “What are you thinking?! You can’t fight those things!”

Akko didn’t pay attention. Too late for that. She jumped back as the aliongator in front of her lunged, mouth open. She ripped vines free from the ground and crushed a good number of branches, but the Grand Charion avoided the bite. And, right as she landed, she threw a punch forward. She wasn’t a martial artist – and Constanze wasn’t either – but she figured that if she could leave the things at least unconscious they could save the sand alien and be on with it.

The punch barely seemed to have an effect on the creature, and the second one jumped, this one from the side. Akko instinctively rose a hand to protect herself, but the creature bit on her arm and started shaking. The mech didn’t get wasn’t harmed greatly but the hit reverberated through its entire structure, making Akko tremble.

She was trapped.

Akko started punching at the thing’s face, but its density allowed it to brush off the hits as a mere annoyance, biting deeper into the metal. Magic started slipping out of the bite.

The other aliongator jumped again, and out of some sort of primal instinct, Akko did what she thought made the most sense. She _pulled,_ yanking the creature biting on her arm in front of her, not without some effort, and managed to make it stumble into the path of the other.

The two aliongators crashed, and the one biting Akko finally let go. Akko had to think quickly. She wanted to help the alien, and Diana, so she needed to…

Get these things away from them.

Turning around, she took off at a run between trees. She moved fast, faster than should’ve been possible, but with the Shiny Rod impossible was everyday’s meal.

The aliongators pursued.

“Where the hell are you going? Akko!” Diana cried, but Akko didn’t reply.

It was curious, how most animals ran away as soon as the aliongators showed, up, but the plants just kept on attacking. Akko watched how everything but plant life cleared a path for Grand Charion and the two feline crocodile things behind it, and every step took her closer to where she really wanted to be.

The two creatures caught up to Grand Charion without much issue. One jumped, aiming at the shoulder. Akko ducked, and the creature went over the mech. The other one opened its fauces as it tried to grab Akko’s arm again, but Akko just slapped its head away, which earned her what she thought was an angry glare. She tried speeding up, but it wasn’t possible. Quadrupeds were naturally faster than bipeds. Akko wondered if she could turn the Grand Charion into an animal… but it didn’t look possible.

The aliongator that now ran ahead of her was smart. It tried to slow down to help its companion – Akko was sure they were male and female – but Akko jumped, nimble and swift, stepping on the thing’s back and going over it.

The purple and orange soon gave way to red and yellow, and Grand Charion kept running, kept moving. Its every step was tied with vines or met with attacks. Akko kept dodging the two creatures, and she was glad for her training, though Constanze wasn’t having a good time with the run.

“Akko, we’ve been rescued,” Diana said. “Please stop this insanity and come back, will you? You too, Constanze,” Diana said. Akko ignored her. She was too close to her goal, and the two aliongators behind her weren’t about to give up on the pray they’d been pursuing for the past few minutes.

In the distance, Akko saw their goal and sped up.

An eyeblink later, she was jumping in the air, willing the connection of the mech to break. Even while mid-air, the other two creatures jumped after her. They broke out of the line of trees, and Grand Charion came undone so fast that Akko didn’t realize the change until she was sitting back in her normal cockpit.

They broke out in the yellow planes from earlier. The grass didn’t attack the Shiny Rod or the Shooting Star, but the two aliongators that were pursuing them suddenly stopped.

Akko looked back and smiled, satisfied, as the grass slowly started wrapping itself around the creatures. It wasn’t too strong on its own, but when two dozen different tentacles pinned one of the creatures down, they _didn’t let go._

Letting out a big, long sigh of relief, Akko looked up at the pink sky and wished she’d never have to see this cursed planet again.

Everything faded.


	125. Chapter 125

Croix bit her lip.

One of the medusas had died during the previous race, unable to recover from the effects the gravity had on it. The reptilian gunner on the ship that the Shiny Rod turned giant robot crushed had several fractures, but he was mostly alive, though he probably wouldn’t ever fly again.

Only one death. It was better than she’d expected. This wasn’t what was worrying her.

What worried her was that Horn had changed strategies at the last second. Their plan had been to go after every racer _but_ the humans and abuse their new abilities without the Shiny Rod around. What had changed? What had they discovered? Only one thing came to mind.

There was a storm coming, and ironically, it wasn’t the one Croix had planned for.

Someone banged on her door. She had chosen to be on her room. She’d rather not have the storm destroying her lab.

Hesitantly, Croix rose. She was wearing her utilitarian suit, though her hair was up in its characteristic style, since she’d had a short meeting through camera with the head of the Appal division of the IPR. Guy was still salty about his pilots disappearing.

Of course, the storm was at the other side of the door. Her red eyes aflame, face almost of the same color, her anger was as evident as a fire in the night. Croix was surprised that she hadn’t come with one of her strength capsules running through her blood. She had almost expected Chariot to want to beat her up.

Instead, with a sinking heart, she noticed tears on the brink of those red eyes. She was still dressed like she had been for the date, and damn it if she wasn’t beautiful. “You,” she said, voice trembling with rage. “You…” her jaw was clearly clenched, and she spoke through gritted teeth.

“Chariot,” Croix said, trying to remain calm. She could defuse this. She just needed to calmly explain to Chariot the truth. She’d listen to reason. She’d… _This is the chance I’ve been waiting for,_ Croix realized. The chance for Chariot to hate her. She could take it. She could end it right there and then. With this, she wouldn’t have impediments to her plans later. She wouldn’t have to deal with Chariot’s childish morality, or with the distractions she most certainly was going to bring if this kept going.

She could spare Chariot the pains of being in love with the person who would start an inter-planetary all-out war.

“You know why I came, don’t you?” Chariot asked in that same strained voice.

“I…” Croix paused. She looked into Chariot’s eyes. She was hurt. Really hurt. “I can guess,” she said.

Tears started falling down Chariot’s cheeks, and her expression of anger faded to one of hurting. “Was it you?”

Yes. She should answer yes. Nevermind that she had absolutely no idea how Horn had found out about this – well, no idea was a stretch, as he had an inkling – or that she desperately wanted to say no. She should end it. Now. She _needed_ to end it.

“Uhm…” Croix hesitated. _Say it. Just say it. You won’t get another chance._

But when looking into those betrayed eyes, she realized she wouldn’t do it. She _couldn’t_ do it. Not like this. Not with a lie. “I-” She was cut off by a slap. Strong, it took a second for the pain to register on Croix’s cheek.

“Your lack of answer is more than enough,” Chariot turned. “I should have know,” she walked away, not bothering to turn back.

Torn, Croix saw her go away in the gray corridor. _Let her make her assumptions,_ she thought, yet her feet moved. _Don’t interfere. This is better for the both of you,_ she tried to convince herself, yet she called out for her.

Croix turned. Tears were streaming down her face in full now. She tried to compose herself, anger flaring in her expression for a second before she broke down again. “What?” She asked in a nasal voice. “Want to gloat?”

“It wasn’t me,” Croix said. _Why?_ She asked herself. _Why do I care so much about her?_ Love. Did she really love this woman she hadn’t seen in ten years?

“How can I believe you? It’s too much of a coincidence,” Chariot said, shaking her head. “I… I can’t…” she sobbed. “I trusted you.”

“I promise,” Croix put a hand on Chariot’s arm, but she pulled away. “I don’t know how they found out, but I wouldn’t do something like that. You know me better than that. You know that I’m not lying.”

“I don’t,” Chariot shook her head. Croix was glad she had picked the most remote place in the _Dragon_ for her rooms. That way, no-one would see Chariot like a sobbing mess. “My students almost don’t make it, Croix,” she looked Croix in the eyes. Though she broke contact to wipe her tears. “I’m a failure of a teacher. That’s two times, now.”

Croix put a hand on her shoulder, and this time Chariot let her. Then she softly pulled her into an embrace. “You’re not a failure, Chariot. It’s not your fault that these rules keep getting weirder. No one can be expected to deal with this kind of pressure. IPRs aren’t meant for teenagers.”

“I’ve been trying hard to get Akko to unlock the secrets of the Shiny Rod on her own,” Chariot said still between sobs. “I really have been. I’ve been pushing her hard, like we did before we broke the code,” she continued. Croix recalled that time, after graduating from Luna Nova, when she and Chariot had spent almost every day for a couple months practically living inside the Shiny Rod. She recalled the awe and surprise she felt when the Shiny Rod revealed some of its secrets with them, when it started answering questions. She recalled her first reaction to hearing what its engine was and what it could do. She recalled her reaction to hearing what would happen once all the words were discovered, or how to create new ones. “But it’s not enough. Should I just give her the answers, Croix? Should I just tell her the truth?”

“Probably,” Croix admitted. “But I understand why you don’t.”

Chariot’s arms wrapped around her waist, and she rested her chin on Croix’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for assuming it was you. I just…”

Croix patted her back. “It’s fine. You’re emotionally shaken right now, not your fault,” she reassured. _Plus, soon you’ll have your fair share of reasons to hate me, anyways._ “And on Akko’s deal…” Croix had almost expected her to find another word in the middle of TDE. Croix had already stopped to think about what that would mean for her. Just two words. If Akko unlocked them before her plan came to fruition… It could ruin everything.

Or maybe accelerate it.

“Croix, what is the Grand Prize?” Chariot asked softly. “Please don’t keep it a damn secret from me. We both know half the other races already know what it is, if not all of them.”

Croix bit her lip. “You’ll get mad,” Croix said.

“I promise I won-”

“Do _not_ make promises you can’t keep, Chariot,” Croix whispered. Why was her heart suddenly shrinking back, ashamed?

Chariot pulled away, looking at Croix with slightly red eyes.

“What is it?” She asked again.

“An engine,” Croix confessed. Chariot cocked her head. “Or, to be more precise, a world-hopper engine.”

“I don’t see how-”

“An engine the size of a house with so much energy, with so much power, that it can force the laws of nature to bend to its will,” Croix continued, staring unblinking into Chariot’s eyes. “An engine like the Noir Rod’s, but a thousand times more powerful. An engine that makes the normal power of the Shiny Rod seem laughable by comparison. An engine that will let whoever has it manufacture world-hoppers like candy, and if they reverse-engineer it they’ll just end up with the most powerful ships in the Planetary Alliance and maybe the universe. Hop to the other side of the galaxy in an eyeblink. Hop to the other side of the _universe_ in an eyeblink. Destroy planets as if they were balloons, make the energy that could be absorbed with a Dyson Sphere obsolete,” yes, she could see it. Chariot’s expression changed as she slowly realized what Croix was getting at.

“They could make _weapons_ with that,” she whispered, blinking, as if trying to vanish an illusion. “You… You managed to replicate the Shiny Rod’s engine for real?”

“Not for real, no. Finding white holes is physically impossible, but…”

“Dream Fuel Spirit?”

“ _Noir_ Fuel Spirit,” Croix said. “Stealing energy from other ships is too small a scale, and having it connected to the ability or a pilot was too much of a limiter. I went bigger, stronger. The Noir Rod is using energy sucked directly from the three biggest sources of energy of the known universe: Sídhe, Erebus and Darkworld.”

“But it works with inferno!” Chariot clearly didn’t want to believe it.

“It _transforms_ those energies into inferno, the same way the Shiny Rod turns the raw energy of the white hole into Magic,” Croix took a step back. “Haven’t you seen all the crazy stuff it can do? All the crazy stuff _I_ can do? Most of my new technology works with quantum physics in a way engineers haven’t been able to implement for more than two hundred years, and it’s all possible thanks to this.”

“You used your visions,” Chariot realized.

Croix laughed. Death. So much _death._ She’d cause something similar, probably. “Of _course_ I used my visions!” She shook her head, laughing. It was either that or cry. “You have, too, as proven by your hair. I _need_ to do it, Chariot.”

“You never shared _why_ , Croix. You never told me what it was you saw,” Chariot said, and Croix was surprised to realize she looked _worried._ For some reason it kind of pissed her off. “I want to…”

Death. A barren wasteland where Earth should have been. “I won’t,” Croix shook her head. Sometimes, she could swear she heard the bombs from her visions, the lasers raining from the sky. Humans were _nothing_ in comparison to what was out there. She looked at Chariot and pressed her lips.

“Why not?” Chariot asked, clearly pained.

“Because you’re a good person.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Chariot complained.

But it did. Too much sense, at least, for Croix. Chariot was a big neon sign that read ‘pure heart’. As much as her morality annoyed Croix, she hated to admit that she’d always use it as an anchor. As measurement for knowing who was good or bad, in her book. Croix couldn’t mess with that. Sharing her visions with Chariot would make her question herself, and more than ever Croix didn’t want that.

Chariot wasn’t one meant to ponder about what was best for the human race as a whole.

Croix took a deep breath. “I won’t tell you, Chariot. You don’t need to know. It’s… for the best.”

“So that’s it? You just don’t want to tell me.”

“Correct,” Croix nodded.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Chariot shook her head. “This engine of yours. It could spark a war. You _know_ no race is gonna let the others take it.”

“Yes.”

A sigh left Chariot’s lips. “I’m gonna stop you, you realize,” she said, crossing her arms. “I won’t let you start something like that.”

“It’s too late,” Croix shook her head. “The design is already in place, and my many prototypes – including the Noir Rod – are proof enough that it works. The second the race is over and a winner is crowned, it _will_ happen.”

“Why a race, anyways?” Chariot asked. “Why put something so big at stake in such a stupid competition?”

Croix sighed. “I needed the resources. The Planetary Alliance would’ve never given me the freedom to do as I wished, so I turned to the IPR committee. I needed people interested in money and power. Most races helped, and decided that the winner would be chosen at the IPR.”

“That sounds contrived.”

“It _is_ contrived. They all thought they’d be able to outcheat each other. Of course, in the end, true skill is what matters. Look at where we are. As always, the ones remaining are humans, shapeshifters and daemons. The medusas had a hard time this race, unfortunate iteration to step down their game, but other than that, nothing’s changed,” Croix explained. She recalled the meeting at which this had been decided. It had been a _long_ meeting. Annoyingly long.

“And what if we humans win?”

“Then you get the blueprints and start building the best source of energy the universe knows,” save for the Shiny Rod, maybe.

“And… what if Akko unlocks all the words before the end of the race?”

Ah, _that_ question. “Then humans won’t have to worry about being caught up in the war, I guess.”

Chariot nodded. Innocent, naïve. The Shiny Rod, even in its true form, wouldn’t be able to hold back an entire determined army… Would it? No, not peacefully at least. But… it _could_ mess up with Croix’s plans. Having a force to oppose her own engine wouldn’t be good.

Not that Chariot needed to know that.

“I’m… I’m going to go make sure my students are fine,” Chariot turned around, her entire set of movements implying she wanted to be alone.

Croix didn’t stop her from leaving.

 _Talk about a complicated relationship,_ she thought, shaking her head.

 

Akko woke up a while after the Shiny Rod was placed in its spot on the hangar. She blinked away the sleep and tried to recall what had happened. They had been one of the three teams to win the race, right. She tried to move, only to realize someone was in the cockpit looking over her.

Above her, and over the seat, she saw Diana’s face. Her hair was up in a ponytail. There was a spark of worry in her eyes, but she smiled.

“Hello,” Akko said. “Are you ok?”

“Me? Yes,” she nodded. Then she pressed her lips. “The Unicorn, though, will need some heavy repairs if we’re to keep racing with it,” she cringed as she said that. “I should have seen that hook, honestly.”

“You did great,” Akko reached up. Diana’s face was upside down, from her perspective. She softly caressed her cheek, feeling surreally happy that she’d been the first thing she’d seen after waking up. “You look great.”

“And you look like you need a bath and food,” Diana said. She leaned down over the seat, hanging upside-down as she placed a kiss on Akko’s lips. It was awkward, but Akko couldn’t contain a smile as their lips touched. “Come on,” Diana said, pulling away and opening the windshield. Akko followed her outside. She was surprised to find a whole team of people in blue uniforms, members of the _Dragon’s_ staff, crowding around in a place near the white broom.

“What’s up with…”

“All the engineers and mechanics on the ship are looking at Constanze’s designs. After seeing that giant robot during last race, I don’t think anyone will ever dare look down on her again,” Diana said.

Akko nodded. That had been _wild._ She still could barely believed what had happened, and she’d lived it. She would totally check the videos of it later. Assuming there were some.

“Though I wonder how she managed to get the controls right. She spoke about some chemical that used magic and reacted to motion, but…” Diana shook her head. “I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it.”

“Maybe Sucy knows about it,” Akko offered. “She’s really into that stuff.”

Diana pressed her lips. “I suppose,” she admitted, though Akko could see the hesitance in her eyes.

Extending her hand and grabbing Diana’s, she smiled. They couldn’t feel each other’s warmth through the g-suit, but the contact was enough. “I know I usually joke about it, but you don’t know everything, Diana. It’s ok to ask others.”

“Oh, I know that,” Diana said, lacing their fingers. “I just… Well, Sucy clearly doesn’t like me.”

“It’ll be fine,” Akko pulled her a little closer, so that their shoulders were almost touching. “You just…” she paused as a low growl came from her stomach, long and menacing.

Diana must have heard it too, for she looked down at it. “You _really_ need some food.”

“Weird, I ate not long before the race.”

“Well, not enough, clearly. Let’s go,” she suddenly walked faster, dragging Akko with her. Akko allowed it. She really liked the way Diana’s ponytail bounced when she walked. It was hypnotic.

Well, pretty much like Diana in general.

 

“You can let me go, now,” Hannah said, struggling to breathe.

“No,” Barbara squeezed her further. Hannah gave a pleading look to Amanda, who just chuckled and shrugged.

“I’m _fine,_ ” Hannah insisted. “The ship got a wing cut off, not the turret.”

“I think you’re hurting her, Barbs,” Lotte came to the rescue.

Barbara gave her one final squeeze before letting her go. “You should be thankful Constanze is such a nerd,” she said. “That giant robot saved your life.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t call it ‘giant’ robot,” Lotte interjected. “It’s only five or six meters…” she trailed off when Barbara stared daggers at her.

“You think Constanze would be able to do the same for, like, the _Dragon?_ ” Amanda commented. “Imagine this entire ship turned a giant robot.”

“Watching much anime, recently?” Lotte asked her.

“No, why?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

Lotte gave her a knowing smile. “You should watch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann,” she suggested.

Amanda paused for a second. “The Netflix sho-”

“THERE IS NO NETFLIX SHOW,” Lotte suddenly snapped. She realized what she’d done. “Sorry, sorry. Just- no. Watch the anime. _Just_ the anime.”

“We need to watch it together, some time,” Barbara smiled at Lotte.

“And we can then re-read volume one-thirty-two,” Lotte added. “Since it’s got so many references to it…”

Hannah decided to stop listening to them, instead walking up to Amanda, who also gave her a hug – just a much gentler one. They were in the garage of the _Dragon,_ after the exit and emergency exit of the Unicorn had failed, she had been forced to wait until they finally managed to break her out of there. Emergency exits were supposed to work when the others didn’t.

Amanda had opened the front of her g-suit down to her collarbone. “Why do that?” Hannah pointed at it. She always found it more comfortable to just let it go all the way up the neck.

“Oh, I was showing the hickey to those two,” Amanda pointed back at Lotte and Barbara, who still chatted about nightfall.

Unable to avoid it, Hannah felt the red blush creeping up her cheeks and neck. “W-why would you do that?!” She exclaimed, earning the attention of anyone in the vicinity.

Amanda smiled. “Everyone had already seen it. Plus, _you_ put it on what’s essentially the most obvious spot on my neck, why are you getting so embarrassed now?”

Hannah hid her burning face in Amanda’s chest. “I wasn’t thinking right. I just wanted- It was- I…” she sighed. “I’m sorry,” she ended up apologizing.

Amanda heartily laughed, squeezing Hannah against her body. “Why?” She said. “I’ve had more hickeys from people I didn’t give a fuck about. I’m not bothered by this.”

Hannah simply stayed silent, trying to get past the embarrassment. Sure, everyone could guess that they’d done it, but having that physical proof was completely different. _Don’t think about it,_ she tried to tell herself. She’d done a pretty good job of that since the event that night. Amanda going around _showing it_ to people, though, that was…

She could feel Amanda’s heart beating in her chest. She could feel the warmth of her skin in her forehead, and she felt _safe_ when wrapped by her arms. Hannah wished she could stay there, but she still pulled away when she felt ready to face the curious glances. “At least we won,” she said. “Barely, but we did.”

“Shapeshifters and daemons,” Amanda commented. “We’re up with the two best teams in this entire competition.”

“Absurd, huh?” Hannah shook her head. They started walking out of the garage, Hannah waving and thanking to the people who had rescued her one last time. “We’re _sixteen_ years old. Hell, I feel like I haven’t talked to an adult in months.”

“You talk to Ursula every day,” Amanda said.

“Well I talk to you every day and I still feel like I haven’t talked to idiots in months too,” Hannah replied.

Amanda nudged her, so she nudged back. They walked playfully shoving each other for a few seconds before they finally came out of the garage and into the hangar.

“So, we still have an entire day in this planet. What do you say, wanna go for a swim?” Amanda asked. Hannah deadpanned, earning a chuckle. “I meant in Silver Deck, of course.”

Hannah considered. She eyed Amanda. Amanda on her bikini was a sight she could really get used to. “Sure, why not. But!” Hannah turned and pointed. “Just you and me, this time.”

Amanda nodded. “I’ll make sure to knock out anyone who dares step into the deck in the next few hours, that way we’ll be all alone and-”

She cut off as Hannah shoved her again. “You know what I mean.”

Amanda, as a reply, reached over and put her arm around Hannah’s shoulders. “Why do you like swimming so much, anyways?”

Hannah shrugged. She recalled the smell of salty water and the cool breeze of the marsh near her home. “I grew up doing so, I guess. It’s fun, it makes you feel weightless. I dunno, I just…” she closed her eyes. The center of the city had a ton of buildings and skyscrapers, but down nearer the marsh, where her house was, everything was boring.

Or, maybe, peaceful.

“I’ll have to go visit, some day,” Amanda commented.

Hannah nodded, but then a realization dawned on her. “Wait. You’re American, aren’t you?”

“I’m ninety-nine percent sure I live in Texas, yeah. Might be wrong, though, if my whole life’s been a lie.”

“During summer breaks and stuff we’ll be apart,” she explained.

Amanda barked a laugh. “Hannah, please. With broom flights we can get to see each other in like an hour. Give it two to get from airports to our homes. And we both know money won’t really be a problem.”

Hannah wondered why she was so certain. “But our parents?”

Amanda stopped laughing. Instantly, her expression darkened. “Yeah, our parents,” she said. “I don’t really care much what they do or stop doing.”

Hannah was a little surprised by her reaction, but she had kind of known Amanda had a rocky relationship with her family. “My parents probably won’t like you. I’m… kind of worried, really.” She could totally see her father trying to cut her communication with Amanda, as she was certainly not an appropriate fit for his daughter. He was a kind man, but really overprotective. And her mother would probably look Amanda up and down and then pull Hannah out of Luna Nova, for a school that allowed such _characters_ – as she liked to say it – to get in certainly wasn’t one worthy of its fame.

She loved her family, but they were… Well, flawed, like everyone else.

Amanda squeezed her. “It’ll be fine. We’re famous now. What are your parents gonna do? Lock you up in a room until you study everything in a book?” She laughed. The laugh didn’t have a hint of humor in it. “I’ll make sure we can still see each other. I promise.”

Hannah nodded, eyeing Amanda, whose strained voice pretended to be more cheerful than it really was. Hannah put her arm around her girlfriend’s waist, which seemed to help her relax. “You really don’t like your family, don’t you?” Hannah asked in a low tone.

Amanda sighed. “No,” she admitted. “My parents are cowards who do everything my grandma tells them. My siblings are all pompous and are all growing up to be the kind of people I hate. Most of my cousins are alright, but those are the ones I don’t see very often. The ones I _do_ see often are, of course, the assholes,” she spoke in a calm manner, but Hannah could feel the cold intensity of her anger. “And my grandmother is a controlling tyrant who wouldn’t hesitate to throw me off a cliff if she had the chance, since I’m such a big failure of a descendant.”

Hannah started rubbing Amanda’s side, trying to get her to calm down. “Why are you so sure?”

“She’s tried to control _everything_ about my life since the moment I was born. I realized just how controlled I was after I turned six, I think. It wasn’t until I turned nine or ten that I started actively fighting back, though, and in about two years I was labeled a rebel and shit like that,” she shook her head. “She wanted to teach me the secrets of gambling.”

Hannah started. “She wanted to teach a kid how to gamble?” she asked in disbelief.

“No, not how to gamble. How to _rig_ a gamble,” Amanda’s face twisted in one of disgust. “A lot of the money my family makes comes from it. Broom gambling, to be precise. My grandmother is a known ‘seer’ on top of being owner of one of the biggest chain supermarkets in the United States,” she shook her head. “I can’t believe there’s people who fall for that crap.”

“But it would be known if she was cheating, right?” Hannah frowned.

“Oh, most people know. They just can’t do shit about it. We’ve got the money to cover it up. Not that there’s anything to cover, my grandmother is fucking spotless in her executions. She doesn’t leave a single trail.”

“And she wanted _you_ to follow in her steps?”

Amanda simply nodded.

Hannah blinked, surprised. She wasn’t exactly foreign to rocky family relationships – Diana was one of her best friends, after all – but this was a whole different kind of messed up.

“I… You can’t do anything about it, can you?”

“What would I do? Say the truth? Like that’d matter,” she kept walking, though Hannah was having a little trouble keeping up with her. She didn’t seem to realize she’d begun fastening her steps.

Hannah didn’t really know what to say. What _did_ you say, in these situations? What was one supposed to do when confronted with cold reality? Accept it was such a nasty option, but there really was nothing else to do, now was there?

They reached the elevators, and so the conversation died for a while. They had to let go of each other to fit in – there was a lot of workers here today – but Hannah still longed for the touch. It was strange, really. They slept together every night, now. One would think she’d get enough contact for a day. That couldn’t be further away from the truth, however. More so now that she could tell Amanda was in a bad mood because of her. She shouldn’t have asked about her family.

Lotte and Barbara also seemed to be able to tell something was off. Barbara shot a few glances their way, eyebrow rising in question. Hannah gave her a shrug in response, figuring she couldn’t really express what she wanted in the cramped space without revealing Amanda’s secrets to a bunch of random bystanders.

Their ride up was kind of tedious. They stopped at four floors before finally reaching theirs, and though the ship wasn’t _so big_ that it was tiring to get from one side of it to the other, they did have to make a lot of twists and turns to their current set of rooms.

They’d have to move out of them tomorrow anyways. Why couldn’t someone give them a room and let them stay on it? Hannah understood it was a kind of safety measure, but damn it was annoying.

The walk back was also silent. Amanda was clearly lost in thought, so even when Hannah took her hand she barely gave her a second glance. Hannah bit her lip, trying hard to come up with a topic for them to converse without having to worry too much about family and stuff. Hannah felt stupid. Her insecurities had caused Amanda’s bad mood. Why couldn’t she be more carefree, like the redhead?

She still hadn’t said that she loved her. The thought nagged at the back of her mind every second of every day. It shouldn’t be so hard.

“Hey, Amanda,” Hannah said. Amanda barely gave her a grunt as an answer. “I…” she froze, her mind suddenly going blank. “I…’m gonna go swimming right after we reach the rooms, like you suggested.”

“Oh, ok,” Amanda’s eyes became a lot less angry. “Sure, that’ll be fun.”

 _Not now,_ Hannah said. _It’s not the right moment._

But, then again, when would it be?


	126. Chapter 126

Ursula dropped into the cockpit of the Shiny Rod. The ship didn’t run, thanks to Akko’s commands.

“A believing heart is my magic,” Ursula said.

The cockpit lit up. It didn’t matter that the key-wand wasn’t there. It didn’t need to be. Alcor showed up in front of her, and Ursula met his gaze. The green holographic crow didn’t move, but Ursula could swear she could feel his judgment, his anger and disappointment.

Then, the lights went out, the crow disappeared, and everything went back to normal. She sighed. So it _did_ still listen to her commands, or at least the password. She was tempted to say it again and leave this be, but she wouldn’t. “Alcor, can you show me what Croix saw, ten years ago? When I stupidly removed the turret’s safety measures?”

Of course, this time, nothing happened. She probably needed the key-wand for that. Maybe be in the turret, too. Still, she sighed. She wondered if Akko noticed how the Shiny Rod affected her. How it connected to her mind and helped her remain calm and collected. How it took her better attributes, encouraging them, and shoving down the bad ones. The more time Akko spent in the broom, the better pilot she’d become exponentially.

Ursula put her head against the seat, looking up. The inside of the Rod had always seemed warm to her. It wasn’t, but sitting there just felt _right._ Ursula ran her fingers across the joysticks in front of her. So familiar, yet so unfamiliar too. They had adapted to Akko’s hand size, so they were slightly smaller than Ursula would have preferred them.

She thought about Croix.

 _A war,_ she repeated. _What would prompt her to do such a thing? Is that her goal or is it just a byproduct of her real one?_ She needed answers, but she had seen it in Croix’s eyes: There were no answers to be found with her. Whatever she was doing, she tried to _protect_ Ursula from it. Ursula took the end of her ponytail, fidgeting with her blue hair. She wondered if she’d ever be confident enough to let go of it. Maybe in ten more years, when everyone forgot about Chariot, she’d allow herself to let go of this disguise.

Or not.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the Shiny Rod in general. “I panicked. I never should’ve used you like that.”

There were limits to what the Shiny Rod could do without unlocking all the commands. Ursula had tried to cheat it, to go around the seven-words lock. But really, it had been silly. She’d been a child, quietly muttering a question his parents didn’t hear so that when they didn’t say no, he could go and do as he’d asked to.

She’d purposefully closed her eyes to the truth, and sadly, a truth was what it was, and it ignored the wishes of stupid young adults who didn’t know better.

The broom didn’t answer to her. Whether it listened or not was up to interpretation, but Ursula had clearly lost her ability to talk to it. She wondered if asking Holbrooke for her help all those years ago had been the right choice. The kindly old woman had always been Ursula’s favorite teacher. Reaching to her even after everything that had happened… it had been hard. But in the end, things had gone well enough.

It was impossible not to think of the past now that Croix was back in her life. She’d run from her, earlier, but she couldn’t really be mad. She had seen a strange sincerity in her. Croix had reasons to do as she did. And, maybe more importantly, she _understood_ that what she was doing was wrong, even if her goals were worthy.

Ursula felt conflicted. She could tell; if she continued going down this road, she’d probably get hurt again. But wasn’t it worth the risk? She’d never regretted falling in love with Croix. She wouldn’t regret it now. She’d regretted their fight, and her actions.

Most of all, she’d regretted running away like she had. Which is why the Shiny Rod had ultimately left her.

With a sigh, she stood. She opened the windshield, then lingered for a second, looking down at the white seat and feeling strangely nostalgic. To the right of the Shiny Rod stood the Shooting Star, impossible to differentiate from how it had been originally – save for the color and the added guns. The Shiny Rod’s transformation had perfected Constanze’s design. The mechanic girl had been pretty upset about it, as if the feeling of being bested by the most technologically advanced machine in the known universe could be counted as a defeat.

Her walking soon took her towards the garage, where the many cubicles were mostly empty – most brooms hadn’t gotten a chance of getting out of the ship in the last two planets – save for the last one, where the Unicorn was being repaired. Six people and two dozen small stanbots worked on it, and Ursula could already see that they were also doing some upgrading. After the display of the Shooting Star, Constanze would likely never find anyone who’d question her ability ever again.

“She’s quite something, isn’t she,” Roberto, the supervisor, stood next to her in the entrance of the cubicle. His balding head was now hidden by a cap, and he wore his blue uniform with a disheveled look to it. It was clean, but it _felt_ dirty. Still, she was surprised to see him being positive about what was going on. He had a tan skin and dark eyes, and a short beard covered his face, as if he’d only just recently decided he wanted to let it grow.

“I thought you didn’t like Constanze,” Ursula pointed out, feeling ever so slightly suspicious.

“Oh, I still think she’s a little jerk. But I guess she’s in her right. Being a genius does that to you, I think,” he shrugged. Then, he suddenly pointed at one guy smoking near the back of the Unicorn and barked an order to stop slacking off. The young man in uniform scrambled towards the garbage can and dropped the cigarette in it before getting to help his peers.

 _Croix was kind of a jerk, before we became friends,_ Ursula considered. In truth, she probably still was. But she was good at heart. Probably.

Constanze suddenly appeared from the emergency exit of the turret, in front of the cockpit, wearing big goggles and with a stanbot holding on to her back. Her face was stained with oil and she had put her hair in a bun above her head. She noticed Ursula, waving before flicking her wand and calling for a few stanbots to join her. Then she dived back into the bowels of the Unicorn.

“Oh, she’s asked permission to dismantle The Pony,” Roberto mentioned, giving her a written form. Ursula looked at it with surprise. “Not that she can’t make do with our reserve of scrap metals, but The Pony is so similar in design to the Unicorn – or, rather, the other way around – that she wants to save time by burrowing pieces, if the Cavendish girl will let her.”

Ursula folded the paper, nodding. Well, at least she had asked, though Ursula doubted Diana would be willing to let go of the pony after all the trouble it’d caused.

Still, she took that as an opportunity to leave. Turning and walking away at a leisure pace, Ursula tried to steer away from her gloomy thoughts about war and her relationship and decided to focus on some new workout routine for the gym. Truth be told, those were getting boring for everyone.

 

Color.

Akko and Diana swam in the middle of the ocean, and they were in _awe._ It was unusual to see Diana with her jaw dropped, but Akko didn’t even have time to admire that, for her focus was in front of her.

On the Rainbow City of Wonders.

Her mind had trouble accepting what she saw. The ocean _sparkled_ with hundreds – no, _thousands_ of coral trees. The bottom of the ocean wasn’t a plain, with small variations in terrain, a few hills and chasms, and the main city was even built atop a small mountain. Yet, all the coral seemed to grow at about the same height, no matter the variations in terrain, which gave it the feel of a plain.

It didn’t just glow, it _lit._ As bright as light bulbs, in all the colors of the rainbow, there were dozens of variations of them. Spindly things that had countless branches that split constantly into smaller and thinner branches as they reached their height limit. Small disks that grew atop one another as if in shelves, stacking and stacking up like a really messy tower of unwashed dishes. The flat-based ones with tentacle-like branches that grew up in sinuous paths, though they never touched each other, like a bunch of fingers trying to reach the heavens.

Akko watched at the forest of colors, but the true spectacle was the palace.

It wasn’t human architecture, clearly. It was built in spheres, all of them interconnected. It made Akko think of how molecules were often represented, with balls connected by rods. But this wasn’t some random molecule of nature. This was _art._ All of crystal, the palace grew in a clearly spiral pattern. The interconnected spheres were a lot at the base of the palace, but as the spiral – going up in a conical shape – went higher, they became less common, so each level was further away from the last and held less spheres, though they did grow bigger. And, at the top, one massive sphere with a single rod of crystal going up from it to what Akko assumed was the surface, though it got lost in the vastness of the ocean.

Oh, and the way it _shone._ The shifting waters constantly changed its myriad of colors, and those bent and shifted through the glass, like looking at a physical manifestation of a kaleidoscope. It was crazy. Even watching from a distance – how far were they? A kilometer? Two? Scale was hard to tell, particularly when the shifting lights made the thing seem to constantly change sizes.

Diana’s hand suddenly found Akko’s, and for a second, Akko believed she’d touched some coral. But no, they were technically swimming – or, more like floating – in the ocean, but it was a simulation. The only thing she could really touch was Diana.

And her blue eyes, they _blazed_ with color. Akko’s heart filled to the brim with disbelief. Diana was evenly lit, but her eyes danced like flames with all the colors, and with their gazes locked, Akko felt loving warmth spread from her chest to everywhere else.

“This,” Diana whispered. “Is the best thing I’ve ever seen,” she said. She paused for a second. “Besides you.”

Akko blushed at the unexpected compliment. “Have you seen yourself?” Akko floated closer to her. She wondered what would happen if the simulation ended now. Would they be back in their seats? Would they fall?

Akko felt their bodies slowly float to each other, and then, in a floating embrace, their lips met. Akko couldn’t get enough of the way Diana’s hair flared as they slowly drifted, spinning. The way it caught the light, becoming all the colors of the rainbow and then platinum blonde again.

Their kiss broke when Diana started to chuckle. She pulled away, obviously trying to hold back, but she couldn’t, easily breaking into a bigger laugh.

“What?” Akko asked. Even though she didn’t know why, Akko smiled broadly, just happy to see Diana happy.

“Haven’t you noticed?” Diana asked between laughs. “We’ve been phasing through those trees for a while now.”

Akko _hadn’t_ noticed, actually, but now that she looked around, it was true. She was being pierced in a buch of places by holographic coral. Akko stopped her drifting as best as she could, swimming towards Diana again, whose hair was now a wavy mess as her head had been shaking with the laughter.

Diana let Akko pull her into another hug, and her momentum carried them both spinning upwards, the darkness above and the colors below swirling around her in constant conflict. Diana’s skin was the only thing Akko could feel, the rustling of their clothes, their breathing and the thumping of their hearts the only things they could hear.

Akko enjoyed the movement, the weightlessness. But something felt off, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

So the ocean burst to life.

Appearing from out of nowhere, countless fish materialized. Colorful, swimming among the coral or above it. Some looked familiar, not that different from Earth’s fish, but Akko didn’t have much attention to give to the ones that were uncommon, for her attention was completely on the blonde before her. Her hair floated behind her, but it wasn’t soaked, as one would assume with an underwater simulation. It was… It was strange, really. They were there at the bottom of an ocean, looking at alien fish and a sparkly city, but they didn’t feel anything.

Akko’s attention finally was snapped away from Diana. “Look at that!” she said, pointing at a long thing that swam nearby. Kind of like an eel, long and thin, but it had dozens of fins at its sides, moving up and down through the water. It had a sharp face, kind of like a dagger, and it had big, round eyes that reminded Akko to those of flies. They caught the countless lights from below, reflecting them in a rather psychedelic effect.

“I have no idea,” Diana confessed. Then, to Akko’s surprise, she swam there.

Akko followed. From up close, the creature, twice as long as Akko and as thick as her thighs, showed little scales all around its body. The most curious part, though, were the ten or so small fish – the size of Akko’s pinkie – that were biting into many of the fins, which themselves were maybe about thirty centimeters long. It didn’t look like it hurt, and the creature clearly didn’t care.

“The little critters must use this big one as a means of transportation. They’re so small they can’t effectively swim long distances, so by latching onto something much larger than themselves…” Diana started to speak about it as if it was some kind of wonder of nature. Maybe it was, though Akko got distracted as she noticed something else. An octopus?

Kind of. On a nearby coral – one of the tall spindly ones with like infinite branches – a small octopus moved, not bigger than Akko’s head. It was, however, a little too big headed, and it had only four tentacles.

It was a baby octopus, of the sentient kind. _It’s showing us this in real time,_ Akko realized as a bigger octopus, this one maybe up to Akko’s waist, took the kid and started swimming towards the city.

Diana swam closer, getting away from the eel-like thing and tackling Akko from behind. They spun for a little while until they finally stopped upside-down – though it didn’t seem to affect them much. Diana didn’t let go, pressing her head against Akko’s back, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

“I feel like I could get used to these kinds of dates,” Diana said softly.

Akko spun around until Diana’s head was actually pressing against her chest, and she also put her arms around Diana’s shoulders. “I’m sure we can find other places like this one to go,” Akko said. Diana always smelled so good…

“Yeah…” Diana cuddled up to Akko, as if trying to melt their bodies together, finding every space she could to mix their limbs and increase their contact. In the middle of the simulated ocean, Akko wouldn’t have hesitated to fall asleep, Diana in her arms. They had all the time in the world, as training wouldn’t resume until they left TDE.

“Hey, Akko?” Diana asked her.

“Yeah?” Akko said, eyes closed, just relishing the moment.

“Do you ever think about sex?”

Akko’s eyes opened. They had slowly drifted and now they were parallel to the ground. “Uhm,” she hesitated. “Not a lot, honestly.”

Diana nodded against her chest. “I don’t either, mostly. I mean, I’ve considered it,” she squeezed Akko slightly, sending a clear message, “but I’ve never really _imagined_ it, you know?”

Akko nodded.

“Is it weird?” Diana said. Akko couldn’t see her face, but she could swear her chest was growing hotter.

“Of course not. Probably,” Akko said, growing red. She did want to see more of Diana, but… There was a strange line between them. Maybe it was because of what had happened before they made up in Vorago, but everything was so comfortable as it was. Akko didn’t like thinking about complicated stuff, so she hadn’t considered this: Crossing that final line was a symbol, probably to both of them. Sure, Akko was aware a lot of people didn’t think Sex was a big deal, but she had always believed that was because their first relationships had failed and they’d tried to detach the act with the feelings.

Of course, she also had essentially no experience. As far as she was concerned, maybe sex didn’t actually feel good and she’d been bamboozled for most of her life.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Diana patted her back. “I’m just being stupid.”

“No, no,” Akko kissed her head, burying her head in that beautiful blonde hair. “Talking about it is fine. I mean, we’re probably gonna do it, some day, right?”

Diana looked up, and the tip of their noses brushed each other. Looking upon those eyes felt like looking straight at the sky. There was a _depth_ to them, a vastness no mortal would ever be able to fully comprehend. A vastness that now looked at Akko, getting closer, kissing her for a few blissful seconds. “I can’t help but feel a little left behind, though. Barbara and Lotte, Hannah and Amanda…” Diana sighed.

“Hey, you shouldn’t compare yourself to them. Remember when I practiced like a madwoman so you had to make that schedule for me, telling me not to compare myself to you and Amanda?” Akko asked. Of course, Diana recalled. “Well, something like that.”

Diana smiled. “You know, it’s said that some of the deserts in Set appear to be made of gold depending on the hour of the day,” she said. “We should check them out.”

Akko pecked her lips. “Yeah, maybe we should.”

 

Diana took a deep breath. Her date with Akko earlier had gone great, but now she stared at the door of the Red Team’s door, her mouth dry with nervousness. It was unusual for her, but she _needed_ to do this. For herself, for Akko, and for science.

She knocked on the door.

It opened. Sucy, looking as pale and angry as ever, looked her up and down. She raised an eyebrow. “This is practically your room now, too. What do you want?” she asked in her usual, slightly nasal voice, almost as if she were always smelling something she didn’t like.

“I wanted to ask you something,” Diana said, composing herself. “Do you mind if we talk?”

Sucy seemed mildly amused by the idea. Nodding, she stepped aside, letting Diana into the room. When entering, she could feel the stare of the creepy girl piercing her neck, and though she instinctively steered towards Akko’s bed, she didn’t take it out of the wall, instead standing on the empty space where it should have been and waiting.

Sucy came out of the small corridor a few seconds later and didn’t pause to look at Diana as she sat down on her desk, where something was brewing. Where had she gotten the equipment to make potions? And was that one of those glowing mushrooms from Vorago? Diana absently thought about the tip of her miner plant, which she’d put in her luggage. She’d read a little more about them and, truth be told, she was amazed to realize those things _could_ grow on earth, given enough rock. Sadly, the one she had would wither away before she had the chance to try it.

“So, is it about Akko?” Sucy asked, not looking at her. “No, I have no idea of when her birthday is, or what she’d like for Christmas, or…”

“Actually,” Diana said, interrupting. “It’s about what Constanze did.”

Sucy paused, finally, and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “The robot?”

“You helped her, I’ve been told.”

Sucy pursed her lips, slightly uncomfortable, before sighing and shrugging. “I only helped Constanze with an equation. I did nothing.”

Diana raised an eyebrow. “What equation?”

The purple haired scientist stared at Diana with the single red eye she had uncovered – red eyes were of the most common variety given by magic – and held her gaze. One of her hands still rested on the metallic desk, and Diana could see them drumming softly against it, though they weren’t strong enough to make a noise.

“A theoretical one. Or, more like, it…” Sucy sighed. “It’s annoying. It’s just the Magical Smith Equation. It describes the amount of energy the body can take in relation to how much it would be needed for powering up a machine and yada yada yada. I didn’t really do anything, though, just say yes when Constanze showed to me if what she wanted was possible,” she turned back to her experiments.

Magical Smith Equation? Diana could swear she’d heard about it, but she was clearly mistaken. Smith was a pretty common name, after all. “Still, she did mention you as-”

“Listen, Diana,” Sucy turned only her head to look at Diana. Kind of creepy, the way she could bend her neck so much. “I’m just going to assume you’re trying to bond with me to make Akko happy, or at the very least, you’re probably thinking that you need to prove a point. You’re stuck up and that’s fine, but you’re just not my style. I don’t care whether Akko likes you or not,” she shook her head. “I don’t _want_ to make friends with you.”

Diana staggered, suddenly incredibly uncomfortable. “Uhm…” she hesitated. “I… see,” she finished saying. Sucy was already back at whatever she was doing, and Diana could feel nothing but a strange defeat inside her. She stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before slowly walking away from the room. Sucy didn’t even bother looking back one last time as Diana left, and then she stood in the hallway for a few moments, trying to see where she’d gone wrong.

She had really wanted to make this work. Sucy was, after all, one of Akko’s friends. But if Sucy had explicitly told her she didn’t want to have anything to do with her, then who was Diana to object?

Still, her heart felt like it had sunk to her stomach. She felt like a rotund failure. She really couldn’t make friends of her own, could she? People had to come to her, not otherwise.

Pressing her lips, she was surprised to feel a frustration tear slipping down her face. Since when was she so affected by such stupid things? Sucy was clearly a mean spirited… But that wasn’t the truth. She’d seen her around Akko and Lotte. As strange as she was, she did care for at least those two, and she didn’t seem to mind the company of the green team. She _did_ dislike the blue team, though. And could Diana blame her? They hadn’t been the best, back in those first weeks at Luna Nova.

Determined not to let the sour memory of what had just happened ruin her memory of the wonderful time she’d had with Akko earlier, Diana took a deep breath. She didn’t really want to cry, she was just incredibly frustrated. Plus, it was probably a good thing she was able to feel such strong emotions again. Maybe she had spent so long shoving down her emotions that now everything seemed to burst out of her with passion.

Well, she needed to find something else to think about. Akko had decided to go eat, and Diana had no idea where she was. They really needed to get her a wand or something. So, instead of that, she took an elevator up to the fifth deck. Magic Deck. The doors opened, revealing the gloomy spa. She was surprised to see some people walking around it, though it was a little too dark to really make out if she could recognize anyone. She would have dreaded to have to spend time near Paul Hanbridge, but she was fairly certain that old fart of a man wouldn’t really bother coming down here.

Diana ended up opting for a massage. She was _definitely_ tense so as she was guided to the area by a staff member and told to get rid of her clothes she tried to relax.

Diana waited, already laying down while mostly naked save for her panties and a towel over those. Someone approached her from the shadows, and she grew tense for a moment. Then she noticed the white attire. A tall man with hands like rocks. Diana gulped as he settled besides her. Diana tried to not be too afraid, but damn, those hands. He was broad of shoulder, and Diana was one hundred percent certain he would probably be able to snap her back in half with the flick of a finger.

She felt the hands of the guy feeling around her back, and a few moments later, he started.

At first, Diana had to grit her teeth to refrain from crying out in pain. _Damn_ this man was strong. But as he worked, Diana crossed the threshold and finally found herself where she wanted to be.

Her mind drifted. The hands of the therapist were _magic,_ and of the fantasy kind. She found herself sighing in relief many times as her muscles seemed to literally rip free of their bones, hanging loose and only contained by the skin. She soon found herself thinking about things other than Sucy. How Constanze had asked her permission to dismantle The Pony – Diana had been reluctant, but truth be told, she had the feeling they could actually repair any ship by simply connecting it to the Rod. Of course, Constanze would _never_ allow for such a thing. Too prideful. Well, that was fine. Diana just hoped Constanze wouldn’t leave it in such a state that the Shiny Rod wouldn’t be able to repair it later.

The therapist eventually moved further down her back. Diana felt some of her vertebrae crack and pop from the pressure, and she thought she could understand the people who cracked their knuckles all the time. It was kind of hard to think about anything, with the constant waves of relief washing her body. Her shoulders and back were coming undone, and it was such a beautiful thing. Diana wondered why she didn’t do this more often.

Because she didn’t have the time, obviously. Still, she _needed_ to make more time for things like this.

And then the massage was over, and the guy with the rocks for hands walked away. Diana might have muttered a thank you, but she couldn’t even think, let alone speak.

Some time passed, in which Diana probably dozed off, before someone came to fetch her. She was given her clothes back, and she took her sweet time getting them on. Her legs felt wobbly and she almost tripped a couple times as she exited the place, but she felt _renewed._

Diana all but stumbled through the bowels of the _Dragon,_ her body taking her to her room. Hers, not Akko’s, as she didn’t really want to be reminded of Sucy right now. No spell on the front, which meant that it was probably safe to get inside.

She got into the room and, in a mess of limbs and clothes, aimed for her bed.

Then she froze. Inside, Akko spoke with Barbara and Lotte. The three of them suddenly turned to Diana, and Diana instantly took note of how cute Akko looked, beet-red and looking shocked. Lotte gave Diana a strange look, and Barbara grew a smirk as she looked between her and Akko.

Diana was too tired to really ask what was going on. In fact, she didn’t need to ask. Akko’s red face pretty much gave away what the topic of talking had been. “Hey Diana, where were you?” Barbara asked.

“Getting a massage,” Diana replied. Her voice sounded tired. She felt so incredibly tired too.

“Oh, they’re quite amazing, aren’t they?” Barbara said, nodding. Diana wasn’t particularly surprised that Barbara had gone to magic deck at some point or another. She and Hannah really enjoyed things like that, though Diana was fairly certain Hannah hadn’t bothered to go quite yet.

Without really answering, Diana walked to her bed and dropped on it, tackling Akko in the way. She was quick to curl up and hug her tightly. Akko said some words, but Diana barely heard them. She pulled Akko’s head close to her chest and allow herself to let go of her worries. Akko seemed to help her relax more than the massage had done, and eventually the brunette stopped struggling and let herself be loved. Diana felt Akko nesting on her shoulder not long after.

Well, she had failed with Sucy, but that was fine. She wouldn’t be able to make friends with everyone.

But that was fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand END OF BATCH.  
> Thanks for reading (those who still do)! Hope you enjoyed!  
> LEAVE A DAMN COMMENT.  
> See you next time!


	127. Chapter 127

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome, everyone, to what will be the second to last batch!  
> Yes, you heard that right.  
> The one that comes after this will be the final one! And I'll probably release it all in one go for old time's sake.  
> In any case, this one is long and yada yada yada!   
> Don't forget to leave your comments!  
> E N J O Y!

Croix huffed in annoyance.

“Listen, horn, I don’t _care_ whether you made a deal with the reptilians or not,” she said. She felt her eye twitch in annoyance. “It’s not _my_ problem. You fucked up, you deal with it.” She hung up and dropped on the chair in front of her desk. _Damn_ it was all so annoying.

They had finally left TDE, and Croix was heavily glad for that. Everything had gone relatively fine, and… god, she’d had that confrontation with Chariot. It was on her mind all the time, now. She should maybe feel glad about it, but she couldn’t. She wanted Chariot, there was nothing more to it, no denying. She wanted to make it work.

She was even considering dropping everything else for her. Stupid emotions.

The next planet they were headed towards was arguably less dangerous than TDE, at least in theory. Breathable air, relatively normal gravity. It was kind of bare on the surface, having very simple life. The true issue with that planet came from how absolutely crazy its topography was.

Well, Chariot would probably be pleased about it anyways. An obstacle course was safer than a hunt.

Croix was glad that, at least, the pointing system had finally stopped working. She had always meant for this race to end with only one indisputable winner, no matter the cost. She put her feet on the table, unwinding, letting all the stress of the last hours slip off her with eyes closed. Her lab was unusually hot today. It could mean many things. Existing in multiple places at once was kind of confusing for the environment, so it could cause all sorts of different reactions.

 That’s why she didn’t wear her utilitarian suit today. It was kind of strange, really. She almost always wore it when in her lab. Being in casual clothing here felt like she’d stepped away from reality for a while, like a dream. At least, even if hot, the air wasn’t humid. There’d been that tone time that humidity had somehow manifested inside the lab. She’d gone to great lengths to get rid of it. She never figured out how it had happened, but a lot of her equipment was too delicate to handle any kind of humidity in the air.

With her eyes closed, Croix could almost imagine she was back in her room at Luna Nova. Her teammates would be gone doing homework in the library that Croix had finished as soon as it was given out. Croix would be resting just like she was now, feet on the desk of her room as she played around with her wand and spells, and at some point Chariot would come through the door. Back then they’d been so close, but they’d also been kind of oblivious to each other’s feelings. Croix wondered if she should have acted sooner on those feelings.

But… well, it wouldn’t have changed much, in the end. She recalled her first kiss with Chariot, right after Croix had agreed to working with her to get to the IPR. Croix had been reluctant, but Chariot – as always – had convinced her. In a moment of excitement she’d thrown her arms around Croix and… Well, it had just kind of expanded from there. They’d taken it slowly – more slowly than most of the girls in Chariot’s current team, for sure – but it had been a great relationship.

Being with other people had never looked appealing to her in any way. She could now tell why. Chariot was just perfect. By just existing, she made Croix want to be a better person. To let go of her rational mind and just give up to feelings she knew were illogical. As much as she criticized those, they were the key to what made them humans. Well, over the years, Croix had discovered most sentient beings shared those kinds of feelings.

There was a soft sound, kind of distant but also close. The strange dichotomy of teleportation was kind of amazing.

**Chariot is nearby,** one of the roombas in the room said. Croix flushed slightly. God, what had she been thinking with that? Was she a teenager? She waved her wand to deactivate it and sat, looking expectantly at the exit of the small cubicle for Chariot to appear.

She poked her head around the corner.

She looked like she usually did. Purple g-suit, blue hair loosely tied at the end and over her shoulder, red eyes hidden behind useless glasses. Croix didn’t move, waiting for her to come in.

Chariot walked hesitantly as she came closer. She ended up sitting on the empty table across from Croix’s, and so they stayed looking at each other silently. Croix was backlit by the monitors, so Chariot probably didn’t get a good look of her, but Croix could see Chariot without much issue.

Trouble still showed in her face.

“I don’t really want this to end, you know,” Chariot ended up saying.

“Me neither. But I fear it is what’s going to happen anyways,” Croix admitted. “We should be honest with ourselves.”

Chariot pressed her lips. She moved her dangling legs back and forth, and her posture was unusually stiff. “I know we can find another alternative. Say that the grand prize was a scam, and-”

“And a medusa already died because of it,” Croix instantly replied. “You think they’re gonna be happy about that? No, I go through with it.”

“Then just… I dunno, give out more of those engines. Secretly. That way a war won’t start, right?” Chariot asked.

Croix chuckled. “It just means every planet will try to build their own first while sabotaging the others.”

“I think you’re not giving them enough credit,” Chariot said. “Just because you think they’ll want everything for themselves doesn’t mean…”

“Chariot, I’ve interacted with most of the races in the planetary alliance for some years at this point. Sure, some are really non-aggressive, but even those entered this huge illegal bet over infinite energy. Nobody in their right mind would give up on _that.”_

“But how are you so certain they won’t share?”

“Because politics, Chariot,” Croix sighed. “People in power want to remain in power. And they usually want more. It’s how it goes. Sure, there may be some exceptions, but to be human- well, I guess to be _sentient_ is to want power.” Croix knew that all too well. How many times had she considered just building that engine herself and taking control? The only reason she didn’t do it was because she didn’t really have the time for that. Once this race was over she’d step down and get on working out how to find alien life outside the galaxy.

Or maybe into a way to stop Earth from running out of magic. Sídhe had way more. Maybe she could just give humanity one of those engines… but, no. They’d probably just keep it in a single country or, even worse, end up destroying it. She’d rather have it with someone who she knew would use it properly.

Well, if they won the race there wouldn’t be much she could do, but at least Paul Hanbridge was a representative of the entire human race, not just one country. Hopefully he wouldn’t be much of a patriot.

Croix had been so lost in thought that almost jumped out of her chair when Chariot put a hand to her shoulder. When had she moved? “Croix, really, what is the purpose of this? Do you want to conquer the entire planetary alliance or what?”

“What I _want,_ ” Croix said. “Is for you to stop worrying about it. You won’t change my mind,” not after ten years of constant reminders and visions. The Shiny Rod… Well, if Akko managed to unlock its true form, maybe Croix _could_ use it to help herself. Assuming Akko didn’t first destroy everything she’d worked for.

“I know that look,” Chariot leaned down, taking off her glasses, looking Croix in the eyes. She had her eyes narrowed, her lips a little too thin. “So there _is_ another way.”

“Too unreliable,” Croix shook her head. “And more importantly, not under my control. It could ruin everything I’ve worked for.”

“A war?”

“The war is mostly a byproduct. A necessary evil, if you will,” noticed Chariot’s mouth opening, so she put a finger in front of her to stop her. “I _know_ you don’t agree with that ideology. Do I feel guilty? Maybe. But sometimes, the end _does_ justify the means, Chariot. And nothing you can say will change that.”

“If I _knew_ what the ‘end’ was maybe I’d agree with you,” Chariot said. She forced Croix’s feet off the table and sat on it, right next to her. Croix grimaced at the idea. “I’m gonna guess you won’t tell me.”

She wouldn’t. How would Chariot, the nicest person on the universe, react if she realized what would happen? Croix tentatively extended one hand and placed it on top of Chariot’s. She didn’t move away, which kind of surprised her. “I… don’t want you to hate me,” Croix admitted. “But I know you probably will.”

“Or you could _not_ do what you want to do and let me love you instead,” Chariot offered. Her eyes were intense, reflecting the white light of the countless screens behind Croix.

Love. How long Croix had longed to hear that again. She couldn’t help standing and looking down at the seated Chariot, who didn’t move away as Croix leaned forward to steal a kiss from her. “I wish I could,” she whispered, pressing their foreheads together. “I so much wish I could…” she kissed her again. She didn’t find resistance, or even hesitance. Chariot pushed against her too, and though it was short, Croix could really feel her heart thumping stronger against her chest.

“Do you know how I lost the Rod?” Chariot asked her when they separated.

“No,” Croix said. “I always assumed you had just given it up, feeling guilty because of what I did.”

“I tried to go back in time,” she whispered. “I tried to fix everything, only a couple weeks after you left.”

Croix paused. She had her eyes closed, feeling Chariot’s warmth on her forehead and nose. “You idiot. You should have waited until you had the last command. Then maybe…”

Chariot chuckled. “I know. I just wanted to get everything to how it was before that accident so badly that I…” she leaned forward and kissed Croix. One of her hands crawled up Croix’s arm and grabbed her by the nape, pulling her down. This kiss lasted longer, but also so much more tender. “I was angry, after that. I spent so much time being angry. I never want to be angry at you again, Croix. I know you’re not a bad person.”

“Oh, but I am,” Croix said, placing a kiss on the corner of Chariot’s mouth. “I’ve never been a good person, not even before I met you,” she continued, now kissing her cheek.

“Croix…” Chariot whispered. The hand she had on Croix’s neck moved up, burying its fingers on Croix’s hair and scratching gently her scalp. Croix kissed Chariot’s earlobe, which made her head twitch slightly, then moved down a little, to where her g-suit ended. “Croix…” Chariot repeated after a sharp breath. Croix leaned further on the table, pushing Chariot back, placing a hand to her chest, following the zipper line up. Croix started to pull on the slider when Chariot suddenly pushed her away. “Croix!” She suddenly cried in reprimand.

Croix, a little stunned, stilled. “Huh?”

“We’re in the middle of your dirty lab,” Chariot said.

“I have a room back there,” Croix pointed at a seemingly empty spot on the wall.

“You’re avoiding the issue,” Chariot crossed her arms, zipper still down to her collarbone. “Come on, Croix, you can share anything with me. I want to understand. Please.”

“You won’t, Chariot,” Croix deflated, dropping back to her chair. She couldn’t help thinking about how beautiful Chariot was nowadays, particularly with the cute blush that painted her face right now. “We should try to keep to ourselves. Maybe that way…”

“Not gonna happen,” Chariot stood, standing right in front of Croix and looking down at her.

“I’m not gonna tell you.”

“Then I’ll just figure it out by myself,” she said, turning away and walking to the cubicle.

“You do know _I_ have to send you back, right?” Croix said after Chariot entered it. There were a few moments of awkward silence before she answered.

“So you just gonna leave me here?”

“Maybe?” Croix chuckled.

“Croix…” Chariot’s voice said with a hint of anger.

“Maybe if you give me a goodbye kiss,” Croix stood from her chair and walked up to the cubicle, knocking on the door. “It’s a low price.”

“Really?” Chariot said, annoyed. “We just had a serious talk and-”

“And you yourself said you don’t want this to end. Neither do I, which is why I’m not gonna tell you what I saw, or why I do the things I do.”

“You know that when we win this race I’m just gonna seize those blueprints and destroy them if you don’t tell me, right?”

“Good luck with that. They’re under the heaviest security you can imagine.”

“You’re really gonna make me give you a kiss?”

“It didn’t seem to bother you a minute ago.”

Chariot huffed in annoyance, threw open the door and lounged at Croix. Before she could even react, Chariot’s lips crashed against hers with violence, and Croix found herself reciprocating with the same kind of intensity. She felt Chariot’s hard-rock arms around her as she slid hers around Chariot’s waist, pulling on her too. Chariot assaulted her mouth with her tongue, practically forcing Croix’s teeth apart and dragging her tongue out. Croix felt a small shudder on her shoulders that slowly ran down her arms, and just as she was really getting into it, right as she started to let herself relax into the kiss, Chariot pulled away.

“Hey!” Croix complained.

Chariot still looked angry, which made Croix shy back a little. “I’m not gonna keep indulging you until you tell me why you do things,” she turned and slammed the door of the cubicle. “Now send me to the _Dragon_ or I’ll wreck this place.”

Croix smiled. Well, maybe she’d grown a little more aggressive over the years, but in a way, she was just as childish as ever. She flicked her wand and Chariot disappeared.

Then, as she walked back to the lab proper, she put a finger to her lips. She would have to tell her, wouldn’t she? Croix didn’t want to admit it, but… She’d have to do it.

However, if she was going to do that, then Chariot needed to start being honest with herself too.

 

Amanda woke up next to Hannah. Both of them wore only their underwear, though they’d done nothing last night. It was just nice to sleep half naked. Still sleepy, she snuggled up to her girlfriend, who faced away from her. She buried her face on Hannah’s hair, letting out a long sigh and dozing off again.

She dreamed about something. She wasn’t sure of what, but she was warm and fuzzy. Hannah was probably there, too. She recalled tidbits of it, but nothing relevant, and by the time she reached the end – forced end, as all dreams ended – she was smiling. She opened her eyes to find Hannah looking at her, hair loose and a mess, and _damn_ she was beautiful. She had her eyes half-open, and a bit of dried saliva on her cheek. She didn’t drool too much, but it was cute.

Amanda, barely aware of her own movements, leaned forward and kissed her fondly. Hannah replied lazily. Just-woken-up lazy kisses were probably the best. Hannah slid her arms around Amanda and placed her head on the nook between her head and shoulder. She let out a content sigh, and her breathing soon implied that she was asleep again.

Amanda let her stay there. Jasminka and Constanze were already awake, and she noticed the chubby girl looking at her from the desk. She smiled kindly, as always, and waved. Amanda replied with a nod of acknowledgement, but went right back to closing her eyes, even if she could feel she wasn’t going to sleep anymore.

She softly caressed Hannah’s head as she slept. She ran her fingers through the auburn hair, letting it really _dig_ into her. She enjoyed the feeling of Hannah’s breath against her, and the warmth of their bodies under the sheets. She liked the way Hannah had casually slipped a leg in between Amanda’s and wasn’t self conscious about it anymore, or the way her fingers had clung on to her back.

Amanda wasn’t sure of how much time passed. She just… enjoyed. It was something to relish. She’d never actually done this before. Such closeness, such… intimacy. The love she felt for the girl between her arms right now seemed to pour out of her heart and through her chest, wanting to reach her.

Did Hannah feel the same? Amanda didn’t really doubt much about it, but she still found it curious how Hannah seemed to have so much trouble saying just those three words. Amanda had _known,_ back when she’d confessed at the top of The Island, how she felt. Such strong feelings didn’t come from nowhere. Hannah was such an interesting girl. Stuck up and mean, sure, but that was just her surface. Peeking under it was a world. A world Amanda wanted to know entirely.

But for now, she probably needed to get up and shower.

“Hey, Hun,” Amanda said softly. “Imma get up.”

Hannah mumbled something, still half asleep. Problem was that Amanda was still against the wall. Jasminka moved to get the bed above her into the wall, but even then, when Amanda tried to rise, Hannah just pulled her back down. It was so incredibly cute. “We need to get to practice soon.”

“Don’t care,” Hannah said, burying her head between Amanda’s breasts. “I want to stay like this. Just a while longer.”

Amanda sighed, smiling, but she couldn’t exactly turn that down, could she? “Fine, just a few more minutes.”

Those ‘few more minutes’ probably turned into another half hour. Constanze, who had been doing something with her tablet, suddenly sprang up and ran away from the room. Jasminka stayed, though she was focused on something she was watching with a VR headset – she liked those, as they allowed her to watch movies and stuff without having to stop eating.

Eventually, Amanda just had to force her way out of the bed. Hannah complained, but as much as it pained her, Amanda wanted to shower before going to practice.

She spent a good number of minutes in the small bathroom. The shower was barely big enough to move on, but she’d gotten used to it over the past few months. God, it seemed like she’d been living on the _Dragon_ all of her life, by now. Yet in other ways it also felt like she’d only been in there since yesterday. Today, too, they’d be moved to new rooms. Probably while they were practicing, which was annoying. Maybe she and Hannah should get their stuff delivered to the same room. Green team’s maybe? Seemed about right. Diana and Akko always slept in the red team’s room, and Lotte and Barbara had the blue team’s essentially to themselves. Kind of unfair, that. Still, Amanda did feel a little guilty for what she’d done the other night, forcing her friends to sleep on the red team’s room. Akko and Diana were still on an ‘innocent’ relationship, which had been fortunate. What would happen if one night all three couples decided they wanted privacy at the same time? Would Sucy, Jasminka and Constanze appropriate some unused room or go to Ursula’s or what? They probably needed to think about that.

She finished her shower and dried up, shaking her head to get rid of most of the water before using a towel. Not long after drying it up, it stood in the way it always did, ends spreading around her head kind of like a flower. Amanda never fully understood why it did that, but she didn’t mind. It made her look cool.

She came out of the bathroom refreshed and clean, only in her underwear, taking in a deep breath and letting the cold air – in comparison to the hot water – refresh her. Hannah was still on the bed, not having moved, though Jasminka had left for some reason.

Amanda walked up to the bed, leaning down and putting a strand of Hannah’s hair behind her ear before kissing her cheek. “Hey Hunny, wake up,” Amanda whispered. “We _really_ need to get going.”

Hannah cracked one eye open, grumbling. “I’m so damn tired,” she said.

“We did almost nothing yesterday,” Amanda chuckled.

“Mentally. I’m mentally exhausted. _God_ I’m glad we left TDE.”

“Not so fast, next planet may be worse.”

“Unlikely,” Hannah sat up, slowly sliding to the edge of the bed, where Amanda helped her up. Hannah put her face against Amanda’s chest and sighed. “You smell nice.”

“Thanks,” Amanda cupped her head with both hands and moved it up to place a kiss on her forehead. “Want to shower before heading out?”

“I showered before going to sleep,” Hannah said, voice weak with sleepiness.

“Can’t ever have enough showers, but whatever,” Amanda separated from her and started to put on her g-suit, silently enjoying the sensation of its silky insides as they slid on her. She didn’t really care for anything more complex, today.

Fifteen minutes later, Hannah came out of the bathroom perfectly fresh, hair on her ribbon. She looked at Amanda for a few seconds before deciding she was going to use her g-suit too, which was pretty uncommon nowadays.

Amanda noticed, with a curious glance, that she put on the bracelet she’d gifted her.

“Why wear that?” Amanda asked.

Hannah looked at her wrist and then at Amanda, shrugging. “I felt like it, I guess.”

Smiling, Amanda stood. “Well, let’s get going,” she stretched and yawned, heading towards the door. Hannah followed.

“So, any guesses on our next planet?” Hannah asked.

“Hmm…” Amanda thought about it for a few seconds. “Nope. Maybe we’ll go to, like, Darkworld or something.”

“I’d say no, but I honestly don’t even know anymore,” Hannah sighed.

“It’ll be fun, probably.”

“I sure hope so…”

 

The dark planet was… interesting.

Egg-shaped, it had mountains tall enough on it to actually be visible from her map, sticking out like tiny thorns. Same could go for scars on the surface, which were low enough that if you looked at the planet from the right angle you could see chunk missing on the side like a dent.

Akko blinked, looking at the place with heavy curiosity. It had life on the surface, but… it looked tiny. Irrelevant. “Erebus,” she read the information chart besides the hologram. Ursula, behind her, looked a little confused. Akko kept looking at the planet and decided to zoom in.

She found that the terrain was comparable to an EKG line.

Mountains rose tall, and valleys went _low,_ or should they be called canyons? Akko blinked. There didn’t seem to be a single plain in the entire planet. Some structures seemed to be impossibly wide at the top while thin at the center, the widening again at the bottom. Some rocks seemed to meet up high, forming arches or loops, while other structures were long pillars that shot straight into the sky. Mountains met mountains to form massive enclosed spaces in the center, and those actually held water. Life here seemed to be composed of very simple grass or… moss? Strange. Akko spun the planet around, looking for some flat terrain, but she failed in finding any. The flattest thing she could find were a bunch of small hills all in the northernmost – or, southernmost? – side of the planet, on the top of the egg. It wa shard to know which was which, really. These hills were like waves of an ocean. And then, stunned, Akko realized: The planet had _no ocean._ Save for water that seemed to pool in impossible rock formations, the surface only had rivers and maybe some lakes. She found this kind of stunning.

“Erebus…” Diana said. “It’s impossible to land on Erebus. They have no oceans. Their highlakes won’t be good enough,” she sounded skeptic. Akko did a quick read of the information the Rod had given her to know what Diana was talking about. Ah, the highlakes were the ones atop mountains.

But she was right. They really wouldn’t be able to land in the place. So what to do? What were they supposed to do? Akko started to wonder if maybe that was part of the challenge. “The trip there will take three and a half days,” Ursula said. “Surely the captain has something planned, or the Planetary Alliance will provide means for landing.”

Akko didn’t pay much attention as Diana and Ursula started chatting about that. Hannah sometimes took part of it, but she didn’t really seem to care. Amanda didn’t bother. She wouldn’t experience much of the races anyways. Akko was sad about that. “Hey, Alcor, is there any way of allowing Amanda to keep her memories when in the turret?” She suddenly asked.

**It’s possible, Akko.**

Akko waited for more, but it didn’t come.

“Why did you ask that?” Ursula suddenly snapped away from her conversation with Diana. She didn’t sound angry. In fact, she sounded… scared.

“Uhm… because I was thinking that Amanda wouldn’t get to experience flying and…”

“Akko,” Ursula suddenly put a hand on her shoulder. She pressed it a little too harshly, her fingers digging into Akko’s g-suit. “If the Shiny Rod does something, it’s probably for a reason. Whatever goes on in the turret is probably too much for Amanda’s brain to handle. Do not try to change it.”

Her voice was a little scary. Akko looked up with a frown, only to find that Ursula was looking into infinity, as if remembering something. All conversation died down by the sudden act, but when Ursula realized this she cleared her throat. “In any case, we’ll have to land on it one way or another. Maybe we can have the Rod teleport us, should all else fail.”

“During previous races we had to do exchanges with planetary alliance ships, right?” Diana asked.

“Not exactly. In those cases, the pilots would just board a ship in the previous planet…” Ursula shook her head. “But they _told them_ the next planet would be Erebus, so it wasn’t much of a problem. One of the few exceptions to the ‘pilots aren’t supposed to know the next planet in line’ rule.”

Akko nodded, though she was uncertain of what was going on. Why weren’t those highlakes good enough? The ocean at Sídhe wasn’t so different from them, was it? An ocean on top of a mountain? Or, something like that.

She kept looking at the planet. Some areas of it were more prone to pillars of stone, while others had more mountains and others more canyons. One particular place looked like a really big animal had attacked, leaving scraps with its claws. Three mountain ranges with deep valleys in between them and on their sides. “It looks fun,” she said.

“Huh?” Hannah asked. Wait, when had she hopped in the conversation, again?”

“It looks fun to race in. Not a frozen wasteland, not a place where everything wants to kill you. Just a bunch of rocks in funny shapes. I can deal with this.”

“Akko, I don’t think we’ll race on the surface,” Ursula said. “Not entirely, at least. Daemons live in vast nets of tunnels running underneath it. Most animal life does, too. Inferno runs through the planet like veins, and their creatures are used to living close to it, unlike humans. Really, they’re more akin to faeries than us, in more ways than one.”

Akko pressed her lips. “It still looks fun enough,” she noticed, as she zoomed closer, that the planet had innumerable holes. They were spaced around, but not so much that it wasn’t noticeable. Entrance to those nets of tunnels or caves or whatever? Once Akko saw those, she couldn’t un-see them. They were _everywhere._ At the bases of mountains, at the _top_ of mountains, at pillars of stone, near rivers, away from them. She couldn’t move around the hologram without seeing dozens of them. Sure, from her aerial perspective she had an advantage, but it was damn impressive still.

“Fun,” Diana said. “Well, I guess I wouldn’t mind a complicated terrain. If the rules aren’t too crazy this time, it could be interesting.”

“They might just outright ask us to kill each other in cold blood next. You know, ‘cause that’s probably what follows,” Hannah said. She was clearly bitter by last race’s rules, but could Akko blame her? They had all hated them. What _had_ gone through the people who made them up? Plus… “Wait, I just realized. With all these disqualifications, points mean nothing.”

There was a long silence. Akko blinked. “What?”

“Last race, for example. The reptilians were almost constantly at the bottom in the leaderboards. Yet, if they had survived and not we… what would’ve happened? They’d be here anyways.”

There was another long pause.

“Holy shit we were played for fools!” Amanda finally joined in. “This… Holy fuck!”

Akko thought back to how _bad_ she had felt those times she hadn’t come out in first place. To all the times she’d earned zero points. Had none of that mattered? Hannah was right, wasn’t she? This had become an elimination game, not a pointed one. It didn’t matter anymore.

She took a deep breath. “Well, whatever,” she said. “We’re still gonna win.”

“But, our effort-” Hannah started.

“Whatever,” Akko interrupted. “Why do we care? What’s even the point? We’re already here. It won’t change how this all ends: With us at the top. We’re gonna _win.”_ She could feel anger rising within her. “We’re starting, come on,” Akko said, looking towards the blue broom besides the Rod. Constanze had done some of the basic repairs to the Unicorn, but once the Shiny Rod had been connected to it, all damages left were repaired over the course of like half an hour. Constanze hadn’t been too mad, as she’d done the modifications she wanted to do before the Shiny Rod got to put everything back into place.

She started the simulation. The land changed. Mountains that rose so high Akko felt vertigo just watching them, valleys – or, what? Cracks, rifts, chasms? Neither word seemed to fit, as it all looked like one smooth slope – that went so deep that the same happened.

Snow topped the mountains, and rivers ran through the bottom of the valleys. Akko was in the middle of it all, the Shiny Rod floating at an angle. “Damn,” she said, looking around. The dark grass covering the mountain was not taller than her knees, and it danced softly in an unfelt breeze. “I imagined the planet of the daemons a lot more… uhm… evil-looking,” she confessed. This was just a landscape set with all its values for height and depth turned up to eleven. In the distance she could see massive archways of rock and other stuff. Strata showed in places where the mountain surface had been broken. All of it was merely different shades of grey, straying into black at some points. There wasn’t much variety in the life, and if there were animals in the surface, it was uncommon.

In front of Akko, a tunnel stretched to infinity.

“Erebus races are commonly underground. Some have included some surface, but most are through tunnels,” Ursula explained.

“Which means this one will be done in the surface,” Hannah said. “Because, you know, fuck this race.”

“Fuck this race,” Amanda repeated eagerly.

“Let’s just practice,” Akko said, looking at the v-shaped landscape in front of her, which ended in the massive archway. She went around the entrance of the cave and prepared for the simulation.

“We’ll practice both inside and outside, alternating,” Ursula said.

“The insides of these caves are way more livelier, aren’t they?” Diana asked.

“Supposedly, yes,” Ursula nodded. “Now, let’s get going.”

The simulation started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this and not leaving comments: Why? Why would you do that? You don't even need an account on AO3 to comment. Do you hate me? Is that it? Leave your comments, no matter what you want to say, I'll be glad to receive them!


	128. Chapter 128

Diana dodged left, but the space inside the narrow tunnel – or was it cave? Were these spaces natural or daemon-made? She actually didn’t know that – wasn’t optimal, which meant she brushed the side of the Unicorn against the wall as a small projectile of Inferno energy exploded in front of her.

Constanze had finally installed a map in the Unicorn that was comparable to the Shiny Rod’s, and Diana had the feeling the Rod itself had bettered it. This ‘being able to upgrade your ship constantly’ thanks to the insurmountable power of the Shiny Rod was really cool, in truth. Possibilities sprang up from Diana’s mind as to all that could be done, but she wanted to keep a focus on the important for now. These tunnels barely allowed for free movement, which made them dangerous. In the map, Diana saw many branching paths. It was hard to tell, but the fastest path was one they’d already decided upon.

It was a problem, though, that Diana was winning and the shapeshifter and daemon were right on her tail.

“Ok, stop,” Diana said, stressed. The tunnels were dark here, but Diana knew enough about the planet it shouldn’t be so. “We can’t keep practicing like normal. I can’t do it, not after last race. No, what we need is to know if there is _any_ way to find out the rules for the next race,” Diana said.

“I don’t know, Diana, that would be cheating,” Akko said.

Diana pressed her lips. “Is it really cheating to prepare for what’s to come?” Diana shook her head. “I’m tired of having to rewire my training constantly for stupid rules. Normal races have stability. This one’s a mess of random chance and I _hate it.”_

She’d been practicing for a while now, and she felt like a haze obscured her view. She couldn’t get this idea out of her mind that everything she was doing was useless. “I can’t get answers out of Croix, girls. I couldn’t…”

“Someone else has to have access to them,” Diana replied instantly. “Someone with a high enough ranking in all of this, but that isn’t directly tied to any of us so that they don’t have the temptation to, you know, spoil it for us.”

“Like, say, Croix?” Hannah suggested.

Diana sighed. She ran a finger across her dark control panel, tracing circles around levers and buttons that surrounded her. She thought carefully. “Paul?” She suggested.

“Impossible,” Ursula instantly replied. “Paul is not only an acquaintance of Diana, he’s got a clear bias and part to play. I highly doubt anyone in this ship other than him is important enough to get that kind of information, too. It’s futile, Diana.”

Diana didn’t listen to the last part. She didn’t care for it. No, no. She… She could feel it slipping away from her. The inspiration to pilot, the love for flying. Every new race seemed to be less passionate for her. Was it because she’d found more passion with Akko? With how much she loved the brunette and how she fulfilled her? Or was it because of the disillusionment? The disappointment of how absolutely messed up this race was? Diana had seen what had happened to the medusa. At least one dead for this race. And that reptilian wouldn’t ever be piloting again. Diana hadn’t shared that with Akko, as she’d probably blame herself. Akko didn’t deserve to be on the center of such things.

There had to be _someone._ But wishing really hard didn’t make things true. “How about the captain of the _Dragon?_ ” Amanda asked.

“Huh?” Diana asked, confused. Akko must have turned off the turret and her simulation in order to have this conversation.

“I once sneaked into his room. He had this diary, you know.”

“Amanda. It’s a fucking diary,” Hannah replied. “Lots of people have diaries. Why would he keep something so secret on a diary.”

“Well, I dunno. It’s written on Japanese, so I couldn’t read it. Maybe it’s plans to start a nuclear war, for all I know.”

Diana sighed. That… “Diary sounds good enough,” Diana said. “Whatever we can do.”

“Are you seriously implying it’s ok to break into a person’s room to read their private diary?”

“Didn’t say it was ok, I just…” Diana slumped in her chair. “No, ignore me. I’m just trying to find a solution to our problem. A personal diary isn’t likely to hold such information.”

“He may have another thing like that,” Amanda suggested. “Where he does-“

“Amanda this isn’t a god damn book,” Hannah replied. “People don’t keep important info in places _you’d_ be able to break into.”

“Are you implying there are places I _can’t_ break into?” Amanda asked, faking offense.

“Fort Knox, for example,” Hannah said.

Amanda grunted something unintelligible before speaking more loudly. “I’d probably be able to. With the help of Constanze and Jasminka, probably.”

“What does Jasminka bring to the table?” Akko asked.

“She’s always calm and is twice as strong as me,” Amanda replied without hesitating. Diana found that kind of cute, in a way. She really liked her friends. Amanda. Maybe she needed to talk with her, too. Try to put aside their differences. As loud and obnoxious as she was, she _was_ Hannah’s girlfriend, and she’d like to be able to someday go on a double date without wanting to rip her head off.

“We are _not_ breaking into the Captain’s rooms,” Ursula said. “Girls, just focus on getting to know the terrain. If we get the wrong rule set and practice with it, what will happen? It’s best to cover our basis and move forward when we know what we’re dealing with.”

Diana pressed her lips.

“We could still try…” Amanda insisted. “I mean, I already did it once.”

“ _No,_ ” Ursula said, and that was a clear end of discussion.

Diana put her hands to her face, pressing their heels against her eyes as her fingers drummed against her skull. Something, there had to be _something._ Going on blind was too stressful, she realized. She couldn’t do it. Not after the last race. She wouldn’t have the rug pulled from under her like that again.

“Maybe the Rod can predict them,” Akko said. “If I ask nicely enough. That wouldn’t be cheating, right?”

“Do not mess with those things, Akko,” Ursula warned her.

Diana started to feel a little too cramped in the cockpit, which was weird. With a switch she turned off communications and stopped listening to the discussion she’d sparked. She needed to think in peace. “Alcor, simulate… Simulate the seventh race of the Eleventh iteration of the Inter-Planetary Race.”

The landscape around Diana shifted. A desert appeared, sand stretching to infinity, dunes as tall as mountains visible in the distance. Those would shift with the wind, coming and going as they pleased. Diana looked around. Around her, countless aliens stood in all kinds of stands, bleachers and similar. Diana was able to see sand buildings on the distance, as tall as ten stories maybe. The aliens surrounding her were cheering, but the simulation had no sound. Better that way, really. Diana wanted to think.

She looked down to see ten ships lined for a race. The usual suspects were there. And among them, the Shiny Rod. The sand path lead out of the city, and Diana had an interesting idea.

“Alcor, can you make me float behind the Shiny Rod? Like, get a view of the race close to it?”

As soon as she asked that, she was teleported. She was now a few meters above the line of racers, looking down on them. But Diana ignored five of them. Five irrelevant ones during this race.

The race started after a sand-alien – they made their buildings our of the same thing they were built off, kind of like shapeshifters. Diana tried not to imagine a house made of human flesh – finished making itself into a pole. They could also shape-shift, kind of, but not nearly as efficiently as the Shapeshifters.

The race started and the five racers that weren’t the four big teams and the armors were left behind almost instantly. They’d have to do a long lap around the desert and they needed to do it fast. It was the kind of terrain where a broom like the Shiny Rod could _dominate,_ and it showed in the panic the four races other than the humans demonstrated. Their movements were erratic as they desperately tried to hold back the Shiny Rod. The sand below them burst behind them and their speed, the currents of air making a ripple on the ground that showed their paths. The Shiny Rod pulled back, but Diana recalled this. A second later, it suddenly shot forward. Fast. Way too fast, now that she noticed, for the level at which it was right now.

Maybe it was faster because Chariot had been longer with it and had unlocked some kind of ability? It had obviously rebooted after ten years of disuse.

The Shiny Rod now stood at the front of a V-shaped formation, tailed by the daemons and armors on one side, the medusa and shapeshifter on the other. All of them were trying to carefully attack without hitting the engine – bless the Shiny Rod, it’s massive engine a natural shield – but it was kind of hard from behind.

The medusa danced forward in a burst, putting itself on the side of the rood. The Rod attacked, but the medusa ignored it for long enough to create a lightning bolt. The Rod dodged, the lightning bolt leaving a massive spike of glass on sand that was left behind in an instant. However, that dodge was met with a barrage of shots from the Daemons, who didn’t lose a single second. Their arrow-shaped ship looked so much simpler than the Blood Sailor. Massive advancements had been done in ten years on that regard.

The Rod, still, didn’t have to do much to dodge. The daemons didn’t risk hitting the engine even if they were shooting from below now, which meant they’d aimed maybe a little too low and the Rod could simply go up and then barrel-roll to the side. Diana frowned at the movement. It… It had been easy to predict, yet the daemons’ movement seemed slow compared to the Rod’s. Was Diana being too simple-minded? Even if the desert was dark, she had a perfect night vision and could tell what was going on. The Daemons didn’t have that advantage… probably.

When the Shiny Rod came back down in front of the daemon arrow, the armors behind the daemon threw both of their spheres at them. Chariot didn’t have trouble dodging them either, and it was clear the armors were trying hard not to hit the daemons too. Diana remembered watching all of this on a screen. She was on the stands, next to her mother and… Wait. Could she go back to the crowds? See herself there, in the past?

See her mother?

She blinked. No, _no._ She couldn’t lose herself like that. One taste of it would be too much. No… She’d accepted what had happened years ago. She was past it.

Akko was there, now, to repair her broken heart.

In her doubt she’d missed a small portion of the race. The Shiny Rod was now slightly behind the medusa, who had started attacked more frequently. The shapeshifters joined in, though they didn’t look as swift as always, if Diana watched carefully. Was it just because their modern ships were maybe better, despite the lack of many visible differences?

The Shiny Rod moved crazily among the other ships. It wasn’t just risky: It was idiotic. The way it seemed to taunt them, to want them to attack, leaving itself open constantly. Many, in the years after her disappearance, had criticized Chariot for these actions. But… If Diana looked closely, something was off. She moved like flowing water, a nonstop of movements that in a way reminded Diana of herself, but amplified. She dodged with as much ease as a broom-racer could outmatch a car. She wove streaks of magic light in between the four of them, going under the shapeshifter and over the daemons, circling the armors. Teasing them, enticing them, playfully.

When Diana had been a kid, this had been amazing. This had been full of excitement and tension. Now she realized: Chariot wasn’t even dodging. The others were just fruitlessly trying to hit her. It was… It was a one sided race.

Four of the best racers of the universe were no match for the Shiny Rod.

“Stop. Alcor, take me to the previous race,” Diana said.

The simulation vanished, quickly being replaced by yellow. It took a second for Diana to adapt: She was in a field of bright yellow grass that seemed to glow with a neon light as it reflected the light of the planet’s four moons. The Shiny rod started near the beginning this time and Diana paid a little closer attention. It was next to a wide, flat ship with a pointed nose and sinuous curves. It kind of looked like a guitar.

The race started, and Diana followed. The bright yellow plain soon gave way to a rise in the terrain. The race took place on a mountainside, and this planet – the planet of the Electrics, the spider-like aliens – was fairly normal, save for the fact that all of its rock was _white._ Humanity had a colony here. Small, but functional. Humans and Electrics had a decent enough relationship.

The mountain was tall. _Tall._ Taller than any mountain in the solar system, though probably not as tall as some of the ones she’d seen just now in Erebus. The race was up and down the mountain, which was sprinkled with some grass and trees – the trees of this planet were strange, its roots rising in the air, as if they wanted to keep the trunk away from the ground, and their leaves tended to be long and spindly, like streamers. The real danger, though, came from the rocks. The mountainside was full of boulders and cliffs no ship could handle unless it could outright fly.

There was a clear difference in this race. The five racers from before – or, after? – took ahead again, but this time it was way different. The Shiny Rod clearly had trouble keeping itself safe. Shields were way more common and it often had to back down or be utterly overwhelmed. Diana also recalled this. It had felt extremely unfair. The four racers clearly had some alliance going on, and they were going hard on the humans. Diana watched the rise of the mountain, and no one attacked each other, just the Shiny Rod. It could barely handle all of this. Compared to the future race, it was lethargic, slow and clunky. Diana saw hints of the same ability from its pilot, but no, this was different. Way different.

When they reached the top of the mountain, the ship suddenly changed forms. Diana watched as it turned into the axe and dropped off a cliff, away from the other four and down into a forest.

The team of four had clearly been caught off guard. Diana followed the Rod as it destroyed the trees on its passing, having somehow caught itself despite the long fall.

It burst out of the woods on the slope right before the end stretch, ahead of the others. It shifted to its normal form in an eyeblink and raised shields on its sides, then burst forward with nitro.

Of course, it won the race. But when Chariot exited the Rod, taking off her helmet – the planet had breathable air – she took a second or two to regain her composure and put on her characteristic smile. Diana willed herself to move closer, and she floated there. Or, more like, the ground lifted towards her? She didn’t feel like she was moving: _Everything else_ was.

A bunch of reporters dashed from the sides of the finish line, rushing to be the first ones to catch Chariot’s words. Diana finally got close enough to see her, though she didn’t hear anyth-

 _Ursula?_ Diana suddenly realizing, eyes widening so much that her sight seemed to tremble.

She watched Chariot’s lips move as she spoke to the media, but… Yes. Yes, those eyes, the form of the face. Ursula was a little more… solid, maybe, and the age did make a small difference. Diana rubbed her eyes, seeing Chariot laugh at something a reporter said. “Alcor, pause this.”

Everything froze. “Uhm… Can you turn Chariot’s hair blue?” she asked. Chariot’s hair instantly bled to a brightly saturated blue. “Darker than that,” Diana corrected. And it happened. Yes… Yes that was definitely Ursula. “Add some glasses on her,” Diana said. Suddenly, Chariot was wearing a couple of round spectacles. Not exactly the same but…

How was Akko going to react to _this?_

 

Lotte finished putting some order to all her things and managing to make them fit into her suitcases and bags. Her luggage had grown a little since they’d gotten in the _Dragon,_ and that included some clothing she’d stolen – accidentally – from Barbara, which she’d put on a bag all alone, intending to give it back… eventually.

Once done, Lotte stretched. Barbara had gone out to meet with Hannah after the day’s practice, since they still needed some alone time. That left Lotte without much to do. So she stalked out of the Blue Team’s room – their new room – and walked to the one that was supposed to be her own.

She carefully peeked inside. This new room, finally, was one of the fancy ones. Each room had now only three beds, no bunk beds, all of them spaced around the big room. The bathroom was decently sized – Lotte had already tried bathing in it, and while it wasn’t big by normal house standards, it had been _glorious –_ and they even had a _window._

That was right. It was small and circular, like a boat’s bull’s-eye, but she could see the stars outside, trails of light moving in the distance.

In between the three beds, long desks took over the walls. On the opposite side there were long closets, and on the opposite side to the entrance there was the door to the bathroom.

Sucy sat at one of the desks. She wasn’t doing an experiment, curiously enough. She was simply reading a book. A _paper_ book. Lotte was a little surprised. She herself liked paper, but it had grown expensive and uncommon nowadays. She almost always used her savings to buy the new Nightfall releases. There was a new one each three or four months and she barely managed to keep up. Maybe one day Nightfall would end and she’d find herself with more money than she needed, but she hoped that day never came.

“Hello,” Lotte said, sitting on the bed next to Sucy.

Sucy turned a page lazily. “Hey,” she replied, looking at the book.

“What are you reading?” Lotte looked at the book on the desk, but it was purely text, and she couldn’t really tell what it was about.

“I heard Barbara mention this book to you last night. It gave me curiosity so I went to the bookshop earlier and bought it.”

“Oh, Emotions?” Lotte scooted closer to Sucy in the bed, reading a passage.

 _I limped to my room, feeling drained. The whole party ordeal had been a little too much for me. I tried not to think about how I had felt during the motorcycle ride, but as I barely managed to be rid of my clothing, my drunk mind began remembering Marian’s figure as she hunched. I recalled her gracious movements during the fight, her aura constantly shifting from angry red to disgusted orange and back as her carefully placed punches brought down guy after guy. Her father_ had _been a boxer, after all._

“I really need to read it,” Lotte said, stepping away, not wanting to spoil herself anymore.

“You haven’t yet?”

“I’ve known about it for a long time, and I watched the TV show they made like thirty years ago, but everyone says it doesn’t make justice to the book,” Lotte explained. “I just spend most of my time in fantasy, not so much in romance per-se.”

“I thought Nightfall was about romance,” Sucy said.

Lotte barked a laugh, which made Sucy raise her eyebrow as she turned to her. “Sucy, please. Yes, _some_ Nightfall volumes focus on romance, but the story as a whole is so much more than that,” she explained. “You’d have to read to really understand it, but from the moment Belle finally… Oh, wait, spoilers. Uhm…” Lotte looked at Sucy. “Just read them. How you liking that book anyways?”

“Eh, it’s kind of clichéd, but I’ve read worse,” Sucy shrugged.

Lotte nodded. The show had been clichéd too, but she had found it fun anyways. If the book really was better then she’d probably love it. “I don’t usually see you reading things like these. What changed?”

“I ran out of materials and some of my experiments need to simmer for a few days. So here I am, finding ways to distract myself.”

“You could read Night-”

“I’m not reading a series with over three hundred and fifty volumes, Lotte. I’m not a slow reader but I don’t have all the free time in the world you had when you caught up to it as a child,” Sucy replied. “Honestly, how does someone manage to write so many books?”

“Oh, Nightfall isn’t written by a single person. So far there’s been twelve authors, including the current one, though all of them have remained anonymous through the years…” She giggled softly. Sucy raised an eyebrow, and Lotte shook her head, thinking away from that event the month before. “In any case, it’s a great saga and-”

“Lotte, even if I read a book a day – which I guess I could with the right simulator – it would still take me _an entire year_ to read them all,” Sucy said, glaring. “Don’t even try.”

Lotte deflated a little, but she understood. A lot of people had given up on ever catching up to the series so they just didn’t start it. Sadly, most people didn’t understand that Nightfall always had satisfying endings. Every book could be the last, even with the ongoing mysteries among them. In fact, there was a time – volume two-zero-five – where people thought the series was coming to a definite end, but then it was revealed that the time-stone had never made them travel through time but through alternate universes, which spiraled into a ten-books-long epic where the characters had to re-visit all the previous books and fix some of the mistakes they’d thought fixed after a timejump and… Point was, it hadn’t ended. “Well, I guess you’re in your right. Still, what exactly prompted you to pick that up? Do you _like_ someone?”

Sucy laughed. “No, god,” she shook her head. “I hate the idea of romance. Who would like to be all… illogical and dominated by emotion?” She grimaced. “Have you seen yourselves when you’re with your girlfriends? It’s all disgustingly sweet to watch. I fear I might have gotten diabetes from just watching you.”

“You’ve never felt curiosity?” Lotte asked.

Sucy shrugged. “I have but… I don’t think it’s for me,” she stretched her arms, letting herself slump against the chair. “I find that whenever I start to like someone, I always end up finding out more reasons to dislike them.”

“You don’t dislike me or Akko, though,” Lotte said.

“It’s thanks to force of habit. We live together, it’s what it is. But it’d be impossible for me to see you in a romantic light. Can you _imagine_ what would it be like living with Akko once you’re an adult? Imagine how obnoxious that would be, imagine having her _children._ Tiny little hyperactive kids.”

Lotte found the idea cute, but it was clear Sucy wasn’t very fond of little kids. “Well, I know you’ll be happy anyways,” she said. “And if you ever fall in love, well… that’s bound to be something worthy of witnessing.”

“Shut up,” Sucy shot her a glare, but Lotte laughed.

 

“You’re getting better at the gym, aren’t you?” Barbara asked. Hannah noticed how Barbara was looking at her. Hannah still wasn’t toned, but there was this new… firmness to her. Her muscles weren’t visible, but yes, the hints were there. Amanda had begun showing actual abs, same as Akko, and… God, how did _Ursula_ look below her clothing? She had always looked kind of full to Hannah, but she’d never given it much thought. Could all of it really be muscle?

They were walking through the empty corridors of the _Dragon._ Metallic, cold, ugly, but also easy to walk in and mostly quiet. They sometimes met people, alone or families, walking through them, but it wasn’t _that_ common.

“I guess so,” Hannah said. “Today was a single-hour session anyways, those are easy now.”

“Maybe I should join you…” Barbara said.

“Probably not your style. Plus, there’s not a lot of race left. There’s like… what? Three weeks left?”

Barbara looked up for a second. “I think we’re at December twenty-first, and the race is scheduled to end at… January ninth? Tenth? So yeah, something like that.”

Hannah nodded. God, it was so _weird._ To think the final stretch was so close. “I’ll probably start a more normal workout routine once I go back to Earth, though. Maybe two or three times a week, you know, keep the shape but not overdo it. Maybe you can join me then.”

“It would be nice,” Barbara nodded. Then she hesitated. “Do you ever worry about being separated from Amanda?”

“Yeah,” Hannah pressed her lips. “We actually talked about it. We live an entire ocean apart.”

“Maybe we can get Akko to give us teleport rides,” Barbara suggested, chuckling, though it didn’t seem particularly heartfelt. “I…” she stopped in the hallway. “I’m wondering if we’re too young to be doing this.”

“Huh?” Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We’re still highschool students. We’re not gonna get jobs until we get out of Luna Nova. I… I don’t think I can spend all vacations away from Lotte, and…” Barbara put a hand to her head. “She’s _Finnish,_ you realize? God, how are we gonna do this? Vacations, all of that…”

Hannah was a little stunned to see her friend worried like that. She patted her in the back. “It’ll be fine,” Hannah said, surprised to find that she truly believed the words. “Listen, as long as you love each other you’ll find a way.”

Barbara closed her eyes. “I know, I just… God, even sleeping separate once we’re back at Luna Nova will feel wrong. I’ve grown used to her just being there, you know?”

Hannah nodded. She did know. But instead of focusing on that, she hugged Barbara, patting her back. “Guess not all things in this trip were bad, huh?” She said, thinking about Amanda. The would have never gotten together if not for the race, would they? The amount of time they were forced to spend together was definitely a big factor of why they liked each other.

Barbara hugged her back. “It’s been a while since we’ve been alone and talking like this.”

“We did it on Vorago,” Hannah said.

“Two weeks ago,” Barbara said. “It’s strange, isn’t it? How romance changes everything,” Barbara sounded regretful.

Hannah nodded. “You’re still my best friend, though. You know that,” they had spent too much of their lives together for that to not be the case. “Plus, Amanda hates shopping, so I’ll still call you to do that whenever I want to.”

Barbara chuckled. They separated, resuming their walk in a better mood. “I wonder if I could just ask Lotte to move with me.”

“To another country,” Hannah said, voice flat. “When you’ve been dating her for like two months at best.”

“Hell yes,” Barbara said without a bit of shame. “Too bad we can’t change teams at Luna Nova,” she lamented.

“Would you trade me for Lotte?” Hannah asked, offended.

“What? No! Diana though…” Barbara shrugged. “I mean, she and Akko, you know. If she and Lotte changed places, wouldn’t it be convenient for all of us?”

Hannah tried to imagine living with Lotte and Barbara. “God, please no,” Hannah said. “If we’re not gonna be able to live with our girlfriends then we should all suffer it together.”

Barbara chuckled. “All three of us are in relationships, eh? Avery is gonna be _very_ confused when we get back.”

Hannah nodded. Avery had been kind of a side-member of their group since the years before Luna Nova. Hannah wondered how she’d take all the changes in both of them. How much could someone change in just three months? A lot, apparently.

Barbara and her walked in silence for a while longer before Hannah sighed. “I _really_ want to go home and sleep in my bed,” she said. “Don’t you ever feel that?”

Barbara shrugged. “Eh, I dunno. You know how my father is. I’d rather be allowed to walk two steps without someone asking me if I broke my ankle accidentally.”

Hannah chuckled. Barbara’s father was a little overkill. In a way he wasn’t all that different from Hannah’s, but he _could_ be a little… asphyxiating. Hannah wondered if Barbara’s parents knew that she liked girls too. Had they known that Barbara once liked Hannah? Her mother probably did. Barbara told her almost everything. Hannah was a little jealous of the close relationship Barbara had with her parents. Not that her parents weren’t loving, but it just wasn’t the same.

“Can you imagine what would have happened if you confessed to me years ago?” Hannah asked.

“I mean, I imagined the scenario so many times that yeah, I can imagine,” Barbara confessed. Hannah glanced at her, but she was smiling. “I’m glad I didn’t, though. I have Lotte now, after all.”

“Hey, are you implying that Lotte is a better lover than me?” Hannah raised an eyebrow.

“Totally,” Barbara nodded energetically. Hannah punched her lightly. “Hey!” Barbara returned the punch.

They started a small war on the hallways, laughing. Hannah couldn’t help feeling thankful that she had Barbara. Someone who she trusted would never fail her. Not everyone could put up with Hannah’s personality, but Barbara had always been there for her.

And hopefully, she would always be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, these chapters are free.  
> You know what else is free?  
> Leaving a comment!


	129. Chapter 129

Red lines, like veins under the rock, ran all around the walls of the cave Akko was currently flying through.

The insides of these caves were… Interesting. They were full of life. Grass covered the floor, a strange series of vines hung from the ceiling. Animals left and right.

Akko couldn’t really see much of it, though, since it was all _black._ Sure, some things had some other color, but the main coloring of _everything_ was just jet black. Like the daemons, in a way. Akko had always understood why people thought of the daemons as, well, demons, but their planet was so strange. How come they had inferno running so up in the surface? Akko even had to watch out for places where plants broke the walls of the cave and gave that inferno a let-out, small natural dangers on the caves that could cause as much damage as an attack from the Noir Rod.

And speaking of which, as Akko took a curve inside the caves, she saw the red glow of the daemon ripoff ahead. Accelerating, she tried to find an opening. Damn, it was just so small. Is this how the faerie had felt back then when Akko managed to steal its shortcut? Unable to move forward, unable to shoot, unable to do _anything?_

“Patience,” Ursula reminded Akko. Akko nodded. She’d learnt that lesson.

It was just _so_ annoying!

“There has to be a better way,” Akko said, looking at the map. This huge net of interconnected caves and stuff… There probably was another way to the finish line. However, even if there was, she couldn’t really find it by _just_ looking at the map, which was like looking at a dozen of tangled wires all over each other. Akko wondered where and how the daemons lived.

“There probably is,” Ursula said, “but you think about it next time. For now, focus on-” She paused as Akko accidentally hit the side of the cave with the Rod. “Yeah, that.”

Akko nodded, slightly embarrassed. She couldn’t really use darkness as an excuse, as the glowing veins of Inferno running through the walls of the cave gave faint – if kind of creepy – illumination to everything.

Akko started focusing. They would arrive at the planet In about a day, which was great. Maybe they’d get early rules like the previous races and they’d be able to practice properly. Diana had clearly started doing stuff without putting in the correct effort. Probably not on purpose, but Ursula had mentioned she was acting weird. Akko couldn’t blame her. Who knew what the rules for the next race would be? Maybe they’d have to run! Maybe they’d have to race in scooters! Maybe they’d have to do it naked! Probably not the last one – not like shapeshifters or daemons wore clothes anyways – but it was still something to consider.

Still, Diana had been acting weird in more ways than one. As Akko dodged a smoke bomb coming from behind, she wondered what was going on. She wasn’t distant, just really thoughtful. She constantly zoned out and lost track of conversations. Was she really that bothered by this rules thing?

Probably not. Akko had asked, but Diana was evasive in her answers. Akko wondered if it had something to do with Christmas. She had already kind of decided what she wanted to give Diana – she’d rather not think about it now – but maybe Diana hadn’t figured it out yet and was worried. Maybe Akko should give her a hint as to what she wanted. What date was now, anyways? December twenty-second? Third? Well, the posters on the walls certainly liked to promote the party that would take place on Platinum Deck, open to all passengers. Too bad they hadn’t put up Christmas decorations or anything – that kind of stuff was never done nowadays. Over the course of the past century, decorations for Christmas had been pushed further and further back. Nowadays things were usually set up on the twenty fourth and removed on the twenty sixth. Assuming you even wanted to bother putting up with it. Parties could still be cool without that decorating, really.

The series of caves finally ended and Akko, saw the light of day. The sky on Erebus was of a light gray color, like a cloudy day on Earth. It was kind of depressing, really. Speaking of cloud, Akko was surprised to see so few of them. Not in a single simulation had she seen more than a small one at a time.

In front of her a small hill surrounded by spikes of rock that rose towards the sky marked a clear path towards the finish line. The Noir Rod tried really hard to stop Akko from going over it, and it was determined, because it started attacking the spikes of rock marking that path. They couldn’t be separated by more than twenty meters each, and shooting as high as they had, as the ship flew in between them, the boulders started to rain upon them. Akko grunted in frustration as she started focusing on dodging the falling rocks. The Noir Rod did it so… easily. Why were daemons so good at flying? It was unfair.

By the time they crossed the finish line, Akko had barely managed to survive the raining boulders. And she lost to both the daemons and the shapeshifter.

She let out a long, drawn out sigh-groan that felt like a correct feeling to have right now. Stupid daemons, they knew their planet too well. Akko was annoyed, though, because the Noir Rod never transformed in simulations anymore. That had to be some kind of mistake. They knew the black Rod could transform whenever it wanted, so why didn’t it use more that ability? And the Blood Sailor, in Diana’s simulations, had never once used that drop-off wall it had despite the fact that it would have been incredibly useful in the cave system.

Akko was tempted to ask Alcor if she could use auto pilot. She really _was_ growing tired of all the doubts that nagged at her. Was this how Diana felt all the time? Questions, questions and more questions?

She looked around in the paused simulation. Clouds of dust and rock among the skyscraper-spikes behind them. A mountain as high as the sky in front of them. To the sides, a long, seemingly never-ending gorge in the ground, like if an angry god had knifed the planet for its money.

“Maybe we need a small break,” Ursula said, noticing Akko’s frustration. She hadn’t been doing great today. She was worried about Diana, who was worried about something.

“Yeah,” Akko said. She instantly rose from the seat and stretched her arms and back. It was hard to explain why, but she _knew_ something was up with Diana.

Once outside, she saw Diana climbing down from the Unicorn and approached her. In a moment of impulse she hugged her tightly from behind – like she’d seen Amanda and Hannah do a couple times – and squeezed Diana with love.

After releasing her, Diana turned and smiled. “Hey,” she said. “Not doing great?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Akko shook her head. “I’m worried.”

“What for?”

“You,” Akko explained. She noticed Hannah crawling from under the broom, stretching her arms and walking towards where Amanda was doing essentially the same.

Diana instantly pressed her lips, putting her hands behind her back. “I’ve been pretty obvious, haven’t I?” She asked with reluctance. Akko nodded. “Sorry Akko. I promise I’m… I’m fine, I just have a lot on my mind,” she leaned forward and kissed Akko gently. Her lips were really dry, and Akko instantly thought about how thirsty she was. “Don’t worry about me, please.”

“It’s not that simple. What’s worrying you? You can talk to me.”

Diana’s eyes flickered towards Ursula, and it looked almost like a reflex. Akko raised an eyebrow at this. “Is it Ursula?”

Diana’s expression of shock was answer enough. “Being with you is influencing me horribly,” Diana said, closing her eyes. “I used to be able to hide these things.”

Akko smiled. “I don’t want you to use that mask with me, ever, ok?” She said, raising her hands to Diana’s face and squishing her cheeks so that her mouth looked like that of a fish.

“Ok,” she said with a muffled voice, and Akko released her face.

“Now tell me what it is,” Akko ordered.

Diana sighed. “It’s a secret, Akko. I’d tell you, but it’s not my right to do so,” she explained.

Akko frowned, but couldn’t really complain. If Diana really felt like it would be wrong to tell her then Akko wasn’t going to force her. “Well then stop worrying about it,” Akko said. “You’ve been weird all day.”

Diana had the decency to look sorry. “I don’t know if I can do that, but I’ll try.”

Akko could accept that, for now.

 

“Stop it,” Ursula said in a playful tone, slapping Croix’s hand away. Croix had slowly been reaching for her glasses, wanting to take them off to look at her directly. “Answer my question.”

Croix rolled her eyes. “Do I really have to? I mean, it’s pretty damn obvious.”

“Do. You. _Like me?_ ” Ursula insisted, sitting cross-legged on her bed. Croix had agreed to come to her room after the day’s practice for a chat, and of course, she’d just teleported there while Ursula had been on the bathroom.

Blushing ever so slightly, Croix sighed. “Yes,” she said. “But that doesn’t really change anything, does it? I’ve always liked you.”

Ursula found herself happy for the reply anyways. If that was true, then she still had a chance. “So… What did you want to talk about?”

Croix stopped smiling and looked directly at Ursula, who softly slapped her hand away again. Why did she want to take away her glasses, anyways? “It’s time you told your students the truth.”

“ _What?”_ Ursula asked. Her room – smaller than those of the girls, essentially the same as her previous one – seemed to grow a little darker at the suggestion.

“If you want Akko to unlock the true potential of the Shiny Rod, she’s gotta find all the commands – and I’m fairly certain that knowing who you are _will_ help her.”

Ursula paused. Croix, in the desk’s chair, leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees and looking straight at Ursula. “Come on, Chariot, we both know you’ve got to tell her.”

“What if she gets mad?” Ursula asked in a small voice. A really small voice. Too small a voice, probably.

“She probably will,” Croix said without a hint of doubt. “At first, at least. Then she’ll come all bright-eyed to you and will start trying to piece together your life.”

Ursula nodded. Croix was right. She couldn’t hide it any longer, could she? She could imagine the betrayal Akko would feel, followed by her getting over it and then admiration. Plus, Ursula had the growing suspicion that Diana had figured it out. The way the blonde spoke, the glances she threw… Something was off.

“I’ll… I’ll do it,” Ursula said. “I’ll see what I can do.”

And she was so distracted by the idea that she didn’t notice when Croix took her glasses, put them on the table, and basically threw herself forward and into a kiss. A kiss that Ursula was willing to lose herself in.

 

_“You’ve been lying to me!” Chariot’s voice rang in the garage. Akko felt a strange sense of déjà vu. She’d… she’d had this dream before. The betrayal, the frustration. Something boiled inside of her._

_“I did not!” The voice she now knew was Croix’s said, matching Chariot’s angry tone. “I told you I could better the magic output, and I did!” She removed her helmet, angry, teal eyes flaring in determination. “We’ve been winning without a hint of trouble for the past three races! They all tried to kill us but we were above their bullshit!”_

_“You cheated! You… You didn’t have the right to!” Chariot said. Akko could feel her frustration at Croix’s lack of understanding. Alcor had explained why things had been so different lately. Chariot had been mortified to found out what was going on._

_“Everyone ganged against us wasn’t cheating?!” Croix asked. Akko recalled it. Everyone had been against them, that was true. Everyone had wanted to take the Shiny Rod out._

_Chariot hesitated. “No!” she cried. Akko couldn’t really disagree with her, could she?_

_The dream began to fade, but this time, Akko was fully aware of what was going on._

Akko opened her eyes, feeling strangely cold, despite the warmth of Diana’s body next to hers. Again, she felt as if she hadn’t slept.

She understood now. She understood why Chariot left, or at least why she gave up the race. She… She could tell. Somehow. Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears, though she wasn’t sure why they were there. All of these years wanting to know. All of this time.

Chariot had cheated.

Everyone was right. Chariot may have been unaware of it, but she’d done the right thing in giving up the race. But why vanish? Why disappear? The world had lost one of its best pilots because of something that was beyond her.

And it was all Croix’s fault.

 

Amanda closed her eyes and enjoyed the noise of conversation around her. In comparison to her quiet childhood, crowds always seemed to appease her. Ursula had given them a few hours off since she needed to do a report and catch up on some missing paperwork, which had opened the opportunity for a date with Hannah to Gold Deck.

No shopping, thanks god. No, today Amanda would teach Hannah to dance. But Amanda was no teacher. Therefore, she had a lesson ready. Like a teacher of martial arts who gave you menial tasks to teach you some stupid concepts before teaching you the moves, Amanda would teach Hannah to read the movement of people before teaching her how to dance among them.

Hannah looked around with a worried air. Gold Deck was particularly crowded today, which was just perfect. People moved like a river, and learning to move through them while never having to stop to wait for those ahead was an art, an art Amanda had mastered after countless nights in popular night clubs or skipping school and moving through the most populated areas of her city. People always moved in a pattern. They followed each other, they looked for easier ways of moving around. Very few understood. Moving through crowds was not about finding the shortcuts. It was about being unobtrusive and noticing your surroundings. About judging correctly whether someone was going to step to one side or the other, about finding the openings and using them.

Hannah and Amanda now waited in a small empty space between buildings. Not an alley. More of a cranny, barely wide and deep enough to hold them both comfortably.

Amanda took a deep breath. She looked at Hannah, who was in turn looking at the crowds with obvious reluctance. “You know,” she said after a while. “I expected this to be more romantic. You know, an empty room, some music, your hands on my hips, slow movements…”

“Do you want to learn to dance like a real person or are you going to complain?” Amanda answered. Hannah took a second, but she shrugged. Amanda nodded. The air smelled of bodies and food coming from the many restaurants in the streets of Shopping Town. The chatter of the people deafened her, and the constant shuffle of people was distracting.

This was humanity. This was society. This was _life._

Amanda took Hannah’s hand and gave her an example ride. She stepped into the stream of people while guiding Hannah. It was slightly harder than usual, as the girl stumbled and constantly bumped into people, but as long as she followed Amanda decently well, things went smoothly.

Amanda could _see_ it. She could tell that woman was going to step aside to let that old man in front of her pass, so Amanda made haste to slip in the opening, dragging Hannah with her. She predicted that man slowing down to read something on his wand, which caused a lot of people to have to surround him, but not Amanda, who had just gone in other direction. She could see the flood of bodies coming in and out of the different and famous restaurants. She _never stopped._ Sure, she sometimes bumped into people but here on the street it was mostly unavoidable. The true secret was to do so in a way it bothered no-one.

By the time they reached the elevators, and the zone that divided Shopping Town from the park, Hannah’s knuckles were white against Amanda’s hand.

“That was… too fast,” Hannah said, puffing. She shouldn’t be tired, with all the physical training they’d been doing, but she looked like she’d just run a marathon. “I still don’t get it.”

Amanda grunted in frustration. How could she explain? She looked at the people now parting around them and tried to find a way to explain it. Couldn’t she see? Why not? It was so easy. “You need to experience it. Go on. Walk to the end of the street and come back, I’ll check on you.”

“How, exactly?” Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow. She hadn’t let go of Amanda’s hand, though now she grabbed it more gently.

Amanda smirked and waved her wand. A small square spell shot up from her jacket’s pocket. “I think this will suffice,” she said.

Hannah looked at the camera spell and sighed. “Fine, whatever. Let’s see…” She let go of Amanda’s hand and looked at the crowd around them. She took a step towards the right, but Amanda steered her in the opposite direction. Hannah had been about to walk into the stream going _into_ the elevators. Amanda started wondering if maybe she wasn’t much of a prodigy and maybe it was Hannah who was just underperforming in this aspect of life. In a way, she didn’t find it too unbelievable. Hannah didn’t seem to be used to dealing with large crowds. If what she explained about her home city was as Amanda imagined, then she could probably understand why Hannah was as she was.

Still, as she watched Hannah stumble through the crowd, Amand was half tempted to jump into the stream of people and go rescue her. She constantly tripped, bumped and annoyed other passengers with her walking. Amanda wished she had her helmet with her, that way she could give tips to Amanda in real time. But it _would_ be weird to use helmets with casual clothing.

Amanda walked over to a nearby bench – miraculously unoccupied – and sat down, watching as Hannah did a horrible job of learning. Amanda started to think she’d have to carry Hannah through life at this rate.

Through life?

Alone, she blushed slightly. She’d never even considered maintaining a relationship for longer than a week, and now she was considering something as long as _life?_ Stupid. She was getting _way_ ahead of herself. Teenage romances never worked out, anyways. Who knew what would happen? She and Hannah would…

No. She surprised herself in her resolution. Her entire body had instantly rejected the idea of ever leaving Hannah. Instead, Amanda got the sudden urge to stand up and go look for her, to hold her, to kiss her and promise her they’d always be together.

Luckily, the feeling quickly faded. It was replaced by a weaker, yet more constant, feeling deep within herself. A small certainty, the _knowledge_ it would always work out, as long as they could talk things out.

A while passed, and Amanda entertained herself by watching her girlfriend fail miserably at trying to walk through a street. How did she manage to live? Did she go everywhere by car? Probably. Yes, she probably had a limo or something. Amanda had one, though she’d rather die than use it. She’d rather use her bike to move around, really. Or skate, if she was feeling particularly spicy. Bikes were just more fun, though.

When the auburn haired girl finally came out of the crowd, Amanda waved. Hannah spotted her and walked over, dropping on the bench beside her with a sigh. She didn’t hesitate to lay her head on Amanda’s shoulder. “I’m not doing that again.”

“You’re gonna do it if you want me to teach you to dance.”

Hannah snorted. “Screw dancing, I’d rather spend this time training my aim. That’s not nearly as hard as this.”

With a gentle movement, Amanda put a hand around Hannah’s shoulders, smiling. “Well, then I guess you don’t want to impress people at the Christmas party.”

“You plan to go?” Hannah looked up.

“Of course! It’s a damn party. I wonder if I’ll be able to get drunk,” Amanda hadn’t gotten drunk in a long while. A long while. Too long. She yearned for the sweet release of alcohol, to have her inhibitions blasted away, to unleash her best and her worst upon the world.

“I don’t get why people like to get drunk,” Hannah said, grimacing. “What’s so fun about losing control of your actions, puking and forgetting things?”

Amanda sighed. “It’s not about the losing control, puking or forgetting,” Amanda explained. Then she hesitated. “Well, for most of us anyways. It’s about the fun. For a while, it’s nice to feel unrestrained by society.”

“Still, it feels weird. Particularly for people like you. You already flip off anyone who angers you and act as if you didn’t give a crap about what people think of you. What does alcohol add to you?”

Amanda thought about it. She’d often met people like Hannah, who didn’t understand the liberation that came from a little ethanol. “It…” Amanda closed her eyes. “It used to let me forget about all the shit going on with my family and just have fun for a while. Over time I just grew to like feeling light-headed and being able to just flirt with about any girl without much issue.”

Hannah shifted awkwardly next to her. “I still don’t see the appeal.”

“I guess you have to experience it to understand,” Amanda said. “I promise not to flirt on other girls. Though if you wear a disguise I might flirt with you thinking you’re someone else, as you’re definitely the prettiest girl around.”

Hannah chuckled. “I’ll consider it,” she said. They waited in silence for a while. Amanda let her head rest on Hannah’s. Her hair, as always, smelled of shampoo. That citric one again.

“Ok, what now?” Amanda asked. “Want to give it another go?”

“How about you show me again, but this time I get to be the one with the aerial view?” Hannah suggested, sitting upright and extending her hand to take Amanda’s wand.

Amanda smiled. “Sure,” she stood up, looking up at the grey ceiling. If not for the support bars and the number columns around, it may have been able to pass as a cloudy sky. She looked down at Hannah and winked at her before diving into the stream of people.

Hannah moved through them like a leaf on water. She distracted herself by looking at people around her. So many could fit in the _Dragon,_ it was kind of insane, really. Amanda stepped aside as a kid passed, running and causing a small commotion as his father gave pursuit. She turned her shoulders to fit in between two old women who walked at snail pace and she made a little jump to shift her step and be able to steer to the side in time for a small stream of people coming out of a side street.

Amanda felt like she had an eye above her. Not the spell, no, but an esoteric one. It was silly, but sometimes she could tell someone was going to come from behind faster than her, and she’d step aside without having seen them. It was… Well, rather crazy, really.

By the time she came back to the bench she and Hannah had been sitting in, Hannah was no longer there. Amanda looked around. Had she gone to the bathroom? What-

Suddenly, someone hugged her from behind, trapping her on a really weak grip. Amanda pretended to try to free herself but couldn’t. Even among the bustle of the street, Hannah’s voice carried to her ear without an issue.

“You’re so fucking unfair. You make it look so easy,” Hannah said, squeezing her. With her arms trapped, Amanda couldn’t really do much. Right now they were kind of interrupting the flow of people, but even if they drew annoyed stares, no-one gave enough of a crap to say anything. Though maybe it was because of who they were. Amanda wasn’t’ really used to this whole being famous thing. Not outside of her home town at least.

“You gonna let me go?” Amanda asked.

“No,” Hannah said. “You’re stuck with me forever.”

Amanda paused. Again, a weak blush crept up her neck and towards her cheeks, tainting even some of her ears. She wondered if Hannah had somehow realized what she’d been thinking about earlier. It was really hard to think right now. Damn, a stupid phrase, but it had such an impact on her.

Hannah sometimes seemed to get really awkward about not having said ‘I love you’ at any point. Amanda wasn’t’ sure of what her hang up was, really. They were just three words. But, well, they seemed to have this massive weight in Hannah’s mind. Yet, she could come and say things like these.

Amanda stopped playing. She freed herself from Hannah’s grip, turning and embracing her instead. “I love you,” she whispered into her ear, one hand on her back, the other on her head, pulling her tight.

Hannah shuffled uncomfortably for a little while, but she did give back the hug.

And, to Amanda’s surprise, she was the one to give her a kiss there, in the middle of the most crowded place in the entirety of the ship. Not a mere peck, either, no. A full-blown passionate, long, and edging on the use of tongue kiss. In fact, Amanda was sure she was going to end up pushing her tongue towards Hannah’s mouth if this went on for longer.

“Have some decency!” Someone from the crowd said. Hannah instantly pushed Amanda away, eyes wide.

Amanda turned, seeing an old lady looking at them with a scowl. Amanda flipped her off, took Hannah’s hand and dragged her towards the park area of the _Dragon._

They stood on the grass for a small while before looking at each other. Hannah didn’t look too bothered by what had just happened. In fact, she smiled.

“Sorry,” she said with a chuckle.

“Ah, screw her. Old people, I swear,” Amanda dropped on the grass, arms to the side. Hannah followed, laying besides her, using her arm as a pillow.

“Really though, how the hell do you do it?” Hannah asked. “You moved like if you knew how everyone else was going to move. I usually can’t tell when someone next to me stops walking. You’re… Ugh.”

“Well, I mean, we all have our strengths,” Amanda said. “You have great grades at school.”

“You could have them too,” Hannah said. “Like that problem you solved shortly before the IPR was announced. I was so annoyed that you got the answer right without effort.”

“I work by instinct,” Amanda explained. “It won’t serve me much when I’m in need of a job.”

“Not that you’ll need it. You’ll be an amazing millionaire pilot,” Hannah said. “You’ll probably contest with Diana for top pilot of the world for a long time.”

“She’ll always come in first because of her name, mark my words,” Amanda said, annoyed.

Hannah snorted. “You’re way too hung up on that, you know that?” She said. “Sure, Diana takes pride on her name, but she’s not nearly as bad as you seem to think she is. She has never used it to get anything or as an excuse. She probably wouldn’t even tell others she’s a Cavendish to avoid special treatment, but she doesn’t have much of a choice.”

“Cabbage hair isn’t common,” Amanda snickered.

“Shut up,” Hannah elbowed her, making Amanda squirm. “Not that you’re much better, anyways. Your hair has two layers of color, for fuck’s sake. If you comb it up or down you look like different persons.”

“You really liked me when I had it down, didn’t you?” Amanda recalled their date.

“Maybe,” Hannah snuggled a little closer. “I… I was really surprised by that, really. One would think I should have fallen for you when you were looking more masculine, since I thought I was straight,” Hannah turned on her side, looking at Amanda. Amanda looked at her from the corner of her eye. “You know, like, when we went to the suit store. But seeing you in that dress just…”

Amanda smiled. She recalled her confusion at the sudden shift in atmosphere when Hannah had seen her in that dress. How she’d put Amanda’s hair down, and how they’d almost kissed. Later they did have their first kiss. It had ended kind of badly, but all’s well that ends well.

“I liked how you looked in the suit, too. I wonder how you’d look with short hair…”

“Not gonna happen,” Hannah instantly replied. Amanda chuckled, turning on her side and looking at Hannah.

“Well, you look great no matter what,” Amanda said.

“I know,” Hannah said in a suck-up tone. “But not better than you.”

“Nonsense, you’re the cutest,” Amanda said, _meaning_ it. “Your little smile, the way you blink twice every time I give you a compliment, how absurdly adorable it is that you always tie your yellow ribbon in the exact same way each morning, your lovely brown eyes, your auburn hair, your tiny hands, how easily annoyed you are… I can’t ever get enough of you.” She _was_ the cutest girl Amanda had ever seen.

“You’re way prettier than me. Your hair like flames, your eyes like emeralds…” Hannah lifted a hand, placing it against Amanda’s cheek. “Your cocky smile, your ever-lasting confidence, your body, your lips…” She moved closer. “I love all of that,” she kissed Amanda. Slowly, her lips a mere brush at first, but moving closer until they could really melt together. “I…” She whispered, pausing their kiss. “I…”

Amanda imagined what she wanted to say. “Don’t push yourself,” she pecked her lips. “I get it.”

“No,” Hannah moved the hand she had on Amanda’s cheek and buried it on the hair behind her head, pulling her into a more intense kiss. “No, I…” there was fire in her eyes. “I _love_ you,” she said, suddenly breathing as if the words had left her out of breath. “I really do. I love you, Ama. I love you.”

Amanda beamed at her. She had said it, and though Amanda didn’t really care, she couldn’t help the happiness that washed over her. “I love you too,” she wrapped her arms around Hannah, pulling her – with a yelp – into a tight embrace and lifting her so that she rested on top of her.

“Aren’t I heavy?” Hannah asked, a little self conscious.

“You’re as light as a feather, and I’ve been exercising,” Amanda chuckled as Hannah smiled and kissed her again.

“I finally said it. It really is liberating,” Hannah said after they separated. “I love you.”

“You’re gonna say it all the time now?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

“To catch up for all the times you said it,” Hannah said.

“That’s gonna be hard, since I’m not gonna stop stating how much I love you whenever I can.”

Hannah frowned. “Well, I guess I’ll have to catch you off guard, then.”

Amanda laughed at how quickly she turned it into a competition. “Come here,” Amanda said pulling her down.

Their next kiss seemed to last hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever thought "Huh, I really like this fanfic, maybe I should leave a comment" and yet you haven't done so?  
> WHY IS THAT?  
> WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?  
> Stop wondering! Seize the opportunity! LEAVE A COMMENT!


	130. Chapter 130

Diana looked at Akko. They were about to reach Erebus – reach, not land, as the planet didn’t have any suitable oceans – and the brunette had decided she wanted to see when the curtains on Bronze Deck lifted. The big windows, now covered by those plates of metal, were surrounded by countless people waiting for the big reveal.

Akko seemed thoughtful. She’d been since they’d woken up, and Diana couldn’t help but feel like this was her fault. Akko had started acting like this after Diana had refused to tell her what she’d discovered, after all. Maybe Diana had offended her accidentally. No, Akko would probably tell her if that were the case.

They met eyes for a moment. There was a strange tension between them. Not exactly anger or something like that. Just… knowledge. Diana was hiding something. Akko wasn’t really happy about that.

Diana pressed her lips. She made a decision: If she loved Akko, she needed to also trust that she’d get over it. Plus, maybe it wasn’t that at all. Maybe she just hadn’t liked the breakfast Diana had ordered for them. It did sound like something Akko would be angry about. She seemed to like the cereal just fine, though.

“We need to talk with Ursula,” Akko suddenly said. Diana blinked. Had she figured it out? No way. But, well, _she_ had, so why wouldn’t Akko…

“Uhm, sure, why?” Diana asked, trying to act nonchalant. Why was so hard to keep her neutral face nowadays? Particularly around Akko. Years of training and of preparing herself seemed to crumble away when she was around.

“I… had a dream, last night,” Akko explained. Diana raised an eyebrow. “Only, it wasn’t a dream. The Rod gives me visions, some times. I’d actually seen that one before, but…” she shook her head. She had a pained expression. “I think I know why Chariot disappeared,” she explained.

Diana couldn’t help the expression of shock on her face. “Wait, really?” she asked, surprised.

Akko nodded. “It… It has something to do with Croix. Croix was Chariot’s gunman, and she did something to the Rod, uhm…” she looked around. There were _a lot_ of people surrounding them, and some were giving them stares. Of course they would, though. They _were_ the most important passengers in the _Dragon,_ after all.

“We can talk about it later,” Diana said, though she couldn’t help feeling uneasy. She’d discovered, Chariot’s identity and now Akko discovered why she’d disappeared? It seemed like too much of a coincidence.

Still, they stayed in silence for the next few minutes. Diana stepped closer to Akko, taking her hand into her own. Akko squeezed, and Diana felt more at ease. At least Akko wasn’t angry with her, or _at_ her. She was just worried about things she had no control over. Well, kind of.

Ursula Callistis was Chariot du Nord. And Croix had something to do with why Chariot had vanished in the first place? Now _that_ was quite the scoop. It also explained, for real, why Ursula and Croix knew each other, though it raised a lot of questions. Why were they dating again? Well, maybe ‘dating’ was an overstatement, but they _were_ together. If what Croix had done was really that bad, then how come Ursula had actually gone back to her? Too many things they didn’t know. She needed to ask Akko for more detail, later.

The windows finally started to open, and Diana looked down upon Erebus. Half of it was dark, half of it was light. The captain had probably put the ship in a position where this was the case for dramatic effect.

It worked.

The crazy geometry of the planet was even more impressive in person. The peaks rising like thorns, the gorges and valleys running so deep that they left gaps on the circumference of the planet. The side of the planet hit by the blazing white sun seemed to be made of a scale of grays, while the dark side of the planet was mostly black – Erebus had no moon - save for very noticeable lines of red. Not bright, but wide, enormous. The blood of the planet itself, Inferno. Even as high as they were, they looked massive, running through the place in paths that Diana could almost imagine looked like human veins. Diana wondered what generated it, and what kept it running. No-one knew what put Magic Energy on Earth, and it had been proven that it would run out eventually. A long time, but… Well, they had to start figuring out how to do a lot of stuff without it. Or start importing it from Sídhe. Diana worried about these things, wondering if she could use the Shiny Rod somehow. But, well, it would be Akko’s decision in the end. The energy it provided was under her control, and only hers.

“It’s kind of beautiful, in its own creepy way,” Akko said.

Diana nodded, understanding the feeling.

They looked at the planet in silence. Erebus, the place where the ninth race would take plan. The second to last. Diana couldn’t help feel something rise within her as she looked at the planet.

Worry. Anxiety. But maybe more importantly, determination.

Something deep within her told her that she’d perform well. No, even better. Something within her told her she’d win the next race, whatever it was. She suspected more elimination games. A one-on-one final.

Again, something within her told her what that final was gonna be.

She didn’t really like the idea.

 

Ursula exited the conference room with so much going on in her mind that she didn’t even notice Croix standing outside. She bumped into the red-caped woman and strode forward, looking at the floor, trying not to think of Paul’s expression and how much she wanted to beat the shit out of him. That man, she determined, was _annoying._ And not because she was an asshole, but because he didn’t even notice he was. Self righteous, he…

“Chariot,” Croix suddenly took her shoulder, spinning her around. “You fine?”

“Yes, yes,” Ursula shook her head. She looked at Croix. “You’re wearing your stupid outfit,” she pointed out.

Croix looked at her attire. “You really shouldn’t call it that, but whatever,” She had a smile on her face and a glimmer on her eyes. A glimmer Ursula didn’t really like. “We’ve arrived at Erebus, and I think it’s about time, don’t you?”

Ursula lifted a hand and flicked one of her fingers in Croix’s half-assed pompadour. Well, ‘half-assed’ was probably too harsh. It only looked like it was half-assed. Ursula knew, now, how much time Croix spent in the mornings combing it to be just like she wanted it to.

“We can probably wait until the race is over,” she said, feeling too self-conscious.

“Nonsense,” Croix turned her around and started pushing her down the corridor. “Why would you leave for tomorrow what you can do today?”

“Because I’m not ready emotionally,” Ursula said.

“Eh, you’re never gonna be, so you might as well get this over with. Come on, let’s do it,” Ursula could have stood the push of Croix’s hands on her shoulders – in fact, she could probably walk backwards and push Croix – but she didn’t do it.

Croix had a point. She did need to tell them, some way or another. But Croix seemed a little too eager for that. Should Ursula be worried? “Why are you so hellbent on this?”

“Honestly? I’m sick and tired of Akko being a wildcard on my plans. I want her to unlock the true potential of her ship and decide what she wants to do with it. Who knows? Maybe I wasted the last ten years of my life working towards a goal she can fix in ten minutes!” She said that with a cheerful tone. Too cheerful a tone. Worrisome, if Ursula was being honest.

“I don’t know if Akko really should…”

“You’re never sure of anything, shut it,” Croix kind of kept pushing, but at this point Ursula walked mostly on her own. Truth be told, she didn’t want to resist. In a way, Croix was right. Better get this over with as quickly as possible and then move on to other, more important things. She could finally explain to Akko the responsibility the Shiny Rod brought with it. Its true power and purpose.

Maybe she could finally get that weight on her chest lifted, if only for a little while. Plus, didn’t she owe it to Akko? Kind, hyperactive Akko. She was the only person in the past ten years Ursula had seen still being a fan of her. Not indifferent or maybe still ok with her. No, she was an outright fan, called Chariot her idol, and wanted to be like her.

If there was someone in the world who would understand, wouldn’t it be her?

“I don’t know where Akko is, though,” Ursula realized. “I gave them a couple of free hours.”

Croix snorted. “Please, I know where they are all the time.”

Ursula paused. As if she was a wall, Croix crashed against her, barely making her move. “Excuse me, what?” She turned, glaring.

Croix shied back. “I… I have sensors all over the _Dragon_ that tell me where the people I keep watch on are at all times.”

Ursula blinked. “Croix.”

“Yes?”

“If I ever catch you using that to spy on people I _will_ beat the crap out of you,” she threatened. Croix must have been able to tell that she meant it, because she looked shocked. Then she started nodding aggressively, like if doing so with more strength meant she agreed _more._

They resumed their walk, though now Croix kept a noticeable distance between them. “You know, it’s curious to think about how you have and how you haven’t changed over the years,” she said. “Like, you’re way more aggressive now. Why are you so buff, anyways? You can’t pilot, can you?”

Ursula flexed her muscles almost reflexively. “Well, I’ve…” How to explain it? “I’ve had a multitude of jobs, and many of them required me to stay in form.”

Croix gaped at her. “You were into wresting or something?”

“What?!” Ursula suddenly realized that what she’d said sounded kind of ominous. “No! I mean, I did physical work. I worked in constructions for a while, you know?”

“Then why are you so good at martial arts?”

“I’m not good at ‘martial arts’. I just know how to fight because I also worked as a bodyguard for a small while.”

Croix seemed stunned by these revelations. “I… I didn’t expect you to, uhm…”

“What? It’s been ten years, Croix. You made a life out of your inventions, but I haven’t really had many options,” Ursula avoided mentioning the fact that she’d even have to ask her mother for money a couple times. Those had been kind of dark times, but she’d always pulled ahead. And then Holbrooke had agreed to taking her as a piloting teacher and… Well, here she was now.

“I guess…” Croix stepped closer. “The curse of the Rod never went away, did it?”

“No,” Ursula shook her head.

“I can at least fly for about half an hour without it being dangerous. You… You can’t even hop on to a different cockpit without getting headaches, can you?” Croix asked.

Ursula nodded. “Last time I tried it, well…” She shivered. She had just gotten into a broom for transport. Not a racer, nothing like that. She’d just been tasked with taking stuff from point A to point B.

The second the broom turned on, she collapsed. She didn’t die because the effects of the Rod’s curse seemed to be less powerful on brooms that weren’t related to racing, but she was lucky some co-workers had been close by to call an ambulance.

It had been really hard to explain how she’d gotten such a high grade of magic poisoning in such a short amount of time.

“I have been working on things to neutralize the effects of that,” Croix said. She took something out of her pocket. A small capsule, black. “This is a magic nullifier. It’s still on the works, not perfect at all, but if I threw it out into the _Dragon’s_ engine, for example, I’m fairly certain the ship would stop working for a minute.”

“That sounds incredibly specific,” Ursula remarked.

“It’s a long story. Anyways, it can nullify any kind of magic in your body for about ten minutes. Or, well, that’s how it works for me. With you it may only work for a minute or two.”

Ursula eyed the pill. “And why haven’t you shown this to anyone before?”

“I said, it’s a work in progress. It can fail, not all prototypes work the same, and more importantly, it’s kind of toxic. Take a couple of these and you’ll be puking your liver out.”

“Wow, sounds healthy.”

“I just told you it’s toxic,” Croix shrugged. “I’m working on better methods, but nullifying magic isn’t easy. This is made of a particular material found only on Sídhe, deep below the ground. Some of the uninhabited areas of the planet have this stuff around and the faeries can’t survive with it near.”

“So… you trying to sell me rocks?” Ursula raised an eyebrow.

“Kind of? It’s got some dust, but I also powered it with some inferno.”

“Oh, Inferno Poisoning, same as Magic Poisoning but more deadly because we don’t have the tech to deal with it. Sounds wonderful,” Ursula said sarcastically. Where was Croix leading them, anyways?

“Shut up,” Croix took her hand and pressed the small capsule in it. It was half as wide as Ursula’s thumb and maybe a centimeter and a half long. It was a bulky capsule, for sure. “It’s dangerous, yes, but the grade of Inferno Poisoning you get from it will at most give you a headache. Better that than dying, I’d believe.”

“Whatever,” Ursula held the black pill high. It was slightly translucent. She pocketed it – her g-suit, unlike normal ones, did have pockets, since it would be _way_ too unpractical to be forced to wear it all the time if it didn’t have at least a couple of those. “Don’t expect me to use it.”

“It may be useful in case of emergencies.”

Well, if Akko got into a situation like that one back in Machina…

“Let’s just go find the girls.”

 

Akko and Diana sat together on one of the benches near the windows of Bronze Deck. The place still bustled with activity, though nearly as much as when the reveal of Erebus had happened. The platform in the middle of the deck was already being set up with stuff for some of the Christmas events that would take place here. The party would be on Platinum Deck, but then again, a single deck couldn’t hold the entirety of the passengers.

Akko had already explained to Diana what her problem was, and about her dreams and visions. Akko wished she’d paid more attention to them in the past. It was when they were finishing chatting that someone else showed up. Akko looked up, surprised to find Ursula with an awkward smile.

Next to her was Croix, and Akko couldn’t help but scowl at her. Croix seemed to notice it. Well, of course she did, Akko was making her disgust pretty obvious. Croix shrugged it off and patted Ursula in the back.

“Girls, I wanted to talk to you,” Ursula said.

Akko didn’t stop glaring at Croix, but she nodded in acknowledgement of what Ursula had said.

“Is this the briefing on how long we’re gonna stay here?” Diana asked. Had she noticed Akko’s attitude?

“Uhm, no. We’ll be staying here for four days if you really need to know, and we don’t know when the rules will appear… Can we go to a more private place?” Ursula asked, clearly uncomfortable.

“Our rooms are kind of far away this time,” Diana said. “It’ll take us a while to get there.”

“If you’re interested, you can go to my lab,” Croix said. She was wearing that stupid attire of hers, and her hair made her just look silly. What was she thinking? Seriously, how come she and Chariot had ever been friends? No, they’d been more than that. And Croix had still betrayed Chariot. Akko couldn’t help narrowing her eyes at the lavender-haired woman.

“Croix, I’m not sure a dark place like that is the best,” Ursula said.

“I can turn on the lights,” Croix said nonchalantly.

Ursula turned to her with surprise in her face. Diana was a little confused by the reaction, though Akko didn’t care enough. “You have _lights_ in your lab?” Ursula asked with utter bafflement.

“Yeah. Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

“It’s complicated,” Croix shrugged. Her self-confident smile, her demeanor, the way she spoke. Everything seemed to bother Akko, who just wanted to get up and ask her what she’d done, to go and find Chariot and apologize. Instead, she allowed herself to be carried by Diana as they moved. They moved through the people slowly, though they weren’t going in the direction of the elevators. Or, not the common ones. They were clearly going to the side of the Deck. Croix probably had access to staff elevators, then?

Diana managed to get her attention by standing between her and Croix for a few seconds. As much as Akko wanted to keep scowling at the head of the IPR, it would be impossible for anyone to _not_ look at Diana. “Akko,” she said, worried. “You’re being way too obvious. We lack details, ok? You don’t really know what happened.”

“I…” Akko hesitated. “Fine,” she crossed her arms. People around them parted, making a pathway. Having both the human pilots and the head of the IPR walking towards you must have been pretty intimidating. Since they were near the front of the deck, the wall here – no longer windowed – was still curved. The people walking past Akko brought with them colors and smells she sometimes got curious about, but that she’d also grown kind of used to after months inside this ship.

It only took about five minutes to get them into the staff elevator, as Akko had guessed. The door blend in with the wall, really, and it was hard to spot it if you weren’t looking for it. Croix opened it with a staff card, and though it was smaller than the normal elevators, it was also _empty._

Croix didn’t press a button, however. Instead, she took a red card out of her pocket and slid it through the control panel of the elevator.

Akko felt strange. A weightlessness, like if her body was disconnected from her mind for an instant. She didn’t exactly know what the hell had just happened, but it only lasted an eyeblink.

When they came out, Akko saw a gloomy place. A short corridor – with a little door that led into some kind of cubicle – led towards a bigger area separated in two – kind of – by a massive door in the center. The area Akko stood in had a bunch of tables, some with metal scraps or… things all over them, yet others as clean as any. The corners of the room were full of either furniture or a bunch of machines that Akko had to make an effort to look away from. What did that giant cylinder with arms do? She wished there was better light here.

The other section of the lab – smaller in comparison – led into a room full of monitors. All of them white, for some reason. They looked old – physical, not holographic screens – and that place was way neater than the entire area Akko found herself in.

“Welcome to my lab,” Croix said. Ursula strode in as if she knew the place, while Diana walked carefully to inspect one of the machines near the corner. _Hey, I was just holding myself back from-_ “Now, if you excuse me, I’ll just be here working on… stuff, you go ahead and talk,” Croix said from behind Akko.

Akko turned to a dark wall. Croix tapped it, and suddenly an entire new room appeared, the wall… gone. Not opening in any way, just vanishing. Akko blinked a few times, and for a second, she thought she could still see it there.

Croix entered the room – seemingly empty – and the wall then reappeared.

“Croix, the lights,” Ursula said in a tired voice. Could Croix even-

The lights suddenly turned on. An even, white light that made Akko cringe for a single second. It showed that the place was way more colorful than she’d given it credit for. The walls and floor were dark, sure, and the work tables were of unpainted metal, but the furniture was painted in nice shades of green and purple – they… they didn’t really blend together too well, but they were colorful – and all the machines seemed to have been painted a different color. Their strange shapes and forms mixed together with their metallic parts, making for things Akko thought looked like abstract art.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk to us about, Coach?” Diana asked as she moved closer to the teacher, who had settled on top of one of the clean tables.

She pointed in front of her at a couple of chairs. “I believe you’ll probably want to be seated for this,” she said. She looked worried, and Akko noticed with a little surprise she wasn’t wearing her glasses. Her red eyes looked around with worry. Akko wondered if this really was the best time to confess to her what she’d discovered. She looked pretty troubled already.

She still walked, moving careful as to not step on any bolts or scraps of metal on the ground, and sat down. The lab – it was more of a workshop though, right? – smelled like oil and burnt metal. Akko noticed a few tools laying on the used desks, and she couldn’t help noticing a couple of roombas that were apparently getting maintenance.

The two girls looked at their teacher in silence for a while, watching her nibble at her lower lip with a clearly nervous expression and uncertainty in her eyes.

“So…” Ursula said. “I want you to know, first, that I’m not exactly ready to say what I’m about to say,” she explained, taking a deep breath.

Diana nodded softly. For some reason, she seemed to be… ready? Did that make sense? She looked like… Like she guessed what this was gonna be about. Akko, on her part, was wondering what may be so important as to bring them both to this random location just to talk. And shouldn’t she bring the entire team, if it was so important?

Akko met the teacher’s eyes and nodded encouragingly. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be too bad. This was Ursula, after all.

“You may have guessed, but I was a pilot,” she started, her words slow, as if she were tasting them. Both of the girls nodded. “I…” Ursula paused, getting off the table and biting her lip more visibly. “I used to be considered a _great_ pilot,” she started. She placed a finger on the table and though she didn’t break eye contact with her students, Akko couldn’t help noticing the movement, distracted by it. Akko had never heard of Ursula, but then again, she didn’t recall the names of anyone but Chariot.

“In fact,” Ursula said. “I used to be considered _the best.”_

Akko paused. “Really?” She raised an eyebrow. She felt like if that were the case she’d at least have recognized her face. Though, now that she thought about it, hadn’t she always felt a strange familiarity from the blue-haired woman? Maybe that was why.

“Yes,” Ursula nodded. “About ten years ago.”

She paused. Akko instantly frowned. “You mean, like, before Chariot rose to the top?”

Ursula looked at Akko, then at Diana. Akko looked at Diana, who didn’t seem particularly confused by any of this. “No,” she explained.

She took out her wand. It lit up, and then it showed something. Something that Akko had trouble understanding. It was an ID. An ID that showed the photo of a face Akko recognized all too easily, next to a name and other stuff Akko didn’t really care all that much about.

“Uhm…” Akko looked at the ID. “This is… Chariot?”

“This,” Ursula said, and when Akko looked at her, she got a chill. Her stare was intense. More importantly, Akko had a premonition. Just a second before she said it, Akko understood. “is _me._ I am Chariot Du Nord, previous pilot of the Shiny Rod, First Category human pilot of the eleventh iteration of the Inter-Planetary Race, and arguably the best pilot to ever grace Earth.”

Akko looked into those eyes. Moments flashed through her mind. Moments along their journey where Ursula had asked suspicious or just awkward for different reasons, particularly when Chariot was brought up. All of those times Akko had dismissed her attitude as maybe a dislike of Chariot or as simple awkwardness for the topic. All the times Ursula had explained things about the Rod that she, in retrospect, should have had no way of knowing.

All the times Akko had told her about her love for Chariot and her dream of finding her.

Cold washed over her, like if someone had dropped a bucket of ice on her head.

Akko looked at Diana, expecting to see some kind of surprised reaction from her. Instead, she nodded softly. Frowning, Akko realized that Diana had been looking weirdly at Ursula the last couple of days. Realization dawned on her: She knew.

“Uhm,” Akko blinked, feeling like if she was in a dream. “Gimmie a second,” she closed her eyes, putting her fingers on her temples pressing softly. “I… You…”

She looked up at the teacher. Akko knew it. She knew it to be true.

“You’re Chariot?” The cold in Akko’s body seemed to change to something else. Warmth. No, no warmth. Heat. Scorching heat coming directly from her chest. “You… All this time, you’ve been lying to us?”

“Well, not exactly,” Ursula said. She retreated back to being their kind-hearted teacher. Her expression shifted to one of awkwardness, and it was so _obvious_ now. The red eyes, the shape of her face, her nose. Sure, her hair was different, but… “I merely avoided telling you everything.”

“You… I…” Akko shook her head. She slowly rose, and she could feel the concerned look Diana was giving her. “Don’t give me that crap,” Akko said, her voice angry. “You… I _told_ you how I felt about Chariot,” Akko pointed at her. Then she realized it. “I told you how I felt about _you!”_ She exclaimed.

“Akko, it’s fine,” Diana rose, putting a hand on her arm. Akko shook it off.

“No, no it’s _not!_ ” Akko said, turning around, a hand to her head, the other waving around wildly as she spoke. She thought back to the times she’d spoken to Ursula about Chariot, about questions she wanted to make, about how she’d made Chariot her _goal_ in life. “Chariot- _You_ were my idol!” Akko said, anger in her voice coming out like venom. “I was open about everything. I understand maybe not telling me at first, but after all we’ve been through?” Akko looked at her for a second, seeing the guilt in her eyes. “You really think that through all the harsh emotional rides we’ve had I wouldn’t appreciate knowing that the person I admired the most in the world was next to me?!” She pointed an accusatory finger. She’d paced to the other side of the table. “You… Why?!”

“Akko, I’m sorry,” Ursula said. “I’ve always been ashamed of my acts at the end of the previous IPR, I just…”

“I’ve always defended you!” Akko snapped. “When everyone else was so certain of your cheating, of your betrayal, I was there telling them to shut the fuck up and stick up for you!” Her breathing had grown agitated. The shock of everything that was happening was maybe too much for her. “But now I know, you did cheat!” Akko spat out. “And I also know it had something to do with Croix!” Akko pointed at the… Illusory wall? Whatever it was. “Yet now you’ve gotten back together? Why?! No, don’t tell me, does _she_ know who you are?!” She then realized something. “She told me she could help me find Chariot!” Akko said. “Was she lying? Was she just tricking me? Did _you_ know what was going on, back then?” Akko asked questions, but she didn’t give a single second for Ursula to answer them. “I… How many troubles could we have had avoided if you’d told me! You know the secrets of the Rod, don’t you?” Akko said. “You know the password! Why haven’t you told us what it is, yet?!”

Diana walked up to her, trying to calm her down. “Akko, you _need_ to…”

Akko stepped away from her, feeling anger and fury stir her insides like a damn mixer. “And _you_ knew!” She said to Diana. “That’s why you’re calm and surprised. When did you find out?”

“A couple days ago,” Diana confessed more quickly that Akko could continue.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Akko said, feeling betrayed. She could see the guilt in Diana’s eyes too. “You’re my girlfriend, aren’t you?”

“It wasn’t my secret to tell, Akko,” Diana said, repeating what she’d said before. Akko knew she was right, but she couldn’t help the feeling of hurt that seemed to stab her heart. She felt a few tears of anger run down her face as she looked at Ursula. No, Chariot? Great, she was confused now. “You… I had nothing but admiration for you. But it turns out you _are_ a liar. What happened ten years ago, was it really Croix’s fault? Or were you just putting the blame on her?” She hit the table so strongly that she hurt her hand. “Screw this, I’m out of here.”

She bolted out of the room and towards the elevator. The doors were still open, for some reason. Had no-one called for it? She didn’t care. She dashed into it and started mashing the button to close the door. “Akko!” She heard Diana’s voice from the lab, and she saw her poking her head around the corner right as the doors began to close. “Akko, come back-”

Her voice cut off as the doors closed, and Akko felt that same… weightlessness from before. Like if her entire body was nothing but void.

She mashed the button to the floor of their rooms. The elevator began moving. She was breathing heavily. Air didn’t seem to get to her lungs, and her panting made her angry. She had been training for quite some time now. She shouldn’t be so tired. Ursula had…

She pressed her eyes closed. Why did she feel so betrayed? She’d definitely overreacted. Diana had known for a couple days. But… Akko realized another emotion rising from her.

Shame.

Akko had been for three months now next to her idol now. Three entire months being coached by her. And she hadn’t realized it. She’d been so self absorbed that she’d missed the person she admired the most in the world. Chariot had been right under her nose the entire time and she’d… She’d ignored her.

When the door opened, Akko again sprinted. She ran all the way to their rooms, entering the red team’s with her vision blurry with tears.

Sucy was inside, and she looked back surprised. Akko stood in the doorway for a few seconds before realizing running towards the obvious place was a stupid move.

Before Sucy could say anything, she bolted out of the room and ran through the hallways of the _Dragon_. She wanted a place to hide. She wanted somewhere to be alone. She felt like a coward, but once again, she’d been an idiot. She was a fool, an idiot.

Why did she _always_ screw up when she shouldn’t?

She ran until her legs couldn’t carry her anymore, and then she ran some more.

And then, she collapsed in a corner, hoping the floor would swallow her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you hear that?  
> No?  
> Heh, what a loser. Only those who LEAVE COMMENTS are allowed to hear it.


End file.
